Flame Boss Temp. Controller on sale

timekpr1

I got an email announcing that Smokeware.net has the Flame Boss temperature controller on sale for $249.00 if anyone is interested.  Use coupon code BOSS40 Expires Sept 5, 2014.

Eggcelsior

mountaindewbass said:

Yeah I just got that email. Seems to be pretty over priced for whats available on the market. It looks like it has one food probe and one temp probe. Not to mention it's made of plastic..seems a bit high in price compaired to digi q

Uhh... The Digi Q is $300 and comes with 1 food and 1 pit probe as well. The Flame Boss is about 17% cheaper.

Eggcelsior

I wouldn't expect a metal shell vs a plastic one to be that much of a difference. The insides are going to be the same. 20 bucks seems about right.

bettysnephew

From a Flame Boss owner:
The main differences between the units are that the Flame Boss uses standard industrial type K thermocouples with standard industrial plugs (no little headphone plugs) that are readily available on the internet for reasonable prices (Thermoworks and many others) and as an added bonus the plugs can be disassembled  for repair if the wires fail on the plug end.   This type of probe can stand extreme temperatures/conditions and is far less susceptible to damage than most of the others available.  It also has a variable speed fan rather than on/off control. Once it locks into temperature you will see little or no variation.  I have one that I did not buy from Smokeware and it works extremely well on my XL but must admit I have not tried it on the medium.  I do not consider the case composition an issue as I don't plan on abusing it so much that it would be destroyed.  In my opinion it appears to be a well designed and solidly built unit.
I have had direct dealings with both Flame Boss and Smokeware.  They are both run by standup guys that take good care of their customers.

stlcharcoal

Flame Boss is a great unit.  The big screen has everything you need to know right there--Pit temp, Pit set, Meat Temp, and fan speed......no cycling or selecting, it's all heads up.  The programming is much easier to use than anyone else's too.  The probes are heavy duty thermocouples.  It's heavy plastic--reminds me of my Fluke multimeter or power tools that are plastic.

DigiQ is a good unit, but nothing has been updated/changed in a long time.......especially for it to be the most expensive non-WiFi unit on the market.

EDIT:  Thought I should add this disclosure.....While I am a dealer for FlameBoss, I am also a dealer for BBQ Guru (DigiQ), PitmasterIQ, and Maverick.  All good products, each one has their pro's and con's.

bettysnephew

stlcharcoal is also another standup fellow, he sold me my Flame Boss at an attractive price.  Didn't mean to leave you out J!

Lit

I have an older cyberq and every time I go to use it I have to try to remember what combination of buttons does what. The nice thing is it controls 2 eggs at once but its complicated. Hit both buttons at the same time brings up the egg selection ability then one button is egg one and the other is egg 2 and I always guess wrong then you filter through 10 different setting screens and all I want to do is set it at 250 and hold it there. Would be nice if it was less work.

Griffin

Love my Flame Boss.

volfan1

@Griffin, I just got my Flame Boss & did my first overnight cook. The pit temp controller worked like a charm, but the meat temp probe seems kind of flaky. I put it in my butt (ok, that sounded really bad.) straight out of the fridge, and it registered 89 degrees and never went down. My Maverick registered at 46 degrees. Do you think my controller is bad or possibly a bad probe?

bettysnephew

@volfan1  I'm not Griffin but have a bit of experience with controllers.
Try switching the probes in the receptacles.  If the problem moves to the other display you have a bad probe if the problem stays on the same display it is the head unit.  There is an internal thermocouple on almost all controllers that provides a "reference" temp, if for some reason the probe did not make proper contact in the receptacle this could be displayed but will usually give an open thermocouple HHH or --- indication.  Did the meat temp display rise during the cook?

PNWFoodie

Anyone know if there is a remote app for the Flame Boss? I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a temp control, but I really want a remote function.

stlcharcoal

PNWFoodie said:

Anyone know if there is a remote app for the Flame Boss? I'm getting ready pull the trigger on a temp control, but I really want a remote function.

No remote app for it, but there are a few options on other controllers whether it be an all-in-one deal, or a few different devices.  I can walk you through all of them, but it's a lot easier to do over the phone.  I'll send you my phone number--give me a shout when you get a chance.

bettysnephew

The Flame Boss is a stand alone controller, it does not have WIFI capability. Do you want phone control capability or monitoring like the Maverick offers?  I still use my Mav as a way to track meat temp during a cook but have no desire to operate my BGE from afar. The ramp down function will keep food at temp when it reaches set point but the Mav will let me know across the house. I don't like to leave the Egg burning while away from the home.

PNWFoodie

@bettysnephew‌ I have no desire to have my egg lit when I'm not home....just want to be able to check out what's going on from the couch. Especially now that I'm a gimp for the foreseeable future. @stlcharcoal‌ Will do. Thanks.

bettysnephew

PNWFoodie
I fully understand the gimp thing, I had both of my knees replaced 8 weeks apart last summer.  Jonathon @stlcharcoal‌ will give you good info on what is available and has very fair pricing on equipment.

volfan1

@bettysnephew, thanks for the advice. I will try that on my next cook tomorrow. I didn't leave the probe in for the entire cook and just used the Maverick to keep an eye on the temp, but I did put it in the meat at the end, and it registered within a degree of the Maverick, so maybe it just didn't get a good connection the first time. I'll try switching slots & see what happens.

bettysnephew

@volfan1
I worked in the industrial maintenance world for many years and know from experience that it is possible to get the plug into the receptacle backwards.  There is not a lot of difference in the size of the prongs.  Our operators sometimes did this inadvertently when reassembling machines after cleanup.  This will give an erroneous temperature reading.  What we did to reduce the chance of such an error was to paint one side of the thermocouple plug and put a corresponding dot of the same color on the receptacle so that when the colors lined up the plug was in correctly.  We also used a different color paint dot on each plug and receptacle as many of the machines had quite a few thermocouples and had to be in the correct receptacle to do proper control. Not saying you did that but it can be done, particularly if you are not watching very closely.  On our controllers at work if plugged in backwards, as the temperature increased from ambient the display would go down through zero° and then begin climbing back up, there was not a minus sign on the display.  I do not know if the Flame Boss will show a negative reading if backward or do the same as our industrial controls did.

Curiosity got the best of me,and I hooked up the FB and touched the plug to the receptacle in the backwards position and then put my hand around the sensing end.  The display began to go down and there is no minus sign. Unless you were watching the display closely when the probe was inserted into the meat you would likely not see this happen as thermocouples react quickly. I did not try too hard to put the plug into the receptacle, just touched the probes to the contacts but again know this can be done with force or maybe worn plugs from the many, many reassemblies that our machines were subjected to because of constant cleaning in a food plant.

volfan1

@bettysnephew, ok I tried both probes and put them in ice water. Neither one would go below 77 degrees, but if I hold them in my hand, the temperature goes up. I tried put the prongs in backwards, and they don't seem to fit that way at all. Could the unit be programmed not to register below a certain point? I would think that would be silly because they'd be getting a bunch of complaints from people thinking they got a defective device..

bettysnephew

That is interesting. I hooked mine up and put the pit probe in the freezer and left the meat probe at ambient.  Mine are both reading 82° so they are apparently programmed to stop at a minimum reading.  I will check into this further, but don't really consider it to be a problem as there are no instances where I would be trying to cook to a temp that low.  It is for a grill after all and my cooks have agreed closely enough with my Thermapen to consider it accurate.