Masterbuilt® 30-inch Digital Electric Vertical BBQ Smoker with Side Wood Chip Loader, Chrome Racks and 710 Cooking Square Inches in Black, Model MB20071117

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.

very nice smoker. works well and the food comes out amazing. great people to work with, thank you for a well built item.

I've had for about 5 years. I recommend covering the bottom plate and the water pan with foil as others have recommended. If you are not getting enough smoke, I modified how the tray that holds the wood chips sits so that it is on the heating element. This ends up making it produce more smoke. To avoid issues with the electronics going out I would recommend having a cover and storing it in the garage or under a covered porch area. I use on average 1-2 times a month, year round and have been happy. I use wired temperature probes that are put thru the top vent. It is too small do do a whole turkey, so you will have to cut it up. This ends up working out well as you can pull the white and dark meat at different times to get the perfect cook. The presentation isn't as good but the flavor is better. Don't buy the cold smoking attachment. It makes cheese just taste like ash. I use a metal snake and pellets for cold smoking in this and that works out well. Like others say, don't bother with a model with a window. It is a waste of money and doesn't insulate as well. I had the 40" model with the window and while it was nice, the window was a waste. It gets dirty and you can't see thru it anyway. I don't remember putting it together, so it must have not been to bad. I have legs on it to lift it off the deck. It is not easy to move with the legs on. Other models have wheels that are good if you are on concrete. I set alarms for every 30-60 minutes to load chips until there is enough smoke and then just wait until the alarm beeps. Very easy to use.

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 bought this smoker because smoked foods is the way to my heart! But I was always intimidated by doing it myself, even with the nominal experienced I have been able to get over the years. I wanted something electric, as I am not excited about babysitting a fire anymore. This seemed to be about as simple and as 'entry level' as it gets. And I camped the price, and I am glad I did because it fell cheap so I took the chance and pulled the trigger. I got NO regrets! The few things I have tried so far have been fantastic. It holds its set temperature well. I fired it up when it was about 25* outside and it came up to temp in less than 25 minutes and was ready to go. It gives good smoke from the chips. The loading of the chips is convenient and easy. The operation of it is simple, and that was what I wanted. The capacity is fine for us. There is 4 of us, but we would never eat enough to justify filling it up every time we cook. I cooked a big spiral sliced ham and 2 turkey breasts for Christmas dinner and had more than enough space for something else if needed. I also like how the closure on the door is adjustable. I didn't have to adjust it because it was fine out of the box, but if you do find the door is not sealed as it should be, you can tighten it up. If I had to mention some Cons... May be too simple for some people. The control is digital but it sets time and temp and that is it. You will have to buy a monitoring setup to use with this. I knew this going in and was good with it. Just be aware. Clean up is, meh, like cleaning anything else really. Usually never fun, but seems to be easy enough and it does not need to be done after every single cook. The only other thing I can think of is I wish that maybe the temp would go up to 300*. Let me be clear again that you will need to purchase a wireless temperature probe setup to enjoy this the most. For my very first cook, I did not have one and it was not a good experience having to open the door each time to check temps. It is a no-frills, set it and forget it type of setup. It is meant to be entry-level and it plays this part very well.

This is all you could want or expect from an electric smoker. I've been extremely pleased with the results. So far, I've done ribs, brisket, whole chickens, chicken legs, chicken wings, peppers and corn in this thing, all with great results. The amount you can fit is pretty impressive, but beware that you usually have to cut larger racks of ribs in half to fit (so that's one full rack per tray, a total of four racks). You could easily fit 4 whole chickens or Boston butts though. For my purposes (family of four and occasional guests), the capacity is fine. If you aren't familiar with any of these food items, you can fit five or six teacup chihuahuas inside. Those were the dogs made popular as a mascot for Taco Bell in the early 90s. The seal on the door is great, and the absence of a window actually helps the seal. Plus, why bother with a window that will smoke up in the first hour and be another thing to clean? Operation is a breeze, although the electric readout is impossible to see in direct sunlight. If you're in a covered area or come equipped with a parasol then it's no problem. The wood chip replacement slot is genius, although it can be hard to insert if over filled. The amount you can easily fit into this cylinder is surprisingly all you need to get some good smoke. The usual 225 degrees does take a while to get chips smoking, but I usually smoke at 240 anyway, and this seems to be the sweet spot for quickly blazing chips. Make sure there is no more smoke coming out of the unit before adding a second cylinder of chips. I can't say enough about how much I like the wood chip insert. I went from using a quart container full of soaked chips on my grill to a cup and a half of dry chips in this. A bag of chips now seems bottomless. Tip: boil some water and pour into the water pan when starting a smoke. The chip tray is between the heating element and the water pan, so it takes hours to get cold water steaming. Steam helps smoke adhere to meat, so boiled, steaming water right out of the gate is your friend. It makes a huge difference in the final product. I do wish it had wheels because I lug it in and out of a shed where it is stored, but this is a small complaint. When it's empty, the unit is very easy to lift and carry a short distance. As for taste, I honestly can't tell much of a difference between this smoker and my friend's Weber bullet kettle unit that runs charcoal. He's even complimented my results and he's a slow cooking BBQ snob. As long as you're minding your temp, pulling at the appropriate time and using a quality rub, you're going to get good results. Three rounds of chips was more than enough for excellent flavor and penatration in a 12-hour, 6 pound brisket flat smoke. The unit's sealed environment really traps smoke like a champ, arguably better than traditional units. I was honestly torn between this and a kettle unit, but I took the leap because I figured after 50 smokes or so, this unit pays for itself in the propane and charcoal you're NOT buying and the small dent in an electric bill (which is negligible). Highly recommended. Even if the heating element burns out (it eventually will) I would spend the extra money to keep this thing going. It's incredibly convenient, a good size and produces near-pit quality results. For the money it can't be beat.

I've been consistently disappointed with this model, and today I finally decided that it probably wasn't "user error" on my part. My smoker always seemed to take hours longer than it should have to cook, resulting in several delayed or scrapped meals (including on Christmas and a brisket that came out completely dry -- and I've smoked many briskets successfully in my previous Masterbuilt smoker). For example, a pork shoulder that should have taken 12-15 hours would take 26-28 hours. My guess is that the unit wasn't getting as hot as indicated. Yesterday the control unit stopped working mid-cook -- the temperature setting dropped by about 100 degrees without me touching it, I couldn't adjust the temperature any more, and it would turn off completely when I tried to change anything. I had to transfer the meat to my regular oven, and there was less smoke flavor than I would have expected after all the wood I'd burned in it up to that point. It always mystified me that the controller on this unit required you to set a timer for it to work. This feature is not something I ever used or wanted … and if I needed a timer, I would have just used my phone. Since this unit worked so slow, and the timer only went to 24 hours, I ran into several situations where the timer ran out and it turned off in the middle of a cook, further delaying an already slow process. I used to have a similar but simpler earlier version of this model, without the cheap-feeling plug-in control unit on top. That older model was easy to use and reliable, and although I had to replace the heating unit after a few years, it kept working along until a door hinge snapped. These beginner smokers aren’t very solidly built. With this new model, besides that fact that it seemed to run colder than indicated, Masterbuilt made things needlessly complex, resulting in having more things that can break (or never work properly in the first place).

I’ve owned one of these for 20+ years. I’ve just purchased my second one. The cabinet on my original smoker has just rusted out from years of service. These smokers will last a very long time if you remove the digital control panel and store it inside your house, Humidity in your garage or storage building will ruin it. I did have to replace the burner one time on my first smoker for about $20. Great product with a simple design without internet or Bluetooth connectivity. Just perfect.

I'm really happy about this purchase. I was using a homemade 55 gal drum smoker I made up until this purchase. I can't lie it is refreshing to have something I can set and walk away from. Works very well, I've smoked pork belly, venison, chicken and all kinds of things. I haven't had any issues. Temp holds very well and the smaller the wood chips the better the smoke. I gave it 4 starts just because it is hard to clean under the hood where you hold the wood chips and a bit tedious to clean inside. I ended up just buying a small portable pressure washer and have had no issues. I hear people complaining about the chipped paint and this has happened to me as well. But truly, who gives a damn about that, I need it to smoke good food, not look pretty while it's doing it. It's super light and not bulky so you can move anywhere you want. Even at full smoke it doesn't smoke up the entire place. I've even had it in the closed front porch area on rainy days and it's fine. It took me a bit to get over the eletric usage of this product as I live off grid and like things that don't need it. But as a busy person that doesn't have the time to tend the fire and smoke consistently this was a life saver. I literally can set it and walk away and not check it for hours before needing to change the chips.

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.

Maybe I had a relatively low expectation for the smoker as I was about to smoke some Chinese sausages in the winter and salmon every fall. I don't want to break the bank for just a few occasions. This smoker met and even exceeded my expectation in many ways. Admitted I just want something to generate smoke in a closed chamber. And it did the job for me, also keep the temperature thanks to its decent insulation. It didn't generate heavy smoke but enough to infuse the flavour to my meat. I did find it's hard to keep smoking going when in low temperatures (100-160F). But I did a simple mod and solve the problem. The aluminum container housing the wood chips is supposed to be put on a bracket, which has a few centimeters distance to the heating elements. I just removed this bracket and put the container directly on the heating elements and smokes can be generated in low temp. So far I've had 3 sessions of smoking, and it's fun for me to use. I intend to use more than I was planning for in the near future.

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.