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Received it last week. Took about 45 minutes to assemble. Items were packaged good with Styrofoam. Nothing was damaged.
The metal is pretty thin, but seems to be decently built. It seems to be a better quality unit vs a Masterbilt. At this price point ($159) it is not insulated and is pretty much what I expected. The chip pan is cast iron and is heavy. Water pan is nothing fancy but it should last if the liquid is drained and pan cleaned after each use.
The door of the unit is a bit heavier than the rest of the smoker and it fit nicely. There is some leakage around the door so will add an oven gasket that will solve that problem. The temp gauge is nice but is about 45 degrees off. I did use my Maverick to monitor pit temps. I would actually prefer manufacturers would eliminate the temp gauge since most are junk and useless.
First use was yesterday. Did a batch of snack sticks. 2.5 hr cold smoke using the tube smoker from Amazen Products.
Set the burner on low and temps gradually crept up to almost 200. This was an issue I read about in a previous post. Had to crack the door open to keep the temps in the 150 range. After about 6 hours closed the door with just a slight opening and temps reached 175. Kinda stayed at that temp for the rest of the cook. Total cook time was about 8 hrs. Not real sure how much butane I used but I had less than half a bottle at the beginning of the cook and still had fuel. With that said the unit appears to be fairly fuel efficient.
It comes with 2 cooking grates and 1 jerky grate.
Mods:
-What I will do is cut off the stock regulator and replace with a needle valve with an adjustable regulator I use for my outdoor stove. Once that is added, I'm hoping to keep temps below 150 with the door closed. I'll try and get that set up this week and maybe do a cook next weekend and report back.
-Add door gasket
-Needle valve
If one does not want to spend an arm and a leg for a gas smoker then this one might be for you. It serves my needs and if kept up I'm sure I will get 10+ years or more of use. I can see the burner possibly getting worn out with repeated use and that could be an area for an upgrade down the line.
It weighs about 65 lbs so it is portable, which is a plus for me as I do a lot of cooking at other locations during football season. This unit will allow me to do the cooks away from my house.
The metal is pretty thin, but seems to be decently built. It seems to be a better quality unit vs a Masterbilt. At this price point ($159) it is not insulated and is pretty much what I expected. The chip pan is cast iron and is heavy. Water pan is nothing fancy but it should last if the liquid is drained and pan cleaned after each use.
The door of the unit is a bit heavier than the rest of the smoker and it fit nicely. There is some leakage around the door so will add an oven gasket that will solve that problem. The temp gauge is nice but is about 45 degrees off. I did use my Maverick to monitor pit temps. I would actually prefer manufacturers would eliminate the temp gauge since most are junk and useless.
First use was yesterday. Did a batch of snack sticks. 2.5 hr cold smoke using the tube smoker from Amazen Products.
Set the burner on low and temps gradually crept up to almost 200. This was an issue I read about in a previous post. Had to crack the door open to keep the temps in the 150 range. After about 6 hours closed the door with just a slight opening and temps reached 175. Kinda stayed at that temp for the rest of the cook. Total cook time was about 8 hrs. Not real sure how much butane I used but I had less than half a bottle at the beginning of the cook and still had fuel. With that said the unit appears to be fairly fuel efficient.
It comes with 2 cooking grates and 1 jerky grate.
Mods:
-What I will do is cut off the stock regulator and replace with a needle valve with an adjustable regulator I use for my outdoor stove. Once that is added, I'm hoping to keep temps below 150 with the door closed. I'll try and get that set up this week and maybe do a cook next weekend and report back.
-Add door gasket
-Needle valve
If one does not want to spend an arm and a leg for a gas smoker then this one might be for you. It serves my needs and if kept up I'm sure I will get 10+ years or more of use. I can see the burner possibly getting worn out with repeated use and that could be an area for an upgrade down the line.
It weighs about 65 lbs so it is portable, which is a plus for me as I do a lot of cooking at other locations during football season. This unit will allow me to do the cooks away from my house.
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