Wireless Range: What to Expect and How to Extend ItUpdated 8 hours ago

The short answer

In wide-open space with a clear line of sight, a Combustion Bluetooth signal travels 330ft (100m) or more. That is the unobstructed figure every wireless product quotes, including ours.

In real cooking conditions, with a thermometer inside a grill and walls in the way, expect less. Most people reliably get at least 60ft (20m) with no range extender at all.

330ft is per hop, not per system

This is the part that surprises people. Every Combustion tool acts as a repeater node, and each hop renews the signal at full strength.

In theory, MeatNet supports up to 16 hops, which is over a kilometer. In practice, you will run out of house long before you run out of hops.

How to actually extend your range

Add a range-extending tool and put it in the right place. A WiFi Booster, WiFi Display, or Giant Grill Gauge will listen for your thermometer and rebroadcast at full strength.

The trick is where you put it. Most cooking happens inside a metal box, which is terrible for radio. Put the repeater near the grill but outside it, and it picks up the weakened signal escaping the enclosure and sends out a fresh, strong one that can travel through walls and across the yard.

Two repeaters in sequence will reach around 1000ft.

If you want to watch a cook from genuinely anywhere, that is not a range problem. One internet-connected tool puts your setup on MeatNet Cloud, and then distance stops mattering. See MeatNet™ Cloud: Setup and Remote Monitoring.

Losing signal does not lose data

The thermometer records the whole cook in its own memory at five-second intervals. Wander out of range and everything you missed appears as soon as you are back. No gap in the graph, no reconnection steps.

If your range is worse than this

Range is mostly about what is between the two antennas. See Getting the Best Signal: What Helps and What Hurts for the specific things that block it and what to do about them.

Still have a question?

If your range is far short of what is described here, email [email protected] and tell us what you are cooking in, which tools you have, and roughly how far away you are when it drops.

[Related keywords: range, wireless range, how far, distance, 330ft, 100m, 1000ft, 60 feet, 20m, per hop, hops, mesh range, extend range, range extender, repeater, booster, display, giant grill gauge, signal strength, out of range, drops out, too far, across the yard, through walls, kilometer, 16 hops, data loss, catches up, logs]