Inkbird Digital Hygrometer Thermometer - Indoor Temperature Humidity Monitor with °F/°C Display for Cigar Humidor, Reptile Terrarium, Greenhouse, Guitar Room, Basement & Incubator - ITH10 (DC 3V Input)

A few months ago my family and I moved into a new home, next to a wonderful neighbor who is, to say the least, a cigar enthusiast. I dabbled in cigars over the years and enjoy smoking quality cigars, from time to time. My wife is from Nicaragua. When we visit, it’s the perfect opportunity to get fine cigars at a reasonable price (declared, of course). With the cigar purchases, I needed a humidor. I bought a cheap one years ago. However, the attempt to setup and maintain the humidor, repeated over a period of years, failed miserably. I was young, inexperienced, impatient, neglectful, and severely ill-informed about, well, really anything having to do with humidors and cigar maintenance -- as evidenced by a host of dried out cigars, and, finally (the reason why I discarded the humidor a gave up), molded cigars.My new neighbor and I recently struck up a conversation (over a nice Ashton Classic) and fine single-malt. He asked me what type of humidor I had (assuming -- since I enjoyed the cigar with him, commenting on the subtle notes at each third, the even burn and stable foot, the leaf and the filler -- that I had one). I asked him why. He said, from one friend who enjoys cigars to another, he wanted to give me some of his favorite cigars to enjoy any time I wanted. A fine present from a good man, I told him my story. He put his glass down, went dead-pan affect, pointed his cigar at me and said, “No self-respecting man who enjoys cigars can go through life without their own humidor, even a small, 25-50-cigar humidor... to start.” I told him my experience with my former humidor (ill-seasoned, and ill-maintained), which made use of the included cheap (and I mean cheap) analog hygrometer. He said, very straightforwardly I might add, “Well, it’s not a problem. You just didn’t know what the [h-e-double-hockey sticks] you were doing.” He showed me his 150-cigar, glass-top humidor and the setup he uses, telling me what I did wrong, how to move forward, and what I needed… a main component being a properly-seasoned humidor, a proper means of hydration, and, of course, a digital hygrometer/thermometer. I told him I looked into a new setup a little bit ago and that a good setup is too expensive. He said, “No, a great setup is expensive. But, you don’t need a great setup. You need a good one, to start. Good humidors and hygrometers can be inexpensive, depending on where you look. Start small. Then, if it works out, go big.” He made some recommendations. Based on what he told me, I started looking at brick and mortar and online cigar shops and tobacco shops. After a lot of research, I ended up on Amazon, ultimately deciding on the Quality Importers Desktop Humidor, Capri-Glasstop humidor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002TOK352/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_3) (which passed the dollar bill test and worked very well so far) and the Inkbird Digital Thermometer & Hygrometer, both which I showed to my buddy who said, “Yep, they’ll do... to start.” After roughly four months of use, here’s my experience with the inkbird.Pros: For my purposes, I needed only a few functions, which the inkbird performs well. It’s a digital hygrometer/thermometer with a low-profile (that doesn’t obscure the view of my cigars). It has an on/off switch to save power, should you need it. LCDs have a low-power consumption to begin with. Assuming the included battery is a good one, power drain should be a non-issue for some time. Allowing you easily to replace the battery via a slide-out tray, the hygrometer attaches to your humidor using two, included velcro squares. The device is light, and the squares more than adequate for adhesion. Please see General Comments; however, for me, most important was the fact that the RH and temps were dead on.Cons: Noted earlier, the inkbird uses an LCD display (think old-school, 80’s digital watches -- if you were alive and old enough to remember such a watch back then -- and there you go). While looking at the display straight on, it’s great. Looking at the display through the glass top of a humidor causes some problems, due to the viewing angle. If you don’t have a glass-top humidor, this will be a non-issue for you. However, I purchased a glass-top so I could check on my cigars without disturbing the environment in the box. The viewing-angle limitations of the inkbird makes keeping the lid closed next to impossible. However, I have an analog hygrometer on my humidor, calibrated, and used to spotcheck the RH from a distance. All of which I confirm using the inkbird after opening the box, on occasion, to allow it to breathe (and allowing me to take in that oh-so-wonderful aroma). Another con is, unlike most analog hygrometers, I can find no way to adjust the RH or temp values (+/-) on the inkbird. While the device I received was spot on, a means of adjusting the RH value up or down would be nice, in case the hygrometer’s measurements are off out of the box.General Comments: The inkbird measures temperature in either Centigrade vs. Fahrenheit. This is a nice feature, but matters little to me, as I’m interested only in Fahrenheit. Instructions note the hygrometer can be off (+/-) 5% humidity. One of the first tasks I set upon after unboxing the inkbird was to run the salt test on both the humidor’s included analog hygrometer and the inkbird. After allowing the environment in the baggie to stabilize overnight (look up “hygrometer salt test” to discover what I mean if you don’t know already), the included analog hygrometer was was off by 3%, while the inkbird was dead on at 75% RH. After reading the reviews on this page, not everyone got the same results (i.e., their inkbird was off… but was still within the +/- 5% promised). Make sure you run the salt test to find out your hygrometer’s true RH reading. Temps seemed to match the readout on my in-house thermostat.Recommended Purchase?: After having used the inkbird hygrometer/thermometer for a few months now (longer than I was ever to keep a box of cigars before), I can say, without reservation, that I can recommend it as a four-star purchase. My cigars and I credit this hygrometer with keeping them perfectly balanced and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Should a need arise to change my review, I’ll do so ASAP. Until then, regards.The first problem is that a coin battery fell out of the box when I opened the box. That should not have happened. The second thing that happened is that I found it almost impossible to open the battery holder so I could install the battery. I had to pull on it so hard that I was afraid it was going to break. Luckily, it did not break.I have no way to know how accurate this thing is. The temperature agrees with another thermometer I have (within 2 degrees) and both of these instruments are in the same exact location. The humidity reading is at 22% on the other instrument while it's around 30% on this instrument, so I don't know which instrument is right. The other instrument takes one AA size alkaline battery that is in perfect condition.I just breathed on the instrument and within a few seconds the humidity went up to 67%. So that shows a pretty good response to a change in humidity.The case is warped or curved slightly from end to end. I don't know what could cause this. The instrument looks extremely small and delicate with an extremely small and delicate-looking ON/OFF switch. It's easy enough to read, though, even several feet away.Right now I'm showing 75 degrees F on my other thermometer while this one shows 80 degrees F. How the other one is up at 77 degrees F, so the discrepancy isn't as bad now.I admit i was skeptical in how slowly it seemed to come to a reading, took forever to settle in on the target humidity range. But let it sit overnight in my sistemador with a couple of Boveda 69% pouches and it was accurate within 1 or 2 points in either direction, from 67 to 71% humidity. This is satisfactory as it never went above nor below 67% to 71% and since the Boveda are pretty consistent with their RH delivery i consider this a good Hygrometer. There are better units out there i'm sure but this is all i need. Duds do exist but most are accurate. It doesn't bother me that it is non adjustable, all that concerns me is that it reads with an expected range of 67 to 71. I would only worry if it read 60 or 80 with 69% boveda packs. Note though that dry cigars, or dry cedar boards in you humidor will pull your reading a bit lower until things are right. If your cigars are over humidified or cedar is too moist it will read a higher RH.Overall, the hygrometer/thermometer seems to be fairly accurate. After calibrating it, I got a humidity reading that was 2 percent lower than it should have been. However, the digital display is easy to read and all the buttons seem to be working just fine. The item arrived on time and was securely packaged. My one complaint would be the velcro patches that come with the hygrometer/thermometer are not useful. The two, small adhesive velcro patches were not able to withstand the weight of the hygrometer in my cedar humidor. Perhaps one long velcro adhesive patch might work best.I usually purchase another brand of Hygrometer/Thermometer combo unit for keeping in my guitar cases but I have always found them to be inaccurate hygrometers. So I just purchased two Inkbird Hygrometer / Thermometer combo units and I really wasn't expecting much, but to my pleasant surprise I am very impressed. They look almost identical to the Oasis brand but they are half the price - and importantly, they are really accurate. Check the attached photo which compares the ambient temperature and humidity with my LaCross reference unit and the Oasis and Inkbird. Both of the Inkbird units read exactly the same - they are spot on. I will certainly buy more.I bought two of those, and when located next to each other they had over a full degree (Celcius) of different in the reading they gave.That said, they are fine to give an indication of the temperature in my greenhouses, and have survived several falls to the concrete floor, so a decent build quality.Easy to reset the MAX/MIN so overall pleased with themThe screen is very clear and easy to read. This could be a really good little gadget if the screen didn’t go blank for a few days on a regular basis. It blinks on and off a few times - supposedly refreshing - but then then continues for a few minutes before going blank. It stays blank for a few days then comes on and behaves perfectly for a week or two before going on the blink again. Pity because I as I said it could be a really good little gadgetI have a larger min/max thermometer on the fence near my greenhouse and this little feller in the greenhouse itself so I can compare overnight temperatures. This particular model is excellent. It tends to use up battery power in a few days if the LCD screen is left on but if you switch the LED off and just put it back on when you want to read it - which makes perfect sense - the batteries last for ages. A superb little instrument for an unbelievably low price. Highly recommended - Pip Collett.Purchased to monitor the temperature and humidity in my reptile room. - Records the minimum and maximum readings for both, and has a nice clear display of the current conditions.However after about 6 months the humidity was showing an really low level of 10% when compared to my weather sensor and other devices which were all around the same level at 40% - It constantly reads around 20% lower than the correct levels..... so as it can't be trusted it's going in the binDeff one of the best high end Hygrometer/Thermometers on the market I have one in my animal room but will be getting more for the green house and other rooms i especially like you can keep track of the high and low temps and humidity in the rooms it is well built and looks good the display is a perfect size to see from a distance and is accurate I tested it with 3 ir temp guns and the max difference was + or - 1c which I don't think can be improved on then again the difference could be because of the ir temp guns :) I haven't seen a more accurate one of any brand and I've had a few