Disclaimer: I was sent the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. This is a collaborative post and contains affiliate links, see more information here.
We are so lucky in our new house that we have a lot of outdoor space, and if we’re inviting family or friends round, then it has to be a barbecue; no matter the weather. My partner is the master of barbecuing – I’m much more a fan of cutting bread and making salad – so when I was offered the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer for review, I asked him whether it was something he fancied trying out, as personally I couldn’t understand the point. I’d never so much as owned a meat thermometer. He persuaded me that it was worth a go.
Am I ready to eat my words on that!
Now I actually know what they do and how to use BBQ/meat thermometers, I can’t believe I never had one before, particularly as our oven is so unreliable.
Long gone are the days of biting into raw chicken, of taking a sacrificial sausage out to check it, overdoing it and spoiling a lovely bit of meat or my most common mishap; slicing through a beautifully presented piece of meat to check before having to bung it back in the rapidly cooling oven.
What’s the point of a BBQ or meat thermometer?
A meat thermometer is used to check whether meat is cooked and therefore safe to eat. With a traditional meat thermometer you stick the probe in and then check that the temperature is right for the type of meat you’re cooking.
With the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer, you pop the probe in, set the app to the type of meat you’re cooking, put the meat with probe attached into the barbecue or oven and it will automatically alert you when the optimum temperature is reached and your food is ready to serve and eat before it becomes overdone.
But why have your BBQ thermometer WiFi/Bluetooth enabled?
The thermometer can connect to Bluetooth or use 2.4GHz wifi to connect to your smartphone. This means that when you’re waiting for your meat to cook, you can sit in any room of your house or even outside in the garden and wait for the alarm to alert you, without having to get up to go and check on your meat. The thermometer transmits to your mobile phone app for up to 230 feet, so even if you have a long garden you can trust it to tell you when your barbecued meat is ready.
This is also useful because lifting the lid on a barbecue to check on things inside can cause the grill to lose heat rapidly so monitoring it remotely means a quicker cooking time for your food.
Monitoring the temperature remotely means that you can go and join the party, which is a shame if you’d prefer to stand by the grill and drink beer, but it’s particularly good if you have a wet barbecue which is something all brits know about!
An alarm will let you know when your meat is at the perfect temperature to serve, which means that you won’t miss the window and end up with overdone, chewy meat; it’ll be spot on, every time.
Features of the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer
The Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer is a digital LCD-display thermometer which supports up to five meat probes and one oven probe, although you will receive four probes in the box. These plug into the sides of the display and are colour coded so you can easily identify which probe is attached to what.
Each individual probe can be set for a different meat/temperature. This means if you are cooking different types of meat, you can monitor them all at the same time meaning your barbecues become effortless. The thermometer even has 29 cooking preset menus for all types of meat. These menus tell you what temperature you’re aiming for, and your phone will automatically alert you when it’s reached, making the Inkbird thermometer ideal for beginners.
The Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer has an LCD screen; the brightness can be changed from the app which makes it suitable for use inside or outside. The unit turns on and off via the button on the front and is rechargeable with a USB-C charger (included). Once fully charged, the battery can last for 32 hours – so will last through the cooking of even the slowest of slow cooked meats. It has a magnetic back which can be stuck directly to the oven, and a inbuilt foldable stand to prop it up so the screen can be seen from across the room.
It has excellent accuracy (+/- 0.5℃) and can be used to detect temperatures of -20℃~+250℃ (long time) or -30℃~+300℃ (short time).
The Inkbird App
It’s super easy to connect your thermometer to the app. Again, I was sceptical as to what added value an app could have as typically I am not the world’s biggest ‘smart home’ fan, preferring to press buttons on my robot vacuums than set them off via an app. However, after using the Inkbird app, I definitely can see how useful it might be.
Setting up the app is really easy; you need to have your Bluetooth on and it will guide you through the process.
When connected, select the type of meat that you want to cook for each probe, and you can see all of the temperatures either as a detailed scrollable list (above) or all on one screen (below).
Your phone will will notify you if, for instance, probes are removed, and when your meat reaches temperature it will sound an alarm to let you know so you can go an take it out of the oven or off the barbecue before it is overdone. You can set a timer through the app, and if you’re interested, see a graph of how your meat has heated up.
Verdict: Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer review
In short, the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer is a really useful bit of kit for the at-home chef or barbecue enthusiast. It is easy to set up and use, and it does exactly what you need it to. The app is simple to use and helpful, and your food will come out perfectly!
At around twice the price of a normal digital food thermometer, it’s really a no-brainer given all the functions that it has and the ease of use.
How much and where to buy
You can buy the Inkbird IBT-26S WIFI Bluetooth BBQ/Meat Thermometer has an RRP of £89.99 but is currently on sale for under £50 on Amazon here.