@Glock 'em down you aren’t going to get much for $200. But that will get you a nice Weber charcoal setup. That’s how I’d go…
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterb...er-in-Black-with-3-Racks-MB20070210/304339202
I have a master built..... But the one I have my son bought for me several years ago and has all the bells and whistles. The one I posted from home depot is close to your price point , but I have no experience with that one.
The electric smoker is used a lot around here , I love mine.
Good luck on the search.
I have a master built..... But the one I have my son bought for me several years ago and has all the bells and whistles. The one I posted from home depot is close to your price point , but I have no experience with that one.
The electric smoker is used a lot around here , I love mine.
Good luck on the search.
I have a propane Masterbuilt ( $189 @ Academy) that produces better smoked meats than my Traegar. My thought process is the propane is viable in the absence of electricity. As well if no propane it is easily converted to charcoal. I also learned not to trust temps on some of these units so I purchased an independent temperature gauge that tells me meat and smoker temps. It is also wireless so I can monitor from inside the house. I learned that the proper temperature will make or break your meat. Here’s a link to the one I use
https://a.co/d/bOSSxEZ
https://a.co/d/bOSSxEZ
^^^^ What he said about the timer...
I use a cheap Masterbuilt, it works well. I’d highly recommend using a smoke tube with pellets rather than using wood chips. During hot weather months the heating element doesn’t cycle frequently enough to keep wood chips smoking.
I've got a mid to high end (I think) Pitboss vertical pellet smoker that is just the beans. I got it for a smoking deal LOL. If you look on FB you can pretty routinely find the vertical or the horizontal 30# variants in the 200-300 range.
I had an old Masterbuilt 40" electric that held up wonderfully from 2009-2023 (RIP sweet prince), but I've not looked back since going to the pellet route. My grill has all the fancy dancy Wifi and temp monitoring that I don't use (Come on Weber, if I'm grilling then I'm right there my dudes!) but I use the heck out of it on the smoker. With a 60# hopper on mine I just go outside, toss the meat in, make sure my pellets are loaded, and then start her up and check in every so often on my phone. It has configurable alerts as well.
Also recommended --- Look at the Meater wireless bluetooth temp probes. Those things are ballin for real. Since there's no wires you stick them in the meat and neither open the door, nor have a wire running out which can leak the door deal.
Edit: My free Pitboss: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Pit-Boss-Pro-Series-4-Series-Vertical-Smoker/5013310445
Edit: Meater Temp Probes: https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-block?variant=32425151201367
I had an old Masterbuilt 40" electric that held up wonderfully from 2009-2023 (RIP sweet prince), but I've not looked back since going to the pellet route. My grill has all the fancy dancy Wifi and temp monitoring that I don't use (Come on Weber, if I'm grilling then I'm right there my dudes!) but I use the heck out of it on the smoker. With a 60# hopper on mine I just go outside, toss the meat in, make sure my pellets are loaded, and then start her up and check in every so often on my phone. It has configurable alerts as well.
Also recommended --- Look at the Meater wireless bluetooth temp probes. Those things are ballin for real. Since there's no wires you stick them in the meat and neither open the door, nor have a wire running out which can leak the door deal.
Edit: My free Pitboss: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Pit-Boss-Pro-Series-4-Series-Vertical-Smoker/5013310445
Edit: Meater Temp Probes: https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-block?variant=32425151201367
I’ve had two masterbuilt propanes. Going to try my first pellet smoker in the next few days. We’ll see how it goes
This is slightly over your budget but a fair value. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/937200881532523
Protip: Pitboss is hella good on service. The reason I got mine I mentioned above for free is that a neighbor tossed it out due to auger failure. It was their fault --- water got in and made MDF out of the pellets in the auger and they burned a gear out on the motor.
I picked the thing up, called Pitboss and they registered the warranty under my name and Fedex 2-day'd the parts to me for free. Took all of 30 minutes to repair. I wouldn't be surprised if you could pick something like this up and then get the parts for free under warranty (obviously depending on if they have some sort of record of sale date).
Protip: Pitboss is hella good on service. The reason I got mine I mentioned above for free is that a neighbor tossed it out due to auger failure. It was their fault --- water got in and made MDF out of the pellets in the auger and they burned a gear out on the motor.
I picked the thing up, called Pitboss and they registered the warranty under my name and Fedex 2-day'd the parts to me for free. Took all of 30 minutes to repair. I wouldn't be surprised if you could pick something like this up and then get the parts for free under warranty (obviously depending on if they have some sort of record of sale date).
