MES 400 series

[chopsaw]

the broiler only took about thirty minutes to install by myself and the fit and alignment of screws was spot on, not two hours and two people.

One person and a positive attitude works great for alot of stuff .
Nice report .

 

[Rudyjr]

I have also noticed in the two YouTube videos I have watched from owners of this unit ( one being a broiler installation tutorial) that both guys have the element support installed wrong. In both videos the element center section is hanging below the support. The center of the element recessed into a slot in the support. And just in case anyone is wondering yes the rotisserie works with the broiler on. There is a DC jack on the back of the unit and the motor is DC. You can also smoke when they are on but you cannot run the bottom element at the same time. ( not 240 volt like your range!)

 

[normanaj]

Well I am a little over one week in with the MES 440s I picked up from Amazon for 159.99 and so far so good.

That's one hell of a score!

They've gone down in price considerably since the initial posting but still that's a fantastic price!

 

[Rudyjr]

Yep, I figured for that price I would roll the dice. Plus I went ahead and extended the warranty for another two years for around 25 bucks. Quite a few of the reviews were complaints for damage which seemed to be shipping related. Mine showed up in a box that was almost perfect. There was about a quarter size ding in the door that appeared to be done when they packed it. I talked to Amazon and told them they should let Masterbuilt know and they asked if I wanted it replaced. I laughed and told them no I didn’t want anything other than to let them know. The next day there was a ten percent refund on my account!

 

[Bearcarver]

Yep, I figured for that price I would roll the dice. Plus I went ahead and extended the warranty for another two years for around 25 bucks. Quite a few of the reviews were complaints for damage which seemed to be shipping related. Mine showed up in a box that was almost perfect. There was about a quarter size ding in the door that appeared to be done when they packed it. I talked to Amazon and told them they should let Masterbuilt know and they asked if I wanted it replaced. I laughed and told them no I didn’t want anything other than to let them know. The next day there was a ten percent refund on my account!

That's Great !!
Sounds like the Masterbuilt we used to Brag about!!
Thanks for the Report.

Bear

 

[Rudyjr]

Well I don’t really know much about Masterbuilt other than they are on top of it when it comes to the accessories I have ordered. I have ordered twice and they ship out a couple of hours after I place my order.
Amazon has always been great to deal with in my experience. The unit I bought was sold and shipped by them. The pricing thing was weird it was only that low for a very short time and it was late in the evening when it did. It was priced much higher earlier that day and in the morning the next day.

 

[Bearcarver]

Well I don’t really know much about Masterbuilt other than they are on top of it when it comes to the accessories I have ordered. I have ordered twice and they ship out a couple of hours after I place my order.
Amazon has always been great to deal with in my experience. The unit I bought was sold and shipped by them. The pricing thing was weird it was only that low for a very short time and it was late in the evening when it did. It was priced much higher earlier that day and in the morning the next day.

I'll give you a brief History:
11 years ago Masterbuilt was terrible in the customer Service arena. If you had a problem a couple little girls answered the phone & it was like dealing with Heckle & Jeckle.
Then a couple years later they started getting better, and it got to the point of being one of the best Customer Relations companies I've ever dealt with. Everybody who had problems was happy with their actions. They were even taking care of people who had a unit that was way over Warranty time.
Then a couple years ago, I started hearing a lot of complaints again from guys here on the forum.
Now we have the Great things you just said, so it seems to be that it depends on who is working there at the time. I would say it depends on who answers the phone, but that would mean the amount of help would vary by the hour or by the day, but when it's good it's usually good for months to years, and when it's bad it's usually bad for years.
Let's hope it stays like you reported for awhile.

Bear

 

[dr k]

I'll give you a brief History:
11 years ago Masterbuilt was terrible in the customer Service arena. If you had a problem a couple little girls answered the phone & it was like dealing with Heckle & Jeckle.
Then a couple years later they started getting better, and it got to the point of being one of the best Customer Relations companies I've ever dealt with. Everybody who had problems was happy with their actions. They were even taking care of people who had a unit that was way over Warranty time.
Then a couple years ago, I started hearing a lot of complaints again from guys here on the forum.
Now we have the Great things you just said, so it seems to be that it depends on who is working there at the time. I would say it depends on who answers the phone, but that would mean the amount of help would vary by the hour or by the day, but when it's good it's usually good for months to years, and when it's bad it's usually bad for years.
Let's hope it stays like you reported for awhile.

Bear

The best way to get ahold of MB is through their FB page and Messenger them. Especially during C--19. Unfortunately MB is sending a lot of defective units right out of the box that MB doesn't have parts in stock for so people are waiting over a monrh to use a brand new unit. MB is not helping with broken units unless it's under warranty. As mentioned above a dented smoker was shipped in a pristine box so they packed a dented smoker. People that have phoned MB are going to the FB page and are leaving posts when MB advertises the gravity feed and Mes saying why are you advertising when you won't respond to the defective one you just sent me and I haven't heard from MB in weeks since messages have been left. MB right now is in over it's head when it comes to sending defects and not having parts to fix them and not helping with problems with out of warranty units. Not so much of an up roar on SMF compared to the super ticked off folks on other Mes pages. Seems on SMF people aren't buying MB controllers once the first fails since there's so much help with PID controllers and making the Mes a better oven than the one in the kitchen. Not as many folks on SMF are generating smoke as the .Mes is intended with Amnps/Amnts compared to other Mes pages so lots more smoke generating complaints on other pages. Lots of people into their 3rd Mes because they throw them away when they just need the box, door and element and then just need to get electronics from electronic companies.

 

[Bearcarver]

The best way to get ahold of MB is through their FB page and Messenger them. Especially during C--19. Unfortunately MB is sending a lot of defective units right out of the box that MB doesn't have parts in stock for so people are waiting over a monrh to use a brand new unit. MB is not helping with broken units unless it's under warranty. As mentioned above a dented smoker was shipped in a pristine box so they packed a dented smoker. People that have phoned MB are going to the FB page and are leaving posts when MB advertises the gravity feed and Mes saying why are you advertising when you won't respond to the defective one you just sent me and I haven't heard from MB in weeks since messages have been left. MB right now is in over it's head when it comes to sending defects and not having parts to fix them and not helping with problems with out of warranty units. Not so much of an up roar on SMF compared to the super ticked off folks on other Mes pages. Seems on SMF people aren't buying MB controllers once the first fails since there's so much help with PID controllers and making the Mes a better oven than the one in the kitchen. Not as many folks on SMF are generating smoke as the .Mes is intended with Amnps/Amnts compared to other Mes pages so lots more smoke generating complaints on other pages. Lots of people into their 3rd Mes because they throw them away when they just need the box, door and element and then just need to get electronics from electronic companies.

Interesting, Kurt !!
Thanks for the Info, and Good Points.
However the one part does me no good. I don't do FaceBook, or any of that kind of BS. I'm Strictly SMF & Email.

Bear

 

[Rudyjr]

Interesting, Kurt !!
Thanks for the Info, and Good Points.
However the one part does me no good. I don't do FaceBook, or any of that kind of BS. I'm Strictly SMF & Email.

Bear

Same here if I ever need to get ahold of them it will have to be Email or phone.

 

[Rudyjr]

Well so far we have done three meals with this smoker. Did a rotisserie chicken the first meal a 7 pound pork shoulder for the second meal and about six pounds of wings tonight. The upper broiler does a good job with the rotisserie and gives you a very nice final product. We also used it to finish off the wings to crisp them up a bit. The temperature when using the bottom element seems very stable and both of the probes seem very accurate. The smoke settings have worked very good in my opinion. We used a three setting on all of the poultry and one medium Apple chunk. The smoke lasted a good forty five plus minutes. You can tell that the smoke burner is cycling off and on by the output through the vents. The pork shoulder that we did I used a setting of four and probably reloaded the smoke box about six times over the initial six hours. Once it was over 165 degrees I wrapped it in foil and discontinued the smoking. My one take away from this is :DONT KEEP OPENING THE SMOKE BOX DOOR! One time I had a pretty decent piece of wood left and put another in too. The new fuel and the inrush of air caused it to flare up a bit. I didn’t reopen the door to intervene ( and add oxygen) I just let it stabilize on its own. I think with this unit you are probably best to take your time between reloads of wood.

 

[starbaby]

Well so far we have done three meals with this smoker. Did a rotisserie chicken the first meal a 7 pound pork shoulder for the second meal and about six pounds of wings tonight. The upper broiler does a good job with the rotisserie and gives you a very nice final product. We also used it to finish off the wings to crisp them up a bit. The temperature when using the bottom element seems very stable and both of the probes seem very accurate. The smoke settings have worked very good in my opinion. We used a three setting on all of the poultry and one medium Apple chunk. The smoke lasted a good forty five plus minutes. You can tell that the smoke burner is cycling off and on by the output through the vents. The pork shoulder that we did I used a setting of four and probably reloaded the smoke box about six times over the initial six hours. Once it was over 165 degrees I wrapped it in foil and discontinued the smoking. My one take away from this is :DONT KEEP OPENING THE SMOKE BOX DOOR! One time I had a pretty decent piece of wood left and put another in too. The new fuel and the inrush of air caused it to flare up a bit. I didn’t reopen the door to intervene ( and add oxygen) I just let it stabilize on its own. I think with this unit you are probably best to take your time between reloads of wood.

Sounds like you are now due for the infamous Masterbuilt "error" code to appear. Not to jinx ya.

 

[Rudyjr]

Hope not but hey thanks for the constructive feedback.

 

[Bearcarver]

Well so far we have done three meals with this smoker. Did a rotisserie chicken the first meal a 7 pound pork shoulder for the second meal and about six pounds of wings tonight. The upper broiler does a good job with the rotisserie and gives you a very nice final product. We also used it to finish off the wings to crisp them up a bit. The temperature when using the bottom element seems very stable and both of the probes seem very accurate. The smoke settings have worked very good in my opinion. We used a three setting on all of the poultry and one medium Apple chunk. The smoke lasted a good forty five plus minutes. You can tell that the smoke burner is cycling off and on by the output through the vents. The pork shoulder that we did I used a setting of four and probably reloaded the smoke box about six times over the initial six hours. Once it was over 165 degrees I wrapped it in foil and discontinued the smoking. My one take away from this is :DONT KEEP OPENING THE SMOKE BOX DOOR! One time I had a pretty decent piece of wood left and put another in too. The new fuel and the inrush of air caused it to flare up a bit. I didn’t reopen the door to intervene ( and add oxygen) I just let it stabilize on its own. I think with this unit you are probably best to take your time between reloads of wood.

Sounds like everything is going Great !!!
Maybe they came up with another Big Winner!
They have made some Great Smoker models, like the Gen #1, and the Gen #2.5.
Be Great if this one gets to be the best one yet.
Keep us Updated!!

Thanks,
Bear

 

[Rudyjr]

Bear, Thanks for the support and encouragement. My only reason for posting here is to offer some insight to other owners. I know many people with the model smoker have had problems with it. After reading through all of the negative reviews and issues people have had I saw some interesting trends. One I can rule out was many instances of shipping damage. Some were complaints of screws in legs and accessories not lining up. Come on folks this is mechanics 101! You tighten nothing until they are all started. The other was quite a few people with issues installing the broiler. This was not an issue for me, but I do electrical wiring and repair work. I think better detailed instructions would help quite a few of those people, some nothing will. As I said my impression is that it is a very well made and easy to install kit. The other issue that I saw was the issue with flare ups in the smoke box. Like I said the knob for this is user installed. You really need two 10 mm wrenches to do it properly. Adjustment is critical to get the door to seal. I feel some folks may have overlooked this. Also as I stated the smoke box is easy to overload and can have air introduced at a bad time by checking it frequently ( as I did). I know the flare up issue was mentioned by someone as a possible reason for the error 2 problem. These are just my observations and hopefully they might help someone as others have helped me. I know I found very few postings of actual users and their experiences when I was looking.

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear, Thanks for the support and encouragement. My only reason for posting here is to offer some insight to other owners. I know many people with the model smoker have had problems with it. After reading through all of the negative reviews and issues people have had I saw some interesting trends. One I can rule out was many instances of shipping damage. Some were complaints of screws in legs and accessories not lining up. Come on folks this is mechanics 101! You tighten nothing until they are all started. The other was quite a few people with issues installing the broiler. This was not an issue for me, but I do electrical wiring and repair work. I think better detailed instructions would help quite a few of those people, some nothing will. As I said my impression is that it is a very well made and easy to install kit. The other issue that I saw was the issue with flare ups in the smoke box. Like I said the knob for this is user installed. You really need two 10 mm wrenches to do it properly. Adjustment is critical to get the door to seal. I feel some folks may have overlooked this. Also as I stated the smoke box is easy to overload and can have air introduced at a bad time by checking it frequently ( as I did). I know the flare up issue was mentioned by someone as a possible reason for the error 2 problem. These are just my observations and hopefully they might help someone as others have helped me. I know I found very few postings of actual users and their experiences when I was looking.

Yup---Yours is one of the first expanded reviews of the 400 series I've seen, so I can't compare it to other reviews. However the flare-ups caused by opening the door too often is in the books for the other models too. Your comments should help some who got or will be getting that same unit.

Thanks,
Bear

 

[Rudyjr]

Thanks Bear just hoping to let others know what I encounter. Not like I really have a clue what I am doing, heck I barely know how to turn on our stove. We did do another pork shoulder yesterday for a small get together today. It was almost nine pounds. Put it on at noon at 230 degrees with a good chunk of Apple in the smoke box which was set on 4. It produced good smoke for almost four hours added couple of smaller pieces and took me right up to about 830 when I hit a little over 165 degrees internal. Wrapped it in foil and turned off the smoke and kept going until it was done. I am thinking and hoping that some of these issues people are having are due to following the “every thirty minutes” like the chip burners. Just a thought, Happy Labor Day to all.

 

[jeremyd]

Im about to order this with the rotisserie and broiler addition. The reviews are a little rough but it seems if you look at newer reviews they arent so bad. Anything Im missing here or should I go for it? FWIW main reason I want this one is to make venison sausage, jerky and snack sticks

 

[Rudyjr]

I would think it would be an ideal smoker for anyone that wanted the ability to control the heat and smoke separately. I have used mine around six times and had one minor hiccup the second time. I opened the smoke door to check on the wood early on and had a minor flare up. I closed the door and it settled down. I have stayed totally away from chips and just used chunks. I find a decent chunk produces smoke for 3 to 4 hours. The wood lays directly on the heating element regardless of what some reviewers say. The grid inserts directly below it. The smoke element cycles off and on according to the smoke level you select. The rotisserie and broiler element are super easy to install just make sure that the top element indent fits into the slot in the support when you install it. It should hold the element up parallel with the top. If you decide to go with it and encounter any questions feel free to ask and I will try to help you figure it out. Long term I can offer no input but so far I have had no issues.