Hi new user here registered tonight to report back on the new model MES. Ordered the 40 inch from cabellas along with Todd's amnps. Seasoned it all Friday, smoked a couple racks of ribs and some chicken parts today. This is my first smoker so I basically just compiled tons of advice from this forum and followed the rules. Worked very well the food was great - would have been better if my family didn't make me wait 3 hours to serve it. Was still delicious. Anyway, my review of the smoker follows:
Fit and finish for assembly was ok, some screw holes didn't line up perfectly, took some elbow grease but overall not bad.
As I was putting the internal parts in, I noticed that the chip tray housing that covers the element was not attached to the wall. It seems to be welded to the wall in the new model, and my welds broke. The only thing holding it in was the support from the chip loader. Not good, but since I was using the amnps I powered through this problem. I will be calling masterbuilt tomorrow morning to see how they suggest fixing the problem...
The other issue I had was that the display on the remote was not fully functional. It shows only the top half of the figures. Since I also got the maverick thermometer from Todd, I wasnt too worried about the remote for monitoring, but I'll be asking masterbuilt for a new one in the morning.
One other slight issue, I found the chip loader was a little difficult to slide in and out. This might be related to the chip housing issue though.
Everything else about this smoker is great. The element held temp to a pretty tight band around 225 (215-235) with a set temp of 240. I opened the door quite a few times to check the ribs, add chicken, spray with apple juice, etc. temp recovery was very fast.
All in I am very happy with the unit. The broken chip housing and remote are major problems but I happen to be circumventing them anyway so it didn't matter.
Will update after I speak with masterbuilt about these flaws. Happy to answer anyone's questions about the new unit if there are details you want me to report on let me know. Can take pics, etc.
Fit and finish for assembly was ok, some screw holes didn't line up perfectly, took some elbow grease but overall not bad.
As I was putting the internal parts in, I noticed that the chip tray housing that covers the element was not attached to the wall. It seems to be welded to the wall in the new model, and my welds broke. The only thing holding it in was the support from the chip loader. Not good, but since I was using the amnps I powered through this problem. I will be calling masterbuilt tomorrow morning to see how they suggest fixing the problem...
The other issue I had was that the display on the remote was not fully functional. It shows only the top half of the figures. Since I also got the maverick thermometer from Todd, I wasnt too worried about the remote for monitoring, but I'll be asking masterbuilt for a new one in the morning.
One other slight issue, I found the chip loader was a little difficult to slide in and out. This might be related to the chip housing issue though.
Everything else about this smoker is great. The element held temp to a pretty tight band around 225 (215-235) with a set temp of 240. I opened the door quite a few times to check the ribs, add chicken, spray with apple juice, etc. temp recovery was very fast.
All in I am very happy with the unit. The broken chip housing and remote are major problems but I happen to be circumventing them anyway so it didn't matter.
Will update after I speak with masterbuilt about these flaws. Happy to answer anyone's questions about the new unit if there are details you want me to report on let me know. Can take pics, etc.
