Lowe's MES30

[tonydatillo]

Lowe's has the MES30's for 160ish.  Is this even worth it?  I'm not interested in moding it or having it break down after a few smokes like a lot of the review's are claiming.  For another $25, Lowe's has a 2 yr replacement warranty, but I don't want to haul a broken one off to exchange, even if it is free.  Looking for something that will work for more than 6 months.  Every time I look up various electric smokers, I get mixed reviews.  Considering a Smokin-It, but they are so expensive.  

 

[tallbm]

 
Lowe's has the MES30's for 160ish.  Is this even worth it?  I'm not interested in moding it or having it break down after a few smokes like a lot of the review's are claiming.  For another $25, Lowe's has a 2 yr replacement warranty, but I don't want to haul a broken one off to exchange, even if it is free.  Looking for something that will work for more than 6 months.  Every time I look up various electric smokers, I get mixed reviews.  Considering a Smokin-It, but they are so expensive.  

Hi there and welcome!

I personally think the MES30 is too small.

I believe that as long as the MES controller doesn't crap out on you, and you are handy enough to work wire crimpers, drill, and drill bits, you can keep an MES going for quite some time.

There will always be quirks with the MES, but as long as you aren't doing sausage, bacon, you don't eat poultry skin, and you are not relying on the MES to generate smoke for cold smoking it should cover what you need it to do.

If none of that works for you then the saying goes "you gotta pay to play" and will need to something more like the Smokin-It :)

Best of luck :)

 

[old sarge]

tonydatillo - Quality and long term reliability comes at a price and that applies to just about everything one can purchase today, including electric smokers. A manufacturer should have sufficient faith in their product to offer a substantial warranty.  One generally gets what they pay for. Cookshack Amerique bought in 2012 still going strong and no problems encountered or repairs needed. Smokin-it 3D acquired in early 2016  and no problems encountered or repairs needed. It just works!  

 

[redoctobyr]

I got a basic digital Gen1 MES 30 (20070910) from Amazon for $140 a few weeks ago. It's my first smoker, but I'm liking it so far. Some people report trouble with the controllers, others seem to be fine. 

Mods don't seem *required*. It's not a mod, per se, but a lot of people (myself included) use the AMNPS pellet tray, ~$30. It can give 10-11 hours of nice smoke, vs reloading chips into the unit roughly hourly, with the included chip tray. The AMNPS also gives consistent smoke regardless of set temperature, whereas the normal chip tray smokes less at cooler setpoints. 

I got a 4-year warranty for mine for $18 from Amazon. I am starting to wonder if that was worth it, if the controller failed, I could add a PID controller for somewhere around $50, and get more consistent temps (and I don't mind some DIY). But the warranty was cheap, and a 2-year was about $10. 

There are units that get much better feedback, like the Smokin-Its. But those are priced accordingly. And for my current "needs" (just getting started), my preference was lower cost, and dealing with the risk of a failure. If it no longer did what I wanted, or failed, I'd have a better understand of what aspects are important to me, when shopping for a replacement. 

It's just my wife and I, so the 30" size seems plenty to me so far. It has 4 shelves, I've only had stuff on 2 of them so far. If feeding bigger groups, of course, the 40" might be a no-brainer. 

PS- The Lowe's site has an MES30 for $161, model 20077915. From pictures I found, I believe this is a "Gen2" unit. Those seem to have a worse reputation than Masterbuilt's Gen1 or Gen2.5 units. But it does show a vent on the top surface of the smoker, on the left, so it might be a later Gen2. The earlier Gen2's had the vent on the left-hand wall, near the top, I think. Just FWIW.