![best-meat-probe-for-2024-[cnet]](https://i0.wp.com/upmytech.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/195923-best-meat-probe-for-2024-cnet.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1)
Best Meat Probe for 2024 [CNET]
Our Experts
Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter. However, by utilizing his years of experience in the tech and mobile communications industries, success is assured. When not conquering the outdoors and testing new gadgets, Chris enjoys cruising a gravel road in his UTV with some good tunes, camping, and hanging out with his family.
Expertise Smart home devices, outdoors gadgets, smartphones, wearables, kid’s tech, and some dabbling in 3D printing Credentials
- Covered the mobile and smart home tech space for the past five years for multiple large publications.
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.
When it comes to cooking meat, if you ask any professional chef or backyard grill king, what is the number one thing that leads to a perfectly cooked and juicy protein? It’s temperature. Not to mention the safety factor of eating undercooked meat. Regardless of whether you are trying to grill up some burgers for a family cookout or smoke a brisket for 15 hours, temperature matters.
Plenty of great grilling tips and grilling tools can help you along your way, but if you aren’t cooking your meat to the proper internal temperature, you’re doing it wrong. This is why you need the best meat probe you can get. There are smart wireless options, like the excellent Meater 2 Plus or instant-read probes, like the ThermoPro Lightning.
What’s the best meat probe?
Throughout our testing, the Meater 2 Plus came out on top. It’s accurate, like all the probes on this list, but the added benefit of the 1,000-degree maximum temperature makes it the most well-rounded probe overall.
We’ve gathered the top meat probes on the market to ensure you can grill, smoke, roast, bake or however else you want to cook your meat to perfection every time.
Best meat probes
” page-position linktext linkurl like dislike can-collapse=”false” can-truncate=”false” truncate-on-page-load=”false” offer=”{“id”:”e0ddb906-2b66-4d31-b9d7-7b4fbdc84989″,”label”:”[New] MEATER 2 Plus: Direct Heat Grilling at 1000°F, Smart Meat Thermometer, Long Bluetooth Range, 100% Waterproof, Precision Cooking, Multi Sensors, Certified Calibration, for BBQ/Grill/Kitchen”,”slug”:”new-meater-2-plus-direct-heat-grilling-at-1000f-smart-meat-thermometer-long-bluetooth-range-100-waterproof-precision”,”edition”:[“us”],”imageId”:””,”imgUrl”:””,”imageHeight”:0,”imageWidth”:0,”typeLabel”:”Series”,”objectType”:”content_product_series”,”icon”:””}” techobjectinfo=”{“uuid”:”e0ddb906-2b66-4d31-b9d7-7b4fbdc84989″,”slug”:”new-meater-2-plus-direct-heat-grilling-at-1000f-smart-meat-thermometer-long-bluetooth-range-100-waterproof-precision”,”name”:”[New] MEATER 2 Plus: Direct Heat Grilling at 1000°F, Smart Meat Thermometer, Long Bluetooth Range, 100% Waterproof, Precision Cooking, Multi Sensors, Certified Calibration, for BBQ/Grill/Kitchen”,”productType”:”SERIES”,”updateType”:”EZMONEY”,”mod”:1721073500530}” overridecredit=”Meater” overridecaption=”
Being able to leave the probe inside the oven and still get your temperatures on an app makes this my personal favorite.
” imagegroup=”{“uuid”:”ae1c1147-9730-4849-8cd9-3cd44c402e7b”,”alt”:”The all-metal Meater 2 probe sticking in a steak with flames around it”,”caption”:”
“,”credits”:”James Bricknell / CNET”,”imageData”:{“id”:”ae1c1147-9730-4849-8cd9-3cd44c402e7b”,”filename”:”meater-2-plus-flames.jpg”,”path”:”https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/87b2661c4b574ce18b2bd938cf5fae16b3f75e6c/hub/2023/11/03/ae1c1147-9730-4849-8cd9-3cd44c402e7b/meater-2-plus-flames.jpg?auto=webp&height=500″,”dateCreated”:{“date”:”2023-11-03 16:12:23.000000″,”timezone”:”UTC”,”timezone_type”:3},”primeColor”:null,”hasWarning”:false},”size”:””,”float”:””,”lightbox”:false,”imageUrl”:”https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/87b2661c4b574ce18b2bd938cf5fae16b3f75e6c/hub/2023/11/03/ae1c1147-9730-4849-8cd9-3cd44c402e7b/meater-2-plus-flames.jpg?auto=webp&height=500″,”imageCaption”:”
“,”imageCredit”:”James Bricknell / CNET”,”imageAltText”:”The all-metal Meater 2 probe sticking in a steak with flames around it”,”imageFilename”:”meater-2-plus-flames.jpg”,”imageWidth”:3840,”imageHeight”:2160,”imageDoNotCrop”:false,”imageDoNotResize”:false,”imageWatermark”:false,”imageDateCreated”:”2023-11-03″,”imageParallax”:””,”imageCrop”:””,”imageEnlarge”:false}” usepricing=”false” ng-block=”{“id”:”zjj04yz85uet991″,”type”:”cross-content-listicle”}” edition=”us” data-key=”cross_content_listicle__41585ad5-48b0-4a64-9970-0f32dbd73588″ contenttype=”Best List – Precap” pagelayout=”Default – Article Page w/ original publish date” tagslugs=”grilling” isbestlistredesign=”true” imagecredit=”James Bricknell / CNET”>
The first time I saw the Meater 2 Plus, I knew I had to use it. I live in southern California, and the weather is pretty much always good enough to throw a rack of ribs or a spatchcock chicken on the grill. I do a lot of cooking out in the backyard, but it takes a long time to cook. You really want to cook slowly and evenly on a grill to keep the juices in.
The Meater 2 Plus lets me put the temperature probe into the meat, close the grill lid, and maintain a connection to my phone. Not only is the connection tremendous, but if you tell the app what meat you are cooking, it can work out the resting time, too, giving you a perfect piece of meat every time. The update to the Meater 2 means it can be much closer to the heat, including deep frying turkeys.
Read more: Our Meater 2 Plus hands-on
Photo Gallery 1/1
James Bricknell / CNET
Ensuring you cook your meat to the proper temps for tenderness, juiciness, and safety is as important as how you season your meat.
Chris Wedel/CNETHow far do wireless meat probes reach?
This depends on the model and features it includes. For example, ThermoPro’s Twin TempSpike has a 500ft Bluetooth range, the Meater 2 Plus is 250ft typical, and Typhur uses both Bluetooth and built-in Wi-Fi for nearly unlimited range. Although Meater claims a 2,500-ft rant on the 2 Plus, that is an open-air range, and that is why 250-ft is going to be more realistic.
How accurate are wireless meat probes?
Accuracy has really improved in the past few years, with most of the top brands claiming their sensors are within ±0.5°F. This is generally pretty common for high-end meat probes and when compared to a dedicated thermocouple close to the claims.
Are wired or wireless meat probes better?
Much of this will depend on your cooking setup and needs. Wired probes will generally have longer battery life and provide more real-time readings. You’ll have to be content with wires coming from your grill, and if you have to run the wires under the lid, you risk heat and smoke loss from your grill. Wireless are more convenient and usually more expensive. You’ll still get highly accurate readings and not have to worry about losses from a grill lid that isn’t sealed shut.
![how-to-use-youtube-to-market-your-business-[readwrite]](https://i0.wp.com/upmytech.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/25920-how-to-use-youtube-to-market-your-business-readwrite.jpg?resize=390%2C205&ssl=1)
![ios-16.5-beta-2:-new-features-your-iphone-could-get-soon-–-cnet-[cnet]](https://i0.wp.com/upmytech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/119007-ios-16-5-beta-2-new-features-your-iphone-could-get-soon-cnet-cnet.jpg?resize=300%2C201&ssl=1)
![resources-and-tools-for-remote-workers-coming-out-of-retirement-[readwrite]](https://i0.wp.com/upmytech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/114426-resources-and-tools-for-remote-workers-coming-out-of-retirement-readwrite.jpg?ssl=1)