There are a lot of Inkbird products coming out. They have a lot of features at a reasonable price. However, how do they perform?
I do a lot of smoking and tried out their radio frequency wireless thermometer. The significance of the radio frequency is that it has a longer range than bluetooth units.
The unit does not come with batteries. Grr. A minor inconvenience but I thing manufacturers should supply some.
Batteries are easy to install with just a little bit of stickiness on the cover. Both the transmitting and receiving units have a stand that fold out but I found then a little sticky to open.
The probes are shielded in cable to protect them from the heat of an oven or smoker. This makes them a little unwieldy but it is necessary. They are long enough (3 feet) to be useful.
Most units of this kind warn you not to immerse the cables on the probes in water or get them wet. It will ruin the probes.
I tested the probes against a trusted thermometer at several temperatures. They are within a couple of degrees but not labratory accurate. However, they are fine for home use.
I turned on the recieving unit and it was immediately linked to the sending unit.
You can not follow this unit with your phone.
I walked the unit 450 feet away from my house with the sending unit inside. It still maintained a strong setting.
The unit comes programmed with meat settings that you can just tap in. However, it also lets you set custom alarms.
Setting alarm temperatures for the probes was easy and quick. As was switching between probes and using the countdown timer.
The displays are large and easy to read with an available back light for night use.
There is an oven mode that lets you set a high and low temperature alarm that was easy and worked well. It has a clip to hold a probe off the racks for use in monitoring an oven or smoker.
Here are the pluses and minuses.
Pro:
- inexpensive
- easy to use
- don’t have to download software and pair it to your phone.
- all the features you need
Con:
- the stands are a little sticky.
- they are only accurate to a couple of degrees but that is more than accurate enough for home cooks.
- you can’t link to phone software for graphing or logs
Overall, this is a great unit with lots of features found in more expensive units. I found it easy to use and have no problem recommending it.
I did a video of the tests and usage of the unit.
The Old Fat Guy
