I’m a big fan of the lid thermo. That’s primarily what I use regardless of the bad press they receive. They give me a good general idea of what the cooker is doing and that’s all I need.
I can't disagree. That's my pattern also. I went through a long period of using an oven thermometer on the grate. I got tired of always wiping the grease off of it (and pre-greasing did not help), finding cook grate space for it that was
relevant, finding it stashed in the kitchen.
I still use it as a baseline tool when desired. And to remind me of just how off the lid thermo is. I see the lid thermo as a way of helping ensure you don't over cook the food, because the grill always looks hotter than it is.
And then I went with a Maverick until I discovered one of my probe inputs (not the probes, but a probe
input) always read a solid 20 degrees off, and I could never remember in which direction or which input was off. That, and the Maverick interface is a joke. I have a Smoke but it's still in the box.
My most accurate weber thermometer is the one with the long stem that were used on various previous models like the original master touch grills.
I only have one, so I move it around to different grills as needed.
Same one they put to the right side of the Genesis lid, except in that case Weber actually advertised similar versatility. I think it was suggested to be used as a meat probe. And that makes sense if you can leave it in, since the temp on a gasser only really "varies" when the tank runs dry ...
Do you use the long stem thermo as a meat probe, or just wrap in foil or a potato and use to check grate temps?