I only trust the digital temp probe I put in the meat, and only when I know it's accurate because I tested it.
I think a lot of the differences we get in all of out various therms has a lot to do with the air flow in the smokers.
Our remote Mavericks and others are quicker to change when the heat goes up and down in the smoker, but I'll tell you all something I discovered last night that confirms my thoughts on air flow throughout the inside of an MES 40.
At the end of about a 5 hours smoke, I had all of the meat in a covered foil pan on the second shelf.
During the smoke, my temps were reading quite a bit differently, due to where they were, and due to the air currents I'm talking about.
My smoke was done about 90 minutes before Supper time, so I just left both of my ET-732 probes hanging on the second shelf, in the air. The MES meat probe was still in it's holder.
I turned the heat down from 225˚ to 160˚.
By the time the temp got down to 190˚, they were all reading exactly the same---ALL 4 THERMS !!!!
They stayed within 1 degree of each other all the way down to 160˚.
I changed the setting to 140˚, and they stayed he same all the way to 140˚, before I killed the power.
It is my opinion that all 4 of my therms are very accurate, and the differing temps I get during my smokes, sometimes up to 30˚, is not a problem with the MES accuracy, or the Maverick. It is due to the air currents within the MES itself, because on the way down they all got together & stayed the same, because no air currents were being created by the heating element, and it wasn't windy out.
Just my observations & opinion,
Bear