The Best Leave-In Meat Thermometer

Meater is the sous-vide of meat thermometers, and its only $69.

Meater boasts being the first wireless, smart meat thermometer, and we’ve got nothing to counter that with. Accurate, app-based, rechargeable, completely wireless, minimalist, portable, idiot-proof, easy to clean, durable, and cheap, it’s hard to make an argument for buying anything else.

Meater gets inserted directly into the... meat, and measures internal temperatures up to 212°F and simultaneously ambient temperatures up to 527°F, then it tells you over Bluetooth LE exactly when your meat is ready. In fact, it goes a step further and notifies you when it’s time to take your meat out and let it rest to the right temperature.

Meater’s biggest limitation is its recommended insertion distance- up to its safety notch, which is about 2.5 inches. With any meat much less thick than that, you’re on to plan B. Meater also has a clunky workaround for its lack of internal Wifi, which involves you connecting a second smart device to the one connected to Meater over Bluetooth.

Meater’s charging cradle is... I can’t decide if I love it or hate it. It’s made of wood, magnetic on the back, and powered by a single AAA battery. We would have preferred USB, but either way, there’s nothing stopping you from bringing Meater on say, a camping trip.

Upgrading to the $200 Meater Block gets you four Meaters in a single cradle, an OLED display, speakers and lights for alerts, and capacitive controls.

Meater essentially has no competition in the probe thermometer space- the competitive set mostly isn’t even wireless, much less smart.

I leave you with this quote from Meater’s FAQ:

The good news is that BBQ grills, smokers, and ovens are not built or designed to be Faraday Cages.