The ECPin/Maverick Stake
Wireless Meat Thermometer

The ECPin and Stake Apps
The ECPin and Stake probes each come with their own app for iOS and Android. We'll let you in on a little secret. Either probe will connect with either app. As you will see, the apps are slightly different and the ECPin app has a few more features, so you should download both and give each a try.

The Home Screen Here you can see the home screen for both apps. You can see that we had two probes active in the ECPin app, while we only had one probe active in the Maverick app. For each probe, you see two concentric arcs. The outer arc represents the current temperature, while the inner arc represents the target temperature. Inside each arc, you see the supercapacitor level, the current temperature, and the probe's name. Note that on the ECPin app, the charge level is color coded, green, yellow and red for ever decreasing charge level. On the Stake app, the charge level is always white. Also note that in the ECPin app, the color of the probe's handle is the same as the background color for the probe's name. In the Stake app, all probe names are black on orange. For the ECPin display you see the radio beacon that is illuminated when there is a Bluetooth connection and dimmed when there is not. There is also the "Favorite" icon. You can tap this to turn on or off the designation that this probe is a favorite. Favorite probes are listed at the top of the screen. Then, for both apps, on the left you also see the target temperature and the probe's status. Finally, across the bottom you see the icons that you can tap (from left to right) to return to the home screen, view previous cooks, take a photo, set up WiFi or Hot Spot mode (ECPin only) and go to the settings screen.

The Probe Screen When you are on the home screen, you can tap on any of the probes currently active and displayed to go to the probe screen for that probe. Here you can see the familiar arc which shows the target and current temperatures, as well as the probe's name. On the inner arc on both apps, you see a dot. This represents the target temperature and you can tap and slide the dot to alter the target. This is how you can create a custom cook. Both apps show the current status of the supercapacitor. The ECPin app has a radio beacon icon to tell you if there is a Bluetooth connection or not. The Stake app does not have an icon. Rather, if the connection is lost, the Stake app will display a message. Beneath the arc are two tabs. The "Guide Cook" tab allows you to display/set up the current cook. The "Previous Cook" tab shows you a list of previous cooks. Beneath the "Guide Cook" tab are three buttons where you can set up a cook by selecting the type of meat, the cut of meat, and the level of doneness. Finally, near the bottom of the screen are two buttons. The "Start Cook" button starts the cook and a timer that shows elapsed time. This primes the app to notify you when the meat temperature hits the target. The "Add Reminder" button allows you to set an alarm for a particular time or temperature.

These next screens show you your options in the two apps for setting up a cook. These menus appear when you select the "I want to cook", "Cut of meat" and "Doneness" buttons:

As you can see, the ECPin app has more choices than the Maverick app.

Starting A Cook Once you have made your choices, for meat, cut of meat and doneness, you can then press the Start Cook button to start monitoring of the probe temperature and start the cook timer. If you press the Start Cook button on the Stake app, you will go immediaately to the Cooking screen. When you press the Start Cook button on the ECPin app, you are presented with the following two dialogue boxes:        The first allows you to override the default name for your cook selected by the app, while the second reminds you to keep your phone within Bluetooth range and to keep the cooking screen on. (Killing the app wil result in your losing your cook.) Finally it asks you to confirm that you are ready to start the cook.

Cook History If you tap the clock tab at the bottom of every screen, you will be taken to the Cooking Records screen. There you will find a list of your previous cooks and a small amount of information about each one.

Cook Graphing If you then tap on one of the cooks in the list, you are taken to a graph of the cook that shows temperature vs. time and few other pieces of information about the cook.

Settings Menu The ECPin app allows you to select a language, temperature unit (°C or °F) and a temperature for the app to display an alert if the probe exceeds that temperature. The Stake app only allows you to select your temperature unit. The high temperature alarm is fixed at 176°F which is a problem. If you are going to cook a piece of meat to 205°F, once it hits 176°F, you will have to endure constant alarms warning to take your meat out of the oven. The ECPin app also allows you to import and export records, something which we have not explored. The Stake app does not have this feature. Finally, both apps have a tutorial which is a set of screens you can scroll through to see how to use the probe and the app. They both also have information about Regulation and Compliance, About Us, and the app version.

Signal Loss The ECPin app notifies you of loss of Bluetooth connection in two ways. Short term signal loss is shown by the little radio beacon icon going dim. The Stake app does not have the radio beacon icon. If the ECPin app loses the Bluetooth connection with the probe, you will get an alert, and the app will display the Time Out pop up. If the Stake app loses the connection, it will display the "Signal Loss" indicator over the top of the temperature arc.

Cooking With The Probes
We used the Stake probe to cook a pork loin tail in order to show you what the app looks like at various stages of the cooking process:

When you press the "Start Cook" button, you are presented with the Cooking screen. It is terribly difficult to see in the Stake app, but right above the work "Cooking" it says "Pork Loin Medium" which are the three selections we made to start the cook. You now also have an elapsed time displayed.

If during the cook you go back to the home screen, this is what it looks like. Amazingly, on this screen, you can actually read the words "Pork Loin Medium".

When the temperature of the meat gets close to your target (in our case, the app chose 140°F), you will get an alert as well as the words "Close To Target" displayed. (We switched over to the ECPin app at this point, and didn't get an alert. This is being addressed in the next version of the app, available soon.)

Finally, once the meat reaches the target temperature, you recieve an alert and the words "Cook Complete!" displayed. Also note that the elapsed time clock turns into the time elapsed since the cook completed. That green box at the bottom of the screen warning you not to overcook the meat also appears. (Incidentally, even though the app knows that the probe is named "Maverick", it used the probe's id instead of its chosen name.

And finally, we thought you would like to see a few photos of the cook process:

So, how did the Stake probe do at getting the meat cooked to a medium doneness? After we had rested the pork loin, we took a Thermoworks Thermapen and measured the temperature of the meat where the Stake probe had been. It read 146°F which is about right for having pulled the pork loin at 140°F and letting it rest.

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