I Treated Myself, New ET-73

[bbq ron]

i bought 2 of the et73 from cabalas sporting good for $38 and no shipping charge

 

[seandje]

I've had one for a few months with no problems. I love it.

 

[blackened]

Now that's the best price I've seen for an et-73..

I just paid $44 and free shipping from Amazon..

 

[seenred]

Wow, great price. Wish there was a Cabela's close to me. I ordered mine online becase I couldn't find it in a store anywhere I looked.

 

[patcap]

I, too, just ordered one yesterday. Got it off ebay and paid $38.00+$4.95 shipping. Looking forward to trying it out.

 

[nozzleman]

Be sure not to get probe temps hotter than recommended it kills them, also dont drop them down into water to wash them, it kills them.

 

[jethro]

From my experience just taking them out of the box kills them.

 

[bman62526]

Well, mine has done 15 smokes over the course of 6-7 months and it works great. Yes - their customer service is better than 90% of the "customer service" I've ever had to deal with. Yes, both probes can monitor the smoking temp.

Also, BOTH probes only go to 392° (basically 400, but not quite) so you don't want to expose them to anything higher.

 

[brucebenjamin]

I'm looking for a high quality, dual probe, remote transmitter thermometer that isn't too expensive. So far I don't think that this combination exists.

The ET-73 thermometer seems to have a lot of great features but with hit or miss execution. A lot of people love it and a lot of people hate it but one thing seems to be consistent and that is that it has a very poor transmitter range. Without being able to go into the house and leave the smoker alone, what's the use of having the extra expense of a transmitter? Why can't Maverick just make this thing work right?

I did find instructions on how to, "Mod" the transmitter to add an external antenna and it supposedly doubled or tripled the range. http://www.instructables.com/id/Incr...BQ-Thermometer Ok, That's fine if you want to insure that there's very little chance of ever being able to warranty this product. I'm not afraid of electronics but Murphy's law seems to rear it's ugly head with things like this.

Also, it seems that the reliability of the probes could use improvement too. Good customer service is nice but I'd really rather not have to use it at all.

Does anyone know of a thermometer with all of these features that has a decent transmitter range and probes that are more reliable? I should also add with a price of under $50. Thanks.

Bruce

 

[khuhner]

So how did it work out? I am thinking about getting this thermometer but the reviews are very mixed.

Kurt

 

[erain]

for the dollar value it is actually the best one out there. the only drawback really is on the transmitter the switch is internal, which it must be to maintain weatherproofness. some say the switches break, taking moderate precautions when operating so the operator dont break the switch is all it takes. the second probe with the hi/lo monitoring is really what makes this model so great. as far as going in the house, i dont have much of a prob and if the signal is lost the reciever will stop showing the temps, so again the operator is responsible. thumbs up on the et-73 from me.

 

[ddave]

No. The high and low temp alarm in the single unit seem to be unique to the ET-73.

There in lies the rub. There was talk on another forum of a user discussing the possiblity with Thermoworks (the maker of the Thermapen) of making a unit with the features of the ET-73. As I understand it, Thermoworks' concern was they could not do it to their standards and price it competitively with the ET-73. And as evidenced with the howls of disbeleif that we hear about Thermapen prices sometimes, that is a valid concern. The bottom line is you get what you are willing to pay for.

Amen to that.

especially when you look at the feature set.

Yours must be different than mine, because mine only shows the last measured temp if the signal is lost.

But I just make sure that I use it within a known good range so I would agree that the operator is responsible.

Dave

 

[seenred]

After using mine three straight weekends, I am very pleased. It is doing what I need it to do, which is give me accurate temp readings on the meat and the smoker, with a temp range to alert me if the smoker temp spikes/falls. If I begin to experience problems with it, my opinion might change, but for now my recommendation is: this is a good product for the price.

 

[nickelmore]

Test Range of ET-73 first
Being a "newbie" I am typically hovering around the smoker most of the time watching, testing, tweeking. It was not for a month or so when I smoked an all night brisket that I learned that the remote would not read temps over 25 feet.

I contacted Maverick via phone and they asked me to send it to them so they can look at it and repair or replace it.

They have had it for a week now and have not heard anything. When I called them to ask how long it would be, I was told that they were a little backed up and it could be a couple of weeks.

I understand price points, but I also understand quality. I am not sure what others would pay for a dual probe temp or if there are other brands out there.

So far Im not real impressed.

 

[beerthirty]

Congrats on your new ET73! I ordered one two weeks ago and I paid $39 for it plus around $8 shipping and had it in three days! Works great however this weekend I lost the little grill clip for the smoker temp probe ( I think the dogs carried it away) and after reading these threads I'll just make me one out of wood. Thanks for the great ideas, guys and gals!

 

[evo 9 guy]

Instead of starting a new thread figured i would just add onto yours. finally pulled the trigger and bought a new et 73 for myself yesterday. Counting the days until it arrives.