Anyone have any recommendations or things to stay away from?

I am thinking about a dual probe but not sure.

:-k

+1 Get a Thermapen, regardless of what you get on your pit. Using temperature to determine doneness is the way to go.

For your pit I like the DigiQ BBQ two temp probes and automatic heat/draft control, this thing is fantastic on my BG Egg.

I also have a remote thermometer that is handy for long cooks, but mine isn't made anymore and Thermoworks makes some so I would look at theirs.

stay away from the ZRX Probe, especially if you are going komando

Au contraire, my BBQ brother... maybe for pork, but I have learned that brisket is done at widely varying temperatures, depending on the cut of meat. I go by feel now, and it has not failed me.

When a toothpick or skewer slides in with minimum to no resistance, it is done. Any resistance at all and you really need to keep cooking. YMMV.

True, Brisket is the exception on temperature. You will also need to poke around to get an average temp when cooking a cut that is not all the same thickness. It is amazing to have moist and done pork loin, chicken breasts and fish that is so easily overcooked.

I understand what you are trying to say but disagree with the "Au contraire" part. I always go by temp as my primary and feel as my secondary and I've rarely had a brisket not turn out from good to excellent. Then again I'm old school and don't bake mine in an oven the latter half of the process..... but I digress 🍺 .... actually I don't take issue with that other than you don't see many ovens at comps.

I know there is a school out there that discounts temp but I find that silly since it is one very important indicator. Why discount it? Yes there may be a window of temps and it may be wider on some cuts than others but temp is important. It may not be the gospel (its not on pork either when going as high of internals as we do (ie safety not an issue)) but temp is a very important piece of information and a good thermometer is a must. You will see more winning competitive teams with thermometers laying around than without.

As for the OP - thermowerks. There are other options but these just work. I use a thermapen and a discontinued pit/meat probe combo. the thermapen is awesome but you could get away with some of their less expensive options on that site as well. I've also used maverick remotes with pretty good success but QC is spotty on them.

Don't let anyone talk you out of monitoring temps, at least not at this point. Also if you log temps (automatically or manually) you will begin to see patterns and predictability helping you to more readily replicate things.

this is very funny

and now you know...

the ZRX doesn't actually check temperature it is more to inject flavor

😨

i usually go by feel but readily admit that is average at best

this is mostly because of a combination of ease and the fact that my meat thermometers are terrible

have any of you tried this thermopop?

http://www.thermoworks.com/ThermoPop 

sorry drafter, I know I promised not to tell but when confronted with keeping the promise and potential danger to another BOTL I had to make the decision/

the small one seems like a no brainer to me

can they withstand high heat (like the oven) or are they designed for one time readings?

the thermapop is a one timer I believe, you wouldn't want to leave it in. What you are looking for would be something different.... let me go look for the cheapest solution on their site.

http://www.thermoworks.com/ChefAlarm 

although admittedly you can likely find cheaper on this type of thing or for a very similar price find remote (maverick)

yup... just checked...

https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-ET732-Wireless-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B007UFOUB8?ie=UTF8& *Version*=1&*entries*=0

same price but remote.

Thermoworks makes great stuff but I'd be tempted to go maverick on that one. I hate the propriatary probes though.. when they die it's a pain to replace them.... type K ends up being cheaper in the long run if you use them a lot.