What is best smoker for someone who knows nothing about smokers?

[crapshooter]

I want a good smoker, just want to be sure I can understand how to use it.  Which is best one not just to start with but what is considered the best because of quality?

[sparky1]

do you want a electric, gas, pellet or charcoal smoker?  what are you going to smoke on it?  how much money do you want to spend?  all good questions.  answer a few of them and we can go from there.   8)

[crapshooter]

I will smoke briskets and ribs mainly, but probably try other meats also. I think I want a pellet if they are reliable to hold up.  I'm willing to spend whatever a good one cost although I'd hope it wouldn't be over 500-600.

[muebe]

A green mountain grill or traeger would be a good entry level pellet grill.

And of course a Bradley is a great choice for an electric smoker. Very easy to use ;D

There is nothing easy about charcoal. You can make great smoked food on charcoal but there is a learning curve.

[beefmann]

some things to consider is...

electric
Gas natural or propane
pellet
bisquette
charcoal
temperature  control
having to add charcoal , wood, or other  burning material to maintain temperature

with the pellete, and charcoal versions you  have to watch the pellets and charcoal to ensure enough  fuel to cook for  long  cooks 18 to 20  hours  which make natural gas  or electric better in long cooks

i would recommend a  bradley 4 rack for a family of 3 to 8 people as you  can get up to 35  lbs of meat in it  fairly  easily and do a  few mods to it such as adding a pid , fan and an  additional  heating element  or  900 watt element

[FLBentRider]

The one thing I can tell you is no matter what smoker you start with, you will learn a whole lot about what you do and don't like about that one, whether it is electric, gas, pellet, whatever.

The Bradley OBS is a great place to start. Not a lot of $$$, but you can crank out some pretty good eats with it. As beefman stated there are upgrades in the form of PID (precise temp control), additional elements (aids in temp recovery and with large loads), etc.

I started with an OBS, now I have 2 Bradle propane smokers and a MAK 2 star pellet grill/smoker.

The one thing is not to get in a hurry with smoking. It's done when it's done.

[CoreyMac]

I'm going to vote for the Bradley 4 Rack digital. I've used a few smokers in the past, comercially built and home built. The wife got me a 4 rack for my birthday and its very user friendly. Temp control is pretty good even without a PID. its about as close to set it and forget it as you can get IMO. Just add a dual probe thermometer to the list and your set. Plus if you keep your eyes open there are deals all the time.

Corey

[GusRobin]

If I was buying a 4 rack I would get the OBS with a dual PID. You can get it at about the same price as the digital. With the PID you get most (if not all) the benefits of the BDS plus the benefits of the PID control. The digital is also limited to 9.4 hours so without a PID you would have to reset it on long cooks.

[ghost9mm]

Well first welcome to a really great forum, since you came to the Bradley forum, and ask the question,... and the answers you received are all good, and if you spend sometime here and do some reading, because there is a lot of good information posted here and you can learn a whole lot just by reading and learn, then you make up your own mind...for simplicity I feel the OBS Original Bradley Smoker is a good start..
Here are a few links that may help you...

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?481-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=748#post748

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?488-Answers-To-Bradley-Smoker-FAQ-s&p=766#post766

[Wildcat]

IMHO the higher the quality of materials in making smoking/cooking equipment the higher the price. I think the Bradley is one of the best buys for the money and is easy to use.

[sparky1]

if you are going electric smokers.  bradley, smokin tex, smokin-it and cookshack are all good electric smokers.  for pellet smokers the advice muebe said about traeger and green mountain pellet grill is 100% correct.  i started w/ a traeger lil tex.  very good smokers.   :)

[crapshooter]

Thanks for all the good advice.  I think I've narrowed it down to a Bradley. Either the Original or a Digital.  I try reading the forums but I don't understand all the abbreviations that are used so it's pretty confusing on some of them.  Between the Original and the Digital what are the main differences?

[Quarlow]

Hey crapshooter if you have any questions just ask. We love to help here.
The OBS (original bradley smoker) has a temp slider control. You have to slide it side to side for temp control. It takes a bit of getting use to but it is not to bad. Adding a PID (temp controller) greatly eases the the control plus you get very tight temp swings. As low as 2 to 3 degrees where as without it your temp swings can be as much as 20 or more degrees.
The digital (DBS) is just that, it has a digital controller which you just punch in the temps and times and away it goes. But the temp swings can be almost much as the OBS, definitely better though. And it only can be set for 9.4 hours as was already said so for a long smoke like a brisket or pork butt you would have to reset it before the time ran out where as the OBS with the PID can go for, well I am not sure but I think it is around the 100 hrs. And it is sure nice for overnight smokes. The cost of the OBS with a PID is about the same price as the DBS.

[Sailor]

Just as Quarlow said buying a digital Bradley will cost about the same as buying the OBS and adding the dual PID.  If you want a tight temp control you will need a PID for either the Digital or the OBS.   If you ever want to make sausage (do it once and you can't stop) you will want to have a very tight temp control so you will need a PID. Personally I knew that I wanted to do sausage so I went with the OBS and purchased the dual PID.  I could not be happier with the the set up.  The only thing I might have done different is going with the 6 rack to gain height for hanging sausage. 

[crapshooter]

I had no idea what a PID was but looked it up and think I need one. Would a Bradley Digital with a PID be easier than a Bradley Original with a PID?

I HATE these verification questions! Can never seem to get them right
How many words ARE in that sentence if there's not six?