Good deal or not?

[smokinhusker]

I've got the older Gen MES40 from Sam's and although the temps are off a bit, I absolutely love it. Don't know that I'd buy a New Gen, but if I were to do it over again I'd still buy the older Gen model. 

 

[ribwizzard]

I could have and would have spent for for a better quality electric smoker, but after reading all of the customer reviews and looking at the features I wanted in a electric smoker, I decided that the first generation MES was the best "bang for the buck" electric smoker on the market. There was nothing I could find in those electric smokers that were two to three times the price that showed me they were two to three times the smoker that this one is.

 

[blat]

I got the 30 in analog, seems to work great after about 5 smokes, not much to tear up this one, alll metal, reasonably tight, paid $140 something for it.

well insulated, well, no

it will heat up to over 400, so while have not had a cold day yet, think they is plenty of reserve hea ting capacity.

nit is as fancy as the digital, but after the problems the others are having sometimes simple is good.

 

[patvance]

I suggest factoring the cost of an A-MAZE-N-PELLET-SMOKER with any MES.  The smoke from my MES has always been a little bitter.  After trying all variations of chips, wet and dry, I took the advice of folks here and bought a pellet smoker.  My MES works just fine now.

 

[coconuts]

I have seen 40 old generation on Amazon occasionally for those that don't want to mess with the bugs in the new generation. Again, look for the controls in the top back center of the unit and the vent on the top back right corner. For you newbies that have a 40 add a 10' X 10" or 12" X 12" non-glazed tile sitting on top of the smoker box on the bottom right side. This will deflect the heat so you will not have such a hot spot on the right side of your smoker. Add Todd's AMPS and a Maverick 732 and you are set to do accurate and carefree smokes. Sams Club does have the best price on the 40 at $299 but now they are all new generation models.