A couple of issues. A "pretty good size Turkey " should not be done in an electric smoker because they don't get hot enough. A bird no larger than 12-14Lb can be smoked whole anything larger has to halved in the size smoker in your price range. The up side of electric is they can go low, 100°F to 275°F giving a somewhat broader range of easily controlled temps over a Propane unit that has trouble getting below 150°F. These low temps are used for jerky and sausage. The flip side is propane smokers can get into the 325-350°F range that is optimum for the large Turkey's your father wants to do. If I was to purchase an Electric Smoker in your price range, I would go with the
Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse (MES) 30". Your best choices are MES30 model # 20070910 at $170 or for more convenience for your Dad the MES30 model # 20070411 at $265. This is a little more but is made of stainless steel and has a remote that allows control from the comfort of Dad's easy chair, pretty nice option for the Christmas Turkey. Both may see better prices as Christmas approaches and these are
Amazon prices other companies like the ones mentioned above may do better, especially Cabela's. One word of caution, both units are older generations with the electronics controller on the back of the unit. There is a new generation MES with the controls up front. They are pretty but have many problems and are not a good choice. As far as Gasser's go, the
Camp Chef Smoke Vaults are of high quality with the 18"W X 30"H at about $160 and the 24"W X 30"H at $263. The Landmann 3495GLA at $237 is a good choice and the largest of the Gasser's in your price range is the
Masterbuilt GS40 at $180 it is a lot bigger but I have no idea of the quality compared to the others that many members have praised. I am sure there will be other respondents. With any of these look into the Pellet smoke generators from A-MAZE-N Products...
http://www.amazenproducts.com/Default.asp. All of these smokers require reloading of wood chips or chunks every 30 to 60 minutes. This sucks on a 20 hour Butt smoke. The Pellet Smoke Generators from Todd at A-MAZE-N can be loaded once and will burn steady up to 10 hours without having to reload. Good luck and if you see anything else that is interesting, do a search for them on this forum or ask in this or a new post and we will let you know if they are good Smokers...JJ