Ironwood Gen 2 temp stability data.

[Manannan]

I have used my Gen 2 Ironwood numerous times and have never been concerned about temperature variation or attaining the correct temperature. Conversely there is plenty of anecdotal information from people who are concerned about temperature accuracy and precision. Note Traeger say that on a typical, good-weather day, your grill should fluctuate no more than ±15°F (±9.5°C) and I think that is a reasonable claim.

Out of interest and no doubt others have done a similar thing I set up an Inkbird system used with my Pro 575 by running the wired ambient probe through the vent in the rear of the grill and fixing it to within an inch of the Traeger built in probe and set up the display where I could monitor both, see below.

So far I have only monitored lower temperatures (< 120C / 250F) and at no point across this range has the variation between the 2 probes been greater than 5C / 10.5F during ignition and typically during cooking the difference is no more than as per the picture. (note temp is in C) Historically I have checked the Inkbird calibration at 0C / 32F and 100C / 212F.

Next step in to change the primary grill temperature to F and compare across the whole range up to 500F to see if are their any discrepancies but to date I have been impressed.

 

[RayClem]

Even with the older generation Ironwood that I have, the temperature accuracy appears to be no more than 10 F at low temperatures. However, if I set the controller to 450F, I only get a chamber temp of 400F, a 40F difference. It will be interesting to see what you get on Gen2 at higher temperatures.

 

[matto]

I am a new Traeger owner (48 hours), but long time automated smoker owner (built my own solution almost 20 years ago). Chasing temperature in smokers is really hard. The movement of heat and air inside the smoke chamber makes things very interesting! I’m curious to see what data you come up with.

 

[Manannan]

Comparison of Traeger Gen 2 Ironwood v Inkbird temperatures across the range 200F - 500F, the two probes were less than 1.5 inches from each other.

Traeger status	Traeger temp (F)	Inkbird temp (F)
​	​	​
Ignite	53​	55​
preheat	75​	75​
preheat	100​	111​
preheat	150​	172​
​	​	​
200F set	200​	209​
250F set	250​	251​
300F set	300​	297​
350F set	350​	340​
400F set	400​	379​
450F set	450​	417​
475F set	475​	428​
500F set	500​	442​

The Traeger was cleaned beforehand, both Traeger and Inkbird probes were wiped clean, it was a calm day with no wind, 53F temp, no food was cooked and the hood was closed the whole time hence removing as many other variables as possible.

What it appears to show is that temperature comparison is OK to good up to around 350F perhaps 400F but after that there is a divergence which is what some people already suspected. At the higher temperatures I would probably trust the Inkbird?

To my mind this doesn't detract from the Traeger, I tend to use mine low and slow in any case and does it really matter if you are cooking to food temperature rather than time? Opinions welcome!

I will also post a couple of pics taken when I was playing around!

 

[Manannan]

I would add that it is all too easy to get in a knot about temperature variations, swings and fluctuations, I purely did this an an exercise to better understand my Traeger and what it can do, from that point of view it was a success.. Very few people probably bother analysing their kitchen oven and I suspect temperature variations are significant in many appliances. Whilst I am a scientist by trade any sort of cooking / grilling etc to me is more of an art!

 

[RayClem]

The numbers shown in the table are similar to what I get on my IW885. However, I measure the temperature in the center of the chamber just above the top grate. Thus, my chamber temperatures are a few degrees less.