- Nov 29, 2015
- 80
- 13
hello- just joined. I'm researching smokers & found this site & it looked like a good place to ask around. as far as my experience goes I've been using weber kettles for years for direct & offset grilling. I bought a brinkman dome smoker 2 years ago & have had reasonably good results with it. I do not see my smoker on brinkman's site. it's bigger than the ECB model that's on their site ( 17"" round by 3' tall ). I did a web search & found the brinkman gourmet model domed smoker that looks like mine, there are no legs & has a vented base that the charcoal pan sits in. while it is doing a decent job it has a few issues. the door is flimsy & even after some mods it's not a good fit. the domed lid is not a good fit in regards to the main body, the temp. gauge is useless, & the paint burned off pretty early on. repainting with high heat paint & replacing the temp. gauge would help but I'm leaning towards an upgrade & I'm weighing my options. I want a good quality charcoal only smoker. with a general web search for brinkman a list of 'images' comes up & it looks like there were quite a few made over the years but most have been dropped. all I'm finding now are the dome ( ECB), a vertical model on wheels, & the trailmaster. looking at reviews of other brands there's a lot of negative feedback out there. the one that's caught my eye is the weber smoky mtn.. it's a weber so the quality is there, it has good reviews, & it's within my budget. the choice is between the 18" & the 22". I've been reading some threads on this site & found I'm not the only one on this same fence. there's only 2 of us & so far the 17" brinkman has been adequate so the 18" weber might do the trick. if I'd ever need more capacity I could use the brinkman along side the weber. are there any other brands in the same price range that would produce similar or better results than the weber. maybe something with a door instead of access via a lid? this could fit the bill but I'm not finding it offered anywhere.