Best Electric Smokers For Brisket (2024 Update)

I had some experience with smoking meats prior to purchasing this. I needed something small and electric, and this fit the bill. I have used it to smoke fall-off-the-bone ribs, as well as chicken. My only complaint is the cord length. The instructions(as well as common sense) state that the unit should be operated at least 10 feet from any structure, but the cord they supply is only about five and a half feet long. It also states in the instructions that the unit should only be hooked directly to a gfci outlet, so that rules out extension cords. But aside from that, this is a solidly built unit, that absolutely can get the job done.Richie

Father’s Day gift done right! Easy set up and curing process . My husband cooked smoked chicken and pork and said it worked very well. He loves it and our BBQ was a hit! Many compliments and recipe requests! Can’t beat that especially first time using it.Anonymous

I always read the one-star reviews of a prospective purchase first, and after receiving my smoker, I am baffled by them. My smoker arrived well-braced with styrofoam inside a heavily corrugated shipping carton and each loose piece (legs, grates, control, etc.) was heavily wrapped and braced inside. Everything was in perfect condition and all the parts were there. The smoker took all of ten minutes to assemble (legs, handles). It is well-made and sturdy. After seasoning per the instructions, I used it for the first time today to smoke a beef brisket and it turned out perfectly. This was a great purchase at a great price and I look forward to using it a lot in the future.Charles

I thought Bradley was a quality product. Don’t be fooled. Mine is 2 years old and used about 8 times. It was “finnicky” right from day 1 but thought it’s was just me. Now past 1 year warranty and won’t heat up. Element not working or fuse. Bradley can’t help other than offer possibilities and want to charge me for all the possible replacement parts. That is a hard no ! Inferior product, terrible customer service. I will put that money towards a better proven product.Frustrated

I've had my Original smoker (non-digital) for 2 years now, and I LOVE it! Living in a condo limited my choice of smoker to an electric model, but that hasn't limited what I can do with it. Cold smoking is easily accomplished by sticking a pan of ice in the unit. (I prefer the bottom rack) Tried all the traditional stuff, like meat, chicken, etc. All with great results (eventually). Ever had coleslaw made with smoked cabbage? Cheese is amazing! Buy the cheap stuff, no one will know, and it helps offset the price of bisquettes. Forget the manual, it's just too vague. Fire up your Google machine and experiment! And finally, having to endure Canadian winters, forget the digital stuff, and Get A Cover. I use this thing several times a week in the summer and a couple times a month in winter. P.S. The shipping box worked nicely as a temporary stand. And the reason for the title is that I'm constantly adjusting recipes, smoke times, wood flavors, etc., because I'm trying to see if there's anything that doesn't taste better SMOKED!TJSMOKER

Great concept with the biscuits,but unfortunately that’s all this smoker has for you. Make a long story short my unit started on fire because of the design! It is terrible in cold weather barely gets enough heat with normal temperatures. Stay away from this smoker!knappster

Threw wings and thighs on for a few hours, amazing job for first time. Looking forward to using this with other meats and fish. Seems to hold a nice consistent temp once you figure out the dial. Very pleased with this purchase. The farm and fleet guy was very helpful also!Smokin John

Bought as a gift for my son. Arrived dented and sent pictures. They send a replacement after numerous calls. The replacement was also dented and certainly looked used by the residual ash left inside. Smoke escapes from door. Did a halfway decent job of smoking but feel like when paying full price, I should have received brand new, top notch product which this was not…. twice!Pixus

Im throwing away my smoker. Got it about a year ago and have only been able to successfully cook 3 times out of about 8. It trips the electric. Tired of fighting it and googling ideas any time I want a freakin piece of chicken! Just when we think we figure out the problem and cook something, the next time it trips the electric again. I have thrown away food because its my only source to real smoke. I have tried lower temps, no extension chord, a heavy duty short extension chord and 3 different outside outlets. Trips on low temp. Cant cook on a lower temp anyway since it does heat up to even 200 and the chips wont smoke – according to forums for THAT issue. Already had to not soak chips. Have tried other items in the outlets. They work. Its the smoker. No rust – had issue since it was new.picklesmith

The smoker unit is the only good part what so ever. I like the biscuits and the digital display. Here's what I dislike. One small element and this unit isn't convection. So even on a good temperature day this smoker cooks unevenly. I rotate my racks around because if I don't, the meat cooks more on the back side if the smoker instead of cooking evenly. Forget about using this thing in cold weather. It just isn't worth the hassle. I've used a torch to heat the unit up so that the element would actually light. Otherwise, it just gives you an error code and screams at you. Another thing I dislike is that the door doesn't have a latch. I've had this piece of junk open up on me several times due to wind or even gravity. So make sure it's on a level surface or the door might swing open. On top of it all, Bradley customer service is non existent. Reached out a few times and no reply. So basically, I cook the meat in the oven and then move it into the smoker for an hour and then back into the oven to reach safe temp. I do this because this smoker isn't trustworthy in cold or moderately cold temperatures. Seriously better off buying the smoke generator and building your own smoker.Frozen Smoker

So I buy this 4 months ago. Seasoned it, smoked some chicken wings, sauce comes pouring out of this thing. Doesn’t seal very well at all. Emailed Bradley, no response. Emailed Bradley again when it got so bad that the door actually won’t stay shut. No response. Phone Bradley, left a voicemail, no response. So finally I call Cabelas. Only 90 day return policy. Pretty disappointed I must say. It doesn’t cook very evenly so it’s hard to say if it’s because of the terrible seal or just the nature of the beast. The element is on the back so when I cook jerky I just rotate and rearrange the racks. Not the end of the world but I guess I expected better from something that was held in such high regard. Guess I know what to look for when I buy my next smoker. And I will buy another smoker because this one is too small. I thought 4 racks would do the job but it doesn’t. Soon as you do jerky you run out of room quick. I think I would rather save a bit more money and buy a better smoker. I’ll install a latch of my own and hope that improves the quality of this smoker for now but my rating is based on poor quality seal and awful customer service.Bradley has awful service

For the price, I guess it's ok. Very thin aluminum, maybe I overlooked the guage in the specs. I haven't used it yet but judging from the thickness of the tabs holding the racks, I don't see a way to put any meat on there that would weigh more than a few pounds. For smaller pieces, it will probably work ok. Turkeys are out of the question along with bigger meats (venison roasts, ribs, etc). The small pan used for the wood must use small chips/pellets. I have many apple trees and have 2 huge burlap sacks full of cut apple wood for smoking. No way to use it in this smoker. But I will keep it and will use it, it's just not quite what I wanted. So I'm building my own aluminum smoker out of heavier weight metal and a large wood burning box on the bottom. Like I said, I haven't used it yet but these are my first observations. The good thing is: It's aluminum and should never rust.c-moisee

The unit caught on fire after first use! I don't understand why the unit caught on fire but fortunately I was close by monitoring the smoking process and noticed dark smoke coming from the unit and when I checked the unit there were flames blazing inside. It burned the meat inside to a crisp! The inside of the box was severely burned from the fire in the box. I have owned one of these units for many years in the past and didn't experience this type of issue. Now, I'm anxious regarding using these Big Chief Smokers. This could've been a very dangerous and costly manner had I not been monitoring the smoking process. I had to dump water onto the top of the and allow the water to drain down to where the fire was burning to extinguish the fire. If, I had taken the front cover off I'm certain the oxygen in the air would've carried the fire!JJ

I like it as I had one before. I just wish the wire on the racks were a little closer together. Other than that works great . I have been smoking peppers and will do my jerky in a few days. What I like is is is a cool smoke. Does not cook the meat but dries it and the same for the peppers. I would definitly recommend it for all smoking where you do not want to cook the productEric

I wish I would have listened to reviews stating that the temp on this machine would not get high enough, but being a broke college student I went with the cheapest option and that is certainly what I got. The gauge (doesn't read correct) shows up to 400 degree F but this smoker can't even sniff 250 degree F on a good day at full heat. I have always bought masterbuilt products for years and loved them. I had no problem with the simpler analog function of the dial and was even okay with a smaller rack size but this smoker simply isn't as advertised. Sadly, my next purchase may have to be one of the more high end smokers on the market as this poorly made version is the bbq equivalent of an easy-bake oven. Save your money.Ryan

worked okay for a few smokes, then one day the plug melted into the outlet (lucky i didnt burn the house down) so i had to pry it out and a prong broke off in the outlet (which had to be replaced immediately since thats where i plug my pool pump in when im not smoking). NOW the nightmare is their TRASH web site erroring out (both mozilla and microsoft based browsers) when trying to file a claim ( who doesnt love spending 15 min filling out forms to then have it all erased) or even simply contacting support because THEY NO LONGER OFFER PHONE SUPPORT! this company is hot garbage and ill never buy another one of their products. good thing i got the extended warranty from walmart so EVENTUALLY ill get my $ back. the smoker itself took a long time to get up to temp and never really stabilized until literally hours of fiddling with the knob, didnt help that the thermometer on the front was USELESS but i use digital probes because of that very fact. the drip cup was constantly spilling too. as for the stuff i smoked ofcourse it came out delicious, but anyone who knows how to smoke can do that. it generally took a good hour or more longer than it should have because of the fiddly thermostat but it got there eventually.michael

I assembled, was 30 minutes into the directed “ seasoning “ prior to use and my breaker tripped. So I thought faulty GFCI. Nope, took to two other outlets – not on the same circuits – and they tripped instantly. A short to ground? Yep…. So disappointing #1. Contacted Masterbuilt via online app. You have to take pictures of your receipt and Model / Serisl number and upload to their website while registering. And I get an email saying 5 business days. So I called Bass Pro – where I ordered online – and they said I could travel to my nearest bass pro ( 30 miles one way ) and exchange. Disappointment #2 ) grabbed a new / in box unit and while investing to assembly, the unit was dented. Inward and outward. So another trip to Basspro- 120 miles round trip. They gave me a choice of a floor model or a boxed unit. After looking at the box with slight cardboard damage I chose the floor model. So now I sit , 1.5 hours into the seasoning process hoping this unit works. Overall, this is a low end unit, marginal quality, suspect electrical components. BassPro needs to rethink carrying this brand as I seen more than a few returned units in the customer service return area. MSRP is 150.00. I bought on sale for About $88. It’s worth about $25. Think twice about this unit. Maybe I was in that 5-10% failure range. Frustrating to say the least.Buzz618

35 year Executive Chef. I've had my smoker over a year, it's had about 40 runs to date. Unit definitely got better after first 5-6 uses, it's perfectly seasoned now. I've smoked everything in this, brisket, shoulders, ribs, fish, bacon, cheese, herbs, you name it. I rarely trust unit thermometers, however after using several external thermos, the unit is very accurate. I've gotten good smoke as low as 160 degrees. Trick is to start high and go low. Also, I use this on my apartment balcony, perfect for the apartment dweller that thinks they can't smoke. Usually, if it's electric, you're good. Well done Masterbuilt, excellent smoker!Chef17

These work great….for a season. I got one, with the extended warranty, thank God, and used it for anything and everything. I loved this smoker. However, after 1 season, the electrical panel went out. I babied this smoker. With the warranty, they gave me the same one, just some newer features because it was newer. Again, worked great for 6 months. The panel went out again. I went back to gas. Had it years and it still works perfectly.John

I've had the smoker for a month now, and used it on a couple occasions. Smoking our meats gives us another option in our family culinary repertoire. I'm still gaining experience with it, but the smoker seems to do a good job of maintaining fairly consistent temperature, and good smoking. A pork loin roast, and a whole chicken have turned out tasty. As recommended in the Owners Manual, I cleaned the unit after each use with mild soap and water. What concerns me, is that the black paint along the the inside edge of the door frame started peeling off with the first use. We'll see how the paint degrades over time. If ours is an isolated incident, then this points to a manufacturing quality issue. If this is more widespread, then this points to a product / process development issue. Perhaps a powder coating finish would work better?kmiller99

Purchased smoker as it was supposed to be a great starter smoker and I was looking to get into smoking meats. After following instructions and maintaining unit as required, I noticed that the PH option would heat the unit as desired; however, once I set the temperature to get to temp it would only heat to around 110 degrees. After contacting Charbroil, I was told to replace the heating element (~$30 plus shipping & taxes). Well, that didn't work and now I'm stuck with a smoker that I've used maybe 15-20 times but won't heat like it is supposed to. Charbroil only stands by their product for so long so won't help anymore; but I could continue to buy replacement parts in the HOPE that one of them will work? I'd spend the extra money and get a unit from a company that stands by their product.JJ33

For 2 years this smoker performed great! No problems, everything turned out as expected. Then I noticed the heating element wasn’t getting as hot as it had in the past. I removed the back cover where the connections are and found one connection almost burnt off. I contacted customer service, spoke with a supervisor, explained the problem and even sent a picture. Since I was one year out of warranty, I get it, they couldn’t do much except give me money off a new one. Didn’t want to spend over $150 on one that’ll probably do the same thing. I repaired it myself but sad that the quality control is terrible! And my smoker is stored in a garage, not exposed to any weather or elements.Gordon S

I wanted to get into smoking with an entry-level priced smoker, and I thought this product would fit the bill. The smoker is very easy to work with by and large, and I made a number of excellent meals with it. Dynamite ribs, amazing pulled pork, chicken thighs, queso, etc. I was very happy with my purchase at first. However, the smoker stopped heating about 18 months after I bought it, right in time for winter. When I checked it in the spring, I found the connectors to the heating element had completely corroded. Worse off, this is not an easily replacement/repairable part, unless one is an experienced electrician. At its price point, I wasn't expecting this product to last for decades, but getting less than two years out of it was very disappointing. Customer service was great when I contacted them. They were straight with me that this wasn't an easily replaceable part.GS123

When I first opened the box, I thought , wow this is going to be a job, but, the instructions were easy to read, and understand, and it took less than an hour and a half to put together. Easy to use, obviously designed for the homeowner. You can smoke way more than I thought, it has a large capacity, great for a party. On the first day I smoked a pork shoulder, and a chicken, come out restaurant quality. This smoker delivered to my door was under $220.00, I am very happy with itJo

Took wayyyy too long to get! Ordered 11/27 and it arrived after New Years. Great looking, easy to assemble. Temperature does not go to the desired temperature setting. I have contacted Pitt Boss and they are sending out a new heating element. Stay tuned !Darryl

When I see these comments that it will not get up to heat as advertised, do you know IF they were using an extension cord, this in my opinion would be the basic cause. f people LOOKING at this unit understand this clearly, think you sales would incress.Ray

If you could find one, buy it. This is a great little smoker. It regulates temperature well and produces enough smoke even at 200*. It's smaller than the bigger one's but great for a small family. Well built with a latching door. Find one and get smokin'TinoD

35 year Executive Chef. I've had my smoker over a year, it's had about 40 runs to date. Unit definitely got better after first 5-6 uses, it's perfectly seasoned now. I've smoked everything in this, brisket, shoulders, ribs, fish, bacon, cheese, herbs, you name it. I rarely trust unit thermometers, however after using several external thermos, the unit is very accurate. I've gotten good smoke as low as 160 degrees. Trick is to start high and go low. Also, I use this on my apartment balcony, perfect for the apartment dweller that thinks they can't smoke. Usually, if it's electric, you're good. Well done Masterbuilt, excellent smoker!Chef17

First time in my life I've ever entered a review, I was very excited to get this smoker unit and having read numerous reviews decided to order the accessory smoker box before even using the DES the first time. The reason was reviews that said if you fed chips into the small standard tray, you would spend a lot of time feeding the pan along with a problem of the heating element shutting down when the smoker reaches temp thereby reducing the amount of smoke produced. Believe what people say about the stability of the acc box with the single hook bolt that comes with it. Don't know for sure but, much of that problem would go away if they simply gave you two bolts with the purchase. It comes with 4 – 1 1/2" long stabilizer bolts that thread into the bottom of the box which do you absolutely no good if the DES is mounted on the legs that it's shipped with, they put the bottom of the acc box about 8" off the ground. I fabricated a plate that solved the problem but, I'm not sure what the engineering group was thinking when they reviewed that design…A simple on/off switch controls the acc smoke box and, it puts out a lot of smoke you might get a little over two hours of smoke per fill with dry chips. Now to the DES. with the acc box we were able to get some very flavorful meat from our efforts, one of my major complaints is that this unit is very slow to get back up to temp after opening the door for treatment of the product. The first time I used it on a pair of pork shoulder roasts, it's winter in IL so I left it in the shop with the walk-in door open and a box fan set up to blow over the top to force the smoke outside. The temp in the shop was about 40 degrees and it took us between 9-10 hours to get them to 165 degrees internal temp with the smoker set at 225 degrees. Don't misunderstand, they were tasty but, my goodness, that's just way more time commitment than I'm prepared to make. The second time I went to use it I plugged it in, and nothing would light up. I registered the product so I could file a warranty claim and, as I went through the troubleshooting process, one of the steps was to look under the unit for possible damage to the circuit board cover. It said nothing about removing the cover and checking connections inside which turned out to be the problem, none of the wires were off their spade posts but, something was going on because after removing and pushing them back on the unit powered up. That allowed our second smoking adventure to begin two full chickens and two slabs of St Louis ribs. We decided to do the chickens beer can style, no cans, just a couple of can stands to keep the birds standing upright to insure smoke infusion. As it turns out, two birds standing is about all the room there is in the smoker. I was going to remove the top rack but, alas the standard size grocery store birds would not fit. We started in mid-morning with the birds and didn't get done with the ribs until 2:00 AM. This was all done with the DES sitting outside on the deck most of the day with a doubled-up blanket draped over it to help it conserve heat. Loved the chicken and the ribs were outstanding but, once again what a time commitment. When I made up my mind to return it to the vendor, I decided to clean it a bit, took the drip pan out and cleaned it, it had chunks of grease cooked to ash on it, there were burned/cooked dry ash grease dops on the shield over the heating element, and there is also a small trough on the back wall that is supposed to direct grease to the drain hole that runs right over the top of the heating element that was filling with cooked dry grease ash. Did not have to clean the grease drip cup outside the drain as there never was a drip that came out of it. Honestly, most of the grease ends up in the water pan which needs cleaning after each use. Very high hopes with a huge let down. Find it so frustrating to not be able to actually speak to someone when something doesn't work and the fact that I waited from Sunday to Tuesday for response from CS and then it was without any direct response to my question.Mathrrd

My first experience worked just as designed. Three pounds of salmon was great. The second effort was a pork shoulder. The smoker work fine during the initial 2.5 hours of uncovered smoking, although the temperature hovered 8 degrees lower than set. When i reset the timer for an additional 2.5 hours after being wrapped the temperature dropped to below 100 degrees and fluctuated between 94 and 114 degrees for almost 20 minutes, never higher. I had to finish the cooking in the oven. The third time smoking 2 lbs of salmon the temperature never got above 110 degrees. When I tried to set the timer the entire control unit turned off. I tried several times using several steps to get the controller to register both a time and temperature. Very frustrating. Time to return it.Joe B, Chicago

For the price, I guess it's ok. Very thin aluminum, maybe I overlooked the guage in the specs. I haven't used it yet but judging from the thickness of the tabs holding the racks, I don't see a way to put any meat on there that would weigh more than a few pounds. For smaller pieces, it will probably work ok. Turkeys are out of the question along with bigger meats (venison roasts, ribs, etc). The small pan used for the wood must use small chips/pellets. I have many apple trees and have 2 huge burlap sacks full of cut apple wood for smoking. No way to use it in this smoker. But I will keep it and will use it, it's just not quite what I wanted. So I'm building my own aluminum smoker out of heavier weight metal and a large wood burning box on the bottom. Like I said, I haven't used it yet but these are my first observations. The good thing is: It's aluminum and should never rust.c-moisee

The unit caught on fire after first use! I don't understand why the unit caught on fire but fortunately I was close by monitoring the smoking process and noticed dark smoke coming from the unit and when I checked the unit there were flames blazing inside. It burned the meat inside to a crisp! The inside of the box was severely burned from the fire in the box. I have owned one of these units for many years in the past and didn't experience this type of issue. Now, I'm anxious regarding using these Big Chief Smokers. This could've been a very dangerous and costly manner had I not been monitoring the smoking process. I had to dump water onto the top of the and allow the water to drain down to where the fire was burning to extinguish the fire. If, I had taken the front cover off I'm certain the oxygen in the air would've carried the fire!JJ

I like it as I had one before. I just wish the wire on the racks were a little closer together. Other than that works great . I have been smoking peppers and will do my jerky in a few days. What I like is is is a cool smoke. Does not cook the meat but dries it and the same for the peppers. I would definitly recommend it for all smoking where you do not want to cook the productEric

All the materials are nice and heavy duty. Nice looking – everyone who's seen it likes the unique look and colors. It's about 100lb package so be prepared with two people or a hand truck to get it where you need it. Should last a long time since it's such heavy gauge steel.Good directions and easy to build. I spent about an hour unpacking each part then another 90 minutes + putting it together.Lights by itself by turning on power and selecting smoke then selecting temperature. Once lit up the temperature raises very quickly somewhat above the setting then settles down withing a few degrees of the selected temp. When you open and let some of the heat out and the temperature drops you can immediately hear the fan speed up to generate more heat to get back to temp. When set high at 450 – lighting the first time took it up to about 490, then it sat between 450-459. When setting a temperature it ramps up quickly and exceeds the setting by about 50 degrees before settling down after 15 minutes. Obviously it needs to feed pellets and air to get up to temperature than there's going to be a larger variance when starting and that will also depend of the type of pellets. It will take awhile to learn how it works, but I like it so far. When I set it to 275 it first ran up well into the 300's, but once it settled down it varied between the 260's to the 280's which is fine, so I think it's pretty normal.It will take awhile to get used to a temp control instead of flame control, but it is obviously far more accurate than the flame watching method.The ribs I cooked taste just as good the next day because of the wood smoke taste.My only concern is the cost of the pellets, so it may be a little more than propane if you fill you own tanks, but definitely a higher quality end product. You will probably pay more for pellets than gas because you tend to cook longer with pellets and the bags appear to run about .50 to $1 per pound.Definitely recommend these for the price point to take your barbecue and grilling to the next level.Jeff

Overall has been great so far, just some small items. Will test out brisket soon. Love it so far. Did notice that it came with temp probe outlet, but no probe came with it. Talking to other zgrill owners that have bigger grills with temp probe outlet, they said it came with one. I did email zgrill grill over a week ago about this and no one has responded. So the question is , can I get a temp probe or if not , what can I use.. I am using the cruiser 200a for camping and think it will be great. I have a 700a for the house for about 3 years and love it…. Thanks yoyMike P.

Z Grills ZPG-450A 2019 Upgrade ModelThe main grill is approximately 15.5 by 21 inches. There is a secondary ‘warming’ grill that is about 6 by 21 inches (with my measurements). The warming grill is above the level of the exhaust, so cooking meat on it is probably not a good idea. You can put veggies up there and just wait until they are done. The warming grill sits in a stationary position in the back, about 4 inches above the main grill. If you are cooking a large roast, the warming grill might need to be removed. I have to give a -1 star for the evasive advertisement of the (450 sq. in.) cooking area. Other than that, I love this thing.I own a wood fired, offset grill, that cooks great with lots of attention. I wanted a smallish smoker that would not waste fuel on cooking just one roast. This grill/smoker cooks great without much attention at all. In my case, it is also much cheaper to burn pellets for 8 or 10 hours than to keep a charcoal fire going for that long. I have also owned a propane grill. Propane seemed good for chicken but other meats did not have much flavor. Your results may vary.The temperature control is a switch calibrated in temperature increments. The settings are ‘Shut Down’, ‘Smoke’, 180, then 225-375 degrees in 25 degree steps. The last selection is ‘High’, which I think is 450. I normally only do 225 degree smoking.The temperature appears to be controlled by a combination of fan and auger speed. The temperature sensor is about at grill level on the hotter end of the unit.I could set 225F and after a 30 minute warm up measured (without meat) 224 on the left, 224 at center and 233 on the right. For a wood fired grill that is close to perfect. Depending on the meats and local weather conditions, the temperature may vary. On a large pork roast I saw temperatures between 200 and 240 when set at 225 on a 60 degree windy day. Mostly it stays around what you have set.This thing is really heavy, over 85 pounds. The only plastic parts I could see are the wheels. More metal usually means better cooking for an oven. I have no complaints.I've done some pork ribs, pork loin, chicken, and beef tri tip. all with expected good results. This past weekend, I decided to try a pork butt, without using a Texas crutch. Eighteen hours later at 225F, I had some really good roast. It used about 20 pounds of pellets over the 18 hours, all at 225. I would never had attempted that with my charcoal smoker. Too much time and money evolved in keeping a charcoal fire going that long.These pellet smokers do not add an overpowering smoke flavor. If you like extra smokey meats, you can get a pellet fired smoke tube that will provide more than enough extra smoke for under $20.Updated 6SEP20:I've been using this grill almost daily for six months now and fell in love with it, I kicked my rating from 4, up to 5 stars. It is so darned easy to use and clean, keep foil on the drip tray thing and life is good. You will need to vacuum out the fire pot at about every 20-30 pounds of pellets (or sooner). I found I can get 40 pound bags of pellets at the local hardware store for around $15, not the super deluxe pellets, but good just the same. Way cheaper than using charcoal. The only thing I miss is the ability to sear over an open flame. This grill will heat up to over 420 degrees so it is possible to simulate that flame grilled finish.ken m.

My previous MB electric smoker finally gave up the ghost. It was a heavy, well-built unit, like a tank in construction, which worked incredibly well. I didn't even look at other offerings when I went to buy my replacement. Sadly, this was a real mistake. The new unit that I got as a replacement weighs in at less than half that of the old smoker (I weighed them) and came with the aluminum bottom buckled, as it is very thin aluminum. The unit won't get to temp. It won't hold temp. The digital display disagrees with the actual temp. This was confirmed by two calibrated digital thermometers. The lack of a human customer service agent to speak with, the frustration of placing a warranty claim for parts, and the world's most annoying chat-bot (I should test the impedance on the unit???) have convinced me to never buy another Masterbuilt product again – a company that I had recommended countless times to people in the past. You can only go so cheap in your build quality before you lose customers. I understand the need to be price competitive and to be as profitable as possible, but you should never beat yourself. That is what MB is doing. Without even looking at or comparing MB with a competing product, for me, they knocked themselves out of the running for any future purchase. And, I'm really disappointed in that. I liked Masterbuilt. I liked their old customer service. And, I most certainly liked using my old MB electric smoker that worked.NeverAgain

35 year Executive Chef. I've had my smoker over a year, it's had about 40 runs to date. Unit definitely got better after first 5-6 uses, it's perfectly seasoned now. I've smoked everything in this, brisket, shoulders, ribs, fish, bacon, cheese, herbs, you name it. I rarely trust unit thermometers, however after using several external thermos, the unit is very accurate. I've gotten good smoke as low as 160 degrees. Trick is to start high and go low. Also, I use this on my apartment balcony, perfect for the apartment dweller that thinks they can't smoke. Usually, if it's electric, you're good. Well done Masterbuilt, excellent smoker!Chef17

First time in my life I've ever entered a review, I was very excited to get this smoker unit and having read numerous reviews decided to order the accessory smoker box before even using the DES the first time. The reason was reviews that said if you fed chips into the small standard tray, you would spend a lot of time feeding the pan along with a problem of the heating element shutting down when the smoker reaches temp thereby reducing the amount of smoke produced. Believe what people say about the stability of the acc box with the single hook bolt that comes with it. Don't know for sure but, much of that problem would go away if they simply gave you two bolts with the purchase. It comes with 4 – 1 1/2" long stabilizer bolts that thread into the bottom of the box which do you absolutely no good if the DES is mounted on the legs that it's shipped with, they put the bottom of the acc box about 8" off the ground. I fabricated a plate that solved the problem but, I'm not sure what the engineering group was thinking when they reviewed that design…A simple on/off switch controls the acc smoke box and, it puts out a lot of smoke you might get a little over two hours of smoke per fill with dry chips. Now to the DES. with the acc box we were able to get some very flavorful meat from our efforts, one of my major complaints is that this unit is very slow to get back up to temp after opening the door for treatment of the product. The first time I used it on a pair of pork shoulder roasts, it's winter in IL so I left it in the shop with the walk-in door open and a box fan set up to blow over the top to force the smoke outside. The temp in the shop was about 40 degrees and it took us between 9-10 hours to get them to 165 degrees internal temp with the smoker set at 225 degrees. Don't misunderstand, they were tasty but, my goodness, that's just way more time commitment than I'm prepared to make. The second time I went to use it I plugged it in, and nothing would light up. I registered the product so I could file a warranty claim and, as I went through the troubleshooting process, one of the steps was to look under the unit for possible damage to the circuit board cover. It said nothing about removing the cover and checking connections inside which turned out to be the problem, none of the wires were off their spade posts but, something was going on because after removing and pushing them back on the unit powered up. That allowed our second smoking adventure to begin two full chickens and two slabs of St Louis ribs. We decided to do the chickens beer can style, no cans, just a couple of can stands to keep the birds standing upright to insure smoke infusion. As it turns out, two birds standing is about all the room there is in the smoker. I was going to remove the top rack but, alas the standard size grocery store birds would not fit. We started in mid-morning with the birds and didn't get done with the ribs until 2:00 AM. This was all done with the DES sitting outside on the deck most of the day with a doubled-up blanket draped over it to help it conserve heat. Loved the chicken and the ribs were outstanding but, once again what a time commitment. When I made up my mind to return it to the vendor, I decided to clean it a bit, took the drip pan out and cleaned it, it had chunks of grease cooked to ash on it, there were burned/cooked dry ash grease dops on the shield over the heating element, and there is also a small trough on the back wall that is supposed to direct grease to the drain hole that runs right over the top of the heating element that was filling with cooked dry grease ash. Did not have to clean the grease drip cup outside the drain as there never was a drip that came out of it. Honestly, most of the grease ends up in the water pan which needs cleaning after each use. Very high hopes with a huge let down. Find it so frustrating to not be able to actually speak to someone when something doesn't work and the fact that I waited from Sunday to Tuesday for response from CS and then it was without any direct response to my question.Mathrrd

ive been using this smoker since oct 2020, it is my first offset. i have made some pretty good bbq on it, as I'm still learning the world of offset smoking. Heres a few things about this smoker. You are getting what you pay for. The metal is thin, so it easily warps, especially in the firebox area. During the first burn through and seasoning fire, there were significant gaps in the cook chamber lid and firebox lid. Get ready to buy gasket sealers, which is no bid deal. But the warps in the metal after a few smokes, increase the gaps, letting out a lot of smoke. With the thin metal, around a 1/16 of an inch, it makes it very difficult to keep heat in, especially on a cold day. Temperatures spike up and down, so heat management is very difficult. Be ready to baby sit this smoker constantly. Sometimes thats exhausting especially with a 12+ hour brisket cook. Another issue is the smoke stack is above grate level, so it doesn't have good airflow. Airflow has been a constant problem, especially on days with no wind. Even with all the vents wide open and the fire box door open, it doesn't have enough draw on the air. I'm sure it wouldn't cost a whole lot more for the manufacturer to move the stack down to grate level and ad a longer stack. And I'm sure most of us would pay the extra if it meant better airflow, which is one of the most essential components of offset smoking to produce clean smoke. Most offset smokers come with the stack above grate level, which makes absolutely no sense at all. Also another complaint is the thermometer ports are on the upper half of the cook chamber lid, not at grate level. We all know heat rises, but manufacturers keep putting the ports higher up on the lid rather than at grate level. Some smokers do have a second rack in the cooking, which then would make sense for a thermometer to be that high, but not on this smoker. A thermometer port at grate level would be more beneficial. So i bought a digital probe thermometer to record temps at grate level. Besides all of that, its a good smoker to get a taste of offset smoking, if a taste is what you want. Besides that, its a decent smoker to get into the world of meat smoking. If you have enough patience and determination to learn and fail, and learn some more, you'll make decent bbq. I'm already looking for a smoker that will better address all of the problems i have mentioned.dimavan

I purchased this online through Amazon. Ordered it on Sunday, received it on Wednesday. I was excited to get it put together and start using it. I put it together by myself. Two people would be easier. The Oklahoma Joe's emblem was broken off the lid when i opened the box, not a big deal. just used high temp silicone to hold it on. The major problems with this smoker are; The main compartment lid and the firebox lid are not even close to fitting correctly, the firebox is held together by 4 bolts, 2 on the left side and two on the right side. after assembly there was a 1/4" gap in the front and rear of the firebox. The Longhorn smoker leaks smoke like a sieve. I purchased gasket sealers for the main compartment and firebox. both lids still have major leaks. added two after market clamps to the main compartment, still leaks. i have ordered extra clamps for both firebox and the main compartment. hopefully this will correct that. The firebox half, I sealed with a half tube of high temp sealer. On the burn in, it is recommended for a temp of 250-300 degrees. Well, the paint on the firebox was bubbling up and burning off. I have had this for just over a week. the firebox now droops down on the right side. the heat seems to weaken the metal on the right side of the main compartment where the firebox is attached. I bought an automotive jack stand to hold it up. Also you will need to seal the exhaust pipe and cap for leaks. You would think for the amount of money these cost, the tolerances would be much better. how hard should it be to match a lid to the smoker and have it fit? The temperature across the cooking surface was not as even as Oklahoma Joe's claims. So I purchased an after market solid steel baffIe. This helped with two things, one, it helped keep the temperature even and 2, I had to remove the inside mount for the factory baffle plate and drill holes in the new baffle and use the top 2 bolts for the firebox, but what it did was help the firebox from drooping by reenforcing the main compartment. I very tired of sending thing back so I just decided to make this work. But by the time you spend Time and the money you need to to make this smoker preform correctly, you would be better off just buying a higher quality one to begin with. I could have had a 1/4" thick steel smoker that was all welded and ready to go for the same amount I have spent on this Oklahoma Joe's reverse longhorn smoker, this is half the thickness. Bottom line, this smoker is not ready to go out of the box. you need to spend time and money to make it work correctly.Disappointed again

I read reviews till I was Nauseated at all the negatives with people thinking they were buying $1500 to $2500 heavy iron pit that would seal easier. So my expectations were not as high as I realistically wanted them to be But ,,,,,,,,, I am So Pleasantly Surprised, and Happy, with the way this Offset Smoker cooked and burned and, even sealed as far as that goes. No, It Does Not seal completely but it sealed sufficiently. And I used a fairly small load of charcoal to burn it in, as the previous owner did not even use the pit for some reason. I was very Happy with the level of Heat that it held. I checked the heat from close to the Firebox to the smokestack end and it was approx 50 to 60 degrees different. If you have ever had an Offset smoker you know it ‘WILL BE’ that way, unless it was made with a defector shield to keep the heat from just rising straight out of the firebox into the smoke chamber ! Overall for the price of this smoker, it does just what SHOULD BE Expected of it, and it performs really Well !Krace

I've gone a full season with this smoker now (on natural gas), and it continues to disappoint. Here are the problems: (1) The burner goes OUT on any setting below medium. Camp Chef sent me a new burner to replace the one that came with it, which was nice of them. (But I had to hire my plumber to take the thing apart and put it back together again which reduced the value proposition of the smoker as it increased my cost of ownership). But it didn't change anything. It still goes out – so I cannot use this to smoke at very low temperatures. One thing that interested me in this smoker was the wide range of temperatures, so this is a disappointment. (2) The seal around the door is terrible – smoke leaks everywhere. So much for this being a "vault." (3) The drip pan is very shallow, so on a long smoke I am continually refilling it. My old Eastern Mountain smoker had a nice deep bowl. (4) The wood chip tray is very cheesy. It warped on the first cook, and it's so shallow that I was going through wood like crazy. And then, when I would open the door, the wood would flame up – exactly the opposite of what you want it to do. I bought two small cast iron smoker boxes on Amazon that fit on it the warped pan. I get a lot longer smoke now, and because these have slotted cast iron lids, I no longer have the flame up problem when I open the door. This added another $12 dollars to the cost of ownership. I wanted to love this smoker, and I just don't. But I've spent all this money on it, and I feel stuck with it now. I wouldn't buy it again, and I wouldn't recommend it to you either.Tyler721

Received this as a Christmas gift after my old Landmann smoker finally gave up the ghost. I just used it for the first time to smoke a standing rib roast and was sorely disappointed in the operation of the unit. It has numerous issues that make is less than what I wanted and it will be going back to the store ASAP. First, there’s one big chamber that contains everything from the meat to the drip pan and chip tray. This means every time you have to add chips or water the entire smoker gets opened and all your heat escapes which is terrible for temperature stability (kind of a bad thing for a smoker). Second, the manufacturer went with a chip tray instead of a heavy cast slotted bin so the chips smoke off every 30-minutes even with a full tray, not the “several hours” as quoted in the manufactures manual, which makes this thing a pain to keep smoke coming out of. The chip tray is huge and cumbersome making it a hassle to work with and it doesn’t slide cleanly in and out of the unit. The smoking racks are difficult to insert and remove without a second person helping you since the door blocks the inserts that they slide in and out of unless it’s open close to 180 degrees, and it tends to want to swing closed. The meat that was produced was fine, but I’d hate to try and smoke anything that took longer than the 3-1/2 hours I spent on the rib roast. I wanted to like this thing, but it’s not a good unit.Jonathan Eidson

I have been using mine for 5 years now and I am very happy with it. I have smoked several butt roast, turkeys, ribs and chickens and they all turned out great. It's large enough to smoke a large turkey and large butt roast on the same rack, as I do not like to stack them so they don't drip on each other. The wood chip tray is large enough to use a mixture of wood types. It is curved and holds water as well, allowing the wood chips to get good and moist that creates alot of smoke for flavor.John A

This smoker was easy to set up. I smoked boneless chicken thighs for my first test run. They came out juicy and tender. Easy to set and monitor. The clean up is not too bad. I didn’t have to use much elbow grease. This will be a fun winter time project.LaVonne

This is a very nice smoker, easy to use and clean. Everything taste amazingly delicious in this smoker. It heats up to temp. fast too. I really love the front glass door to watch your food getting smoked. The timer is awesome and can all be controlled by your phone, through BluetoothWiFi. This company also backs up their product with their warranty or any defects. Great company and awesome smokers. I highly recommend and endorse this smoker. I use mine on my houseboat and no issues at all as it’s electric and it doesn’t omit that much smoke at all. It goes into the food. Delish!Electra

I've had this for a little over a year, it smokled a little in the beginning but now it produces no smoke. The wood chips are barely burnt aftere 6-8 hours set at 250 degree or higher. It is impossoble to smoke at 225. design looks good but that all you get, looks. I'm really irritated. It is obvious the chip tray sits way to high off the heating element. Wasted my money and time on this smoker. The bluetooth is enitrely worthless. I am selling taking a sledge hammer to this piece of crap.Notsmokingtoday

My husband was given the original orion smoker by his children and he has used it a lot. I find whatever is smoked in the Orion retains a lot more moisture and is ready quite a bit faster. It is, in my opinion, so much better than a regular smoker, that I bought him the large one for Christmas.Suzanne B.

BEST COOKER EVER! Having owned the medium original sized cooker for many years my expectations were high. I was not disappointed! Cooked a Turkey and three racks of ribs perfectly on the first cook. The Large Orion cooker is very difficult to ergonomically lift correctly. I used a plasma arc cutter to cut holes in the feet and installed casters. Worked great. It would be nice if the holes were pre-punched. Casters could be an add-on when ordering.Lyndon C.

This grill is nice however I guess I was expecting the food to have more of the charcoal grill taste. If you are looking for an upgrade to a standard charcoal grill and expect the same flavor, this is not for you. Takes some trial and error for cooking times, temos, etc. Also, not exactly sure how but I ended up with 2 grills in my cart. In haste, I didnt notice ( although the total was extremely high, I thought I had misread and the shipping was included,but it wasnt). I received 2 grills. I asked to return one due to the mistake and they would not even help with shipping. I even asked if I coukd use their shipping number just to make it less expensive and they wouldnt. I guess I expected better customer service since the shipping was going to cost almost as much as the grill. I ended up having to sell the grill for half of what I paid for it. Pretty disappointing. I realize I should have caught the mistake but I was hoping customer service would be a little more understanding and help at least a bit with the shipping. I probably would not purchase from Masterbuilt again for this reason only. I spent a hell of a lot of money for a grill and accessories and wouldve bought more excessories in the future if customer service would have been a little more understanding of the mistake . When buying things online things can get messed up on both their end and the customers so it seems they would be a little more sympathetic and understanding.India

If you’ve shopped for a gravity fed smoker, you know that prices can be well over $1000. For $500, this smoker is a bargain. It consistently holds the temp you set within 5-10 degrees, which is awesome for a unit this price. It produces the “thin blue” smoke that you want when smoking, no heavy acrid smoke (assuming you don’t go crazy with the wood). I did a 14 lb brisket in about 16 hrs using 1 bag of B&B charcoal, had a great bark and was juicy as hell. I would suggest that when you make your purchase, check carefully for damage. I found a part in box, within the box that was badly damaged. Their customer service is first rate, within 10 minutes of reporting my found damage, a replacement part was ordered, unfortunately, the shipping is not the best. Warranty parts are shipped the cheapest possible way ( mine was sent FedEx smart post ) took the part a week to arrive, not good when you just gave them your money for a new unit. I ordered some replacement parts just to have on hand, the box arrived with 1 piece missing, again customer service took care of it immediately, but it’s been 4 days and the replacement has not yet shipped. All in all, considering the product quality and great customer service, I would buy again. They just need to work on the urgency of their shipping.Berk

I've had my 1050 for 2 years now and when this smoker finally gives up the ghost I will not buy another Masterbuilt product. I really had high expectations for this smoker and feel like Masterbuilt really fell short in a number of areas. As far as positives go, it is fairly easy to use and turns out some fantastic food. And the negatives: -Poor build quality. Grease catch tray was poorly riveted, one corner fell off and made a mess everywhere. The lower portion of the unit has leaked grease out from day 1. I'm fully expecting to be replacing parts of the smoker in the next few years as they appear to rust very easily unless they are cleaned spotless after each use. -Lacks wire securement to the control panel. One accidental tug on the cord rendered the machine useless. I was fortunate enough that I'm capable of soldering small parts and that there was no expensive damage to the circuit board or I would have been out $100 to replace it. Luckily my reliable, 15 year old puck smoker saved the day when my Masterbuilt was dead. -Most infuriating of all – the apps. GARBAGE! The ability to control the machine remotely was a significant factor in my decision to purchase this smoker, and Masterbuilt's inability to provide customers with a reliable, functional app is beyond ridiculous. I can connect via the Classic app, but it is buggy, often disconnecting, sometimes not updating probe temperature. And at times it is just beeping frequently for no real reason. Presently, I can't adjust the temperature. I finally thought I'd give the new app a try since the Classic app suggested it to "experience the latest features for your Gravity Series Product". Despite going through the process of connecting the device 3 times and the app saying the device is connected, there's no device for me to control, it just goes back to the add a device screen. I guess the "newest features" is a totally useless app? Well done! It really says a lot that going on 2 years of Masterbuilt having dismal app reviews that they've seemingly made no effort to improve. I don't totally hate this smoker, but my opinion it is a total failure at the retail price point. It has a ton of potential, but Masterbuilt has fallen well short in delivering a fully functional, reliable, quality product.novy

Bought this unit in the spring to replace a Bradley Electric smoker. It was easy to assemble, looks good some of the parts feel a little flimsy but given the price point I’m happy. Don’t follow the instructions for the “seasoning smoke“ it calls for far too much charcoal and I found it impossible to control the heat… in fact it pushed the thermometer to its stop. Also the smoker leaks everywhere…. I purchased a roll of self adhesive smoker gasket and sealed both doors and the chimney stack. With the gasket installed the smoker works really well… just be careful how much fuel you use as less and a little more frequent works best. Heat control is now good I did a test on the supplied thermometer by suspending it in boiling water… it was within a couple of degrees of accuracy so all good, I was concerned because others have mentioned that the thermometer is not accurate. The wood chip box works very well… problem is that it is quite tricky to empty and refill during a smoke. I have now opted to use the wood chip box at the start of a cook and when more wood is needed I simply add some wood chunks directly onto the charcoal…. this works very well. I’ve probably done about 10 cooks on it in fact doing a 10lb pork shoulder as I write this… must say I’m very happy everything has turned out well… great bark and smoke ring produced and the flavour is better than my Bradley. I would say that for the money you can’t beat this unit.Paul

Love this! Purchased for my husband for Father's Day. Easy to put together and use. I was concerned about it not being big enough. Size is not a problem! I can smoke an entire meal in it with the 4 shelves. Highly recommend!!Twinsmom