Sure, most of the things we talk about here at Thirty-One Whiskey are in the spirits family, but we also like to highlight great products that are alcohol-adjacent — and it doesn’t get more alcohol-adjacent than grilling. About a year ago, we reviewed the MeatStick 4X wireless thermometer, but recently our friends at MeatStick released their next generation wireless thermometer, the MeatStick V, and reached out to see if we wanted to take it for a spin.
Who are we to turn down a ready-made excuse to fire up the smoker?
Right off the bat, I want to be transparent about how we procured this. At Thirty-One Whiskey, we take pride in purchasing all of the materials used for a review. In any instances where we are provided a sample, we let you know about it up front and are transparent about where those materials came from. In this case, the product we are reviewing today was provided for free by the manufacturer to test out, but we believe that we are able to still adequately maintain our impartiality since the manufacturer did not influence or edit our review prior to publication.
Okay, with that fine print out of the way… let’s get into it.
When the weather turns from the doldrums of Chicago winter to the promise of a fresh spring season, one of the first things I do is get the Traeger grill cleaned up and ready for a steady stream of meat and make sure all of my equipment is in working order. In my opinion, there is no better grilling accessory than a good wireless thermometer probe.
Let’s start with some history of the MeatStick company. Imagine being so obsessed with grilling perfect meat that you and your friends create a company to ensure that no meat is abused ever again. According to their website:
As native Californians, the idea for The MeatStick came to us after an afternoon BBQ with friends. While we were chatting and playing a game of charades, their 4 expensive New York Strips were overcooked and completely ruined the mood! After trying several wired cooking thermometers, the problem was still the same: you had to walk over to your thermometer to check the progress of your meat. And with the drive to solve this problem, The MeatStick’s journey began.
I can completely relate. When I started to embrace the low and slow method of perfect Texas barbeque while living in Austin, I started with a wired thermometer. I didn’t want to put down my bourbon and get out of the pool to see how the brisket was doing, so a wired probe with a handheld unit was quickly acquired. However, the MeatStick V fixes all of these problems: a Bluetooth and WiFi powered device that sends six temperature readings directly to your phone.
Yes, six. The MeatStick V is a wireless cooking thermometer that gives you not one temperature reading, but six. There is an external temperature probe, giving you real time reading about the current temperature outside of the meat, along with five internal sensors (one at the point and four more up further up the probe). This allows you to have full visibility into the progress of your cook at multiple points in your meat.
I really appreciate these multiple sensors when cooking thinner cuts of meat. The most basic example is the simple chicken breast: often it’s hard to get a probe in the thickest part of the breast without getting too deep where the tip of the probe comes out the other end. The multiple sensors work together to sense the lowest temperature ensuring proper temperature even with a poor probe placement.
For example, the screenshot below was taken while I was cooking some chicken. Temperature sensor A was reading 102 degrees – the tip of the probe was too close to the edge of the meat. Sensors B, C, and D were all in thicker middle and were reading lower temps. As someone who is a bit obsessive about food safety, this means I can be confident in everything I serve.
One of the biggest upgrades from the previous version is that the MeatStick V was engineered for high-heat searing. The body of the probe has a dual-shell “FireForge” construction – meaning this sensor is made to handle up to 650 degrees Celsius / 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. This is perfect for those who want a great sear on a steak.
The internal thermometers will read temperatures from 32-212 degrees F, and the external probe will read temperatures up to 1200 degrees F — plenty of range for most grills and meat. It’s also completely sealed and IPX9 waterproof, meaning it’s deep fryer, sous vide, or dishwasher safe. You could use the MeatStick with your turkey, drop it in the deep fryer, and have delicious worry-free turkey.
The other big addition is the introduction of WiFi to the base unit. As someone who does all of his grilling on the roof deck, Bluetooth alone was problematic. If I stepped inside (and down the stairs), I lost connection. The addition of WiFi connectivity fixes all of that and allows me to check on the progress of my meat from anywhere.
There is a companion app for both iOS and Android that will sync your MeatStick with your phone, which also provides you a guess-free guided cooking system.
I originally received this probe in late November. Now, if you don’t know anything about Chicago in late November, December, January, and February… it’s cold. Sadly, I often do not get out to hang out on the roof and throw down on the grill during this time of year. However, we recently had a warm spell so I channeled my inner Chazz Reinhold, put on my finest red robe, and changed our plans from making meatloaf to making smoked meatloaf.
The first thing I notice is that the app was downright infuriating. Like any good nerd, I always check for firmware updates when I get a new gadget. However, this was a fools effort, as during the five days between updating my firmware and using my MeatStick V there was another update. I’d already probed the loaf, so I just pressed the skip button closing the popup. I attempted to set up my cook again and was prompted to update the firmware again. I was stuck in an endless loop. The only way to actually get past this and use my thermometer was to pull the probe out, wash it thoroughly, place it back in the base, and update the firmware.
In a subsequent use, I had another firmware fiasco where the update failed, and the only way forward was to remove the probe from the app and register it again.
So the app is not a great user experience. It’s not like the probe is some life safety critical piece of technology — using it with an outdated firmware isn’t going to crash my car. But I feel like I should be able to get the cook going and use it with the outdated firmware, and just update the app the next time I put the probe back in the cradle.
Version your APIs, friends.
Firmware issues aside, there are a ton of alerts and notifications, most of which really stress the proper use of the MeatStick. That is not a bad thing if you are new to the product, but it’s slightly annoying after you are familiar. I would prefer if you could turn off some of the alerts and streamline the app.
Also, using the app sometimes feels like looking at the displays at NASA mission control:
The six temperature probes are each called out and plotted out over time on a chart. A donut chart tracks the progress to the desired temperature, and the elapsed cooking time and estimated time remaining are also visible.
If you are using charcoal, of other fuel that may have big swings, there is also a desired ambient temperature range and possible alert range. (Having a Traeger where the ambient temperature is set it and forget it makes this feature unnecessary for me.)
I’m testing this today on a dense loaf of meat, so the multiple sensors show clear differentiation in cooking speed. The MeatStick V is designed to push an alert to your phone when the lowest temperature probe most probe reaches a specified temperature. In my cook, the alert was set to 150 degrees, for a cook that was complete at 155 degrees.
The meatloaf hit 155 degrees (you may notice that it says burger patty… I could not find a pre-set cook for a meatloaf, so I improvised), at which point I got an alert from the MeatStick app and I pulled it off the Traeger. After a resting period, I gave it a slice… revealing perfectly cooked meatloaf.
Overall, the MeatStick V is a great product allowing you to go about your day while your smoker works its magic on your meat. If you have an older version of the MeatStick, the improvements may or may not be worth the upgrade — you’ll need to assess the improvements for your situation. Personally, the high heat sear does not add any value to me, but the WiFi connectivity is huge given where my grill is located. After several other uses, it’s reliable and has always produced perfectly cooked meat.
The MeatStick V retails for $129.99 at the time of publication, and there are other models and add-ons available at TheMeatStick.com.
MeatStick V Wireless Meat Thermometer
List Price: $129.99
Amazon Price: $99
Amazon Link: Amazon.com
Overall Rating: 4/5
The hardware is fantastic: great temperature reads, consistent cooking, and a long connectivity range. However, the app needs some help – I should not have to worry about a firmware update getting in the way of my grilling.