First, does he want to know the temperature of a shoulder while he's at the store getting more beer?
Second, how far is the grill from your husband's furthest inside lounging area?
Sounds silly but a few things:
I have a maverick, single probe old school transmitter/receiver pair - This works pretty well but the distance is limited to like 50 feet. It also only has one probe so you get meat temp or grill temp not both.
I have a ivation, dual probe transmitter/receiver pair - This work really well, distance is like 300 feet, one probe for grill one probe for meat. Alarms, etc.
My wife got me a "wireless" thermometer for father's day, we tried it this past weekend and unfortunately it doesn't work well at all. It is bluetooth only, which covers less than the 33 feet it claims. It has up to 6 probes WOW! but the range is a deal breaker. These are sold under 100 brand at amazon, this happened to be Tenergy Solis, but I assume all have same issue.
Looking into the wifi enabled ones, I found some options:
Meater - Mentioned here, but one problem.. the transmitter is in the probe/pen looking device, and when in a grill.. it's range is 10 feet. 10.. feet. Someone oopsed the whole point of the design. I have awesome vision, but I think someone with terrible vision could still read an analog spring thermometer from 10 feet away. Getting the block which bridges and makes it "wifi" puts you into $200 pre-order or $270 regular.. OUCH, and your block has to be within 10 feet of the grill, but then you're solid.
Loki - This looks nice, wifi, up to 4 probes, each probe is a dual for ambient/meat. Runs on 9V battery or a USB wall supply. Only flaw I see is the base of the unit is magnetic, but the housing is only rated for 120F. I'm not EXACTLY sure how hot the outside of my smoker gets, but if I wanted to place it on the side, it would probably melt, explode, and bad things would happen. Side table or laying it on the ground. I'd also be curious how long this thing could run on a 9V, shoulder takes 12+ hours, shouldn't be an issue, but if it's a poor design the wifi alone could suck up all the battery. $129 is pricey (ivation is $30)
Tappecue - Geekery enters, this thing will give you a data dump at the end of your cook to plot your temps. I might do that a few times, but only as bragging rights, I don't personally see any value. If my smoker temp went over 250 while I was away, I'm not going to sweat it if the meat is still tasty. No battery?? So this is annoying for my cook range. I cook in winter in new england. We have annual bbq day on 12/26. It often snows. USB charger outside in the snow? No thanks $149 is still high
Fireboard - Highest of geekery, rechargeable battery, data plotting, alexa integration, 4 probes, oh and it also has the ability to control a blower if you want it to control airflow for your smoker to really dial in that set temperature perfectly. Yikes!! $189, Case is $55, Breakout cable $89, Blower $59.95 -- you know when $60 is too much so they play the price number game. You don't need all the bells and whistles, but you could invest in them later.. maybe?
That's what I've found, the market is somewhat saturated at this point so I expect prices to drop a bit on this stuff, but after using my Ivation again last week I couldn't let my wife try to replace the failed bluetooth version with something that cost 3-4 times as much.
To answer my questions to you:
1. No, I cook at home, when I go out in a 12 hour+ cook, I check my coals before I go and temp to make sure it can stand someone not "tending".
2. My ivation works in my bedroom on the 2nd floor about 75 feet (over estimating) away from the smoker. All other times I'm within 50 feet.
For me, Wifi ones will become the bragging rights with supreme geekery when I can ask my home assistant to tell me the temperature, turn it up/down, etc, but I'm just not willing to spend yet!
Hopefully this was helpful!
