REVIEW: Maverick ET-73 Remote Smoking Thermometer

Almost the exact day that I found out about the Maverick ET-73, I ordered one and had it rushed to me

overnight in order to see just what the hype about this remote, dual-probed (one for the meat; one for the pit),

large readout smoking thermometer was all about.

Going from nothing to anything would have been great in itself, but this thing has made Q'ing much more of a lazy

man's task. I just sit back and wait for the beep. Or, should I say "beeps"?

This thermometer will beep when your grill temp drops below a temperature that you set. It comes from the

factory defaulted to 176*.

This thermometer will beep when your grill temp rises above a temperature that you set. It comes from the

factory defaulted to 176*.

This thermometer will beep when your meat temp reaches the desired temperature that you set. It comes from

the factory defaulted to 176*.

It also has a count-up/count-down timer for the convenience of letting me not forget to mop.

I must mention that the advertised 100' range may not be all that it is hyped up to be. This does depend on walls

and things between the receiver and transmitter. I also hear that this may be a wide defect that has been address

and these "bad" ones can be sent back to the company for a full exchange at no chage. I will update this post with

thta information if I find that to be the case.

Overall, even with the range trouble, I don't see how I ever cooked without this thing. I used to always wonder if

stuff that looked good and tasted good was really cooked long enough and a lot of times I would end up drying the

meat out.

Not anymore. Thanks, Maverick and all that advised in that direction.

Fatz,
As was commented on recently on another thread about this tool...Nothing can replace the skill of the 'tender' test and 'feel' of the PitBoss for doing BBQ. This measuring device may help, but beware of depending on mechanics to replace monitoring and practice to give you that 'edge'. Keeping the temp even at whatever level you want is an art that can be achieved with a little practice on your smoker. A thermometer helps, but a good pitman can anticipate the need to restock the coals, or vent a bit before the meter starts to move. A couple of hundred spent on Butts, Ribs & Brisket would give you enough practice sessions to gain that skill for sure.
Meantime use the tools, but don't rest your reputation on them !!
AL

Fatz
I to have use the Maverick and loved it, being new at BBQing this come in hand for to me I use both probes for some pork butts i did this weekend, and they came out great, since i do need more practice in getting the coal to stay at temp for a long cook (the butts took 18 hours) the maverick was very hand to let me know how the grill was doing. it was nice to get some sleep knowing that if something went wrong with the grill the probe would tell me. but Al's right to, if we depend on the probe all the time we will never master the grill, but as a newbie it's nice to have this as probe to help build your skill. Beside with Al idea we get to eat a lot of BBQ which is not a bad thing.