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For full disclosure this product was provided for free by Ink-Bird for us to review. Also they are a sponsor of www.smokingmeatforums.com.
Clean and Compact.
What was included?
Battery
2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi
Temp Range
-22℉~572℉
App
Simple and user friendly
Pro’s
When I received it, I thought the package looked like other InkBird products. The unit itself was like others InkBird units but a little more appealing to the eye than past units.
The probes seem like a step up from past units which was nice. It also came with small Velcro to keep the wires organized which was a nice small addition. The probes are different colors so you can keep track of them nicely when probing multiple items.
I took this unit out and used it right away without testing calibration and all. It took less than 15 minutes to finish all the setup including downloading the app. The battery was around 70% when I took it out of the box and given the 40hr stated run time I knew it would be good enough for the pork butt I was doing overnight.
After I got connected and the pork butts settled, I tinkered with the app. I will say that its nice to see that they have improved their app since the last time I tested with it. It was very user friendly and was easy to setup alarms and to configure. While working with it I noticed that wifi kept disconnecting but Bluetooth was connected so I maintained connection. I reconnected it several times and finally realized that it was dumping the wifi connection on the 5ghz side, so I told it to connect to 2.4ghz as you have that option when going thru the setup and I never had any issue with it from that point forward. For anyone that is wonder my AP for wifi was 30’ away and I was getting -48db on the 5ghz at the smoker. I haven’t turned down the signal strength to see if it was too strong of a signal or if its something else. Ill update later after I tinker with that some more.
So, I set the alarm and watched it for a few hours, and it was solid. About 3am I received a low temp alarm. Ran out to the smoker and it was climbing again. I realized that as the temp dropped the low end swing went lower than I set it so I adjusted the alarm and slept the rest of the night with no issues. This was the end of this testing, but I left it on to just run the battery completely out.
Next, I tested the calibration. With all the testing I do I use my instant read that has a certificate of calibration as the control temp unit. I also used a second instant read that is consistent with the first one.
I took a kettle and started boiling water. Once at a rolling boil I tested and the IBT-26s was reading .8-1°F higher than the control thermometers. Because the app allows you to adjust the calibration, I opened it and adjusted probe 1 by -.8°F. Now all 3 units were within .2° of each other.
I then let the probes cool for 10 minutes while I had a cup full of ice cooling some water down. Once the 10 minutes were up, I put the probes in the ice water and both control units were the same, but the InkBird was now reading 1.1°F lower. I went into the calibration and removed the -.8°F adjustment and now it was reading within .3°F of the control units. I was surprised to have this difference in temp on the low side. I would have figured it would have been very consistent but wasn’t. Either way calibrate it for what you’re using it for, and you should be good. To be fair we are talking less than 2°F which shouldn’t impact your cook with these.
Being curious I took the now room temp probe and moved it from port to port to see if it was reading the same on all 6 ports. Surprisingly, it wasn’t. It was within 1.3°F from port to port using the same probe. This isn’t a huge issue, but it is something to be aware of if you calibrate a probe on 1 channel and move it to another during your session.
Overall
Overall, this isn’t a bad unit. There are a few other units that are 2-3 times more expensive for a similar setup so if you do not have the budget for one of the other ones this will serve you well. It would work well in your smoker, smoke house, or even in your oven. As with all thermometers make sure you do the boil test and know what the boiling temperature is at your altitude. This will ensure that you know what temperature you are working with.
Because of its improved feature list, configurability, and good price point I’d have to give it a 8 out of 10.
Below is from InkBird with their feature list
Different Level Deluxe Design & Readable Backlit LCD Screen & Rechargeable 2500mAh lithium Battery - The bbq thermometer with luxury and outstanding design. The screen brightness can be adjusted via the app, the temp data are clear even under the sun. The large LCD screen displays the meat probe readings, ambient/oven temp, the setting temp, high/low temp alarms simultaneously. The built-in battery oven meat thermometer will last at least 40 hours after a 3.5 hours type-C cable full charge.
Support High/Low & Setting Temp Alarm, Timer, Grill Thermometer Body Overheating Alert - The Wifi meat thermometer will inform you by smartphone when your food gets ready. Escort for your tender and juicy brisket, steak, rib, ribeye, burger or other food. The Bluetooth food cooking thermometer supports both one-time and continuous buzzer alarm, or mute model. The temp range of the digital wireless meat thermometer is -22℉~572℉(-30℃~300℃), with 0.9℉/0.5℃ temp accuracy, ±12.6℉(±7℃ ) calibration.
Powerful Smart App with Real-Time Monitoring and Check, Temperature Graph History Data Support Download, 29 USDA Meat Preset, Support ℉/℃ - The Wifi grill thermometer has 29 choices of USDA preset meat and can be customed in the app, which makes cooking easier. All temperature changes are visible and can be downloaded as CSV text, for up to one-month data will be stored in the cloud server. The Kitchen food thermometer can switch Celsius and Fahrenheit. Choosing the IBT 26S(5G) model on the app.
Magnet & Easy to Clean and Storage - The four colorful probes wireless thermometer can be stuck to the oven with its magnetic back or placed on a flat surface with its foldable stand to view the cooking temperatures. Please do not put the Bluetooth thermometer in places over 150℉/65℃. This Bluetooth meat thermometer for smoker grilling and cooking is 3.46 * 3.42 * 0.9 inch and 0.14kg, easy to store. And the quality design is easy to clean.
In conclusion I like this unit. For the price point $89.99 for the unit and 4 probes. Currently as of 7/3/2023 there is an additional 30% coupon when purchasing on Amazon. I do not think you can go wrong. If you are looking for a unit with more features you can find them but not for the price point.
You can find it on amazon and here is the link https://amzn.to/3pqmVKR
Review of Inkbird IBT-26s Bluetooth Wifi Smart BBQ Thermometer
Initial impressionClean and Compact.
What was included?
- 1x Control unit
- 2x Grate Clips
- 4x Temperature Probe
- 1x USB C Cable
Battery
- 2500mah rechargeable lithium battery.
- Advertised at approx. 40hrs after 3.5hr charge.
- Magnetic Back to mount unit to the smoker/oven (up to 150F surface temp)
- Monitor 6 channels simultaneously
- Tracks History of sessions and it will store in the cloud for 30 days.
- Adjustable Calibration on all channels
- Alarm settings( Preset and Custom)
- +.9°F at boiling
- -.5°F at freezing
2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi
Temp Range
-22℉~572℉
App
Simple and user friendly
Pro’s
- Price Point
- Easy setup.
- Quick charging and long battery life
- 6 probes at once
- Magnetic back
- Can be calibrated.
- App allows for a lot of adjustment.
- Quick Response Time
- Can’t run off AC power as it will not charge while in use.
- Can't scroll thru the probes on the unit. It just auto scrolls so you have to wait to see the channel you want.
- Can’t retrieve session history if the unit is turned off.
- Battery is not replaceable.
- Different temperature readings on all 6 ports with same probe +/- 1°F
- Only 30 days of cloud storage on history.
When I received it, I thought the package looked like other InkBird products. The unit itself was like others InkBird units but a little more appealing to the eye than past units.
The probes seem like a step up from past units which was nice. It also came with small Velcro to keep the wires organized which was a nice small addition. The probes are different colors so you can keep track of them nicely when probing multiple items.
I took this unit out and used it right away without testing calibration and all. It took less than 15 minutes to finish all the setup including downloading the app. The battery was around 70% when I took it out of the box and given the 40hr stated run time I knew it would be good enough for the pork butt I was doing overnight.
After I got connected and the pork butts settled, I tinkered with the app. I will say that its nice to see that they have improved their app since the last time I tested with it. It was very user friendly and was easy to setup alarms and to configure. While working with it I noticed that wifi kept disconnecting but Bluetooth was connected so I maintained connection. I reconnected it several times and finally realized that it was dumping the wifi connection on the 5ghz side, so I told it to connect to 2.4ghz as you have that option when going thru the setup and I never had any issue with it from that point forward. For anyone that is wonder my AP for wifi was 30’ away and I was getting -48db on the 5ghz at the smoker. I haven’t turned down the signal strength to see if it was too strong of a signal or if its something else. Ill update later after I tinker with that some more.
So, I set the alarm and watched it for a few hours, and it was solid. About 3am I received a low temp alarm. Ran out to the smoker and it was climbing again. I realized that as the temp dropped the low end swing went lower than I set it so I adjusted the alarm and slept the rest of the night with no issues. This was the end of this testing, but I left it on to just run the battery completely out.
Next, I tested the calibration. With all the testing I do I use my instant read that has a certificate of calibration as the control temp unit. I also used a second instant read that is consistent with the first one.
I took a kettle and started boiling water. Once at a rolling boil I tested and the IBT-26s was reading .8-1°F higher than the control thermometers. Because the app allows you to adjust the calibration, I opened it and adjusted probe 1 by -.8°F. Now all 3 units were within .2° of each other.
I then let the probes cool for 10 minutes while I had a cup full of ice cooling some water down. Once the 10 minutes were up, I put the probes in the ice water and both control units were the same, but the InkBird was now reading 1.1°F lower. I went into the calibration and removed the -.8°F adjustment and now it was reading within .3°F of the control units. I was surprised to have this difference in temp on the low side. I would have figured it would have been very consistent but wasn’t. Either way calibrate it for what you’re using it for, and you should be good. To be fair we are talking less than 2°F which shouldn’t impact your cook with these.
Being curious I took the now room temp probe and moved it from port to port to see if it was reading the same on all 6 ports. Surprisingly, it wasn’t. It was within 1.3°F from port to port using the same probe. This isn’t a huge issue, but it is something to be aware of if you calibrate a probe on 1 channel and move it to another during your session.
Overall
Overall, this isn’t a bad unit. There are a few other units that are 2-3 times more expensive for a similar setup so if you do not have the budget for one of the other ones this will serve you well. It would work well in your smoker, smoke house, or even in your oven. As with all thermometers make sure you do the boil test and know what the boiling temperature is at your altitude. This will ensure that you know what temperature you are working with.
Because of its improved feature list, configurability, and good price point I’d have to give it a 8 out of 10.
Below is from InkBird with their feature list
About this item
5GHz Wifi & 250 Ft Advanced Bluetooth 5.1 Meat Thermometer with 4 Colored Food-grade Probes - Inkbird 4 probes meat thermometer supports remote control by pairing with Inkbird APP at anytime and anywhere. Will free our hands and save time with an unlimited distance of Wifi connection and a more stable, more powerful, more efficient updated Bluetooth 5.1 version connection. With 4 meat probes, the probe can be used as an ambient port with clamps, ambient temperature is available at the Oven port.Different Level Deluxe Design & Readable Backlit LCD Screen & Rechargeable 2500mAh lithium Battery - The bbq thermometer with luxury and outstanding design. The screen brightness can be adjusted via the app, the temp data are clear even under the sun. The large LCD screen displays the meat probe readings, ambient/oven temp, the setting temp, high/low temp alarms simultaneously. The built-in battery oven meat thermometer will last at least 40 hours after a 3.5 hours type-C cable full charge.
Support High/Low & Setting Temp Alarm, Timer, Grill Thermometer Body Overheating Alert - The Wifi meat thermometer will inform you by smartphone when your food gets ready. Escort for your tender and juicy brisket, steak, rib, ribeye, burger or other food. The Bluetooth food cooking thermometer supports both one-time and continuous buzzer alarm, or mute model. The temp range of the digital wireless meat thermometer is -22℉~572℉(-30℃~300℃), with 0.9℉/0.5℃ temp accuracy, ±12.6℉(±7℃ ) calibration.
Powerful Smart App with Real-Time Monitoring and Check, Temperature Graph History Data Support Download, 29 USDA Meat Preset, Support ℉/℃ - The Wifi grill thermometer has 29 choices of USDA preset meat and can be customed in the app, which makes cooking easier. All temperature changes are visible and can be downloaded as CSV text, for up to one-month data will be stored in the cloud server. The Kitchen food thermometer can switch Celsius and Fahrenheit. Choosing the IBT 26S(5G) model on the app.
Magnet & Easy to Clean and Storage - The four colorful probes wireless thermometer can be stuck to the oven with its magnetic back or placed on a flat surface with its foldable stand to view the cooking temperatures. Please do not put the Bluetooth thermometer in places over 150℉/65℃. This Bluetooth meat thermometer for smoker grilling and cooking is 3.46 * 3.42 * 0.9 inch and 0.14kg, easy to store. And the quality design is easy to clean.
In conclusion I like this unit. For the price point $89.99 for the unit and 4 probes. Currently as of 7/3/2023 there is an additional 30% coupon when purchasing on Amazon. I do not think you can go wrong. If you are looking for a unit with more features you can find them but not for the price point.
You can find it on amazon and here is the link https://amzn.to/3pqmVKR
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