Gnomatic Posted October 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2018 Bluetooth in general has very limited range. I'm glad they updated their line and offered the Meater+. The bluetooth repeater is essential IMHO for their probes to be of much use. In fact, I think the company and it customers would have been better served having the repeater in the design from the get go. Other than delayed deliveries, most of the negative reviews of the original Meater are tied directly to its limited range. Glad its working okay for you so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted October 18, 2018 Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 As you stated the Meater + is just a Bluetooth repeater built into the charging base. They also have a Meater Link option (in their app) which allows you to Bluetooth repeat with any smart device. All you need is an old smart phone or tablet that has working Bluetooth and you have a Meater + repeater without having to upgrade from the original Meater. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted October 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 True, but I guess I view that as a bit of a crutch. It does add flexibility, however. Still, part of my reasoning for choosing the Block was getting past Bluetooth's limitations, especially with our thick-walled grills.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted October 18, 2018 Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 16 hours ago, ckreef said: All you need is an old smart phone or tablet that has working Bluetooth and you have a Meater + repeater without having to upgrade from the original Meater. This is the only way I can use my current single Meater effectively given the limited range. It means leaving one phone outdoors with the KK I can then see details of the cook anywhere in the house on my other phone. Not ideal but it works. 14 hours ago, Gnomatic said: Still, part of my reasoning for choosing the Block was getting past Bluetooth's limitations, especially with our thick-walled grills.. I am looking forward to the Block even though I don't think I will need four probes. Does anyone know if the Block will allow you to monitor your cook even when you are away from home? It is so long since I last read the blurb... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted October 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, tekobo said: Does anyone know if the Block will allow you to monitor your cook even when you are away from home? It is so long since I last read the blurb... While I don't have mine, Others have gotten the Meater Block, and it CAN be connected directly to your home wifi network. Which enables Meater Cloud. So with the Meater Block, Dennis should be able to monitor a cook of mine if I send him a link. I'll be trying these features myself in short order. Edited October 19, 2018 by Gnomatic 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted October 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 (edited) My block arrived this afternoon. It seems nice nice enough. Setting it up was pretty straight forward. I powered the unit on. It has a stand alone mode that can be selected, but thats not how most will use this. So I selected wifi mode. From there everything was done through the app.. I launched the Meater app on my phone, and it searched and found the Block via bluetooth. Within the app I paired the Block with my phone, and then it showed a list of wifi networks it could see. I selected mine, and entered its password. (raise your hand if your home's wifi password has the word "Bacon" in it ) Next step was linking it up to Meater Cloud. Which again was simple and straightforward within the app. Right now its charging the probes. Picked up a whole meatchicken from the store today. Plan is break out the roti tomorrow, put a probe in each quarter of the bird, and give it a spin on the KK. Edited October 19, 2018 by Gnomatic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 19, 2018 Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 Can't wait to hear how it works for you in an actual cook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted October 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 @tony b, one thing unexpected thing I found on my Block, when I extended its kickstand, I noticed a micro-usb port on the side. Apparently, the Block can be powered by a micro-usb connection should the 4 AA batteries fail. Seems like a superfluous feature, but its not hurting anything. Does your Meater charging block have a micro-usb port? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 20, 2018 Report Share Posted October 20, 2018 I had to go and check. No, it doesn't. Even looked inside the battery compartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomatic Posted October 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2018 So I got a chance to use the Block yesterday, and treated a whole chicken like a voodoo doll, sticking all four probes in it before loading it in my roti cradle and giving it a spin on my grill. The range of the probes to the block is limited, but such is the nature of Bluetooth. Its the very reason I chose the Block with its built in Bluetooth-to-Wifi bridge. One little thing I noticed is that the ambient temp part of the probes give a more accurate reading if they are sticking out of the meat perpendicular to the meat surface vs a probe inserted at a 45 degree angle or less. This makes perfect sense really, they need to have a bit of distance from the meat surface to give a reasonably accurate reading if the grill's temp. They did a good job on the app. I find it user friendly and quite intuitive. All in all I'm pleased with the product. I can see my CyberQ Wifi going into retirement.(aka sold) I won't miss the bird's nest of probe wires at all. The chicken itself turned out fine. If anyone wants a peak of the app's graph of the cook, click on the link below. https://cooks.cloud.meater.com/cook/8dfcf7ff-6357-497e-b291-a0a3431f213d 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 21, 2018 Report Share Posted October 21, 2018 I think the graphs on this thing are so cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Did a rotisserie chicken cook using the Meater + tonight. Worked as stated. Probe in the bird just past the line (so ambient side was sticking out a good ways). Meater + base sitting next to the grill. Smartphone running the app in the kitchen which was also streaming Pandora that was Bluetooth connected to my Bose speaker in the game room. Everything worked as needed. A minor observation. The meat end of the probe came to temperature almost immediately. The ambient end took about 15 minutes to sync up with the dome temperature. No big deal there. Towards the end of the cook (an hour into it) the ambient was running about 10* higher than the dome. I guess that's sort of expected as the probe is sitting about 15"-18" closer to the semi direct flame than the dome thermometer. All in all I was pleased with it's performance. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 Great to see that you are both happy with your new, long awaited purchases. I've loved mine for a while and am looking forward to the upgrade to the block. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted October 22, 2018 Report Share Posted October 22, 2018 @ckreef - I've observed that the temperature of the meat itself can have an effect on the ambient reading, as well, as it's only a inch or so away from the meat. The interesting thing is, during a rotisserie cook, the ambient temperature doesn't seem to bounce around as it rotates, so there must be a bit of a lag, or there's an averaging circuit in it to smooth out the reading. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted October 23, 2018 Report Share Posted October 23, 2018 5 hours ago, tony b said: @ckreef - I've observed that the temperature of the meat itself can have an effect on the ambient reading, as well, as it's only a inch or so away from the meat. The interesting thing is, during a rotisserie cook, the ambient temperature doesn't seem to bounce around as it rotates, so there must be a bit of a lag, or there's an averaging circuit in it to smooth out the reading. I think it's just slow and the rotisserie is by comparison fairly fast in its rotation. I do agree that ambient temps so close to the meat are inheritly off. Probably less so with a rotisserie cook. It just took a while to catch up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
