Description
The Maverick XR-40 has one of the longest ranges of any thermometers in the market.
It is not as streamlined as a Bluetooth-enabled thermometer as users have to clip a bulky monitor to their belt. Its long-range capacity means you can walk approximately 300 feet away from the grill and still get readings. Besides, the bulk makes room for a more robust and durable thermometer, which is important for what is essentially an outdoor kit.
An interesting feature of the Maverick XR-40 is that the monitor alerts users if they have gone out of range, so you know exactly the extent you could wander and still get a reading. When you go indoors, the range becomes more limited than if you are in a direct line of sight of the grill. This is to be expected. Testing shows that it works through three walls. However, this is dependent on many other factors such as the thickness of the wall, etc.
The thermometer includes preset USDA temperatures for the following types of meat: beef, chicken, turkey, fish, pork, veal, duck, lamb, deer, moose, buffalo, rabbit, boar and game birds. Users can use any of the predetermined temperature options or may opt for personalized settings.
The hybrid probes can measure the ambient temperature of the grill or the meat. Knowing the temperature of the grill is important, especially when you are following a recipe. If you are slow cooking a piece of meat in a smoker, it is easy to overcook it if the temperature is too high. Hence, the use of hybrid probes.
It is perfectly readable. Plus it also has a built-in backlight that turns off after five seconds for easy viewing at night.
Pros of the Maverick XR-40 Meat Thermometer
- Comes with 2 hybrid probes for measuring the ambient grill or meat temperature
- Batteries last long even when smoking meat for 24+ hours
- Long-range gives you more freedom while grilling
- Temperature alerts mean that you do not have to check the receiver frequently
- The transmitter is rain-proof
- FREE bear claws included for pulling pork
Cons of the Maverick XR-40 Meat Thermometer
- Cannot measure more than two pieces of meat at once
- The receiver is bulky and prominent for carrying around with you
Note: The Maverick XR-40 long-range meat thermometer is great for setting and forgetting your food. Coupled with its ‘meat-type pre-settings’, it is also excellent as a reference resource when in doubt about what the perfect internal temperature is for different meats.
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Which Meat Thermometer Is Right for Me
Picking a cooking thermometer is a tricky business. Lots of products offer great and amazing features. Moreover, some offer a lot less than they are advertised. Naturally processing such large volumes of information about different thermometers might be straining on buyers. Hence, we have created a streamlined list to help anyone who loves a perfectly cooked meal.
- Accurate Temperature Readings: The most important feature of any thermometer is speed and accuracy. In other words, how quickly you can get a steady accurate reading of the temperature inside your dish once the thermometer is turned on. A thermometer that can quickly jump toward the final temperature is much better than one that leaves you guessing as it slowly rises. Instant-read thermometers typically reach temperatures a few seconds faster than probe thermometers. A good thermometer should also cover the whole temperature range of home cooking, from below freezing (32 °F) and well over hot frying oil (400 °F).
- Durability: A cooking thermometer’s durability depends on how well its electronics are protected from dust and water, as measured by its IP rating. The IP rating consists of two numbers that indicate how much abuse an item can withstand. The first number (ranging from 0–6) pertains to solids, and the second one (ranging from 0–8) pertains to liquids. An example is the ThermoPro TP27 wireless meat thermometer, which is rated IPx4, indicating that it is protected against strong jets of water such as splashes from a small amount of rain but isn’t entirely waterproof. While the TP28 wireless meat thermometer has a sturdy build, indicating that the body of the unit is protected against the entry of dust and can withstand an appreciable amount of impact force.
- Probe Length: The probe on a thermometer should be thin at its pointed end to minimize juice-leaking punctures, and long enough to reach the center of large roasts or deep pots. A longer probe also helps keep your hands at a safe distance from heat and steam. Depending on users’ cooking style and location of use, the probe length should be considered sufficiently long enough to suit usage.
- Easy to Read: Most users prefer cooking thermometers that display large numbers on their digital screens to make it easier to read temperatures quickly. Backlit displays are also convenient when cooking in a dimly lit kitchen or grilling outdoors at night. If you are considering buying a dial display thermometer, the dial should have legible temperature indicators. Some dials also include images of various meat sources and their corresponding recommended cooking temperatures.
- Price: The price of the thermometer will majorly determine if a buyer will purchase it or not based on his/her budget. We narrowed our focus to thermometers that cost from $30 to $100. You can find some perfectly good thermometers at around $30 that are much faster and more durable than the cheap ones. Most thermometers retailing for $20 or less are slow, have poor quality, and often barely distinguishable copies of one another, except on rare instances. So paying the extra $10 or $15 is worth it for an accurate, high-quality instrument, but paying a lot more is not necessary for most users.
- Ease of Use: This can range from adjustable probes that make it easier to insert the thermometer at various angles to rotating screens that let users see easily the temperature reading from different angles. Also, the use of heat-resistant cables of up to 700 °F should be considered. Cables should also be long enough so they do not snag on an oven door or grill lid when closed. Useful accessories, such as probe clips and a strong magnet for attachment to pots or oven doors should be factored in as well.
