Recommendations Please: Best Set It and Forget It Smoker?

[Little_chief]

In my book, set it and forget it takes two things:

#1 An MES 40 Generation #2.5 electric Smokehouse. Heat control from 100° to 275°.

#2 An AMNPS "Amazing Smoker" Tray to produce up to 11 straight hours of perfect smoke.

I've been using MES Units for 8 years, and love them, especially this new Gen # 2.5.

Made all these things with them:

Just click on "Bear's Step by Steps".

Bear

What generation is 2.5? What is the model number? I have been looking at MES and cannot decide which one to go with

 

[mike243]

I suspect the 2.5 is the newer version mines a first generation 40” thats still working fine, pit boss austin xl is running rite now with a brisket that weighed over 17lbs before trimming,good luck on picking just 1 smoker as I couldn’t lol

 

[Little_chief]

I suspect the 2.5 is the newer version mines a first generation 40” thats still working fine, pit boss austin xl is running rite now with a brisket that weighed over 17lbs before trimming,good luck on picking just 1 smoker as I couldn’t lol

Thank you lol it will be pretty difficult I suppose but I think I am going to go with the 311 model.

 

[mike243]

To phrase it better you should have said,I'm going to start with a 311 model lmao

 

[illini40]

As others have stated before, everyone has different opinions on not only pellet cookers in general, but also the debate on brand of rig.

I have had my Traeger Pro 34 for about four months now. For a novice looking for something easy to use and not have to tend to fires, it has been great. I have had no issues.

The two main things I see as being concerns of pellet cookers are:

1) Less Smoke - I may not have a ton of past experiences to compare to, but I have felt like my Traeger puts off enough smoke. Yes, higher temps definitely produce less smoke. The A-MAZE-N pellet tube is a common accessory to help with smoke.

2) Temp Fluctuations - as with anything with an open flame, there will be some temperature fluctuations. With pellet cookers, from what I have seen, you just need to accept that your cook temp will fluctuate over the entire cook. You should look at more of an average, rather than the temp at one specific point in time. Over a 10+ hour cook, there is too many variable and length of time to fret over fluctuations at specific moments in time. Yes, if a pellet cooker is fluctuating 75*+, I would not consider that normal so may want to check that out.

Overall, I really enjoy the pellet cooker route and specifically, I've been very happy with my Traeger. It appears that Traeger has improved in several areas over the past couple of years. My dad has had two Green Mountain pellet grills and has had great success with them.

 

[Bearcarver]

What generation is 2.5? What is the model number? I have been looking at MES and cannot decide which one to go with

I never go by "Model Numbers" with MES units, because they throw model numbers around too much. Some Model numbers are just depicting what store they are sold at.
I go strictly by what parts the smoker has "Inside & Out", as to whether it's one I would want. IMHO

The two links below should help you decide which Generation is best.
The one has my findings from testing the #1, #2, and #2.5.
And the other link will show you how to tell them apart:
Masterbuilt Smokers (Bear's Thoughts & Findings)
MES Generation Number Recognition Pictures & Pics (Digital Units)

Bear

 

[hoosiersmoker]

Haha, I forgot I posted to this one so, update: My Pit Boss 820 Has been smoking strong since that post. Dozens of slabs and shoulders, several brisket and lots and lots of steak, burgers and brats. I think for me, having the ability to sear and grill makes all the difference in the world. It is a grill as well as very accurate smoker with the ability to feed more pellets and increase the smoke significantly. It is holding up extremely well and has no issues electrically / electronically. sweep it out, plug it in, set the temp, put the goods on and leave for the day if you want to come home to perfect shoulder or Brisket or roast or whatever. Almost can't remember the smoker tending days, of course I almost can't remember my name some days...