Maverick Bluetooth Thermometer

Photo courtesy of Maverick

Is there anything your phone can't do for you these days? We've come a long way since it was a thing tethered to a base or wall that was only used to call people when you really needed to talk to them. Because, of course, you could always write them a letter. With pen and paper. And mail it.

Are you laughing yet?

My latest techy gadget that works with phone, iPad or iPod is the Maverick Bluetooth Thermometer. The base unit functions like a regular remote thermometer, but ... there's an app.

Once the app is downloaded to your compatible device, it connects via bluetooth so you can monitor your baking remotely.

The alarm on the base unit is fairly loud, so I think it's likely you'd hear that unless you wandered pretty far. But I have to say that it's nice to be able to be away from the oven and be able to check how the temperature is progressing, so you know when your food is 20 or 10 or 5 degrees away from being done.

I used this thermometer on Thanksgiving, and it worked perfectly. When the temperature was reached, but the base unit and its paired bluetooth device beeped.

The thermometer has a bunch of preset temperatures for a variety of meats, or you can set a custom temperature. It accepts up to 4 probes (but only comes with two; you can buy more), so you can monitor several items you're cooking, or you can monitor the food and the temperature of your oven or barbecue at the same time.

Overall, it's a nice thermometer, even without the bluetooth component, and with the bluetooth, it's even more useful. I like that it can monitor several things at once - like the white meat and the dark meat of a turkey.

Who's it for: People who want to monitor their baking, roasting, or grilling remotely.

Pros: Works well.

Cons: Make sure you have a compatible device - this didn't work with my (admittedly older) phone. While bluetooth is nice, a wifi connection might be the logical next step for these sorts of devices, so you can monitor from a computer and from a much greater distance.

Wishes: It would have been nice if it came with all 4 probes. I doubt I'll actually need to monitor 4 things at once, but people who do a lot of barbecuing or smoking in large quantities might want to monitor several meats, plus the smoker temp, so they'd be wise to buy the extra probes when they buy the unit.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.