QMaster-Senior Temperature Controller Review - Part 1 of 2

Cat797

Hey all,

As some of you know, I travel globally for work, and as such have had a chance to travel to China several times in the past year. One of the users on this forum, woodpelletpits, has a business and is trying to bring some automatic temperature controls to the market, and he is based out of Beijing. I reached out to him to try and meet up with him while I was in Beijing to see if I could help him by posting a review of some of his products.

I was just there last week and picked up his new QMaster-Senior control, and promised that I would do a review of it here. I'm going to do a 2-part review because winter is dragging on, and I don't think I will be able to get a cook in for some time on it. So, for the first part, I will review the materials I got:

Here is what comes with it out of the box:

For size comparison, you can see my iPhone 5 in the pic as well.........

You get the supplied temperature control, a power supply, 1 x meat temperature probe, 1 x Pit temperature probe, a 10CFM fan (you see in this pic the optional 50CFM fan that I got because I'm going to use it on my offset cooker too), and the pit adaptor. I chose the 1-inch adapter to use on my UDS and will adapt it to fit the 1.5-inch port on my offset later.

I have been fiddling with the control all day in the house because I'm a wimp and don't want to play in the snow. At first glance, the unit seems to be well made and the adjustments are easy to make. I am helping him with the user manual as well, and it should be even easier to decipher once I'm done with that.

Here is a close up of the front of the unit:

I have never owned a temperature control before, so I can't say how it compares to the BBQ Guru or the Stoker, so this is my take only. There are a couple things that I like about this unit. First, you can adjust the maximum fan output in the parameters, so in my case, where the fan I got is too big for a UDS, I can dial down the output to say 20% or 50%, or whatever I choose. Also, there is logic built into the programs so that if you were to achieve target meat temperature, the unit switches over the priority mode to manage meat temp by limiting the pit temp to a maximum value that you set. To me, this seems like a cook and hold option and could possibly prevent you from turning that luscious pork shoulder into a meteorite if you were out mowing the grass and not paying attention...

This control has four programs that you can set adjustments on. For instance, you can set a target pit temperature and maintain that for a designated period of time, then switch to a different pit temperature (higher or lower) and maintain that for a period of time. You can program four steps in total. I can see where this would be beneficial to those of us who are using pits for sausage. You can set the temp initially at 130 degrees and maintain that for 2 hours, then step up 10 or 15 degrees three more times and maintain it until your desired meat temperature is met. Seems to be pretty handy in my opinion.

You can also program the meat temperature for a target temp and maintain that for a set period of time, also 4 programs.

The temperature probes seem to be very nice.

All in all, this seems to be a very versatile unit. I look forward to testing it out on a cook or two in the next couple weeks and will post the results......

All the best,
Ed Laughing

_________________
Insulated Offset RF:
UDS:
Weber 22.5 OTG
Weber 22.5 Performer

Tony · Posted: Feb 17 2014 Post subject:

In the "Commercial Sales" section of The Smoke Ring Forums,
Woodpelletpits (The manufacturer of the QMaster Senior Temperature Controller) offered material compensation to individuals who would post pictorial reviews of this product on Barbecue related sites.

Are You in fact receiving any of these compensations in exchange for your (pictorial) review of this product? Neutral

Best Regards,

Tony Confused

_________________
LIAR # 84

Cat797 · Posted: Feb 17 2014 Post subject:

Tony,

Material Compensation??? No.

Did I receive a discount on the unit? Sure. I laid out $100 for this temp control and his wGrill wifi thermometer. I also bought his dinner last time I was over there and I didn't have to pay for shipping to come from China to Illinois. So in the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure how big of a discount it is..........

My whole reason for doing this is that I know he has a product people want. I could easily see that he (he goes by Gordon by the way) has trouble with English. Unfortunately he has not had much luck making end-roads with the people on this site, and I'm sure most here aren't having to work with people who have less than a good grasp on the English language...........I do. It's what I do everyday, and since I'm a nice guy Very Happy

, and was already going to China, I contacted him.

The other thing is, I know people want a good solid review of his product and would like to know if they spend the cash on this whether they will get burned or it will be a good purchase. I think most don't want to spend $350 on a temp control and if they can get it for half that, they might consider owning one.

I signed up on this forum because I like to BBQ. I feel that this forum is out there to help people who like to BBQ become better BBQer's. One of the ways that I can do that is to help other members of this forum (including woodpelletpits) when they need help. I had the opportunity and means to help this guy, so I did.......

At the end of the day, I'm not being compensated. I'm trying to do an honest review of a more realistically priced BBQ temperature controller, and help a fellow member of this site bring it to market, that's it.

All the best,
Ed
_________________
Insulated Offset RF:
UDS:
Weber 22.5 OTG
Weber 22.5 Performer

YardFullOfOak · Posted: Feb 17 2014 Post subject:

Do you have any experience with Gordon's wGrill?

It looks very appealing to me, but I would like to hear from people who have used it in practice.

(I offered Gordon to test it, but did not hear back)

Tony · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

Cat797 · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

Yardfullofoak,

I do not have any experience with one, but picked one up while I was there and will try and figure it out soon.

I'm not super wifi savvy, so it may take me a bit to figure it out.

Ed
_________________
Insulated Offset RF:
UDS:
Weber 22.5 OTG
Weber 22.5 Performer

Pkerchef · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

I am not sure that I would order a temperature controller from a chinese dude named Gordon but if he has a product to sell he could do as many others have here and pay to advertise on the site. I have ordered products many times from people that place an ad on this site because I like coming here and participating with what goes on here. Just my .02 . Pkerchef
_________________
Bubba Grills 250 Reverse Flow With Rib Box
Refridgasmoker
Weber Kettle
8.5 x 18 Haulmark concession/ competition trailer

Cat797 · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

He is a paid advertiser.

Many Chinese people select English names because their native names are hard for us to pronounce.

His Chinese name is Wang Zhaohui.

Ed
_________________
Insulated Offset RF:
UDS:
Weber 22.5 OTG
Weber 22.5 Performer

Tony · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

SoEzzy · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

Thanks for the review Ed!

Reviews are always useful for folks looking at an item or a group of items.
_________________
Here's a change Robert.

I still work here!

k.a.m. · Posted: Feb 18 2014 Post subject:

I look forward to reading your review Ed.
_________________
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.

Hybrid Cooker

YardFullOfOak · Posted: Feb 19 2014 Post subject:

Pinkelephant · Posted: Feb 21 2014 Post subject:

I got a deal on one of his units 2 years ago with the intention of doing a review but got shouted down by the people he upset before my post. maybe things have calmed down enough for me to pull that thing out and play with it now.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54478
_________________
It's all about the smoke!
Allen
._______________ H ___
| _Trucks-n-BBQ _ | H|--[ ]\____,
|_______________| H|___|____|
(o)(o)"""""""""""(o)(o)****(____)(o)

BUGSnBBQ · Posted: Feb 23 2014 Post subject:

necron 99 · Posted: Feb 23 2014 Post subject:

In this thread, he represents himself as a mechanical engineer.

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65714

Based on his discussions on the Ring regarding topics such as welding and cast iron smokers, I personally would not hire him for any mechanical engineering assignment.

I suspect he may be an electrical engineer, or perhaps an instrument and controls engineer, but that's not what he's representing himself as.
_________________
Let's hope SoEzzy can ditch his heavy hand on photos in 2016!

Cat797 · Posted: Feb 24 2014 Post subject:

Necron,

He worked for an equipment company but has been self-employed for several years. I do believe he is a Mechanical Engineer. He has somebody that works with him that does the electrical and IT engineering.

He's an idea guy.....the problem is, his English is not very good. You cannot plug Chinese into iTranslate and get the correct meaning without some understanding of the language. What comes across is not exactly what he means. Most people don't understand this, so he gets flamed. Imagine you trying to participate on a board that is in Spanish, but you don't speak Spanish.....sure, you know hola and cerveza, but that's about it and you rely on Google translate to turn your English into Spanish. How do you know it's right or that the meaning comes across as you want? You don't, plain and simple.

I've been around this site for several years, and quite honestly it's gone downhill with how people treat each other. Pretty sad really......this is supposed to be the best BBQ site on the net, but not much tolerance or understanding as of late.

Ed
_________________
Insulated Offset RF:
UDS:
Weber 22.5 OTG
Weber 22.5 Performer

necron 99 · Posted: Feb 24 2014 Post subject:

I can't imagine myself in such a situation because it's not one I personally choose to put myself in, or would choose to put myself in. FWIW, I have participated in and provided white-collar technical 'idea guy' work as well as blue-collar work with people from many nations of 6 of the 7 continents (including mainland China as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan), regarding processes far more complex and potentially hazardous than BBQ, for decades. One thing that's been constant is the mathematics and scientific principles, regardless of language.
_________________
Let's hope SoEzzy can ditch his heavy hand on photos in 2016!

biker.chef · Posted: Feb 24 2014 Post subject:

woodpelletpits · Guest

Just find this post and thank you all for your interest.
My poor English and culture difference may caused some confusion 3 years ago.
We are all BBQ fun, and let us focus on BBQ thing.
What I am and what my products are, 454 buyers out of total 1700+ can tell you a true story. Please read http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=trustedinventer&ftab=AllFeedback&sspagename=STRK:ME:UFS

Coach B · Joined: 27 Feb 2014 Posts: 6

All I care about is will this thing work!!!! As seen in a post last week I am going to put one of these on my Lang 60. Is this a good product and where can I get one. Help!!!