First off, I'm a Weber guy, so I'm incapable of remaining neutral in the Weber/
Masterbuilt Pro match. Also, I've used a propane grill as a smoker in the past. Mine didn't really smoke meat no matter what method I used (tray, pouch, etc). It just kind of added a little smoke flavor.
With Weber you have two choices: Buy a 22.5"
Weber Kettle for $150 and use it as a grill, smoker, pizza oven, smoky fryer, etc. As a grill it will last you for decades. You only have to replace the grates every 5 to 10 years, depending how you treat it and cover it in the winter. The grill works great on smokes of 6 hours or less. Yes, you can go longer, and I have but it just takes attention every 90 minutes or so.
Since I have a
Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, I use my 22.5"
Weber Kettle for what I call grill smoking. I'll throw down cold briquettes, small wood chunks or large wood chips, then the hot charcoal. I use a 15" paella pan on the grill with a 13.25" round cooling rack inside the pan. I'll put my chicken, sausages, etc on the cooling rack, put the lid on the Weber, and come back when they are done. No flipping, burning, or moving around the grill. That's my method, but you can also set the grill up for indirect smoking too, which is how I learned to smoke on the Kettle.
Second choice: The $400
Weber Smokey Mountain is as close as you can get to a perfect smoker right out of the box. With care it should last a lifetime too. It creates smoked meat that will rival the best you've ever had. You can wet smoke (water in the water pan) or dry smoke (no water, or use sand in the water pan) with the smoker. It likes to run hot, about 275F when new, but should settle down with smoke buildup and experience. You can easily go 8-10 hours, hands off, with the
WSM. With time, you can add a temp controller for $200 which doubles that time and basically turns the smoker into an appliance no setting the oven. The only mod, which really isn't necessary, is a $25 gasket kit. New, mine was out of round, damaged in shipping, so I needed to add a gasket kit. Still, I smoked with it for 6 months before adding the gasket kit. I was too excited to send the smoker back when I received it.
You'll never regret getting either Weber.
I know there are
Masterbuilt Pro Dual smokers here, so they'll have to give you their side.
Keep us posted what you get!
Ray