Quality issues ?

[dave24]

I am thinking of buying this model, I love the fact that you do not have to babysit the smoke, however I have been hearing a bunch of issues with the door seal and the plastic around the temp gauge cracking, even one of the door completly breaking.......please someone convince me that the quality is not as bad as I am reading.

[RAF128]

For everyone you hear about there a 1000 others with no issues.   IMO Bradley has a better record than Toyota ;)

[FLBentRider]

For everyone you hear about there a 1000 others with no issues.   IMO Bradley has a better record than Toyota ;)

And better customer service!

[dbondy]

Hi dave , I've had my obs for over 3 years and have been very very happy with the product. Bradly,s customer service is second to none,and is top notch. I also think the quality is very good also. The only problem I have had was with the face plate cracking, when I called Bradly they sent a new one out right away at no charge.  I also never herd of the plastic around the temp gage cracking, if it was a common issue I'm sure it would of happen to mine because my obs gets used very often and has many hours on it. The door seal issue is not a problem as long as you clean the seal from time to time. As far as the door falling off goes, I think that smoker my have be bumped into and had nothing to do with the quality of the product. I hope this has helped you with some of your concerns.  In my opinion I think that the Brady product line is top notch and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

[dave24]

Excellent thanks for the replys, I will ask one more question, does it heat enough ? I also read ( On this forum ) about people adding a 2nd heating element ?

[JT-MO]

Had mine for about 3 months now and cooked in it about 6 times (not sure how many exactly). Nothing wrong so far, all good, and I love the food! No cracks, seal issues, or anything else here.
Mine heats up just fine to what I normally cook at which is around 220F.

I think others add in a second heating element cause they want it to heat up faster or maybe they are cooking in really cold weather. Also some add the second element so the box comes back to temp quicker when they open the door and close it. I don't peak to often so it isn't an issue with me, and when I do it seems to get back up to temp quick enough for me. I have cooked outside when it was about 10-20F out and I still had no issues getting the cabnet up to 220F.

[Nodnarb]

Dave

Just ordered mine 13Th of Feb, and it arrived in perfect condition. Just pull the trigger man, I debated for a long time which smoker to buy and went with the OBS and I'm not sorry I did. Have only smoked with it once(pork loin) but it was unbelievably easy and with all the help the fine folks on here give you it's hard to mess up. Love my Bradley and I recommend you getting one too. I also recommend you get the Maverick ET-73 and the Bubba pucks, I'm glad I did!

[watchdog56]

I have a 4 rack digital and live in Minnesota. As far as a second heating element goes, I did 12 racks of ribs on Christmas ( I converted it into a 12 rack) and outside temp was in the teens. I could not get it up to temp so had to finish in oven but it was full of meat. I have done pork butts,sausage,and prime rib in it this winter. It may take a little longer than normal but it will work. The main thing is no matter what question you have someone here has the answer.

[Up In Smoke]

For everyone you hear about there a 1000 others with no issues.   IMO Bradley has a better record than Toyota ;)

Toyota......we get you moving....wether you want to or NOT!! ;D ;D

I have had one obs for about 5 years now and my second one for a few months...no problems with either one.

[JT-MO]

Well today I am getting ready to smoke another dinner for tomorrow and noticed my face plate is now cracked. I have no clue when it happend but just like others, the plastic face plate along the bottom where the temp control is cracked. I just sent an email to bradley, hopefully this is covered under the waranty.
It still functions fine, but sure looks ugly with a crack in it, but it will get the job done tonight.

Couldn't this area be made out of something better than plastic?
If you look at the bottom it seems the plastic supports the entire weight of the smoker on the front and it is pretty thin for that kind of weight.

[dave24]

And this is what I was talking about.......don't need to drop 300 bucks on plastic that keeps cracking. :'(

[JT-MO]

I should clarify that the Bradley Smoker is still definately worth the money, the plastic is only like 3 inches tall and the entire width of the cabnet right at the bottom in front. The rest of the cabinet is metal. We are only talking about a very small piece of plastic that goes down where the light and temp control knob is, and it wraps around a little underneath into two separate feet that seem to hold the entire weight of the smoker on the front. The rear feet are rubber mounted on metal with screws, a lot better.

I'm not worried about it, although it is a little disappointing that piece wasn't designed better or stronger, I know bradley will send me a new one. In the meantime you can still smoke some awsome food on it. I have a pork butt in now for tomorrow supper / lunch :)
When the new plastic comes I will just modify it to rest on new feet up front, will pick up something from the hardware store.

[Quarlow]

If you get a pair of the rear feet from bradley and a couple of washers and put them on the front it fixes the problem. If you do a search or if someone who knows where this fix up is it shows how to and you will not have a problem with it.

[classicrockgriller]

Here's the link to the face plate fix.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showpost.php?p=769&postcount=12

[JT-MO]

Thanks guys, that is exactly what I had in mind that needed to be done to it. Just take it up off the original plastic and put it on rubber mounts like the back has.