Electric Smokers

I have purchased this smoker twice. The first one ran great for 3 years, but finally the heating element burned out. It's now in my garage awaiting warm weather so I can install the replacement element that I ordered online and will serve as a backup when the heating element burns out in my current smoker. The elements will burn out after a time, particularly when you use a smoker as often as I do (3 or 4 times a week year-round). Unboxing and doing the minor assembly required for this smoker is quick and easy. It took me less than 30 minutes. Spending more on an electric smoker with a window is a waste, in my view, because the glass quickly gets fogged with steam and smoke residue. Besides, you should be cooking to internal temperature with a good remote temperature probe instead of opening the door periodically (letting heat and smoke escape) to check on progress. Speaking of not opening the door while cooking, I'm a huge fan of this smoker's external smokewood loading feature that allows you to add wood without opening the door. Pre-heating the smoker is important in cold weather. Up to a 30 minutes may be necessary. Pre-heating is not so necessary during the warm/hot spring/summer/fall months if the outside temperature is above 60̊ F. In fact, there is a good reason to skip pre-heating entirely on really warm days (over 80̊ F.), as explained in the next paragraph. Of course, the Masterbuilt electric smokers rely on a electric heating element for heat. The element automatically turns off when the smoker reaches the target temperature you set. It then turns back on when the temperature in the cabinet drops several degrees below the target temperature. While the Masterbuilt smokers are pretty well insulated, they are affected by the outdoor temperature. You will find that the element stays on much longer during colder weather, so there is hardly ever a problem getting enough smoke in such weather. However, particularly when the outdoor temperature is over 80̊ F. or so, the element will not stay on as much, which can decrease the smoke production. I have two approaches to this problem: (1) In hot weather, I never pre-heat the smoker. I just put the meat in the smoker and start it "cold." This maximizes the initial smoke until the smoker gets to the target temperature, which can takes as little as 10 minutes in really hot weather if you're cooking at, say, 225̊. (2) Every once in a while if not enough smoke is being produced, I open the door for 30 to 60 seconds and let the temperature in the cabinet come down, forcing the heating element to come back on. This hardly ever results in extended cooking time because the temperature recovers pretty quickly, and if not enough smoke is being produced anyway, you're not letting out a lot of smoke. A lot of my meat smoking projects are under 3-4 hours, and I always use the Masterbuilt for those. I'm only tempted to fire up my Weber bullet charcoal smoker for longer smokes such as ribs and brisket. Tips for easier cleanup: Line the bottom tray of the smoker with foil and be sure to poke a hole in the foil to match the hole in the tray. Also, foil the water pan before every use of the smoker, which makes it super easy to clean. Try it just once without foil, and you'll be a dedicated water-pan-foiler thereafter! Also, get a protective heat-resistant mat to go under the smoker and protect your patio or deck because there will be occasional spills of grease no matter how careful you are. The photo shows my smoker in operation on Christmas Day 2020 -- doing a twice-smoked ham. If you look closely, you can see the clean smoke coming out the vent on the top right of the smoker.

I love how simple it is to assemble and the price is definitely worth it. The first time we cooked in it it was below freezing and it kept temperature once we figured out we're it should be. Perfect for starters.

Everything works fine.

It's so simple . I went out for lunch the other day and saw beef ribs on the menu and thought what the heck I'll give them a try . I know they were bbq'd ribs but they were awful and pricey to boot .After that I had to have me some good ribs . I researched and saw this little gem . It's a little pricey but what isn't nowadays . Amazon shipped it super fast .Got home from work that night , unboxed and assembled took about 15mins tops . Plugged it in and was ready to season . I ran it for 3 hours at 275 and man did it stink ! The last hour with the chips didn't really have consistent smoke , I was watching the whole time of coarse .I wanted a smoker not a warmer with a hint of smoke ,so I did a little search . I found out the burner is too far away from the chip try . There is a few mods out there but I found the easiest one is to remove chip tray rack and set tray directly on burner . You can position it so your chip tube will still work . After that I just played with the amount of chips I add and it works great . Temperature seems to be a couple degrees low but easy to adjust (it fluctuates like 10 degrees anyways). Display is tough to see in the day light but not that big of deal . Back to the ribs , I used my fav. dry rub and sauced it up the last hour and I'll tell you what they're some of the best ribs I've ever eaten . So simple .

I've been using a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker for more than 20 years. I used to scoff at the thought of an electric smoker. My son got this Masterbuilt a few years, the analog with glass door version and loved it. I gave in and got the digital and no glass version based on his recommendation, he said the glass is not worth it since it gets dirty and you can't see through it and probably looses heat. This thing is a champ! Great, perfect, white smoke production even at 220 degrees. Outstanding temperature accuracy. I almost feel guilty because of how little I do now compared to the Weber. No trying to fiddle with the vents and charcoal door to get temp up or down. My only issue is that the little plastic tab on the vent wheel came off. No big deal. Cost wise, this will pay for itself in the bags of lump charcoal I won't need to buy. I really love this smoker, wish I converted years ago!

I have had no issues with this smoker ,especially with temperatures. I used my own thermocouple to verify the temp and found it within 1° of accuracy. Some reviewers bitched about temperature and I swear the review was for another product. For some reason reviews are getting bunched together, same name just different model. Anyhow use this correctly and you will be fine. Like any thing if you open the door you take a measurement of the meats internal temp its going to drop obviously.

It's really good item, just what we wanted and expected, to be able to use it as we want we still need to learn more about the smoked food, but the product is really good and easy if use and does the job very well, would definitely recommend, a lot of space for products, just as described by the seller,easy to assembly, light weight for transportation or move the place if needed. Heat is good, smell is perfect depends on pellets used,smoke locked in.

Received in good condition and yet to try it out.

We use this smoker regularly for smoking salmon as well as smoking herbs such as jalapeños and paprika. We get consistent results and for a couple years now. Easy to use and clean. Very happy with this product.

No funicionó. Solicite ayuda y me dieron unos pasos de diagnostico. Los hice. Concluyeron que había que reemplazar dos piezas. Pero no mandan piezas por garantía a México. Acabe devolviendo el equipo. Todo mal.