20 Best Electric Smokers Under $200 (Jan 2023 Update)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These are the best old school smokers. Watch the YouTube videos to get the crispy skin on it. Otherwise, I’ve done turkey, pork butts, and tenderloins. Very easy to use and a classic.MD

I researched many electric smokers and many seemed overpriced considering issues users had with them. I stumbled upon this “cute” (can a smoker be cute) smoker and my husband loves it! Basic, easy to clean, light to move around, and does a great job!Kaisa

I bought this one to replace my present one which has served us greatly for quite a few years. Thankfully Old Smokey has not changed anything, the old one worked great and I expect the same from the 'new' one. A no charcoal to have to add as I cook.tolleb

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

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

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.

For anyone looking for a small, easy to use stovetop smoker, this one by Camerons is great. I did however experience a couple small problems that didn't affect the performance but DID make cleanup more time consuming. The first thing I noticed was that after I put the wood chips in the drip pan didn't set flat on the bottom of the main pan. Even if you spread the wood chips out, they come in direct contact with the drip pan during cooking. This made the bottom of the drip pan extremely hard to clean. So in addition to putting cooking spray or aluminum foil on the inside of the drip tray I recommend wrapping the foil around the bottom as well as the top. Problem solved. The other thing that happened was that during the cooking process the bottom of the main pan bows in slightly due to the heat. People at Camerons said they had seen this before so just be aware. Also you will see some discoloration of the main pan and drip pan but this is normal and should be ignored. Just be sure to lower the temp. once you see the smoke to extend the smoking time and just play with it until you get it mastered. Good Luck!usga

So far I've only used it to smoke salmon. I am shocked at how easy and quick it is to do this and the result is delicious!Patricia

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

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

The first time we grilled on this smoker the grill completely burned the outside of the grill to the point that the paint had melted off the grill. by day end the grill looked like we had used it over 50 millions time and that was are first use of it. The handle somehow broke into two pieces. I wouldn't recommend this smoker to anyone at allDrea08

Purchased thos smoker for my husband last father's day and he loves it! Smokes all different meats from pork to chicken. Light weight and durable. Great value for the price.amanda.c

Super happy with this charcoal smoker by Cuisinart. Very easy set up, easy to clean and it smokes thoroughly. We really like the size of it. It makes it easy and convenient to carry around. We were looking for something to be able to travel with esp on our camping trips. This smoker is perfect for that. If you are new to smoking or even and experienced one this would be a great set up. I highly recommend it.Prada

I have only used it once but it didn't really produce the smoke needed to give anything the needed flavor. . I was not impressed at all, the chips just seemed to sit in it until they dried out. I'll try it one more time only because I already paid my money for it, but I'm not to happy with it. BBQ lover…brooklyncml

I've used my smoker twice now. Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken. I taste the smokey outside grilled flavor. It's a bear to clean though. It gets pretty scorched up. BUT…I like the way it cooks. You have to have vent going and windows open. Some smoke does escape. Oh and I bought the extender feature so I can cook two layers at the same time. It was worth it. It saves time.overtime16

I only used this kettle once so far and followed the instructions of the video. But, if you are using the tiny wood chips provided, 1 tablespoon is not enough to create a good smoke flavor. Also, I use an electric stove top and I made the mistake to set it on High. It burned the chips very quickly, then there was only the odor of burned wood. For my second try, I have bought a bag of larger wood chips, I plan to soak them in water for 30 minutes and then turn the cook top only on medium-low. Also, 1-1/2 hour for a salmon steak is not enough. I was told that to get a real smoke flavor, any meat or fish should cook for 4 hours at a temperature not higher than 150 F. I will definetely keep on trying until I get it right!SnowLeopard44

I live in an apartment now. but really miss the good old days of barbecuing in my back yard. I can get good markings in several ways but not the smokey flavor. I use the smoker on an induction plate and cook for an hour or two. The induction never gets above 170 degrees but it really adds the smokey flavor. I finish my ribs off in a halogen oven and get great results. You can get higher heat by using the stove but you can set off the smoke alarm in the apartment if you are not careful. It does exactly what I want with no issues.Floridakayaker