Update January 2020: I did not have high hopes for this thing given it was a cheap Bunnings purchase. I managed to do a couple of cooks with this before it started acting up on me. The thin wire that connects to the probe eventually discoloured and then I started experiencing inaccurate temperatures.
I have vowed to never buy cheap essential items ever again. Instead, I bought the ThermoPro TP20 Wireless Remote Digital Cooking Food Meat Thermometer with Dual Probe for Smoker Grill BBQ Thermometer
When it comes to barbecuing, the temperature is everything. You can get some affordable barbecue oriented thermometers and some really expensive ones (if you’re a serious griller). Your everyday home cook might find it hard justifying a $100 bbq thermometer purchase.
Recently I purchased a quite affordable wireless thermometer for my grilling efforts in the form of the Gasmate Remote Wireless BBQ Thermometer. At a cost of $30 AUD from Bunnings, I thought it was a steal because I could monitor my temps remotely. I couldn’t find much information on it, so I decided to give it a good try out and write this review.
Build Quality
Honestly, this remote thermometer has an appearance that matches its price tag. The plastic is cheap looking and kind of resembles a children’s toy pretending to be a cordless phone or walkie talkie.
Appearance isn’t everything, but if you’re expecting something heavy-duty looking then this is not the thermometer for you. I am convinced this thing would not fare too well if dropped or placed too closely near heat (the receiver that is).
Features
Features wise it has all of your basic temperature sensing needs. It has presets for various types of meat like the important proteins: beef and chicken. You can select from predefined doneness temperatures for your beef and it’ll beep at you when it is done. It even has a flashlight on-top if you need to look at your food in the dark.
You can choose between Celsius and Fahrenheit, and if you’re wanting to adjust the temperature values yourself you can also increase or decrease the values manually (handy if you like your steak well done and to a particular temperature).
It also has a timer function if you’re more of a fan of time-based cooks as opposed to temperature based cooks (as some steak grillers are).
The probe is stainless steel and has heatproof wiring on it. However, the wire looks thin and there are warnings everywhere telling you to avoid putting it on direct heat sources like your burners or coals (probably common sense). The more expensive remote thermometers are more adequately heat-protected on the probe wire, but this cost $30 and as long as you’re mindful will not be a problem.
You also get a little base station which the probe connects to, and for the initial pairing of the probe you need to rest the receiver on it.
Conclusion
I have only used it for one cook so far (a 6-hour brisket) and it seemed to do the job just fine. I am pretty happy considering it was so cheap, I might eventually buy something a little more heavy-duty and long-lasting.