ndkoze
Smoke Blower
- Apr 4, 2011
- 111
- 15
While the Masterbuilt provides a very nice low budget smoker that if well taken care of will last you many years and be a great starter smoker for someone on a budget. But, to call the Masterbuilts and Smokin-Its the same thing is inaccurate at best.
They are much cheaper than smokin it for the same thing, and still offer comparable features.
The Sausage Maker smokers look like dynamite units too and based on what I have read, I would throw them in the SI, CookShack, Smokin Tex category.
If you want to wet you feet in the smoker hobby, the Masterbuilt is a great starter smoker. But, if you tend to buy quality equipment that will last a long time, the Smokin-It is the way to go. I started with a Brinkman bullet, went to a Big Chief, then to a Masterbuilt 40-inch Vertical Gas Smoker, a Chargriller Deluxe with side box, and lastly the Smokin-It.
The Brinkman was sold at a garage sale a year or two after purchase, I still have the Big Chief and occasionally use it to smoke fish, the Masterbuilt sits in its box in the garage probably never to be used again, the Chargriller was moved to the lake place where I have more leisure time to watch/feed the wood and maintain the temp, and the Smokin-It which has been in use for 3 years has pretty much replaced them all and is used 1-2 times per week.
I really wish someone would have suggested the Smokin-It (or CookShack/Smokin Tex/Sausage Maker) smokers before I spent all my money on these other smokers. Even when reviewing which Smokin-It model to purchase, at first I didn't have enough money to purchase the #3 model that I wanted. So, rather than settling with the smaller Smokin-It model, I read and researched for a couple of months and saved my money until I could afford the #3 that I wanted. This is a 10+ year ownership smoker, so waiting/saving for a few extra months was worth it for me.
I really do not mean to denigrate the Masterbuilts, Bradlys, etc, because I know there are a lot of people her that use these smokers successfully and if well taken care of will last for many years, many of these guys with way more smoking experience than me (I have only been smoking food for about 18 years). My point is just if you tend to buy Cadillacs verses Chevys, Lexus verses Toyota, etc (you get the picture), you are probably going to want to consider the SI over the other models. For the money, the SI is really hard to beat.
Ultimately, you have to determine what is going to be the best unit for you based on how often you are going to use the smoker and what type of smoking you are going to do.
Good luck in your search.
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