Wireless Thermometer Recommendations

[Motorboat40]

I have thought about trying one of those fancy ones mentioned above, but my 3 Mavericks just won't quit. They are 10, 9, & 6 years old, and they just keep on Trucking!
They are an ET-73, and 2 ET-732s.
I think I only had to replace a total of 3 Probes, in a combined 25 years!!

Bear

All the fancy gadgets are nice but you always have your basic skills to fall back on. I had my probe thermometer get wet and stop working right before a cook and my wife said oh no what are you going to do? I told her cook like i use to do use the thermometer on the smoker for pit temperature and check the meat periodically with my dial thermometer I got from food lion years ago.

 

[Inscrutable]

Yup ... lived well without cell phones, computers, microwaves ... some days that seems much more attractive again!

 

[jasinil2006]

I have a Maverick that has done pretty well, but the probes are very finicky... the meat probe has been replaced once and now the probe for the smoker is flaking out. When it works, it was fairly accurate (within a couple degrees of my high end Thermapen), but I’ve only had the thing a couple of years and I really am careful with the probes, so I’m feeling less positive about it. I guess I could just buy a boxful of probes and treat them like semi-consumable equipment, but that does not thrill me.

I purchased an Inkbird 4-probe model after reading glowing reviews on these forums, and I think their iPhone app is OK, although it’s a bit of a pain to always have to unlock my screen to check the temp. Even worse, the temp is all over the place; it very often is 20-30 gegrees different from either my Thermapen or the Maverick. About 60-70% of the time, it agrees with the others, but the rest of the time, it marches to a different drummer. It will bounce around 20 to 30° in less than a minute. I never know whether to trust it. This happens with both meat probes or smoker probes (I’ve tried them all). I have zero faith that the reading I get at any single point is even within 20 degrees of the target temp.

Needless to say, I’m again looking for a thermometer...

 

[Bearcarver]

I have a Maverick that has done pretty well, but the probes are very finicky... the meat probe has been replaced once and now the probe for the smoker is flaking out. When it works, it was fairly accurate (within a couple degrees of my high end Thermapen), but I’ve only had the thing a couple of years and I really am careful with the probes, so I’m feeling less positive about it. I guess I could just buy a boxful of probes and treat them like semi-consumable equipment, but that does not thrill me.

I purchased an Inkbird 4-probe model after reading glowing reviews on these forums, and I think their iPhone app is OK, although it’s a bit of a pain to always have to unlock my screen to check the temp. Even worse, the temp is all over the place; it very often is 20-30 gegrees different from either my Thermapen or the Maverick. About 60-70% of the time, it agrees with the others, but the rest of the time, it marches to a different drummer. It will bounce around 20 to 30° in less than a minute. I never know whether to trust it. This happens with both meat probes or smoker probes (I’ve tried them all). I have zero faith that the reading I get at any single point is even within 20 degrees of the target temp.

Needless to say, I’m again looking for a thermometer...

All I can say is I think I've had great luck with my Maverick ET-732s, because I'm very careful with the joint between the probe & the cable. I never allow any water to get to that area. When I clean the cables, I hold that joint between my thumb & index finger, and pull the cable through a folded over damp sponge a few times, until it's relatively clean.
I replaced 3 probes in 25 combined years, and one of those 3 was bad when I got it. The second time I cleaned it, that joint between the probe & the cable came apart very easily.

Bear

 

[Inscrutable]

All I can say is I think I've had great luck with my Maverick ET-732s, because I'm very careful with the joint between the probe & the cable. I never allow any water to get to that area. When I clean the cables, I hold that joint between my thumb & index finger, and pull the cable through a folded over damp sponge a few times, until it's relatively clean.
I replaced 3 probes in 25 combined years, and one of those 3 was bad when I got it. The second time I cleaned it, that joint between the probe & the cable came apart very easily.

Bear

yes, I hold the cable to just wipe the cable, and I hold the probe to clean the probe.
So far so good, both durability and consistency/accuracy.

 

[Motorboat40]

Anyone had problems with their ink bird probes, I have had 3 now go bad. I love the ink bird it works great but I'm being very careful with the probes and cords cleaning and putting away etc. I have cheap 15 dollar probe thermometer from Walmart that is still goimg strong, im down to 2 probes with the ink bird, I started with 4 and ink bird sent me a free one when the 1st probe started giving me inaccurate temps.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Anyone had problems with their ink bird probes, I have had 3 now go bad. I love the ink bird it works great but I'm being very careful with the probes and cords cleaning and putting away etc. I have cheap 15 dollar probe thermometer from Walmart that is still goimg strong, im down to 2 probes with the ink bird, I started with 4 and ink bird sent me a free one when the 1st probe started giving me inaccurate temps.

The orginal chamber probe on my IRF-4S went bad after I accidently got water in the junction while cleaning. The replacement probe is double crimped. No problems since then.

 

[jasinil2006]

All I can say is I think I've had great luck with my Maverick ET-732s, because I'm very careful with the joint between the probe & the cable. I never allow any water to get to that area. When I clean the cables, I hold that joint between my thumb & index finger, and pull the cable through a folded over damp sponge a few times, until it's relatively clean.
I replaced 3 probes in 25 combined years, and one of those 3 was bad when I got it. The second time I cleaned it, that joint between the probe & the cable came apart very easily.

Bear

I am super careful with the probes, but they still don’t seem to hold up well. Otherwise, I’ve been pretty happy with my ET-732, also. I’ve decided to give it one more try and buy a new probe. I also have ordered some high-temp, food-safe silicone sealant to try and reinforce and waterproof the probe where the braided wire enters it.

 

[Motorboat40]

The orginal chamber probe on my IRF-4S went bad after I accidently got water in the junction while cleaning. The replacement probe is double crimped. No problems since then.

Maybe I got water inside of them some how when cleaning them. I'm just wipe them with a cloth from now in hopefully no more go bad I love the ink bird. But i take better care of it than my old Walmart probe and never had any problems with the cheaper one. I might of just got a bad batch with my order.

 

[jasinil2006]

I don't understand why the probes on many of these thermometers are so easily ruined. I suppose it's possible I got a whole batch of bad probes from Inkbird. Several of the them have barely been used and the thermometer doesn't work correctly. I'm very careful with the probes, but it seems the junction between the probe and the braided wire on every single type of probe is a major weak point. I can't believe it's that hard to make a probe that doesn't fail if you sneeze at it.

Maybe my Inkbird would work if I ordered another new set of probes. Maybe not. Hard to tell...

 

[jasinil2006]

Still evaluating the Inkbird. I have two Inkbird probes (one of them brand new) and a brand new probe attached to my Maverick ET-732 within inches of each other in the smoker. At normal afternoon temperatures yesterday, the two Inkbird probes read 92 and 81, while the Maverick read 88. My Thermapen placed in the same location also read 88.

Now, with the smoker up to temp, this is what I’m getting:

Again, the Thermapen corresponds exactly to the Maverick. If I had only the Inkbird, I could have a 50 degree discrepancy between temps, and apparently neither would be very accurate. That could make a pretty substantial difference over the course of a 6- or 12-hour cook.

I suppose it’s possible I just have a whole batch of bad Inkbird probes, but I really don’t care enough about this thermometer to invest any more in it. In my book, it’s not reliable or accurate, both of which are pretty important in a thermometer.

 

[bigfurmn]

IBBQ-4T... Got this a few months ago and love it. It connects to wifi so when my smoking dinner gets gets in the way of the wife's honey do list I can keep an eye on my temps if i have to run to the store.

 

[bigfurmn]

Just noticed this over in Meat Thermometer section

50% OFF Discount for Inkbird WiFi BBQ Thermometer with 4 probes-$50

 

[Bearcarver]

I don't understand why the probes on many of these thermometers are so easily ruined. I suppose it's possible I got a whole batch of bad probes from Inkbird. Several of the them have barely been used and the thermometer doesn't work correctly. I'm very careful with the probes, but it seems the junction between the probe and the braided wire on every single type of probe is a major weak point. I can't believe it's that hard to make a probe that doesn't fail if you sneeze at it.

Maybe my Inkbird would work if I ordered another new set of probes. Maybe not. Hard to tell...

I never tried it myself, but I know some guys put "Shrink Tubing" over that junction between Braided cable & Probe.

Bear

 

[JLeonard]

I actually won a Inkbird 4 probe on here in a drawing. It has the wifi and I love it. I also have a Thermopro dual probe that I use for vault temps. Both seem to work great.

 

[Motorboat40]

Still evaluating the Inkbird. I have two Inkbird probes (one of them brand new) and a brand new probe attached to my Maverick ET-732 within inches of each other in the smoker. At normal afternoon temperatures yesterday, the two Inkbird probes read 92 and 81, while the Maverick read 88. My Thermapen placed in the same location also read 88.

Now, with the smoker up to temp, this is what I’m getting:

View attachment 452804

Again, the Thermapen corresponds exactly to the Maverick. If I had only the Inkbird, I could have a 50 degree discrepancy between temps, and apparently neither would be very accurate. That could make a pretty substantial difference over the course of a 6- or 12-hour cook.

I suppose it’s possible I just have a whole batch of bad Inkbird probes, but I really don’t care enough about this thermometer to invest any more in it. In my book, it’s not reliable or accurate, both of which are pretty important in a thermometer.

I totally agree, i mean I love how the inkbird works but what good is that of i have to use other thermometers at the same time to make sure I'm getting accurate readings? I might as well just be using other thermometers. I picked up a weber connect for 38 bucks on ebay nrw in the box. Sells for 129.99 at lowes. Only 4 cooks with it but so far its reliable. I will say I like the ink bird alot more but the inkbird i have just hasn't been reliable.

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

I’m late to the game but inkbird hands down!

 

[HelenMerritt]

Zigmund & Shtain. The first one I purchased and the only one I used because it's cool. Works great