Weber Style 6438 Professional-Grade Barbecue Beeper Digital Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I have owned 4 or 5 of the Webber units that are essentially the same design as all of the wireless units on the market. I have also owned 8 or 10 of the probes that stick into the meat.

The thermometers are great when they work. They are so good that, even knowing the design flaw, I keep buying them and replacement probes.

The receivers and transmitters all work well and seem to have an expected long lifetime. The probe is the Achilles heel in every make and model of wireless thermometer. Within the metal, flexible shielded cable that runs from the probe to the transmitter are small wires. Small weak wires. Small fragile wires. Small worthless wires due to their failure rate.

If the user closes the lid of the BBQ or smoker on the metal shielded cable between the probe and the transmitter, the internal wires WILL fail. It may take 2 or 3 times, but they will fail. If the metal shielded cable is kinked or bent too sharply, the internal wires will fail.

A couple of years ago I was on the Webber customer service line (again) requesting a new probe because the wires failed. I asked the customer service representative if she owned one of these wireless systems and, to my surprise, she said "Are you kidding? I would NEVER own one of these". I asked her why and she said "I have a full time job, 7 days a week taking calls just like this one people complaining 8 hours a day, 7 days a week because the probe failed".

Now, if I were her boss, I would have fired her on the spot. From a consumer's point of view I found this somewhat alarming.

This summer I will probably buy another and attempt to keep the smoker's lid from crushing the tiny worthless wires but eventually I will fail and so will the probe.

In short, this is a great product with a major and easily correctable design flaw. Be prepared that the wires within the shielded cable can and will fail.

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I have used this thermometer for about three years and it works great for its intended purpose, I insert it in roast, briskets, pork butts etc. when I smoke meat, Just make sure you push the reset buttons on each piece when you change the batteries or your reciever will not show a temperature. Mine did this and I thought it was broken so I bought a new one and decided to read the instructions and read about the resets , I took the new one back and I am a happy camper now smoking my meat on my smoker I bought from Amazon.

You need a paper clip to push the resets

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Perfect pork, fabulous fish, moist chicken and more! On the grill or in the oven this thermometer helped me turn out three "home run" meals the first week I had it! Before buying this thermometer I pretty much limited my grilling to steaks because I could easily judge "done-ness". Now I no longer fear dried out chicken or leathery pork.

I returned a similar model of a different brand (Polder) because the probe failed after one use. This unit seems well made and has held up to a season of grilling and now that my cooking has moved back inside I'm using it in the oven as well.

"Surprise" feature I really like it beeps 5 degrees BEFORE the desired temp, just enough warning to either "get back to the grill" or to take the food off the grill and let carry over heat finish cooking.

Minor gripe you can't set the alarm for an arbitrary temperature. Even so, the presets cover all the temps you'd need for barbecue.

It's not perfect, but I'd buy this model again.

Honest reviews on Weber Style 6438 Professional-Grade Barbecue Beeper Digital

After reading some bad reviews for this product, I decided I have to put my two cents in.

I purchased a Weber probe thermometer at target 5 years ago as a gift for my dad, and he hardly used it for a year. When I took over cooking family meals I began using it EVERY TIME I cooked meats for 4 years, until I finally broke it.

I have used this product in ovens, broilers, grills and smokers. the only inaccurate readings i ever got where when the batteries were low or the probe was improperly inserted into the meat.

In short, this is a great product for someone who knows how to cook and where to temp your meats. The probe gives accurate readings and the wireless unit has excellent range. If you do not know how to cook, this product probably will not help you. Thanks to this product my meats were always cooked perfectly.

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The device works and is a great idea, but has such limited functionality that it deserves only 1 star. It comes preprogramed with target temperatures for cooked meats with no way to set your own target temperature, and their target temperature are wrong. Since there is no way to set your own target temp, it renders the device useless for doing anything but what they think you should do. For example, there is no way adjust it for cooking game meats, searing fish, or any other type of creative cooking.

For poultry and hamburger, they must be so scared of lawsuits that the only temperature setting is well done. So, if you have any circumstances (such as homemade mince meat from fresh steak) in which you don't want you hamburger dry and tasteless there is no way to adjust the target temp correctly.

Also, the operation temperature of the probe is 20-250C (68-482 F), but the display only maxes out at 199 in either C or F. Bizarrely, that means it can display a much higher maximum temperature in C than F (199C = 390F). So, although the operating range is fine for monitoring the ambient temperature of 300 F for smoking, it can only do so in C.

A great little device limited only by the people who programed the functions, and then had the guts to call it "professional grade". I suggest looking elsewhere.