I received a 40" MES for Christmas, my wife bought it for $399 at Gander Mountain. It was the 20070508 model. After hearing here about the new model, I opened it up, confirmed it was the 800 watt, non-replacable element version - but that's as far as I got since we're in the middle of what is a very cold January for Houston anyway.
Needless to say, I began looking for "the new model" 'round here at a local Sam's Club. Called many Sam's Clubs around town, could not find one that had any of the Masterbuilts in stock, not even in their system - of course it's no longer on their website either. I called
Masterbuilt directly and asked them if they could tell me where in Houston I could find a new MES 40 - nope, no luck with
Masterbuilt, they were friendly however. Then I called Sam's Club corporate headquarters to see if they could direct me to a local Sam's Club with the new MES 40 - nope they could not.
Finally, after more calling, I found a Sam's Club here in Houston with the new MES 40. So today I went to Gander and returned the 20070508, then went over and purchased the new MES 40 at Sam's Club - coincidentally very close-by the Gander Mountain store
. I had to join Sam's Club - since we live 2 miles from Costco, we're members there. However, even after the annual membership fee, I still saved money by returning the "old" version of the MES 40 to Gander, and purchasing the new MES 40 from Sams.
At Sam's Club, I had an opportunity to "put my hands on" the display unit and confirmed it is the new model. First thing I confirmed was the label on back showing it was in fact a 1,200 watt element. I also saw what appeared to be a small removable panel on the back, presumably for some type of serviceing of the unit, if required. This panel was not present on the 20070508 I returned to Gander. I also confirmed the smaller, more centered chip tray - all else looked like the older MES 40 I returned to Gander.
I haven't opened up the box of the new MES 40 from SClub yet, but again, I did look over the display model pretty well. O nly thing I see different than what has been reported here is the model number on the box for the Sam's Club MES 40 is 20070810. See photo's of the box attached.
I'm looking forward to a little "easy-Que". I started years ago on a bullet smoker, moved to a Bandara, then to an Oklahoma Joe offset unit made from almost 1/4 inch steel plate - done some very good Q on all of them - mostly brisket, but also done Pork Butts, Port Loins, Whole Chickens, Half Chickens, and of course lots of ribs - never a turkey though. About 2 years back, I went ahead and bought the "afterburner" double burner H model so I can fire the Okla Joe with Propane.
And my pre-Afterburn Okla Joe, during a pre-cook stick burner warm-up:
Thanks Gents for all the good info here. I will "season" my new 1,200 watt MES 40 as soon as I get a break from this "cold snap" here in Houston. Evidently, its been a few decades since we've had this many nights in a row of freezing temps.
Treytexag.