Loki Sphere Meat thermometer

[SmokedGouda]

Has anyone seen this on kickstarter? I just randomly came across it and looks like it will be well made and some cool features. It's got 30 days to go still so I have time to think it over, but I think I may grab one. I just figured I'd share with you all...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lokiproducts/loki-the-smart-wifi-meat-thermometer

I'm a big fan of supporting people on kickstarter, I have friends that have successfully launched products and know what it has done to help them with their careers/lives. So while it's probably not necessary to buy this since the one I have works great, I am def considering it. I think the ability to have 4 diff sensors for 4 diff meats is a good feature (not that I'm anywhere up to that level yet but a guy can dream haha).

 

[DivotMaker]

They have a ways to go, Phil.  Good concept, but these guys have done it right, and will be available this month:

The Fireboard

This is also a small Kickstarter company, based in Kansas City.  The unit works very well, and the owner makes me think of Steve and SI!

 

[NDKoze]

I love to see all of these cool new thermometers coming out.

I took a quick look at the Loki and from what I can tell, I think I would give the Fireboard the nod over the Loki. The Fireboard seems to be a more hardened device with a few more features and expandability. Interesting though that the Loki says that their probes ate waterproof versus the ones from Fireboard that say water resistant and warn not to get them wet. But, I think all thermometer probes should be handled with great care and try not to get them wet.

I would also check out "The Meater" which is also a KickStarter project with over $2.5 million raised since October 2015. Current preorders for single probe units are estimated to ship in in December 2016 and 4 probe Meater Blocks estimated to ship in January 2017, although I would not be surprised if these dates slip a little bit.

Kickerstarter Pre-Orders - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meater-the-only-wire-free-smart-meat-thermometer-food-technology#/
Smokin-It - http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=4163.0

 

[SconnieQ]

The WiFi thermometers are coming out of the woodwork! I think this is great. It will create competition and prices should start to come down soon! Loki sounds very similar to several others, but the black ball design is much more attractive than Tappecue or Fireboard. Tappecue and Fireboard certainly aren't going to win any style points. Tappecue looks like it came straight off the deck of the starship Enterprise (I mean the the original Captain Kirk Enterprise for you youngsters out there), and Fireboard looks a little 90s. Most serious BBQers are not going to choose a product based on looks. But the average consumer probably will. Prices generally seem to be around $200 for these products, so I would take a look and compare. I think what will end up separating these will end up being the quality of the probes, and possibly a well designed app. The Fireboard probes look like they have a nice heavy connection between the probe and the wire. The Loki probes also appear to have a reinforced connection.

Tappecue with 4 probes: $199
Fireboard with 2 probes: $189
Fireboard with 6 probes (2 ambient, 4 food): $259
Loki with 4 probes: $224 ($139 preorder)
Meater block with 4 probes: $199 ($184 preorder)

Keep in mind that Meater has no wires, including on the probes. It is unproven technology, so it is a risk. I believe the wireless probe design is patented, or someone else would have knocked this off a long time ago! The others are pretty similar in concept, and have wired probes. The quality of the components is what will separate them.

Any other similar products out there that I did not list?

 

[NDKoze]

ThermoWorks has the new "Smoke" thermometer that is supposed to start shipping on October 20th. But, from what I can tell, it appears to be more of a competitor of the Maverick thermometers.
http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

They do show that they have a new "Smoke Gateway" WIFI add-on accessory that is supposed to be coming out in the Spring of 2017. The add-on will MSRP for $89.00, so will end up being in the close to $200 range for a maximum two probe per device thermometer. I am sure that it will be high quality like all ThermoWorks products are, but that seems pretty spendy for a two-probe WIFI thermometer that is not capable of adding additional probes like the Meater, Fireboard, and Loci described in this thread do. So again, it appears to be a personal choice thing. I know that there are some diehard ThermoWorks fans out there that will buy these units based on brand recognition and awareness of the quality and accuracy of their other products.

Here is some info from their website:

The Smoke Gateway (due out in Spring 2017) is an add-on accessory that will work with your existing Smoke unit. The Gateway hardware bridge receives the wireless RF signal from Smoke and uses your existing Wi-Fi network to push the readings to your Smartphone or Tablet App. Each Smoke Gateway will work with only one Smoke.

Get Smoke by ThermoWorks now. Use the wireless RF (Radio Frequency) receiver to monitor your cooks up to 300 feet away. Then next Spring you can add Smoke Gateway (Wi-Fi Bridge) to your set-up and get readings on your cell phone or tablet, anywhere! Smoke Gateway receives the RF signal from Smoke and uses your Wi-Fi to transmit to the app. MSRP $89.

 

[mikinho]

Hi all, I'm part of the Loki team. Glad to see us mentioned here.

We are very happy with how Loki turned out. Would love to answer any questions if you have them.

One of the features we found really nice is that we store all your historical data. So you can see a temperature graph from previous sessions or see your friend's to compare temperature profiles.

I'm a huge fan of Pecan Lounge's Beef Ribs so I'm eager to get a cooking profile and try to mimic  ;D

Thanks,

Michael

 

[mikinho]

Loki with 4 probes: $224 ($149 preorder)

If it wasn't clear, each probe has two sensors. So you get up to 4 ambient and 4 meat.

 

[SconnieQ]

Loki with 4 probes: $224 ($149 preorder)

If it wasn't clear, each probe has two sensors. So you get up to 4 ambient and 4 meat.

Thanks for clarifying. That is a nice feature that makes Loki unique from much of the competition. I would suggest that the first mention of that feature be higher up on your kickstarter page. Most basic features (besides the sphere and LEDs) are pretty similar to what's already out there, and people might not read down far enough to find the dual sensor probe feature before moving on (it's pretty buried).

 

[NDKoze]

Loki with 4 probes: $224 ($149 preorder)

If it wasn't clear, each probe has two sensors. So you get up to 4 ambient and 4 meat.

Thanks for clarifying. That is a nice feature that makes Loki unique from much of the competition. I would suggest that the first mention of that feature be higher up on your kickstarter page. Most basic features (besides the sphere and LEDs) are pretty similar to what's already out there, and people might not read down far enough to find the dual sensor probe feature before moving on (it's pretty buried).

I didn't see any mention of the dual sensor probes either. That is a great selling point that should really be highlighted more. It is actually one of my favorite features of The Meater next to being wireless. It really makes sense if it is accurate.

 

[SconnieQ]

I didn't see any mention of the dual sensor probes either. That is a great selling point that should really be highlighted more. It is actually one of my favorite features of The Meater next to being wireless. It really makes sense if it is accurate.

The dual sensor probes are not mentioned until about 4-1/2 minutes into the "Loki Story" video, the second video on the page. (Most people probably don't get that far into the video.) They discuss all sorts of other features that other thermometers already have, including WiFi (as if they came up with the idea which made me giggle). In the text, the dual sensor probes are not mentioned until you scroll way down the page. It's not mentioned in "Features" or "Benefits". In fact, you might have to click on "Show Full Project Description" at the bottom, then continue to scroll waaay down to "Loki Specifications" before you see a description of the two sensors, and it's not totally clear that they are both on the same probe (they could be just using the same probe photo to describe features on two separate probes). Still no mention of the word "dual sensor" anywhere. But if you scroll down even further, past the t-shirts...way down to the "Probe Design" prototype photos, viola! Dual sensor probe prototypes! I'm surprised they are not mentioned sooner. It's what makes Loki different from Tappecue and others. As I mentioned before, with all of the WiFi options coming out, what will differentiate them will be probe quality and app features. The dual sensor probe is also a big reason I funded Meater. It's an attractive looking product, and the dual sensor probes would definitely sway me toward buying the Loki over other wired probe brands (if I weren't betting on Meater).

 

[mikinho]

Thanks for the feedback, very appreciated. We will adjust to highlight the dual sensors without having to scroll down.

If anyone is interested our Android app is already available in the Google Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lokisig.loki. Again, any feedback is highly appreciated. Especially if we missed common meats/cuts. The iOS app will be available very soon, just waiting on the approval to go through