BBQ Guru or Stoker Control

brad11140 · January 2012

Looking into getting a temperature controller for my large BGE. Both of these units are on the market and I was curious what everyone here thinks. Which one is better.

GatoGordo · January 2012

I have a Stoker on order. The reason that I picked it over the Guru is that I can control it remotely.

My daughter was graduating from college and we were having people over after the ceremony for pulled pork. The ceremony ran longer than I expected and I sat there worrying about the pork. If I had the Stoker then, I could have checked up on the meat and shut down the fire, if need be.

True, that need only occurred once, but I still went with the Stoker in case the need again arises.

BOWHUNR · January 2012

Both are good time proven reliable units. Simply put,

Gets the job done: BBQ Guru

Gets the job done for a techno geek: Stoker

Meant nothing bad about the techno geek thing. I'm posting this from my iPhone!

Mike
Omaha, NE

GreenhawK · January 2012

I just got my Stoker in this week, and I am trying it out tomorrow. I can't wait. I chose it because of being able to adjust it remotely as well.

I got called into work while I had some ribs on. It took me longer than I thought, and the ribs almost ruined. Now I should be able to keep track of them if I get into that situation again.

brad11140 · January 2012

Hey mike no offense taken here. Bit of a techno geek myself. With the stoker it has wifi control but I don't knOw if it's something I can control from my iPhone. I'm not seriously that worried. But the day might arrive where I have to throw something on and be gone awhile. Most of these items seem pc based and we are a Mac family.

More simply put I worry about paying the extra money for wifi control than finding out I have to have a pc to check on it. I need to give them a call.

GreenhawK · January 2012

The Stoker is used through the web, so you can use your I Phone or Mac. The Cyber Q must have a PC though.

BOWHUNR · January 2012

I have two Digi Q DX's and a Party Q so techno or not I really can't justify a Stoker for the cool factor. I could swear I have seen guys here or on the other forum post about connecting with an iPhone. You do it through the web browser so I'm not sure why you couldn't. BTW, big Mac family here to. I think we have one or two of everything Steve Jobs ever marketed.......seriously!

Mike
Omaha, NE

brad11140 · January 2012

@GreenhawK. Good to know. Thanks for all of the input everyone. Cooking some chicken on my BGE as I speak.

bigguy136 · January 2012

I went with the Stokers. I have an Excel spreadsheet open and it goes to the Stoker every 2 minutes, gets pit temp, meat temp and outdoor temp. After a cook, I save the Excel data including where I bought the meat and brand. I hope to see trends that I wouldn't otherwise.

BOWHUNR · January 2012

bigguy is a major techno geek!!!!

Mike
Omaha, NE

tmackie · January 2012

I just got my Stoker in this week, and I am trying it out tomorrow. I can't wait. I chose it because of being able to adjust it remotely as well.

I got called into work while I had some ribs on. It took me longer than I thought, and the ribs almost ruined. Now I should be able to keep track of them if I get into that situation again.

Greenhawk,

How long did you have to wait on your stoker? I am about to pull the trigger on one or the DigiQ and am really torn. Talked to LindaJo at BBQ Guru the other day and she said they have a new unit with the WiFi capability coming out in the next 3-4 weeks. Anybody heard about it or have any info? She couldn't go into any details with me....

bigguy136 · January 2012

I bought my Stokers just before Christmas and it took two weeks for delivery.

bigguy136 · January 2012

bigguy is a major techno geek!!!!

Mike
Omaha, NE

When I tell my co-workers I put my grill on my home network, I get that same response. HMMM, I don't get it.

thechief96 · January 2012

I went with the stoker. I have not had any issues with it and I can control both of my eggs with the stoker. I only use it on low and slow, like pork butts and briskets. Real easy to keep it below 250 where I want it. I did however know how to maintain those low temps without the aid of the stoker before I got it.

brad11140 · January 2012

I think I am probably going to go with the stoker. Is the 5cfm fan good enough for a large BGE or do I need to upgrade to the 10 since the digiq comes with a 10.

GreenhawK · January 2012

I just made a test fire with my Stoker today. I wanted to check it out before my cook tonight. It worked like a champ. It went to 300 pretty quickly, and stayed at 300.2 degrees for an hour with no problems. The setup was really easy.

I have not hooked it up to the network yet though. I don't have a spare ethernet cable, and my wife is streaming a movie off of Amazon through the DVD player with the only ethernet cable in the house. I will work on it when she is done watching the movie though.

Tmackie - It took a little over 2 weeks to get it in. They must build them to order or something.

GreenhawK · January 2012

Oh yeah. The 5cfm is plenty for the large. When the fan was blowing to get the egg up to temp, there was so much positive pressure that the smoke was coming out round the gasket, between the daisy wheel and the egg, and from around the bottom vent. It is pushing plenty of air.

tmackie · January 2012

Thanks a lot for the info Greenhawk. I may wait until BBQGuru unveils their wifi controller in a few weeks to make my decision.

If anyone has any info on the new BBQGuru unit, please share it with us!

brad11140 · January 2012

Yeah I would be curious about that as well.

smasch · January 2012

After looking, looking and looking some more, my mind was made up for me. The wife and kids surprised me with a digi q. Have used it twice and to say I am happy is a bold understatement. I see the benefit of the Stoker, however going from neither to the Guru is a quantum leap.

Mickey · January 2012

Sold my digiQ after 2 years in the box and never used. Just did not want to do the wires. Have order holding for the new partyQ as soon as they start selling again.

GreenhawK · January 2012

I really don't think you can go wrong with either one. I would be perfectly happy with either. I just liked the stoker for the ability to adjust it on the web. 90% of the time I am at home for most of the cook, but I had the one instance when the food over cooked while I got called into work. Which Guru has a feature where it drops the pit temp when the meat gets close to being at the target temp that would work as well.

Smoker_Guru · January 2012

I have the DigiQ and love it!! Perfect for low and slows. And like Greenhawk said it will ramp the temp down as the meat gets close to set teemp.

tmackie · January 2012

I am SO TORN between Stoker and the DigiQ! I don't know how often I would use all the Stoker's web functionality, but I would like to have it. Linda Jo at BBQGuru told me a week ago that they were just a few weeks from launching their own WiFi enabled controller.So.....

I guess I'm going to wait until it is released and then make my decision.

On a side note, today is the last day of January and STILL no WiFi firmware update from Stoker. It has now been delayed 6+ months from the original promise date of July 2011.

Cowdogs · January 2012

I have the DigiQ and love it!! Perfect for low and slows. And like Greenhawk said it will ramp the temp down as the meat gets close to set teemp.

Yeah the "ramp" feature of the DigiQ is something I like. Being able to remotely drop temp would be nice... but knowing my DigiQ will drop temp even if I am not paying attention or sleeping is better for me.

I go fishing offshore a lot, and I can not count on always having cell coverage when I would need it.

ChokeOnSmoke · January 2012

I've had my DigiQ DX for almost a year now. I only use it for low & slows and for beef jerky (where you need to keep the temp really low for 6 hours or more). Very happy with it.

Also recently had a good experience with their support team. I somehow managed to break the tip off of one of the probes INSIDE the plug on the unit. I tried getting the tip out of the plug but there was no way that was happening. It was lodged way down inside and was totally stuck. I mailed the unit and the broken probe back to them and they replaced the plug on the unit and the probe and mailed it back to me for free. Can't ask for much more than that.

SharkByte · January 2012

I have the Stoker and I have the say it's an awesome piece of equipment attached to the BGE. It controls the temp very precisely and I've done a 20 hour smoke without a hitch. Also, the functionality of controlling it wirelessly is a must. I have the earlier version but still control it wirelessly. I also have it using twitter so I get updated every 15 minutes on Pit Temp and Meat Temp, absolutely invaluable when you are away from the BGE. The guys at Rock's also have great customer service.

I recomend the Stoker!

bigguy136 · January 2012

I like I can have Excel recording temp numbers and not just showing a graph. I still want to write commands of if meat temp is equal to or greater than xx°, change pit temp to xx° then when meat temp gets to xx°, drop pit temp to xx°. I think the Stokers system is the only option I could do that with.

GreenhawK · January 2012

Cowdogs. You have the perfect example of a good reason for the Guru. If I cooked a lot of butts or Briskets, I think I would have gone that route too. I cook mostly ribs if I am doing Low and Slow, so I went with the Stoker because I don't use a probe in them. I have cooked so many slabs of ribs that I can kind of tell how they are going to cook and how long it will take them, so if I get caught up at work, I can slow them down. If I ever do an over night cook, I usually plan it out to be done around lunch or whatever game time I am working towards, so I don't usually worry about them getting done while I am asleep.

tmackie. LIke I said before. I don't think you can go wrong with either. I have seen both, and everyone is happy with whichever one they have. It's a good problem to have knowing that there are two very good companies to choose from with very distinct differences.

I think I would wait and see what the new Guru is going to look like too. If it is going to be easy to use over the internet, and have the ramp feature both, I think it will have the best of both worlds.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · January 2012

Both are quality products, we choose the Stoker for its expandabilty.

EZEGG · January 2012

I vote stoker - mainly since it's what I use (and I am a techno geek) My stoker has been going strong now for nearly 5 years...

Can't go wrong with either unit though...

BBQ Guru or Stoker Control

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