How gear gets tested

A scored review reports a cook you could repeat, with the grate temperature and a reference probe written down. Until that cook is logged, a page can still tell you how a tool is built and where it fails on a pit. The missing log stays missing. It doesn't get dressed up as a ranking.

What gets logged

• Grate temperature on a stated interval, next to the temperature the pit was set to.
• Meat temperature from the product under test, checked against a separate wired reference probe.
• What happens after the lid opens, and whether the connection drops.
• Fuel on a long cook, when the product is a pit or a fuel.
• Bark, the tenderness check, and the clock, so the gear result has a cook attached to it.

Photos

Photos in a scored review come from that test. A stock photo does not stand in for a pit, a probe, or a sliced brisket.

What you can use before a scored review

The thermometer guide, the Meater Pro review, and the connection notes are written from maker specs and from what those tools do on a ceramic or steel pit. Specs are labeled as specs. The brisket calculator and the technique notes are cook timing, not gear scores.

Corrections

If a logged number is wrong, the page keeps the date it changed and says what moved. A score does not appear, or change, without the cook that supports it.