Masterbuilt Gravity 1050 -- Package Dimensions and Assembly Tip

[mcokevin]

I picked up a new Masterbuilt Gravity 1050 yesterday from Home Depot. The dimensions of the smoker are easily available online but I wasn't able to find the dimensions of the box it ships in anywhere. I emailed Masterbuilt customer service and they provided me with the information. I am posting it here in hopes that anyone else searching for this information online will benefit from it. Happy smoking!

The box dimensions are:
Width: 44.441
Depth:22.795
Height:34.496

It fit inside my mini van with the back row folded down, the middle seats were still in. It barely fit this way, but would easily fit with both rows of seats out. It should fit pretty well inside any minivan, and most large SUVs.

The smoker is very well packaged inside the box:

There was some damage to the bottom of the box, but the packaging inside prevented any damage to the smoker.

In terms of assembly, I had read elsewhere that the electronics cabling is sensitive and can be easily damaged. I agree with this assessment. There are two main suggestions I have for anyone considering the Gravity series.
1) The power connector for the controller is not secured against anything. So, any pulling or tensions on the power chord when you plug it in will pull directly on the connector and wiring that is connected directly to the circuit board of the controller. I would definitely recommend that any gravity series owners unplug their smoker and disconnect the power connector before moving it. If this is damaged, obviously this smoker will not work. To mitigate this I zip tied the power cable to the antenna base to provide some strain relief to the connector and wiring into the controller itself. This still isn't ideal as any significant pulling or tension could damage the wifi antenna, but all else equal I'd rather lose the wifi functionality than the entire controller. You can see this as note 1 in the picture below.
2) There is no strain relief at all on any of the sensor and fan wiring that comes out of the controller. I zip tied everything together to at least provide some relief, but this will only offer limited protection. This is less of an issue than the first point since there should be no stress on these connectors now that everything is assembled, but this is still less than ideal.

 

[rpphoto]

Nice Pull .... ive been looking hard at one of these, and with my Birthday Coming up in July , i think it might be my Gift to Myself!

 

[Bigheaded]

I have a 560 I HATE the design of the power, imho they should have made a hole in the side shelf and mounted the power connector in it. It just dangling there is, stupid. I've never had anything else with such a weird design like that. I'll have to get some sort of extender, but I plan to drill a hole and mount mine. The 2nd time I was using mine the dogs were running around and one dashed over the cord and pulled it out of the socket. When I plugged it back in I thought for a second it might already be toast lol. You are right this will be a point of failure, maybe even if you're extremely careful. And kudos for MB for including bread ties to hold the wires together. 3 zip ties would have cost a few pennies.

With that said you're going to love it, Kosmo on Youtube said the gravities are the holy grail of smokers. I thought he was exaggerating to help promote them. He's not far off though.

 

[mcokevin]

I have a 560 I HATE the design of the power, imho they should have made a hole in the side shelf and mounted the power connector in it. It just dangling there is, stupid. I've never had anything else with such a weird design like that. I'll have to get some sort of extender, but I plan to drill a hole and mount mine. The 2nd time I was using mine the dogs were running around and one dashed over the cord and pulled it out of the socket. When I plugged it back in I thought for a second it might already be toast lol. You are right this will be a point of failure, maybe even if you're extremely careful. And kudos for MB for including bread ties to hold the wires together. 3 zip ties would have cost a few pennies.

With that said you're going to love it, Kosmo on Youtube said the gravities are the holy grail of smokers. I thought he was exaggerating to help promote them. He's not far off though.

I have spent my career working on projects that involve high and low voltage electrical design. The company I‘m with now does a significant amount of custom product design in this arena, specifically in the 12-48v range which is where this controller lives.

I’d like to say it’s poor design or lack of ability, but when you consider how SPOT ON the controller, fan, and programmed logic work together for temp control it is crystal clear that they have the competency to design it correctly. Seriously, the temp control in this thing is damned good in any case. That it’s done with with charcoal is next level. When you compare that level of engineering detail and precision with the flat out miss that is the power connector it is frankly just laziness, cost cutting, or both. What’s particularly frustrating is that it would take under $10 worth of parts to do it properly. At least I have a full electronics workshop at my disposal if I break the power connector!

Anyway, I’m still very happy with the purchase. I just ate my first meal cooked on it and am super happy with the product. I didn’t know what to do with myself during the cook. I kind of just stood around and looked at it, waiting to do something. But I didn’t have to. Crazy how effortless it is during the cook.