Masterbuilt® - 40 Inch Digital Electric Vertical Smoker with Window and Legs, 970 Square Inch Kitchen Side Loader, Wood Chip Side Charger, Chrome Smoking Racks, Smoking Board

Great smoker

This is my second purchase of this specific model and two things stick out about its care: 1) Get a good cover to keep, especially rain out of it. After about 4 years, I replaced the heating element and the digital control unit due to the fact that MasterBuilt's own cover was not waterproof (I bought an EVRBUL cover which seems very good so far and has side velcro straps to prevent wind from blowing it away), but the shorted-out electrical wiring was the eventual failure. 2) When cleaning do NOT get the inside walls or bottom very wet. Yes, after a while you should wipe down the insides to prevent any fire, but I overdid my cleaning and got too much water inside the unit which also led to electrical shorts and the eventual replacement of the entire smoker. The smoker itself is very easy to put together and a strong selling point about this model is that it sits on stands that keep (natural) moisture out of the unit from the bottom. It does an excellent job of maintaining temperature, as my experience is the temp will only fluctuate 3+ degrees (I generally smoke in the 215-220 degree range) before the heating element will come on to raise it and then go off when its reached the set temperature. Prior models came with a temperature probe and this one does not. That's not a big issue for me as generally, 9 racks of ribs will do fine at 215 degrees for 7+ hours and a good sized brisket or pork butt will take about 13 hours at the same temperature. I recommend taking advantage of the water pan which only needs filling once even for 12+ hours of smoking. "Wet" smoking always seems to give you more juicy, tender meat (I even will put aluminum foil over my meat) and the pan is a very nice size for holding a lot of water. For the smoking "purists" who question using an electric smoker vs. the old fashioned way, I would put the results of this smoker against any other method used to smoke meats - not to mention the "maintenance" while smoking.is pretty minimal with this guy. I know everyone has their own opinions on how long to add smoke, but I've found out don't be fooled by the small size of the wood chipper. Personally, during the first two hours, I fill up the bin and add more chips to it about every 30 minutes (I soak my chips before adding which really generates smoke). A nice feature of refilling is the loader is on the outside of the smoker and you do not have to open the door, which would lose heat if you had to refill chips inside the smoker. I would say this is a good price for a smoker that doesn't require full-time attention while using it - especially if you are looking at hours and hours of smoking. Since you also set the digital timer, the smoker will go off after time expires. With normal care and not subjecting the smoker to harsh outside elements, you should get years of service from it. And most likely the only two things you might have to replace over time and use are the heating element (~$50) and the control unit (~$25). There are videos on YouTube for replacing the heating element and the control unit is two screws and a plug - both can be done DIY.

Love it. Great smoker. Uses chips and ihave learned to add chips every two hours or 2 1/2 instead of every 45 mins to hour. Way to much smoke. Easy to put together and use

Set the temp and load for smoke. You can smell the results Masterbuilt will help you achieve.!

The smoker works great very happy. Unfortunately it showed up with damage. Their is a dent in the top where the electric controls mount. The control box cannot be Installed into the keyway slot provided because of the dent. The box had damage on it like it had been dropped or hit or something. Great product just wish it showed up in mint condition for the price.