I started using a Bradley smoker in February. My brother has an MES. They are similar in some ways and different in some ways. I liked the auto feed feature because I didn't want to have to keep putting chips into chip draw in an MES. However, the briquettes are sort of pricey. Recently, I got an A-MAZE-N pellet smoker tube which I use for cold smoking, and that has worked fine. I also used it for hot smoking because I can buy pellets a lot cheaper than briquettes.
Your question is pretty vague, so it is hard to answer. in the MES, you have a concern that the heating element stops smoking? Heating element shouldn't smoke, the chips smoke as they get heated. In my brother's MES, the chips smoke until they are burned through, and then need to be replaced. I think it takes about an hour, which means he has to go out each hour and check the smoke status and replace the chips. That makes it a little more work. The autofeed in the Bradley removes that concern, and if you do get an a-maze-n pellet smoker, they smoke for a long time, so that removes the concern.
Give us some more questions, specific questions and we may be able to help you some more.