To summarize, I highly recommend the Weber iGrill 2; it’s the best in it’s class of Bluetooth wireless thermometers. The developers are continually listening to us and are applying these enhancements to the app; making the iGrill better and better with each new version of the app they release. My full review below...
I purchased the Weber iGrill 2 from Ace Hardware for $60 and the additional ambient probe for $15 from Amazon. While researching, I was so close to saving up for a wifi device that would allow me to monitor my cook remotely from anywhere with Internet access (Fireboard, Tappecue, Smoke w/Gateway...in that order). But price and the fear of losing Cloud functionality if any of these businesses ever folded or stopped supporting a device kept me from pulling the trigger; as these devices are nearly 3 times the price of an iGrill !!! So I went with Weber’s iGrill 2. I have iPhone iOS 11, iGrill firmware version 1.4, app version 4.3.9 and Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable AA batteries.
All 3 probes passed the “boiling water test” with flying colors and had matching temps. Although all 3 were 1° under what registered on my Thermapen. But shoot, I’ll take that range of variance all day long!
I tested the iGrill by doing some pulled pork with a bone in picnic cut on the 18.5” Weber Smokey Mountain. I used the ambient probe clipped on the grate and the 2 food probes in opposite sides of the picnic roast. Switching the colored probe collars was not an easy task, but other than that setup/pairing was super simple and intuitive. I created a custom ambient probe range, but used Weber’s presets for pulled pork doneness at 190° on both food probes. The app is fairly simplistic, and there are not a lot of bells and whistle‘s. I was mostly interested in logging the times and temperatures of my cook using the built-in graphing tool. I really like how you can use the graphing dashboard to view all four probes on one screen, or analyze each probe separately. Although each screen only has approx 2 1/2 hours of activity; you have to go to each probe, zoom out, and scroll back to see earlier cook data. I would’ve liked to have been able to see my entire cook plotted on one screen to allow me to see trends and anomalies within the app itself. But Weber provides a data export function that allows you to export each probe’s data by minute via email in a csv file format. So you can import your data into Excel, Tableau, etc. and create your own graphs. Your data is not saved, so unless you export it, you’ll lose it. I didn’t have any connectivity issues whatsoever with Bluetooth during the cook. Whatever enhancements they made to the app, appears to have resolved connectivity issues experienced in earlier releases. I did have to leave the house once and as expected I lost connectivity and it disconnected the device. I got a little nervous because I initially thought I may have lost all of my data when it disconnected. However, once I returned home, it automatically reconnected and resumed without losing any previously logged data! The app handles missing data by representing it with a dotted line on the graph. It was a 14 hour cook and it used 20% of my batteries. And this was with the transmitter screen turned on the entire time! I set the “Keep Screen On” option to OFF, but for some reason the transmitter screen stayed on anyway. I used the built-in Timer to notify me when it was time to spritz with apple juice. Because of limited alarm customizations, I nearly jumped out of my skin when the timer went off. It sounds like an old school alarm clock...the ones with a hammer between two bells; good gravy! I definitely couldn’t have slept through that. The temp alarms weren’t as jarring, and I liked the Dismiss (alarm off) banners that allow you to deactivate alarms from anywhere on your phone, even if the phone was asleep. And after you dismiss the alarm, it takes you to the app. You have to clean the probes using a moist cloth and mild detergent. The probes are not submersible and cannot go in the dishwasher or you’ll break them. To be safe, and to minimize cleanup, I wrapped a little foil around the area where the metal probe meets the wiring; which made cleanup very easy. I hope Weber makes a carrying/storage case for the iGrill and accessories. I know there is a company that already makes a case for the iGrill, but I want one made by Weber with Weber branding ;-)
Below are my recommendations for app enhancements:
- Ability to Rename probes
- Ability to type in Temperature and Timer values instead of having to use the dial interface
- Timer should have ability to set timer for seconds. When searing meats, seconds matter
- Add a Search function for “Select Cut” in “What Are You Grilling?” during cook setup.
- Add images for each food item in “Select Cut” in “What Are You Grilling?” during cook setup. I don’t know what an “Ambassador Steak“ looks like.
- add illustrations or short video describing proper probe placement for the different types of foods as well as the ambient grill probe and how to avoid pitfalls associated with improper placement
- On the “Let’s Grill!” screen of the app, when the “Start Grilling” or “Presets” button is selected an informational popup would tell us approximately how many hours/mins of battery life we have until needing replacement. That way we don’t embark on a 14 hour cook if we only have 3 hours of battery life left and won’t lose data/settings while changing batteries mid-cook. And knowing how many hours we have left on our batteries, we can determine if we want to set the iGrill screen to be always on or not
- Place a Battery meter on “Temperature”, “Timer”, and “More” screens
- Allow us to type in how many degrees before food probe reaches target temperature instead of the 10° default. During a stall, that final 10° could turn into a couple hours
- Connection Lost Alarm
- Audible Notification when Reconnected
- Low Battery Alarm
More Alarm Options
- Notification Banner with audible/vibrate options on phone
- Alarm Sound options (alarm sounds to choose from)
- Alarm Vibrate options
- “Food/Grill Maintenance Mode” Button that toggles Pause/Resume all alarms for Ambient probes during cook. This allows additional fuel/smoke wood to be added to fire, baste/sauce food, etc without triggering low grill temperature alarms
- add “Check for Updates” feature in the App
Topic: Weber's iGrill 2 Review (Read 3377 times)
