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.

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.

Although I like smoked meat as much as the next guy, I could never quite justify spending the money on a smoker. My wife surprised me with this for Christmas and we absolutely love it! I suspect that because it's smaller and less expensive than some of the other "big-name" smokers out there, it takes a little longer for the meat to reach the proper temperature. But we just plan in advance to add an hour or two to what most of the recipes out there say.I give it 4 instead of 5 stars because when I first bought it, I only had to add wood chips to the tray once and it would produce copious amounts of smoke for up to 6 hours. But after four months it stopped doing that and even if I emptied the old chips out of the tray and added fresh chips in the middle of the process, they wouldn't smoke. I contacted customer service and they were excellent to help me trouble-shoot the problem. In the end, they sent me a new heating element, free of charge. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem, but I discovered if I raised the temperature to 250, it smoked just great. I guess 225 degrees is not quite hot enough to produce continuous smoke.All in all, I'm very happy with the product AND their customer service. Now I lie awake at night, dreaming of upgrading to something larger and more powerful. But for those wanting to see if smoking meat is something they could get into, this little unit is a great way to start.

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.

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 purchased this smoker on the advice of a friend and on Amazon Reviews. I have used it three times in 1.5 months (it is winter in Utah). I have a lot of positive things to say in terms of overall quality and will list them after I discuss the issue I find most critical.If Masterbuilt resolves the temperature control issue, I will update this review and it will go to a Five Star rating. They do not offer phone support and their website definitely needs help. After you register your unit, you have to enter the same extensive and detailed information again when you want to get support for a problem.The Masterbuilt Temperature Controler is a nice feature if it was reasonably accurate. It allows one to set the time of operation and the temperature that you want to smoke at. However, my unit indicates a temperature that is about 15F lower than the actual temperature using a digital thermometer that has been calibrated in ice water (32F) and boiling water temperature at my altitude (200.5F at 6320 ft elevation). Fortunately, I determined this temperature controller error before I ruined my first prime rib. This controller also has a very big temperature swing around the setpoint about 15 F above and below.The mechanical design is very nice. Lots of racks (4) inside although I only use one so far. The door seals tight. The wood chip tray holds a lot of chips. The water tray is large and will hold more liquids than I will probably ever need. There are two design features that allow grease to be trapped. The wood chip loader works well and allows wood chip addition without opening the door. The "Fit and Finish" is excellent and I expect I will get many years of service once the temperature issue is resolved. I do keep it covered when not in use.Updated Review after No Customer Support from MasterbuiltA month ago, I wrote an email to Masterbuilt about a problem with my smoker. I have not heard anything back from Masterbuilt. My problem with your temperature controller has only gotten worse. In the beginning, the controller would show an error of about 15 F below the temperature shown on a calibrated digital thermometer. Furthermore, the temperature swing of about 10 to 12 F seems unreasonably large.Now, yesterday while trying to smoke chicken, the Masterbuilt controller was shutting off the heating element about 60 F below the set temperature of 265F. It would only heat to about 205 F and then shut off. It turned on again at about 195. At this low temperature, my chicken breasts were only at 145 F after three hours. I had to remove it from the smoker and finish cooking in my oven.This is unacceptable performance. If the temperature controller worked properly, I would consider the smoker a “5-star” unit. Given the above problems, it doesn’t deserve 1-star.I hope someone in Masterbuilt who cares about such poor performance will contact me with a solution.

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'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.