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digiQ or CyberQ or Stoker

BigA
BigA Posts: 1,157
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
What have you all had the best luck with? Is the only difference in the digiQ and CyberQ the ability to use the interent. It seems the Stoker gets pretty spendy with all of the upgrades with fans and adapters. Any help would be great! Thank you
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Comments

  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    Well, the CyberQ also lets you control 2 cookers vs. 1 with the DigiQ.
    The Naked Whiz
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    i only have 1 cooker at this time. I dont see myself using the feature to control it on the internet, but i am sure there are people out there that thought the samething i am thinking and ended up wishing they had it. but is it worth the price difference??
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    You will find the majority of the forum will recommend the guru. Here are some though from one who has and uses both.

    If you want to use the internet or control/monitor your powered vent system over a phone or other portable device then the Stoker is the way to go.

    Both the Digiq (q2) and the Stoker are extremely reliable. I have and use both the q2 and Stoker. The service from either Guru folks or the Stoker folks have been great.

    The guru has is smaller in size and that is nice.

    There is not much difference setting either unit up for a quick cook - it is just different.

    Changing temperatures and or alarms again just different neither is better than the other.

    Quality of the units, again neither is better than the outer.

    Quality of keeping the egg stable no difference.

    Versatility, stoker takes the lead.

    Unless the Stoker prices have changed there was not much cost difference between the DigiQII and the Stoker, both being set up equally.

    At times I do use the Stoker to remotely monitor its own egg and also the egg using the DigiQII. Obviously the stoker won't change the settings on the DigiQII.

    If I am using the DigiQII I most always connect the Maverick ET-73 so I can remote monitor the egg so add another $50 to the q2 purchase.

    GG
  • ChargerGuy
    ChargerGuy Posts: 357
    I have the DigiQ and i love it, a good friend of mine has the Stoker and he loves it when he can get it to work he has service provider issues with port forwarding. I know alot of people use them sucesfully with no issues, maybe its just him lol. I just don't see myself needing to control my EGG from miles away. I use the DigiQ in conjunction with my ET-73 for overnight cooks and have never had an issue. It is all about what you think you are going to need. I couldnt seed the need.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    You may only use one egg but what if you want to monitor multiple pieces of meat.

    AS you can see the summer sausage is cooking differently from the front to the back of the egg. I am monitoring 4 logs as well as the pit using the Stoker.

    sausage_summer.jpg

    GG
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    ChargerGuy wrote:
    I have the DigiQ and i love it, a good friend of mine has the Stoker and he loves it when he can get it to work he has service provider issues with port forwarding. I know alot of people use them sucesfully with no issues, maybe its just him lol. I just don't see myself needing to control my EGG from miles away. I use the DigiQ in conjunction with my ET-73 for overnight cooks and have never had an issue. It is all about what you think you are going to need. I couldnt seed the need.

    It should probably be said "port forwarding" is either a router problem, service provider problem or user problem and has nothing at all to do with the Stoker.

    Adding a $50 Maverick to the cost of the DigiQ. The ET-73 for the most part accomplishes the remote monitoring and alarms of the q2.

    Adding a probe or two allows one to monitor different pieces of meat using when using the stoker.

    Kent
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    BigA, I have the CyberQ II and it has the capabilities of controlling two pits at the same time. They also provide you with PC only software that when connected to your PC with a cat5 cable you can control your pit/s. I use my controller to help with over night cooks and am in need of beauty sleep. I have never had any trouble with my CyberQ II and I'm sure if I do the manufacture will be there for me 100%. Tim

    000_1560.jpg

    000_1562.jpg

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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Tim,

    How did you end up changing from USB to cat5, as I recall you were having problems with distance and USB.

    Kent
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    Great point. Wonder if the Cyber QII will let you use two meat probes on one cooker. I know it will let you cook and monitor on 2 different cookers.
    Darian
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    I wouldn't suspect there would be any problem using the two available meat probes on one egg, of course depending on the programming of the firmware.

    GG
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    If you are only using one cooker will it let you use both meat probes in one Egg?
    Thanks,
    Darian
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • GG

    This post was perfect timing because I was going to ask some questions about it today. I currently have DigiQ/Maverick combo that you were referring to and love it. However, with Father's day just around the corner and my wife asking for ideas I think I am going to pull the trigger on the Stoker as well. I see two main benefits of this (correct me if I am wrong):

    1) This will allow me multiple food probes

    2) This will allow to control the temp remotely

    Here are a couple of my questions:

    1) If I buy the single cooker unit today and decide to upgrade it to a dual cooker down the line, it appears that there is an adapter to allow for this?

    2) I currently have a 10 cfm fan on the Diggi, but if I recall from a previous post of yours you think the 5 cfm fan might be more appropriate on the Stoker because it does not have a damper on it?

    3) DUMB QUESTION - I assume I cannot use the blower from my Diggi in the Stoker - meaning the inputs are not universal?


    Thanks a lot!
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Ahhh good eye my friend. I will tell you.

    000_1307.jpg

    Using a two usb cables and up to 150 feet of cat5 cable and the devices below I can do it. So my computer room 50 feet from the egg can monitor my cooks when connected and I can also change the settings as well. :woohoo: Sorry you miss my post and I looked for it but, can not find it. Tim :)

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  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    That is a great fix...
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Darian, Yes you can purchase two meat probes and use them to monitor one pit and two meats or what ever. If you want to control two pits you will lose this option. Tim
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    Thanks Tim.
    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • ChargerGuy
    ChargerGuy Posts: 357
    GG, I completely agree thats why I said it could be just him, lol.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    1) This will allow me multiple food probes
    Yes, if you nave the probes you can use them however you want to include using a pit probe as a food probe or a food probe as a pit probe. You can assign the fan to be controlled by what ever probe you want (pit or food).

    2) This will allow to control the temp remotely
    Yes, as long as you are connected to the computer or any device that can pull up a web page.


    Here are a couple of my questions:

    1) If I buy the single cooker unit today and decide to upgrade it to a dual cooker down the line, it appears that there is an adapter to allow for this?


    You just buy an additional blower for the cooker (any cooker) you decide to use.

    2) I currently have a 10 cfm fan on the Diggi, but if I recall from a previous post of yours you think the 5 cfm fan might be more appropriate on the Stoker because it does not have a damper on it?
    I am sort of pulled in two directions on this one. The q2 blower has the sliding damper so it really doesn't matter. I do close the q2 blower down to about 1/4 when using on the large. If I don't close the damper down when the q2 blower is idle there is too much free air passing through the blower and most of the time the q2 overshoots temperature.

    The Stoker blower has a gravity flapper door on the exit of the exit and thus if the blower is somewhat vertical there no free air passing through the blower into the lump.

    I have never had a problem with either unit blowing ash up into the food.

    I ended up going with the 10 cfm on both the q2 and stoker. If I ever buy another blower for the stoker I will get the 5 cfm, probably more out of just wanting to know.

    3) DUMB QUESTION - I assume I cannot use the blower from my Diggi in the Stoker - meaning the inputs are not universal?

    Short answer, probably not.

    I am guessing here... I think the voltage going to the blowers of the guru and stoker are different.

    The stoker has a small programmable chip in each probe & blower plug that identifies that device to the stoker.

    If there were no voltage difference on the blowers the q2 blower could not be recognized as a device in the stoker.

    I do use the q2 on my medium and the stoker on the large when/if I need two regulated cooks. I take some extra food probes from the stoker to monitor the q2 pit and food.

    I can monitor and regulate the large and monitor (with alarms) the second cook. The only limit here is the number of probes/blowers one purchases.

    I haven't gone to the expense of buying a second blower for the stoker as the stoker/q2 combo works fine when I need to control 2 eggs.

    Something interesting is that I had an odd problem with my stoker pit probe. The probe was accurate and calibrated at 0° and boiling point. However, the read temperature of that particular pit probe would go off temperature about 60° during certain temperature ranges. Thus the read would be incorrect as well as the fan would cycle when it shouldn't or wouldn't cycle when it should.

    To correct the problem I just assigned the blower to a food probe and sent the problem pit probe back to the folks at stoker. I could keep using the stoker without a hitch. Stoker at no charge sent me out a new pit probe (or they fixed and cleaned my old probe).

    Unless I had an extra probe as a spare on the q2 I would have not been able to use it.

    I like both the q2 and stoker and don't plan on getting rid of either one.

    If the q2 broke down and needed paid for reapir I wouldn't get it fixed.

    If the stoker broke down I would get it fixed or buy another one.

    Hope some of all this helps you in your decisions.

    Kent
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    I don't see why you can't use the second pair of probes to just monitor temps. You might have to silence an alarm on the second set, but you probably can just set the 2nd pit temp set point to something close to where you want to monitor to keep it from alarming.
    The Naked Whiz
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    That would be my guess also, just don't plug in the second blower. If this worked that would give the cyber folks the ability to use two food probes.

    However, it would be nice to actually if that would actually work on the CyberQ. Maybe Tim could chime in on this if he has a second set of probes.

    As it is now if one needs to monitor multiple points or needs to control multiple eggs I would think the stoker is the better choice.

    GG
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    I do not have two set's of probes or the other blower. Tim
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Is there anything mentioned in the instructions about using two food probes and 1 blower?

     
  • Kent -

    As always - very informative and I appreciate your time.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Kent I just looked over the user guide on the CD ROM provided to me and I see no discussion on that matter. Not to say it is not there but I scanned the 51 pages in .pdf format and seen no mention. I guess a person could call BBQ Guru and ask the tech that takes the call. I personally have not connected two food probes because I don't have two but, I think if you do you would be able to monitor both probes to some degree. Tim :)
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    I can check tonight. Like I say, I'm pretty sure the only thing that might be a bit annoying would be if alarms went off on the second set of probes. But clearly, if you plug in the second two probes, the unit is going to display temps for them.

    As for the comparison with the Stoker, when I reviewed the CyberQ II, a 2-cooker setup was $50 cheaper with the CyberQ. If you want internet connectivity, my take is the Stoker is easier/cheaper to set up unless you are willing to hook the CyberQ II up to a laptop via a very long USB cord. I have never really tried to get either controller fully hooked up to the net.
    The Naked Whiz
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    It would seem that it would work fine.

    Kent
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Tim, 2fategghead, has used a USB to Cat5 adaptor to get longer distance and is reporting that is working great.

    GG
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    You are more than welcome - never know when you will be helping me.

    GG
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Kent and Whiz, I found this post from last year that you and the whiz participated in by ToolJunkie and it has to do with Internet connectivity and two cpu's. Tim

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=643884
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    That was a unique use with the cyberq. Allowing a remote user combined with a wireless connection would accomplish the remote monitoring.

    There was another post, or several, that delved into the same issue.

    Kent