Temperature controller / blower - recommendations

Worth looking at : Pitmaster IQ 120, and the Party Q , The Q is battery operated very nice if you camp and no plug in is available. These are both in the $160 range (more or less)

You can go high end but your talking some $400 + dollars.

+1 for stoker. As added bonus of the stoker is you can control more than one egg/pitt at the same time. if you have the additional bowers and probes

I have the wifi FlameBoss and love it, very easy to use, great results every time. Definitely not cheap though...

+1 stoker here, too. Very solid device with lots of expansion ports for probes. Nice web interface and works great with the Pit Pal app. 

Love my Stoker.  If you have two eggs, it is a must.   I bought two adapters, one for my large and one for my minimax.  $15 per kit.     Haven't figured out how to get the wifi going outside my network though.  

Over the years, the consensus seemed to be, learn how to use the egg without a crutch before you decide if you want/need one. I don't see that opinion expressed as often these day, but I still think it's a good idea.

I have a DigiQ that I bought after about a year with my egg. It works great, but I don't do as many overnight cooks as I used to and it's not needed for most other cooks. Too easy to maintain temp without it for an hour or two, or even five-ish for something like ribs. For me, a lot of money for too little benefit. 

As for the wifi stuff, I have no interest in that at all. I never cook when I'm not home (and I don't know what I would do remotely even if I did), I don't care about charts and graphs, nor do I care to watch what happens when I change the pit temp because I never DO that. And then there are the connectivity issues that some seem to have. 

The reason I bought a pit controller in the first place was so I wouldn't have to mess with a long cook, not so I could mess with it MORE. I start it up, install the Guru, let it burn for a bit, put the meat on and walk away. I come back about the time I think it's going to be done. And it usually is. That's it. No babysitting, no staring at my computer, no adjusting temps, no watching meat cook one degree at a time. Simple.

I originally purchased my Stoker I (one) for my lg bge.  I then added a KJ Jr and purchased an additional fan and pit probe for it (I already had two temp probes).  I now routinely use it not just for low and slow but also for faster cooks, in particular, turkey rolls on the KJ Jr.  I have found that I can comfortably do two 3 lb white meat turkey rolls at 325 on the Jr in about 2 hours and the Stoker does a great job regulating the temperature on this cook, too.   (I like to do the turkey rolls because it makes for convenient and tasty lunch sandwiches, later.)

Edit: Another quicker cook I like to use the Stoker for is jerk chicken low and slow at 250 for a couple of hours--hat tip @THEBuckeye

Add me to the Stoker.  I have the Stoker wifi and the original.  Both are great.  The stoker 2 updated the Stoker to N wireless.
Its Been a solid controller.  Never had an issue with either of them or any the 6 probes and 4 fans I have either.  Its a little more complex for the noob, but after a playing with it, its super simple.  
The controllers, whichever one you choose, are great and absolutely worth he money.  Just used mine today to control my XL for a turkey.  Best bbq device, other than the egg, I've purchased.  

dflores said:

 Do you guys think a temp controller is overkill?

I would not call it overkill.  I don't just use it for overnight cooks, as I've already indicated above.  I like being able to do my yard work, take my dog for a walk or run to the store without worrying about the temperature.  I know some will undoubtedly say they still do these things without a temp controller, but once you see how locked on your temp will be throughout the cook with a controller there's no going back--at least that's the way I feel about it.

I bought a Flame Boss 200 recently and really like it. Was about to pull the trigger on a Stoker, but issues with connectivity and concerns about customer service made me change my mind.

The Flame Boss was simple to set up. I egged some ribs while I went to work on Saturday. Its a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to optimally use a controller, but its fun playing with a new toy!

Just got Flame Boss 200 for my XL as well. Super easy to use...
Customer service awesome... @caliking... also great help...

I have a Flame Boss 200 and really like it. The company's customer service is great and the unit is very easy to use. Lastly, as has been written previously, it's best to learn how to control your Egg without a controller before relying on one.

I love the DigiQ. I can't say that I absolutely NEED it but don't mind being able to see the internal meat temperature without lifting up the lid. I'm not an expert so I don't trust myself to know exactly what the meat should look and feel like just looking at on the grill. And yes I look up nearly everytime on my BBQ Smoking App what the internal meat temp should be to be on the safe side. I don't ever want to risk serving undercooked meat and I don't want to over cook it either. The DigiQ is easy to use and the alarm goes off when the internal temp is GTG. pretty simple stupid. I like it that way.

Hi  I was the one that got u thinking temp control/wifi...  I DO like sitting in the den  and glancing at the ipad seeing the temp stay within a few degrees of setpoint throughout the cook   I have an app that graphs the whole cook  & I see the meat probes gradually slope  toward my finish temp setpoint.   it's just cool.   Mine is the CyberQ  but I am really impressed by the apparent ease of wifi setup on the Flame Boss 200  (even viewing from ur phone away from your cook site  thanks to them  having a remote server  the unit just "finds"   a lot easier than the cyberQ need for port fwding in your router/cable modem.       My votes  for  cyberQ  or flame boss 200

Another post mentioned the Stoker is currently 10% off. I got one a month or two ago. Sweet unit.