Any opinions on this smoker?

[str1der]

I've had a Bradley stainless for a good part of a year and it's done well. I've also purchased a Guru for it. I was thinking of a second smoker as a suplement and came across this. Anyone ever used one? It doesn't have a feeder but it does have a nice built in thermostat and I would imagine it's not that big a deal to load enough wood pellets in there for a 3 to 4 hour smoke. It's also only $199. What do you guys think?

http://tinyurl.com/a39sn

Smok'em if you got'em

[BigSmoker]

Looks O.K.  can't see where the smoke comes out of the unit though by looking at the pic.  Chez Bubba had some scratch and dent bradleys that were pretty reasonable if I remember right [;)].

Jeff



Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

[jb9]

It looks smaller than the bradley. It says 160 sq in. I assume that's per shelf? If it's total area, then it's tiny, but that doesn't sound right. I don't see any obvious big drawbacks except the previously mentioned vent hole.

[str1der]

I think that means per shelf probably 16" X 10". The problem is Masterbuilt doesn't show this unit on their website so I couldn't find any more info.

As far as the scratch and dents, I'd still be faced with buying a thermostat to control the temperature which adds quite a bit to the cost.

Smok'em if you got'em

[nsxbill]

I picked up a second SS Bradley.  If you have a guru, and load the second cabinet equally full as the first, The Guru will control both and stay pretty close.  I picked up a dented one for <$100, and it was new from a place on EBAY.  It was a terrible experience, and I had to hound them to death until it was sent two months later, but it did finally come..  I only got it for parts, but it actually was in pretty good shape and works great.

The next smoker I get will be the Caldera that knocks down from http://thebbqguru.com/Caldera_01.htm.  Lots more capacity, and of course built to use the Guru controller.

Bill

<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>

[str1der]

How do you control two units with one Guru?

Smok'em if you got'em

[nsxbill]

You plug a splitter into the Raptor.  Both cabinets then plugged into the Raptor splitter.  The Raptor controls the temp based on the cabinet temp on one.  The other just comes along for the ride.  If loaded with approx the same amount, the Raptor/Guru will control both.  My Procom4 will allow me to remotely monitor both cabinets, but the Raptor only measure and fluctuates temp based on the cabinet temp on one of the smokers.

Bill

<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>

[liquid25]

I was going to buy one of these before I bought my Bradley. I couldn't find any information about them on the company website. I sent them numerous emails requesting information and didn't get a response. I looked at this unit up close, and while it looked like it was build well, I was questioning the fact that there is no vent. Where does the moisture go?

[MallardWacker]

To my knowledge, <b><u>NO VENT </u></b>and the drip pan is suspect.  Like I say from now on is; What ever smoker you get have fun and make friends.


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Oldman]

I thought another member about 4-5 months back looked at this unit. Seems to me that when he checked it out the saleperson told him that they had sold a couple of units but then they were returned....I might be wrong about this as my memory is not as good as it use to be.

Olds

[liquid25]

I don't claim to know alot about smokers, but isn't it a bad thing that there is not a vent on this smoker?

[whitetailfan]

Looks quite nice actually, but as stated, the vent will be a big part of the decision in my mind.
Looks like it could give you the ulitmate cold smoker if you used the Bradley to generate smoke and then vent it into the other one in tandem.  I dont know if the smoke producer on the second one is removable, but if so you could duct in the smoke through that hole.
All comes down to what its purpose is.


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[liquid25]

If you have a chance to look at this smoker up close, please do. I seam to recall wondering how one would change/remove wood during the smoking process.

[str1der]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by liquid25</i>
<br />If you have a chance to look at this smoker up close, please do. I seam to recall wondering how one would change/remove wood during the smoking process.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

My thought is I never use more than 4 hours smoke and it seems like a tray that size would hold enough for that long. Granted you don't have the advantage of the woood being extinguished before going to ash but I'm not sure how important that really is. I figured you could fill that tray up with the pellet type wood. Here's one mention I found on google about it. He seems to like it.

http://tinyurl.com/d4d83

Smok'em if you got'em

[liquid25]

str1der,

I would look around. I think I've seen the same unit online except it had a vent on top. I'll try to find that link.