Chef IQ Smart Thermometer Review – 2024
Last updated on August 29th, 2024 at 01:40 pm
The Chef iQ Smart Thermometer is the only truly Wireless Meat Thermometer I could find. No wires from the probes, and no need to be tethered by Bluetooth. But does it work?
Key Notes
The Chef iQ Smart Thermometer works exceptionally well if you ignore a few hiccups.
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Background
Back in during the pandemic, we bought a pellet grill. We had been buying a quarter cow and half a pig from a local farmer for years, and wanted to step up our game. Initially I was looking at a dedicated smoker, but after a lot of reading decided that a pellet grill was the right match for us. I didn’t intend to sit around and watch the smoker do its thing. Plus it meant I could sell our Weber to fund the purchase. We bought our grill and never looked back.
At this point we smoke a full chicken or two, multiple London Broils, and some odds and ends every week. We’ve done briskets, hams, turkeys, pork shoulders, and just about anything else that comes from the main assortment of animals.
I originally bought a Smoke Thermometer as it was regularly regarded as one of the best options on the market. After a couple of years I was getting tired of managing the wired probes. They were a constant process to set up, put away, and maintain. And we went through multiple in the two years or so that we’ve owned them. You can see in the picture below, it has seen a lot of use.
I was also hoping to be able to ditch the Bluetooth range of the wireless hub, since it didn’t quite reach our neighbors houses, and especially didn’t work out at the grocery store or at the park.
The Search
So I began looking. There were a few options that were ALMOST wireless. They might have had wireless probes, but you needed to connect to Bluetooth which again meant minimal range. Some were WiFi enabled, but you still had wired probes.
The only truly wireless, WiFi, no wired probe option I found was the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer. So I bought one, alongside a second probe, and here we are multiple months later with a review.
Chef iQ Smart Thermometer Specs
If you have used a meat thermometer before, you probably have some experience with the basic concept. Put probe in meat, set desired internal temp, cook meat, remove when alarm sounds. This is the same basic workings. Obviously where we get tricky is the SMART functions here.
Set up is fairly easy if you are accustomed to various SMART type devices. You’ll connect the hub to the WiFi, connect to your phone, register the probes to the hub, and be ready to rock.
The Hub
The Hub itself functions in a few ways. This is what relays the message from the probes, to your phone. So this absolutely must be on and have enough power (it charges via USB C with a provided cable). It connects to your phone, as mentioned, via Bluetooth or WiFi. The nice thing here is that if your internet happens to be down, or say you wanted to take this to a friends house, it can work off Bluetooth assuming you are close bye. WiFi is awesome because you can monitor your cook from anywhere. Both function through the Chef iQ App.
The wireless hub has a 20 hour battery after a charge. This SHOULD be enough for even the longest of cooks. Good news is, if you somehow run low on juice, you can charge it while using it. We have a power outlet that runs our grill, and we use the 2nd outlet for charging the hub (a simple power to USB charger is awesome here).
The hub will also talk to you. It isn’t Alexa, but it will let you know when you have hit a major milestone in your cook. Start, flip, wrap, cool, cut. This can be handy for friends helping around the grill, or if you can’t reach your phone.
The hub is also what charges your probes. It has one spot for charging, and two spots for extra storage if you happen to buy all three probes.
The Probes
The probes are the pieces that go into the meat, track the internal temp of the said meat, as well as the ambient temp of the cook. These are important pieces to the puzzle. I personally don’t monitor the ambient temp much, as I use a pellet grill. For those with a smoker or grill that can fluctuate more in temp, say a charcoal smoker, knowing what temp you are cooking at is HUGE. I have used the ambient before when I unexpectedly ran out of pellets during a cook. The ambient temp dropped drastically, I realized it before dinner was delayed too much, and was back to work.
The probes are waterproof, which should probably only be used for cleaning. And they claim to be accurate within 1 degree Fahrenheit. I don’t have a great way to test this, and I’m not super picky about my temps. If they are off a degree or two, I’m not gonna freak out. I’m not cooking competition BBQ, and I’m far from a pit master.
The manual for the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer claims that the probe will last 40 hours of continuous use after a full charge, and a few hours on just 15 minutes of charge. Combine a full charge of the probes with a full charge of the hub, and you’ve got plenty of time for the longest of cooks. A few hours should be enough for leaner cuts, chickens, etc.
Ha! Nice Try
The probes claim to be the worlds thinnest, which is laughable. They are shorter than my other probes, but the girth is definitely noticeable (that’s what we she said). They claim to be deep fryer safe. We don’t have a deep fryer, so I will not be testing these claims. It also claims to be heat resistant to 572 degrees. This is far beyond what our Pellet grill will cook up, but COULD be shy of what you need if you use a really hot grill for steaks or searing.
Chef iQ Smart App
The Smart App is where everything comes together. Get your grill ready, turn the hub on, insert your probe into the meat, and start following the directions.
You’ll let the app know what Probe you plan to use (assuming you have more than one). Then choose what you plan to cook, including the type of meat, category, and cut. These are important as it then makes recommendations for instructions, internal temp, cook time, and more based on what you selected. If you were to choose a beef brisket on a smoker, but cook a chicken in an air fryer, you’ll get some horrendous results.
The app is pretty easy to navigate. Simple presses in straight forward steps, with plenty of customization options throughout to make sure you get what you want out of the cook. You will want notifications on for the app, and your sound on, so you don’t miss an update. I set a custom notification tone for this app, so I didn’t mistake it for something I could check out later.
The app, like the hub, will give you updates at key milestones of your cook. One of my favorites is shortly before your cook is done, it will notify you to get ready. The app even gives some nifty post cook data around temps, times, and more. If you are someone trying to PERFECT your smoking, or maybe ran into issues and want to troubleshoot, this is a cool feature.
The app also has recipes included in it. These work in a similar fashion, you pick the recipe, follow the instructions, do what the app says to do when you need to do it, eat and enjoy.
Ok, so we know the main pieces and their intended function. Does it work?
Chef iQ Smart Thermometer Performance
The list of good stuff here is pretty solid. The MAJORITY of this thing is good and what I wanted. We run into a few minor issues, and one big issue which might keep you from buying. Let’s dig in.
London Broil – One Probe
Our first test was simple, cook me a London Broil. I cook one or two of these a week, and have been doing so for close to a year. So I know what to expect at this point. I do a simple marinade overnight, with a heavy salt and pepper steakhouse seasoning, tossed on the smoker at 225 till an internal temp of 135.
The Chef iQ Smart Thermometer recommend the same exact approach. Good start! The cook went on as usual, and at 130 degrees it asked me to pull the London Broil and let it sit. I typically toss it in a pan, in the microwave, so the moisture stays there. Unfortunately, the connection between the hub and the probe died in the microwave. So I had to leave the microwave door open. My plan B is to use my cooler. No issues with the Bluetooth there.
After 20 minutes the London Broil had reached 135 then cooled a bit. The app and hub let me know it was done and could be sliced up to eat. I pulled the probe, cleaned it off in a matter of seconds, turned off the hub, ended the cook in the app, and I was done. Here are the results of the VERY first cook.
The cook was BEAUTIFUL! After sitting for a bit longer the red hue went down a bit, as usual, and we had a great medium rare cooked London Broil. Success!
Timing Is Off
One issue I noticed during this cook, was that your cut might not be listed exactly in the app. London Broil for instance, is NOT in the app. I chose Beef > Roast > Strip Loin. This had a MUCH longer cook time expectation than what it took. I played around with this on other cooks and eventually found Beef > Roast > Strip Loan to be the right selection. The weird part for me is that the time expectation for a cook, doesn’t seem to update with the internal temp. They clearly hard set an expected time for a certain type of cut.
You can see in this pic, we have an entire 1 degree to go, and the expected time remaining is nearly 4 hours. I get that the time should START based on the selections, but it should also update as you go. I mean, we know based on the data tracking I shared above about the cook that it tracks the internal temps the ENTIRE time. So it should be able to see that the meat has raised 1 degree every so many minutes and you have X amount of minutes left, and boom. You got an adjusted end time.
The good news is, the internal temp is the overriding factor here. It just is a definite hiccup in the process.
Chicken – Two Probes
The second cook we did, which is a common one here, was two spatchcocked chickens.
This was our test for using the two probes we bought. Similar process as before, turn on the hub, put the probes in the chicken, run the app set up, cook, cool, enjoy. We ran into an issue right out of the gate here.
I mentioned that the hub has 1 spot to charge a probe, and 2 additional storage spots. Those storage spots, do NOT charge the probes. And the probes only hold onto a charge, even when not used, for so long. So I went to set up my two chickens and got this warning. So I had to start one cook, while delaying the other, to get a charge going. And this was for a spatchcocked chicken that is about an hour cook at most.
I’m really glad that the hub has storage for all three probes. But it is absurd that they don’t all charge. Think about this if you had three probes to do a long cook, like a brisket. You would either need to prepare ahead of time and charge all three probes individually for probably an hour, or would need to start your three cooks a full hour apart… twice!
After we leaped that hurdle, the process was great. Just like the London Broil, it told me at 160 to pull the chicken for a final internal temp of 165. Let it rest, then tear it apart and enjoy.
WiFi and Bluetooth Function
I tested the first couple of cooks while staying close bye. Then I went out to the park during a cook. We have pretty bad wireless signal at the park because of the trees so I figured this was a solid test. I’m happy to report that it worked. I got a notice a few minutes before the cook was going to be done. We hopped on our bikes, headed home, pulled the meat, and were good to go.
I only had a couple of issues with the wireless functions. As I noted, we had the issue with the microwave and the Bluetooth not working. I also found that since the probes are INSIDE the grill, the hub needs to be in a spot where it can transmit into the grill. You’ll likely need to play around with this.
The other issue was when we had multiple cooks. If one item was done fast, say a chicken. And the other took awhile, say a pork shoulder. You need to keep the chicken during the rest period near the grill because the hub is going to need to talk to the probe in the chicken and the pork. So you likely need a cooler or something in that scenario.
If / when you have a potential issue, like I mentioned above, your phone will be RELENTLESS about notifying you. I believe I got 15 notifications about the hub disconnecting, no status, whatever. So if you have poor WiFi range, lots of interference for Bluetooth, or otherwise see issues with the above and how you cook, keep that in mind.
Air Fryer
Since publishing the review, we acquired and began using our Air Fryer more and more. With the 100 degree heat for the entire month of July, I didn’t want to go outside anymore than I had to. So trips to the BBQ were limited. To keep my stock of beef up inside the fridge I began using the Air Frier with my Chef iQ Smart Thermometer.
An interesting piece is that not all meat types, have an option for an Air Fryer. I’m not sure why, but there were multiple times where I had to choose Oven or BBQ instead of Air Fryer, and just hope for the best.
Overall, the Air Fryer works really well. BUT you have to play around with what setting you use, since as mentioned, not all come preloaded with an Air Fryer option. I have gotten the best results from treating high heat cooking for steaks as a Grill, instead of an Oven. The above London broil took less than 20 minutes to prep, pre-heat, cook, cool, and cut. And the crust is OFF THE CHARTS!
Final Notes and Buying Advice
I’m far from upset that I purchased the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer. I mean, just look at that steak!
The vast majority of my cooks I do one item at time. So I can use the probe sitting in the charger of the hub, and be good to go. The times where I use both probes remind me of the one BIG fault. They REALLY need to make a hub that charges all three probes at once. But for me, that is the occasional situation, not the norm.
The app is easy to use, the probes are easy to clean, the cooking process takes out the vast majority of the speed bumps you can have in coking. For instance, I was always bad at knowing when to pull, how long to rest, and when to cut. So my stuff would commonly come in overcooked. With the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer, I don’t have that problem. My cooks are more successful, more often, with less monitoring.
I will note that I still use an instant read thermometer regularly for quick cooks like chicken breasts, fish, and pork chops. I find it more user friendly, and since I cook about 10 breasts at once, this just would never work.
Are you SMART?
One more thing to consider is whether you want to “smart” experience or not. There is something to be said about just setting up a thermometer, setting a temp target, and waiting till it is done. Handling your phone during the process of marinating and cooking raw meat is less than ideal. And needing to remember to have your phone set up correctly, in your pocket, and have all the bells and whistles work, COULD be a pain. I don’t find it to be, but that is up to you and your preferred technical experience.
Yes Or No?
If you are like me and typically do only one cook at a time, with the occasional two or three cooks, the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer can be a really nice option. You lose the wires, gain some freedom in location, have an instant library of recipes, and improve your cooking accuracy.
If you regularly do multiple cooks at once, or monitor multiple placements of a larger cook (like a whole hog), this just isn’t a good approach. You are maxed out at 3 probes, and the need to charge each individually can really screw with your prep time. If the hiccups of the timing and selecting the right cut would frustrate you, again, look elsewhere. If you are against Smart devices, Apps, Bluetooth, or whatever else. Or you simply want a SIMPLE meat thermometer experience “like the good ol days”, then skip the Chef iQ Smart Thermometer.
Simply put, it does what we wanted for 95%+ of our cooks, removing the wires, and making our cooks better.
2024 Update
Chef iQ Smart Thermometer got an UPGRADE! One of the biggest complaints I had with my original version, was that you can’t charge two (or three) probes at once. Well now you can. Their newest case has room for two or three probes to charge at once. YAY! You can even buy a replacement case if you happened to purchase the original.
Wrap Up
đź’˛Want to buy a Chef iQ Smart Thermometer? You can snag one at this link.
Most of my reviews are on gym equipment, but I do enjoy reviewing products on the fringe of that theme. If there is something you’d like to see me review that doesn’t fall into the norm around here, let me know in my product pipeline voting.
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Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
