Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I am not an expert but a consumer that does a lot of research before buying something like this. This model has many improvements over the "Non-RF" model:
1) Wheels that work when the unit is tilted, (caveat: the slide on grease drip tray must be removed before you can tilt and roll.)
2) A light inside the unit, (caveat, It's a little hard to see the meat with the smoke and smoke "grim" on the inside of the huge window but still very nice feature.)
3) The meat thermometer. It is a real needed item on this type of smoker. You never have to open the door to check the temperature. *I double checked it against my own digital thermometer and it runs true within a degree or two.
4) A handheld remote control. No AAA batteries included, (2 req.) You can program the time & temp as well as check the meat probe temp & switch the light on & off. You cannot see the current temp of the smoker, i.e.; watch it rise to the temp you set. To do this just look at the display on top of the unit for this info. Speaking of the top digital unit; it automatically alternates between the time left on the smoker and the current temp of the smoker. To see the meat probe temp, just push the temp button once.
The unit is well insulated and comes up to temp well within a reasonable time, (outside air temp = 46 degrees. The smoker came up to temp of 225 degrees within 17 minutes.) The unit appears well built and of solid construction. I did have a small warpage of the bottom back portion of the back metal panel. This impeded the grease tray a little. This could have been due to the shipper, (Fed Ex) but the unit very well packed. Assembly took 15 minutes. Very simple. The chip tray feature will lock in place after you dump a load into the smoker and the alignment mark for new chips is an easy step to miss when reloading, no bigge. It uses no more than one cup of chips at a time and seems to take a while at 225 degrees to burn them. The racks, water pan, grease pan all are easy to remove and somewhat easy to clean. The nice feature of the bottom grease pan is it is tilted to the back grease trap and comes out for easy cleaning. Overall, I like to keep my tools clean and I spent 15 minutes cleaning this unit, not bad.
I smoked two racks of baby back ribs last night and the unit seemed to cook it faster than expected. The internal temp was reached prior to the time I set. Of course it is not an exact science but the ribs were well smoked and delicious. I used hickory with some mesquite chips and the smoke flavor was strong. Mesquite sucks as opinionated by a lot of "experts." I also smoke some pork bellies, (bacon) that I had cured and they will be tried tomorrow after a 24 sit in the fridge. I am now smoking a brisket and we will see how it does. All in all I am very pleased with this unit and all the new features. I am really liking the fact that I can check the internal temp of the meat by using the remote. I can be doing something elsewhere and always click the "meat probe" button on the remote and know when its time to stop the smoking process. pros: all the features that you want from a smoker of this caliber, well built and good smoke. Cons, can't see the current temp of the smoker on the remote, just the "set" temp. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a smoker in this class.
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