“When the device works, it works fairly well once you’ve learned how to use everything and adjust the air intake on the fan.
I had one unit stop working, the screen backlight stayed on but nothing was displayed. I couldn’t power the unit off or use the buttons to reset. FireBoard replaced it under warranty. The one they sent out worked for two cooks- when I went to plug in a probe the port just broke off and fell into the FireBoard. You could hear it rattling around.
I didn’t want to wait a week without my device because I use it frequently for my business. I purchased a second device so that I could have one before I shipped out the one that was being replaced under warranty. Now my second device has the same issue with the screen, not displaying, but the backlight staying on.
With both units there have also been times where the app was up-to-date and the firmware on the drive device was up-to-date and the device itself showed 100% Wi-Fi signal strength but every time I left the house the app lost its commission so I couldn’t see any temperatures. I reached out to customer support about this issue as well, but never found a permanent fix because it is intermittent.
customer support has been fairly responsive, and they stand behind their product by issuing replacements. That being said, I deeply regret my purchase- even more so in the case of the second device I bought. These are too expensive to be so fragile/unreliable. I can’t imagine professionals being able to rely on this product for competition. I used to use flame boss- it cost half as much and consistently lasted 2-3 years before failing.
I’ve had one of these units for less than a year and the other for less than three months. Both have had multiple issues. I don’t drop them, I don’t let them get too hot or cold, I keep them out of the rain. Just not a durable product.”
“I purchased this unit a few years ago for my Kamado Joe after they stopped supporting their own version.
The FireBoard is significantly better, with tighter PID control, and more programmable solutions. I can set the grill temp to lead the meat temp by 20 degrees, in a slow under drive. I can also full throttle on the fan to heat up to get the grill going. It's amazing for having full control of the fire's temperature.
I accidentally left my unit outside in the rain, and it was trashed. My one complaint is better weather protection.
Purchased a new one, and will try to keep it better protected.”
“Got this for my dad for Father's Day. He really likes it already. Pretty simple to use and does the job great. The many probes made cooking everyone's choice a breeze.”
“I recently ordered the fireboard 2 drive and a few accessories. I’m doing this after having used a BBQ Guru DigiQ for the last 10 years on a Weber Smokey Mountain and honestly it felt time to upgrade. The fireboard recently arrived and while I haven’t actually used it yet, my impressions of opening the box and the units features are as follows. The unit seems solid. I like the big display on it. The pit probe and two food probes that come with it and the jacks that they plug into on the unit seem really solid. I lien that it can be internally battery operated for a little while or used with an external power for longer cooks. I like that it comes integrated with a barrel jack where you can plug in a generic blower fan. I bought a BBQ guru pit viper because I already had something similar and found it to be reliable and the fireboard makes it easy to integrate with it. I wish fireboard had something similar because I don’t want to go cutting holes in my WSM just to mount their fan. While I haven’t used it yet other reviews praise the ease/reliability of WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as the display. What I’m looking for are good plots/graphs of how the cook went over time that I can access from my phone and that I can save off and pull up later for my cook notes. Things that I didn’t like about the fireboard - while the accessory mount seems simple in concept it feels a little light weight and plasticky and isn’t as secure as I’d like it to be. I’m also not quite sure how I’m going to use the mount yet to attach the unit to the grill but I will try the magnetic features on it and in the worst case might even drill into it if I want to hard mount it to my grill. The aspect that moreso kinda peeved me is on the website maybe I missed it but I couldn’t find a simple explanation of what comes in the box. Had I known that it already comes with probes and everything I wouldn’t have spent extra to buy an additional probe pack and now I’m sitting with extra probes at home that I plan on returning and have to go through the pain of footing the bill to ship those back.
I’m an engineer by profession and if the folks from fireboard are listening my recommendation for product improvements are:
- Improve the website information
- Look to offer better fan options that don’t require cutting into grills
- The optional mount for the unit isn’t bad per se but I still think could use refinement. It’s not solid enough and one could easily knock the mount from a table or grill or the unit from the mount.”
“I received the Fireboard 2 within several days of ordering, which was great. But setting it up was not so great. The instructions included in the package were not fully accurate. Nor was YouTube videos. At one point I decided to uninstall the app and deactivate my account, and start over, which seems to be a typical method of resolving a lot of new product installation issues. Mistake. I could not re-activate the account, I had to establish another email address and setup a totally new Fireboard account. So far it seems to be working. No shutdowns, as of yet. I'll need to do a few more cooks to decide if this product is gonna be a keeper.”
