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The MeatStick products contained in this review were provided by the manufacturer for the purpose of doing this review. No other considerations, financial or otherwise, were solicited from or given by Soma Labs.
Introduction
The MeatStick is a truly wireless meat thermometer that communicates via Bluetooth to transmit temperature data
to a smart device. Not only does this eliminate one or more wires coming out of your cooker, but also allows you
to monitor temperatures of meat spinning on a rotissiere. And while some makers of these truly wireless meat
thermometers choose to rest on their laurels and are still selling their original products, MeatStick has chosen
to continue to improve and update their products. This latest improvement is a new version of their thermometer
and charger/extender, the MeatStick 4x. What's new this time?
First, let's take a look at the new MeatStick 4x probe. It consists of a stainless steel shaft that serves as one of the electrical connections for charging. The probe shaft also houses the meat temperature sensors and temperature-sensitive electronics like a lithium battery and other circuitry. This ensures that the temperature-sensitive components are kept inside the meat which should never exceed 210°F.
Above the stainless steel shaft is a ceramic handle that houses a Bluetooth antenna and an ambient temperature sensor (what most of us would call the pit temperature sensor). And finally the probe has a metal cap that serves as the second electrical connection for charging. The cap is also connected thermally to the ambient temperature sensor. The ceramic handle also has a colored band to distinguish it from other probes if you have multiple probes. This color shows up in the MeatStick app.
What's New
The new MeatStick 4x probe is externally similar to previous MeatStick probes with one
important difference. There is no
longer a "minimum insertion" line etched onto the shaft of the probe. The minimum insertion point
is now all the way up to the ceramic handle. NOTE: While there is a very faint line etched on
the probe, don't confuse this with a minimum insertion line. You
must insert the probe all the way into the meat up to the ceramic handle. Otherwise, you could damage the electronics
contained inside the probe.
So what's new? For that we'll have to look inside the probe:
Probe Meat Sensors
The number of meat temperature sensors has been increased from 1 to 3.
The new additional sensors are used
to more accurately determine the coldest part of the meat in order to ensure accurate cook results. In addition,
the additional sensors allow the App to determine if you have inserted the probe all the way into the meat.
Failure to do so can result in a warning from the App. The following image shows the approximate location of the
various sensors:
Probe Battery Life
The battery life has been increased to a staggering 70 hours when using the Extender and 50 hours standalone.
Why the difference? When using the Extender, the probe can transmit its Bluetooth® signal at a lower power level
since it only needs to communicate with the Extender which is presumably close by. If there is no Extender in use,
the probe has to transmit with full power in order to achieve maximum range which drains the battery faster.
Probe Charging Time
The MeatStick FAQ lists the charging time for the probe as 2-4 hours. Our experience has been that it
is a bit faster than this.
Probe Bluetooth Range
Bluetooth range has been increased to 33 feet (10m) enclosed, 164 feet (50m) open cooker.
And of course, this range is increased even more when using the Extender which we'll discuss a little bit later.
Probe Accuracy
The typical method for testing food probe accuracy is to immerse
the probe in boiling water and compare the result to the actual boiling point of water. This is not possible
with either the MeatStick 4x since the App stops reporting the
temperature before you get to the boiling point of water in order to warn you that you are about to
exceed the maximum temperature for the probe. Also, MeatStick does not recommend placing the probe in
boiling water since it may damage the electronics inside. Similarly, you can't test the ambient sensor on the
MeatStick probe in boiling water as they warn, "Putting the Stick in boiling water will put excess strain on
its battery and will reduce its capacity."
The best we can do in the case of the food sensors, is to test them in an ice bath. We tested the MeatStick 4x probe in ice water and it hovered between 31°F and 32°F.
As far as the MeatStick ambient temperature sensor goes, MeatStick suggests testing it in an ice bath, but we had no luck in doing so. When the ambient sensor is immersed in water, so is the Bluetooth antenna and water eats Bluetooth radio waves for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The best we were able to achieve was a reading of 35°F before the signal was lost. And there really is not much point in trying to measure the accuracy of the ambient sensor since it will invariably read low throughout much of your cook due to the proximity of the ambient sensor to the meat. (More on this later when we describe some of our cooks.) Only towards the very end of the cook will the ambient sensor read anything close to the actual temperature in your cooker. Therefore it goes without saying that you shouldn't try to use the ambient sensor readings to control the temperature of your cooker. The real purpose of this ambient sensor is to give the App a reading on the temperature of the air immediately surrounding the meat in order to help predict the finish time of the cook.
Another reason for not worrying about checking the accuracy of the probe is that there is no way to calibrate it. If the probe fails, you will probably see a large error which will be immediately obvious.
Physical Measurements
Here are the physical characteristics of the MeatStick 4x probe:
| Overall Length | 5.3" (135mm) |
| Shaft Length | 3.6" (92mm) |
| Shaft Diameter | 0.24" (6mm) |
| Probe Weight | 0.56 ounces (16 grams) |
Along with the new MeatStick 4X probe comes the new MeatStick 4X charger/Bluetooth® repeater. The MeatStick 4X charger/repeater contains a Bluetooth® repeater in addition to the charging function. It is made of charcoal-colored plastic and powered by 2 AA batteries. It also has a button and an LED to let you know the status of the probe's battery when charging. Finally, it has magnets on the back to allow you to stick it to metal surfaces. Note that the charger is not water resistant, so you must protect it from rain when using it outside.
Regarding the LED, it is not very bright and cannot be seen in bright sunlight. Here is a list of some of the LED behaviors and what they mean:
 | Solid Green | AA batteries are OK and the probe is being charged |
 | Solid Red | Extender AA batteries are low |
 | Flashing Green 5 Times | Probe detected in charger |
 | Flashing Red 5 Times | No probe detected in charger |
 | Slowly Flashing Green | Extender function is active |
 | Slowly Flashing Red | Extender function is active, Extender AA batteries are low |
And here are a few notes about the behavior of the LED.
Now let's take a look at some photos of the MeatStick 4X charger/repeater: You can see the charging electrodes that hold the probe and make the electrical connections for charging. Also, you can see the battery compartment for the 2 AA batteries that power the charger. Finally you can see the button and the LED.
What's New
Previous MeatStick chargers would wake up every 8 hours if there was a probe in the charger and top off the probe's
battery. Now, the 4X Extender is always on low voltage charging, keeping your probe's battery fully charged and ready for use.
Of course, if you press the button, the charger will go into normal charging mode which is faster.
Also new is the Bluetooth® range of the Extender function in the charger. While previously the range of the extender was 100 (30m) feet indoors and 260 feet (80m) outdoors, the new MeatStick 4x Extender can now increase that range to 650 feet (200m).
Physical Measurements
The MeatStick 4x Charger Extender is 6-7/16" x 1-5/8" x 1" (164mm x 41mm x 25mm) and weighs
2.6 ounces (74g).
The Bluetooth® Repeater Function
The Bluetooth® repeater originally was a separate unit from the charger called the Extender. With the introduction of
the MeatStick WiFi Pro Set, the repeater function was incorporated into the MeatStickX and MiniX chargers.
This design has been continued with the MeatStick 4X Extender. (Note that the WiFi Bridge, sold
separately, can also be used as an extender/Bluetooth
repeater as well as a WiFi bridge.)
So, what is a Bluetooth® repeater? Essentially, it is just that. It receives the Bluetooth® signal from the probe and repeats it using a more powerful transmitter than is in the probes. Obviously, the probes have limited space for a battery and must operate with low power. The chargers with the extender function have more power than the probes and thus more range. You simply place the charger/extender near your cooker so it can receive the signal from the probe. It then repeats this signal with more power to your smart device. This allows you to wander farther afield and still maintain a Bluetooth connection with your smart device.
To turn the extender function on, you simply press the button on the charger. This will both turn on the extender as well as start charging the probe, if one is present. If the probe is charging, the green LED will stay on solid. Once the probe is fully charged or if you remove it from the charger, the green LED will start a slow blinking to show that the extender is on. When the MeatStick App running on your smart device connects to the extender, you will see a pop-up appear as well as the icon in the upper right corner of the screen, shown here circled in red:
One extender can connect to 8 MeatStick probes, so you only need one charger with an extender in it.
With the old Extender, you had to remember to turn it off when you were done. With these new chargers/extenders, the Extender will turn itself off when it no longer sees any connections with probes.
The Wifi Bridge
There is nothing new about the Wifi Bridge, so it is not a part of this review. However, we will point out that as of
this writing, the Wifi Bridge will not work with the MeatStick 4X. MeatStick says they are working on a Wifi Bridge
firmware fix for this problem. If you are interested in details
about the Wifi Bridge, see our review of the MeatStick Wifi Pro Set.
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