A few things we'll point out about using the Primo Plus/Smartfire controllers:

1. A frequently asked question about temperature controllers is whether or not you should leave the adapter installed all the time and if so, how do you control air flow when you aren't using the unit. You probably don't want to leave the blower installed all the time. Installing it on your cooker is relatively simple, as is removing it.

2. Placement of the pit probe can be important. There are two schools of thought. One is that you want it located near the meat so that the controller is controlling the temperature at the location of the meat, not somewhere else. However, the probe must not touch the meat and should be at least an inch or two from the meat. If the meat influences the temperature of the probe (especially when the meat is first placed in the cooker and is cold), obviously the controller will be sensing a false low pit temperature and will therefore compensate by overstoking the fire. The other school of thought is that if you are used to cooking by dome temperature (meaning as measured by the thermometer sticking through your dome), then you may wish to place the pit probe on the stem of your thermometer to control the temperature measured at that location. We seemed to get the best results when using the Primo Plus/Smartfire controller when the probe was clipped to the dome thermometer.

3. While your Primo Plus/Smartfire controller is offline, it will still continue to control your cooker, using the last known parameters. When the controller returns online, you will then be able to see it in the App and continue monitoring and controlling it from there.
4. Temperature updates on the Primo Plus/Smartfire App screen appear at about 15-second intervals. Generally speaking, communications between the controller, the Smartfire Cloud and the App on your smart device are quite rapid.
5. You can use either the Primo Plus or the Smartfire App to monitor either controller. However, it is recommended that you not try to use both at the same time.
6. Sometimes we found that killing and restarting the App would reset the target temperature.
7. Graphs don't reset until 24 hours after you turn your controller off.

Primo Plus/Smartfire Open Lid Mode Results

How well does this controller handle opening the lid of your cooker? Since you have four choices, "Off", "Less", "Normal", and "More", we tested each setting by getting the cooker stable at a medium temperature and then opening the lid for 60 seconds before closing it. Here's how the controller performed at each setting:

Smartfire/Primo Plus OLM Results

As you can see, we got the best results with the "More" setting. We experienced the smallest temperature peak after closing the lid and the cooker was back to its target setting after 10 minutes.

Primo Plus/Smartfire Control Results

How well does the Primo Plus/Smartfire actually control the temperature of your cooker? Here are the results that we obtained when allowing the controller to control a large Big Green Egg at low, medium and high temperatures:

Target	Accuracy	Swing
Low	+5.9° F	±7.2° F
Medium	-2.3° F	±4.0° F
High	-5.0° F	±5.2° F

As you can see in the table above, our results weren't the best we've ever seen. However, they were also not the worst we have ever seen. Regardless, the control over you cooker's temperature with the Primo Plus/Smartfire controller is every bit good enough for cooking purposes.

Summary

Here is a list of things we did and didn't like during our testing:

Things We Like: MEATER/ECtherm probe support. Reasonable temperature control, far better than any indoor oven. Contains many of the basic temperature control features. Open Lid Detect, Learning Your Cooker, Text/Notification alerts, up to 3 meat probes. More responsive thermistor probes. Low cost.

Things We Didn't Like: With no display or keypad, you are obviously at the mercy of the availability of the Smartfire server, the internet and Wi-Fi. Having an integrated blower means you don't have the option of using a different blower, perhaps one that has a damper. No access to cook raw data. Blower has no damper. Bottom of the unit is open to the weather and must be kept pointed down. Intake air is sucked in through this opening and passes over the unit's electronics. If your cooker is sitting on a flat surface, there may not be room to plug in the USB-C cable. Indicator LED is inside the enclosure and only visible from certain angles. With the opening pointed down, you may not be able to see the LED at all. We found the firmware update process to be quite error prone. Sometimes it took many tries to get the firmware to update. No alligator clip supplied for the pit probe. We found the MEATER setup process to be error prone and if the probe loses connection, you must start over again. The combined graph shows many lines in different colors, but there is no legend. If you lower your target temperature for the pit probe, you immediately get an alert that the pit probe is over temperature. We were unable to get direct connect via Bluetooth to work other than during initial installation process. Thermistor probes can be fragile and require more care in handling.

Smartfire has provided, via the Smartfire and Primo Plus controllers, a reasonably-priced option for BBQ temperature control. The App is feature-rich and the unit itself provides adequate temperature control for all types of BBQ cooking. Plus, we found Smartfire support to be excellent. And while the above list of things we don't like is rather long, most of them are minor annoyances.

Availability

The Primo Plus controller is available through Primo dealers. Smartfire products are available from their web site.

Contact Information

Primo Ceramic Grills 918 Freeburg Ave Belleville, IL 62220 800-851-3153 Web: www.primogrill.com Email: info@empirecomfort.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/primoceramicgrills

SmartFire Pty Ltd 10014 Bentley Way Tampa, Florida  33626 Web: www.smartfirebbq.com Email: support@smartfirebbq.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/smartfirebbq

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