The "meater" sounds awesome. I'm curious to see how well it works from inside a multi-layer stainless steel box.
Should be no problem for the bluetooth signal to escape...as long as there is an in or out for air, which there is. See the Q&A section of their Indiegogo page:
Question: Aren't BBQ grills, smokers, and ovens essentially "Faraday Cages" that would significantly reduce the wireless range of the MEATER probe?
Answer: In theory, a "Faraday Cage" will block RF signals from entering and exiting the cage. The good news is that BBQ grills, smokers, and ovens are not built or designed to be "Faraday Cages."
A good "Faraday Cage" has no gaps, slots, and holes; Are usually made of thick conductive material and designed with as little individual parts/pieces as possible (i.e. every joining edge or corner between materials are spot welded, etc.).
In reality BBQ grills, smokers, and ovens are anything but a "Faraday Cage." They have plenty of large air vents and gaps. If air and smoke can enter or exit your BBQ grill, smoker, and oven, then it'll be easy for 2.4GHz radio frequency to enter and exit through the same gaps and holes.
Also, there are a few MEATER backers in the comments section who did their own testing using a Bluetooth speaker to test the effect of their BBQ grill on Bluetooth signal range. They too have found that it made no noticeable difference.
I am very interested in these probes, but decided to do a test today of my own.
I did not have a bluetooth speaker for the test, but I do have a Samsung wireless headset which I tried this afternoon.
For the test I place my Samsung phone in the smoker and closed the door. Then I tried connecting from my headset to the phone, seemed to work for about 12-15 feet (line of sight). But when I stepped behind a wall and was not line of sight, signal was lost completely. I also tried from inside my house (1 sliding glass door) and after about 6 feet signal dropped.
This is pretty much what I expected, but maybe the probes are better at getting the signal out of the box...
For those that purchased the pre-sale, please let us know how they perform.
Thanks Greg