First, we love our precious cigars. We buy them a house and make the conditions perfect. We move them in and give them time to get settled. We make the necessary adjustments so they can live a perfect and happy life. Then we monitor their conditions because it is the right thing to do. In a nutshell that is what is happening. We put a lot of money into our humidors, accessories, and cigars. We also donate a lot of time smoking everything to find what peaks our taste. Then we load up on our favorites. It would almost be a waste to not take the extra steps after set-up. For me, there are two Bluetooth enabled hygrometer/thermometers at the top of my list.
The first is the Boveda Butler. Any thing with the Boveda name on it screams product knowledge and quality. The second is made by Govee. If you have never heard of them you may be missing out. Below we will go through the specs, set-up, and results from real time usage to see which is the king of the hill.
Specs:
In The Box:
The Boveda Butler comes with the device, instructions, and a Boveda Calibration Kit. The Govee has the device, lanyard, and instructions in the box.
Size:
The Boveda Butler is the bigger of the two with a size of 2 x 1.25 x 0.5 inches. The more compact Govee is sized at 1.57 x 1.57 x 0.67 inches.
Set-Up:
Boveda recommends you calibrate the device prior to use. They do send the calibration kit with it to make it a one stop shop. The calibration is 24 hours long. Govee comes calibrated out of the box so it is not required to run the test.
Usage:
Suitable for any storage you choose to store your cigars in.
Connection:
Both come with a free app download to monitor your humidors via bluetooth. The Butler does come with instructions to remotely monitor your status while out of bluetooth range. The set-up is in the instructions. While I did not see that with the Govee I am pretty sure that it is also possible.
Price:
Boveeda Butler: $39.99
Govee: $17.99
Testing:
I have used the Butler and Govee with small, medium, and large humidors. I also have installed them in my Pelican Ammodor R40 travel humidor. I have a slight obsession with watching the temperature and humidity in my humidors. It is more like a game to me now to see if I can keep multiple running perfect at all times. I did put both devices in a travel humidor, acrylic 20 count, 25 count, and 50 count for this experiment. I let them all sit for one week each. The cigars that I smoked after I was done with each test were humidity tested with a Cigar Medics HumidiMeter to see results. On a side note when I first started this I did notice drastic changes in the Govee and it seemed impossible to get a humidor seasoned and reading correct. I did use the calibration kit on the Govee and had to adjust all three of them in the humidity area between 2 and 4. After that they did run smooth.
Real Time Results:
Rather than type a ton of numbers that no one wants to read I will give the results in a nutshell. In the area of temperature both devices were very close. They consistently stayed within one degree of each other the entire time which was no surprise. It is the humidity where this battle is won. The Boveda Butler stayed the closest on each test that I ran. The humidity check from the device to the HumidiMeter were within 2 of each other. The Govee was reading out 3 to 4 off. Before you disregard either device please read the final thoughts.
Final Thoughts:
The Govee is a great device and definitely more compact if space is an issue. The Boveda was overall more accurate at the end of the testing. I would like to say that I own and currently use both devices at the time of writing this. I have three Govee's running in three separate humidors. A 50 count, 25 count with glass top, and a solid 25 count. The cigars that come out of here are amazing I have no complaint. I also have two Boveda Butler's in action as well. One is in my Ammodor Pelican R40 ruck case travel humidor and the other is in a Boveda acrylic 20 count and neither required seasoning. This will come down to a preference and price issue. Take them both for a test spin and see which you prefer.
Comments