Smoke Gateway Major Fail

[airedale]

Well, I posted earlier about the $69.95 sale price on the Gateway. Mine arrived yesterday and I just boxed it up for return. After about an hour on the phone with a pleasant and helpful guy named Mike, here are the results:

(I am running box-stock Android 8 on a box-stock Nexus 5X phone.)

The product ships with no documentation. "Follow the instructions from the app." Well, that's fine, but the app frequently gets stuck and loops the user between two or three screens with no explanation. "Hello? Tech support?"

The app will not work if it does not have permission to access the user's location. It fails with no explanation. Anyone practicing good internet hygiene, of course, does not give location access to apps that have no logical reason to need it. There is no error message or warning about this; only Thermoworks Tech Support knows.

Despite that fact that the phone is initially connected to the Gateway's own SSID network, there is a bug that Thermoworks does not understand that may require that the phone's cellular access be disabled.

The Gateway automatically powers off after maybe 5 minutes when it doesn't see any activity. This greatly complicates troubleshooting, because typically the whole troubleshooting sequence has to be restarted every time the damned thing shuts down. I can't tell you how many times I had to re-"Synch" my Smoke to the Gateway because of this.

At the bottom, the problem was that the designers of the Gateway have taken it on themselves to select the type of network security that users are required to run. AFIK every network device on the planet, except the Gateway, accommodates all of the common security schemes. The Gateway, however, thinks that it is the tail that can wag the dog. So if you aren't running their selected security scheme (which is not documented anywhere) you either send the product back (at your own expense, thank you) or you reprogram your WAP and every WiFi device that connects to your network according to the scheme that the Gateway designers have selected for you.

I would not be at all surprised if Thermoworks discontinued the product. The cost of these poor design decisions must be making their tech support costs go through the roof.

Oh, and BTW, the recharger connection to the Gateway is a mini-USB. When have you ever seen a mini-USB on a currently-shipping product? I have enough grief keeping both micro-USB and Type C USB cords around and untangled. I don't need someone to throw an outdated connector into the mix.

I can't remember when I have seen as many dumb design decisions in a single product. Caveat Emptor

 

[andre2955]

man, what a bummer. I love my Smoke from TW and have been waiting for the Gateway. I hope they get the glitches worked out quickly. I look forward to hearing about others experiences.

 

[bschoen]

Most apps want location data so they can spew location specific adds at you. I hate that, but I understand it when the apps are free and the developer has very few options to monetize it. When you pay for a product and they still want to nickle and dime advertise you to death, well, lets just vote with our wallet.

Adding to that, this sounds like a very poorly designed user interface.

 

[Jrogers84]

I literally set up may gateway in about a minute and have never had an issue...whatsoever. Im sorry your experience was poor.

 

[Jrogers84]

Most apps want location data so they can spew location specific adds at you. I hate that, but I understand it when the apps are free and the developer has very few options to monetize it. When you pay for a product and they still want to nickle and dime advertise you to death, well, lets just vote with our wallet.

Adding to that, this sounds like a very poorly designed user interface.

Sounds like its a glitch. The app doesnt have adds so I dont believe it is a cash grab unless theyre selling the info to a third party

 

[barrettd]

I had about the same experience as you and was not able to return it for a refund. It's sitting in my kitchen drawer, where it's been since about a week after I bought it.

 

[Baychilla]

I think part of the OPs issue is Google location services invasiveness. Another temp probe (The meater) needs the phone's location services enabled for the app to function correctly. Bad Google.

 

[airedale]

I think part of the OPs issue is Google location services invasiveness. ...

(OP Here) Well, it is what it is. For the most part I can disable apps' access to location services and that's what I do. An app that demands location services or it won't run is maybe charitably described as arrogant and less charitably described as user hostile. It doesn't surprise me that Meater is of this ilk, given all the other evidence of incompetence and arrogance there.

Something else I forgot to mention: It is not possible to close the Gateway app in the normal fashion, by simply clicking the left-arrow button. The only way to close it is to go the Settings/Apps and do a forced close. Not sure whether this is just incompetent coding or whether the designers really do think they have a right to set up permanent camp in my phone.

Also thinking more about this, I'm guessing that Thermoworks farmed out the development of the Gateway. WiFi is not their area of expertise, but unfortunately this also means that it is hard for them to test and evaluate what was probably delivered from the subcontractor. There only real clue will be what they see in tech support costs, which is an expensive way to test a product's design.

 

[Jrogers84]

(OP Here) Well, it is what it is. For the most part I can disable apps' access to location services and that's what I do. An app that demands location services or it won't run is maybe charitably described as arrogant and less charitably described as user hostile. It doesn't surprise me that Meater is of this ilk, given all the other evidence of incompetence and arrogance there.

Something else I forgot to mention: It is not possible to close the Gateway app in the normal fashion, by simply clicking the left-arrow button. The only way to close it is to go the Settings/Apps and do a forced close. Not sure whether this is just incompetent coding or whether the designers really do think they have a right to set up permanent camp in my phone.

Also thinking more about this, I'm guessing that Thermoworks farmed out the development of the Gateway. WiFi is not their area of expertise, but unfortunately this also means that it is hard for them to test and evaluate what was probably delivered from the subcontractor. There only real clue will be what they see in tech support costs, which is an expensive way to test a product's design.

Im wondering if they geared this more towards iphone users as that is generally the masses. I have none of the issues you speak of. I would be equally pissed if I was you. It sucks because it is such an awesome tool for me.

 

[el luchador]

at Airedale,

look at the heater meter.

$72 if you solder it yourself.

youll need a raspberry pi which can be done for $15
you can use your smoke probes

and the app is not invasive. you don't even need the app. you can just just open a browser and point it to the ip address of the heater meter.
you can port the ip address to wan and be able to see it even when youre not on wifi.

its a pretty nifty gadget.

 

[Czarbecue]

Oh, and BTW, the recharger connection to the Gateway is a mini-USB. When have you ever seen a mini-USB on a currently-shipping product? I have enough grief keeping both micro-USB and Type C USB cords around and untangled. I don't need someone to throw an outdated connector into the mix.

My Garmin from last year still use a mini-USB. I’m pretty sure it’s to make use of all the chargers/traffic cables that are still on the market. Also, the size of the connector does not mean it’s out dated.

 

[airedale]

Im wondering if they geared this more towards iphone users as that is generally the masses. I have none of the issues you speak of. I would be equally pissed if I was you. It sucks because it is such an awesome tool for me.

I think you may be right. The rep I talked to mentioned something about not being too familiar with Android. I asked if maybe someone else there would know more about it but he didn't offer to switch me. Considering that Android devices in the world far outnumber IThings it seems a little odd that they would focus (without saying so in ANY documentation) on IThings. If my guess about subcontracting is right, this could be another defect gift that they unwittingly got from their subcontractor.

... I’m pretty sure it’s to make use of all the chargers/traffic cables that are still on the market. Also, the size of the connector does not mean it’s out dated.

I think they are just old or not well thought out designs. I have no problem with the connector itself. In fact, its being larger probably means that it will be more reliable after multiple insertions. The problem is that it's the only device I have that needs that connector. If it had a more up-to-date connector like micro-usb or Type C USB I could use any of my chargers and cables. No need to keep track of a special one. But that Gateway has gone to the great RMA in the sky so it doesn't matter now.

 

[airedale]

... look at the heater meter. ... its a pretty nifty gadget.

Yes. Agreed. I think I'll plan to build one. Thanks for the point-out.

 

[NKSmoke]

Sorry you had so much trouble! Mine was fairly quick to connect to my Samsung S8+ and has worked flawlessly every since. It runs for hours and I have had zero problems.

The mini USB may be a tad annoying since its the only device I have that uses it but I bought the zippered case which fits the Smoke, gateway, probes and the USB cord all in one place so I never lose it.

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

I've seen lots of posts on Reddit about people have a horrible time trying to setup the Gateway. Funny part is that all the advertising for the Smoke had the Gateway included as "add-on" so it's not like it was an afterthought. Sorry to hear you're having such a difficult time with it.

 

[sthamm]

This post gave me buyer's remorse big time... Luckily, I'm an iphone user and my $69 gateway was up and running in less than 2 minutes. Can't speak for the non-iphone users, but this was as plug-and-play as they come.

 

[yoursangoma]

I am an android user and I just had to allow the app to use certain settings and then it was set up in minutes. Haven't ran a cook with it yet since I only got it this week.