My $250 offset smoker thermometer upgrade paid for itself in one weekend

I bought a cheap stick thermometer for my offset at a local hardware store and it read 75 degrees off, ruined a whole brisket flat last month. So I dropped $250 on a dual probe digital unit with a wireless receiver, figured it was a gamble but I was sick of guessing. First cook with it I caught a hot spot near the firebox that I never knew existed, rotated the meat and pulled a perfect pork butt in 9 hours. That brisket alone at $40 plus the wasted pellet bag would've been close to what I spent anyway. Anyone else had a cheap gauge lie to them or am I just unlucky with the factory ones?

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1 Comment

ross.angela21d ago

Stick probes are a coin flip at best, mine lied by 50 degrees and I didn't catch it till the meat was already dry. That one save pays for the fancy unit twice over in my book. Cheap gauges are the real gamble, not the upgrade.