Leave a Review The MeatStick
Extreme Caution : Total Spyware Trojan Horse
This is total spyware disguised as a meat thermometer. Extreme caution advised. They require Precise GPS location of you at all times for this to work. It will track your movements 7/24 and know when you aren’t home. It further wants access to your entire LAN, and requires you to maintain an account (to receive spam no less) for it function at full specifications. The terms and privacy are 44 pages long. They also reserve the right to charge you to use the app in the future.
They are completely untruthful in the setup process “eg Bluetooth only works if GPS-Precise is enabled”
About the only they didn’t ask for during setup was my bank transit and acct number
This is right up there with washing machines that ask for your gps location 7/24 to allow you to know when the rinse cycle starts.
I’ll go back to something more basic like a glass liquid thermometer to know when the chicken is done.
Returned it to Amazon after 20 minutes on non use - as it’s impossible to setup unless you submit to all the invasive privacy access it demands.
TOTAL FAILShow lessTHXLife
Use of location services is annoying
As a temperature monitor the meatstick does a fine job.
But it does have one intensely annoying “feature”, the requirement to have location services set to “Always” in order to use it.
If you don’t shut down location services it will occasionally access your location when not in use.
Why can this not be changed to “Only when in use”?Show lessdfntech
Why do I need location services on precise?
This works ok, similar to others on market. Interface is more clumsy though, have to figure out how to just get temps, without a cook, without alarms. But most importantly, why does it need to have precise location on? What does my location have to do with temperatures??? I get it’s for marketing, but let the people who don’t care about giving location away keep that on. I don’t want to share location of ever cook… if you’re going to farm data, give me device for free.
Edit: Developer says the location services are necessary to link via Bluetooth. None of the other similar products require this! And I don’t own a single other Bluetooth product that requires location to connect.Show lessRuss A.
Developer Response
Hi Russ, thank you for your review. The main feature of our product is to leave in the meat thermometer while cooking and the app will notify you when it reaches the desire temp. Unlike an instant read or other type of meat thermometers. About location service, as what we state in the app, you can always turn it off when you're not using the MeatStick. Location Services are required for The MeatStick App to work, but not for marketing use. With the Location Services turned off, the app cannot actively search for the Bluetooth transmissions from the Stick. If the Location Services is set to while in use, it will lose connection when the app isn't actively open. If the screen is off, or you're in different apps, The MeatStick app will no longer be able to receive temps. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions!Great device and app
People giving this thermometer a bad review are retards and don’t know how to use technology. It works perfectly every time for me. I like using it in the air fryer for pork chops. They turn out tender and juicy every time. Honestly I’ve had some of the best temperature probes out there, and they don’t even come close to the accuracy of this probe.Show lessBubbafrankfort
Developer Response
Thank you!! We're so happy to know that you have great experience cooking with the MeatStick! Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions of our current or future products/features :)Not Worth the Expense
This was a very expensive thermometer and I was really expecting a great tool. So far, I have been very disappointed. Despite buying the bridge extender, the thermometer frequently looses its connection, even when the bridge and base are within a foot or two of the thermometer probe. The app is also not very helpful. I frequently have to go back to the instructions in the box to figure out how to get started. Often, the recommendation is to remove the probe from the meat, place it back in the base, press the start button and wait for it to connect. This had the promise of being something great, but falls way short. Wish I could return it and get something else.Show lessMflash980
Developer Response
Hi there, we're sorry to hear about your experience. It is not normal that your product doesn't work as it should. We have thousands of users using it without issues and we want you to have the same experience too. Could you send a support request through the App? That'll give us some debug information about your situation. Make sure you are logged into your App account first. You can access that by going into the Menu -> Help -> E-mail us (on the upper right corner of the screen) > Email Support. Thank you for your help!Location
I’m not sure why you need to permanently know my phones location even when not using the app. Seems a bit of a stretch for a meat thermometersimontrick
Developer Response
Hi there, You can always turn it off when you're not using the MeatStick! Location Services are required for The MeatStick App to work. With the Location Services turned off, the app cannot actively search for the Bluetooth transmissions from the Stick. If the Location Services is set to while in use, it will lose connection when the app isn't actively open. If the screen is off, or you're in different apps, The MeatStick app will no longer be able to receive temps. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions!Won’t hold a charge after one use
I used it one time, cleaned it put it on the charger and put it in the cupboard about three days later, even though it’s advertised as keeping charged, I went to use it and it said it did not have enough power to be used. I put it on the charger again make sure that the batteries had full charge. Next time I wanted to use it, I hit the charger button in the morning. By afternoon, after having been on the charger most of the day, when I went to connect they told me it had less than 20% charge and needed to be in low power mode. If it actually hold a charge it was good for more than one use I probably would have given it five stars. UPDATE -got it to charge, and sometimes it works, definitely better if you got an opening on top of the stove and keep your phone within 3 feet of the stove. If you put it in a toaster oven it’s iffy if you actually put it in the oven even keeping your phone within 3 feet of the oven it disconnects and it will not reconnect. It is so rarely actually working, that I considered to never workShow less90Pop
Developer Response
Hi there, Could you send a support request through the App? That'll give us some debug information about your situation. Make sure you are logged into your App account first. You can access that by going into the Menu -> Help -> E-mail us (on the upper right corner of the screen) > Email Support. Our support team will look into it and help!Issues with the meat stick
I’m in my 3rd meat stick. I love the product when it works but after a few uses it stops connecting to the app. The company has been great in response when I have these problems and have sent me out new ones after a few trouble shooting options. Not sure why it keeps haven’t this issue but I hope 3rd time is the charm. I hope this 3rd one will last longer than a couple uses.Show lessPatb2390
So close, but poor execution.
The app is great easy to set up and use. The MeatStick itself….not so much. I’ve had it for just over a year and have never successfully completed a cook with it. Why? The Wi-Fi bridge disconnects at least once every hour, and it’s not a simple one click to reconnect it. More importantly, the temperatures are nowhere near correct! Last week I was snoring some meat, the app showed an ambient temperature of 250. It was actually 340! Same is true with the internal meat temperature. At this point. The MeatStick is useless to me. If the app had a way to adjust the temperature reading to make it accurate, that would solve this major problem.Show lessMadaszj001
Developer Response
Hi there, what you've experienced doesn't sound normal at all. We have thousands of users using the products without issues and we want you to have the same experience too. Please reach out to our support team by sending an app request (app menu->help->email us->email support). Our support team will help you to check the wifi bridge connecting issue and the temp accuracy.Major flaws with limited upside
TLDR: The temperature measurement is not accurate in terms of measuring the tip of the probe and it unnecessarily requires your exact location always. I don’t think this would be useful for most cooks.
The app requires you always share your precise location in order to even connect to the thermometer. This seems like a blatant information grab because there’s no reason my thermometer needs to know where it is.
The accuracy is also questionable. The measuring point for the probe IS NOT the tip of the probe. It seems to be an average temperature along the entire exposed metal piece. I found this out by placing just the tip into a pot of hot water. The more fully the exposed metal was placed into the water, the hotter the output.
Response speed is also slow. I found it to be within 30 seconds, but the probe has to be fully implanted in whatever your measuring.Show lessMLH1337
Developer Response
Hello, thank you very much for the review. There seems to be a misunderstanding in the use of the product. 1. Temp accuracy: The internal temperature sensor is placed around 1.5' from the tip of the probe. You can find it easily on our app tutorial that where exactly the meat temp is tracked. For testing the temp accuracy, we DO NOT recommend testing it in boiling water. Putting the Stick in boiling water will put excess strain on its battery and will reduce its capacity. If you have question about the temp accuracy, we suggest you to follow the instructions in the app or contact our support team directly. (support@themeatstick.com) 2. Location service: If the Location Service is not set to "Always/Allow All The Time" and the phone screen is locked or you are browsing through the other apps in your phone during the cook, the Stick will lose connection and you will not be able to receive notifications from The MeatStick app. We understand Location permissions are a concern and we do not use it to track or even record your location data. Location services are required because our App and the Sticks use the Bluetooth beacon functionality that is built into the "Location permission". For some reason, Apple and Android have this functionality built there instead of the Bluetooth permissions. As such, if this permission is disabled, the App will be unable to receive the temperature data from the MeatStick via Bluetooth. Apple, for example, does not allow Apps onto the App Store that misuse and mislead the use of location permissions. They required us to send them a MeatStick in order to prove that everything is in order. If you have issues, you may disable it when the app is not being used. We do recommend it be set to "Always/Allow All The Time" when it is used otherwise when the app is in the background it will not be able to receive temperature signals. 3. Response speed: The MeatStick is not an instant read thermometer. Neither of the sensors are instant-read measuring the temp at exactly that point. Instead, they take the temp around it as the probe itself absorbs the heat. You can find all the answers to your concerns on The MeatStick app and the website. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us support@themeatstick.com
