ITH-20

I already own several Inkbird tethered ITC-308 temperature control systems in my home brewing setup that are operated 24/7 and because these are totally reliable and very well built I was excited to see this new product that appeared like it would allow me to monitor the temperature and humidity in my garden greenhouse where we grow tomatoes, cucumbers and chillis during the summer.PACKAGINGThe unit arrived in a hard brown cardboard box containing the sensor unit, remote cable, a small screwdriver and the display unit. The two electronics units were protected in soft plastic bags that fitted snugly into the custom designed molding. I'd say there's a very low chance of this being damaged in transit.BATTERIESThe sensor and the display unit require 2xAAA batteries each and these are not included so make sure you have some ready.INSTRUCTIONSAn 11 page English language booklet covers everything you need to know, and much that you don't given how plug-and-play the system is.SETUPThe external sensor is rain proof. To achieve that there is a rubber o-ring under the battery compartment that makes the seal when the back is screwed on. Unscrew the back, fit the batteries and screw it back on. I placed the sensor on a shelf in the greenhouse and fitted the optional external sensor probe so it poked down into the soil where our plants are.Setup is completed by fitting the batteries to the display unit and positioning it inside the house where you find it convenient. The sensor and the display will automatically pair after a minute or so and then you are done.DISPLAYThe free-standing display shows both the local temperature and humidity from its embedded sensor and the remotely received temperature/humidity transmitted by the sensor I placed in the greenhouse. When the sensor has the external probe attached the display will alternate between displaying readings from the probe and the sensor box every few seconds. Temperature data is transmitted about every 10 seconds or so to maximise battery life.MULTIPLE SENSORSThe display unit/receiver will support multiple sensors and the manual goes into great detail about how you can configure them on different channels. If, like me, you only have the one sensor then you can ignore all that because it's plug and play.TRANSMITTER RANGEThankfully Inkbird have done the smart thing and used the 433MHz band where you get a much greater range than the congested short range 2.4GHz band used by WiFi. Our greenhouse is 25m from the house and we have no problem at all getting a signal.CONCLUSIONOverall another very well designed and executed product from Inkbird that I can see doing great service over the summer while we grow our vegetables in the unpredictable English weather.

The weather is been going from 0ºC to 40ºC and back again over the course of a few weeks and it annoyed me that I had no further details than "it's so hot" or "it's so cold". Yes we do have a thermometer in the house but no more accurate than "hot" or "cold". And since I homebrew I thought it about time to get a proper thermometer. Now, Inkbird being a name in brewing circles, had a thermometer in their assortment and as a belated Fathers Day gift I decided I'd get one.Within a week I held a package in my hand. It looked simple enough: home station, a satellite, and a probe. And a screw driver. And a small manual. I already bought some proper batteries (AAA) because included batteries most of the time are quite bad, and I wanted the device to be reliable, so no free wonky batteries.Open home station (no screws), insert 2 batteries, close again: it worked. Then the satellite: 4 screws. Open, insert batteries, close. I already had the probe inserted and it worked right out of the box. I did read the manual and I must say, one really has to put an effort in to get it wrong. It's quite foolproof (and I've known some fools!).I tested it in the shed for a few days and nights: the satellite at eye height, the hanging probe close to the floor (temperature differences are quite high for just that small distance by the way!), and the home station refreshed every few seconds with the latest readings. May I say that the display is easily readable from 5 meters distance? Under normal lighting circumstances of course. Hydrometer reading is a bit smaller in size, so I'd say 4 meters for humidity.Second test: see the second photo. Just brewed a bitter, and instead of waiting/guessing when the temperature would be low enough to pitch (around 17 or 18º), the (sanitised) probe hangs in the centre of the wort, telling me that it might take another few hours (perhaps a night) to get the temperature (now 32ºC) to drop. I'm pretty chuffed!In conclusion:the device just WORKS!feels reliable (no seems, or flimsy buttons)splashproof, not that brewers are known for splashing...no annoying beeps or buzzers, no "app" to check readings, just a bloody good display10 out of 10: would buy again!It just crossed my mind: if I buy 2 more satellites and probes, I could check on 3 brews at the same time! What a time to be alive!

Good device. The sensor is great just what I needed. However , the reading on the digital thermostat is wrong. I have multiple hygrometers so I knew what the temp and humidity was. The reading was 1 degrees c out . Which is quite a big error. Luckily for me I only needed to know the sensor reading (which is accurate )