TempSpike 4+

Great temperature monitoring

Used this for the first time and it worked great.
Must’ve been updated because I can set presents for highs and lows to my own liking. Also alarms can be programmed when to come on or off. Used it on a 4 lb whole rotisserie style chicken and it came out perfectly. Quick note : trust the ambient temp on the app because it tells the true temp inside your grill. My new Weber just I bought a month ago, the temp gauge reads 425* but the TempSpike app says 370* a 55* difference.
So when the recipe calls for 370* put tape over grill temp gauge and trust The TempSpike reading.
Love the countdown on the app giving time left before cooking is done. Ok, one little thing is,
the time it takes to charge the probe. Took about 4 hrs. No biggie, just plan ahead before you use it.
The base only took about half of the time. Follow directions and you’ll happy with the results like I was.

Missing functionality

I don’t know if it’s just a lack of experience cooking that creates a very narrow approach to companion applications for these thermometers, but there are some glaring issues that could easily be fixed.

First, why in the world do I have to select a meat type just to choose a target temperature? OK, fine. I can either create my own or use “No Profile.” Regardless, it’s ridiculous that I have to go BACK into the settings THREE LAYERS DEEP into the selected cook just to change the target temperature. Make it simple! Let me tap a button on the main screen, adjust the temperature up and down with a plus and minus, and that’s it! Don’t make me go back into a menu setting just to change it. Argh.

Second, why do I have the ability to set a low and high alarm for the ambient temperature, but I don’t have the ability to set the same low and high on the internal temperature? I know it seems silly to some, but when I am resting something like a brisket, pork shoulder, etc., knowing that it is not dipping below a certain temperature is important to me! It’s such a simple concept. This app could be so much better improvements. Also, to some other reviewer’s points, signal strength on Bluetooth connectivity is super helpful! Hopefully the developers are listening!

Developer Response ,

Hello, Thanks for the feedback, we will pass this information along to our factories for when we make improvements to our app in the future.

Hoping for an app update

I’ve been a fan of ThermaPro instant read thermometers for years. I believe this product is a great value and quality, however the app is not intuitive or modern. It feels like it was built by a hardware/software engineer and not a proper product designer with a solid understanding of what the user experience should be.

As others have mentioned, you have to select a meat before setting ambient hi/lo temps.

I wish I could do this for the meats including three internal temp settings: a low setting for the chance my heat source goes out, internal temp when I should pull the meat off of the heat source, and a resting temp for the expected rise in temp after pulling meat from the heat source.

Having preselected and custom settings for each meat type is good, but I’d like to skip the meats and just enter the temps mentioned above.

Next, I love the idea of the graphing but almost every time I start a cook, I forget to start the recording. The buttons are not intuitive and easy to gloss over.

If I were to define the best flow for myself, I’d walk the chef through a series of steps:
1) set the necessary temps,

2) insert probe and check Bluetooth connection with temp readings,

3) start button to begin the recording (and stop button for the end)

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the feedback, we will pass this along to our developers so they can look further into this.