MES 400 series

[normanaj]

Now that they are available...anyone gonna pull the trigger and drop the $500 for the 30" or the $600 for the 40"?

 

[Bearcarver]

These should be very interesting:
They got some good things, and some needless things, but given the problems found in some of the other models, I would worry about having so many things that could go wrong.

Bear

 

[normanaj]

I was thinking along the same lines.

And if you want to add all xtras one these things could end costing you close to $800.

 

[Bearcarver]

I was thinking along the same lines.

And if you want to add all xtras one these things could end costing you close to $800.

Exactly!
However that might not be bad if everything works.
Having that many extra goodies makes it hard not to have problems.
I know I wouldn't want the Rotisserie, unless the Broiler or some other heating element was close enough to hit the meat with Direct Heat. A Rotisserie to me is useless with all indirect heat.

The upcoming personalized reports should be interesting, at least.

Bear

 

[dr k]

People are having issues with the five available settings for the independent chunk/chip burner, having its own element. They're either not reading the instruvtions or missing info in the manual. Burning chips on number five setting is adding a lot of element heat and the chips are bursting into flames and getting the smoker over 350°. Chips are smoking at the one setting and chunks higher, but now there's babysitting to get the learning curve down with different size wood from chips to a chunk that barely fits that is eliminated with the Amnps/Amnts.

 

[Bearcarver]

People are having issues with the five available settings for the independent chunk/chip burner, having its own element. They're either not reading the instruvtions or missing info in the manual. Burning chips on number five setting is adding a lot of element heat and the chips are bursting into flames and getting the smoker over 350°. Chips are smoking at the one setting and chunks higher, but now there's babysitting to get the learning curve down with different size wood from chips to a chunk that barely fits that is eliminated with the Amnps/Amnts.

That figures---So It Starts!

Thanks Kurt.
Bear

 

[normanaj]

Nice to see the first report dr k.

I'll stick with my current setup.Simplicity is a great thing!

 

[bigbob73]

getting far too expensive, but I still would like one

 

[TSR6]

People are having issues with the five available settings for the independent chunk/chip burner, having its own element. They're either not reading the instruvtions or missing info in the manual. Burning chips on number five setting is adding a lot of element heat and the chips are bursting into flames and getting the smoker over 350°. Chips are smoking at the one setting and chunks higher, but now there's babysitting to get the learning curve down with different size wood from chips to a chunk that barely fits that is eliminated with the Amnps/Amnts.

Interesting...

So the Smoke Hollow Smoketronix had it's own element for the chips and what was called a "Fast Smoke" mode. This heats right under the chips and gets them going very quick - I use this when I refresh the chips, or when I start the smoker. It never really impacts the overall smoker's temp though.

Masterbuilt bought out Smoke Hollow late in 2017....

 

[dtsobel]

Exactly!
However that might not be bad if everything works.
Having that many extra goodies makes it hard not to have problems.
I know I wouldn't want the Rotisserie, unless the Broiler or some other heating element was close enough to hit the meat with Direct Heat. A Rotisserie to me is useless with all indirect heat.

The upcoming personalized reports should be interesting, at least.

Bear

It has a heating element just above the rotisserie which should help brown and crisp the chicken in theory

 

[dr k]

The Jim Fanto Mes tester on the FB video review on the mes 40 400 series says to burn chips on the #1 setting and chunks on any setting 1-5 with the dedicated chip burner.

 

[dtsobel]

The Jim Fanto Mes tester on the FB video review on the mes 40 400 series says to burn chips on the #1 setting and chunks on any setting 1-5 with the dedicated chip burner.

Do you have a link. I looked on YouTube and couldn't find any reviews on it

 

[Bearcarver]

It has a heating element just above the rotisserie which should help brown and crisp the chicken in theory

Yup, That would be ideal, as long as the Broiler will run at the same time as the Rotisserie. It definitely should, but with Masterbuilt you never know until you see it in action.

Bear

 

[dr k]

Do you have a link. I looked on YouTube and couldn't find any reviews on it

Well, I mentioned where I saw the info but don't redirect away from this forum to FB pages. It's not on youtube it's a video on a FB page and if you saw it you'd be more happy with my short paraphrase than watching what I posted. Nothing special just the $ increase.

 

[dr k]

Do you have a link. I looked on YouTube and couldn't find any reviews on it

Here's his write up.
Hey Masterbuilt Folks here is My review so far with the Masterbuilt 440/S

After putting it together was fairly easy, the 14” leg kit is nice the only problem is lineup the holes, best thing todo is not to tightened down all the screws until it’s together..as far as the finishing element it’s a little harder. Takes 2 people to put on the top one to hold it in place. The element came with the ends heat shrink I had to take that off to get a good contact when you screw in the leads. The manual didn’t say what wire went where but the short wire goes to the left post and the longer one goes to the right. It took me about 2 hrs to put it on. Other then that it’s fairly easy.. The Rotisserie was real easy to put on as well as the side shelf..the racks are nice and heavy duty..and the cover is heavy duty too it fits nicely with the side shelf and Rotisserie..

Seasoning went well 3 hrs at 275° and the last 45 minutes add wood and turn on top element to high. my recommendation is to use a wood chunk on smoke No. 5. The chips take a long time to start smoking on smoke No. 1..

I tried out the Rotisserie and it was awesome did a 5lb Chicken using my chicken recipe..turned the finishing element on high and added 1 wood chunk on smoke No. 3..took about 2 hours to get the Breast to 165-170.

I really like how all the functions are independent of each other. You can use the top or bottom element and don’t have to set the timer..you can also just set the smoke setting..

Bluetooth getting it connected was really easy..the app has great features you can set alarms to say when you want to wrap anything and also set the temperature of the meat probes to tell you when you reached your internal temperature..

So far it living up to my expectations..I will post more as I get in to it.

#masterbuilt #masterofsmoke #masterit.

 

[Bearcarver]

Here's his write up.
Hey Masterbuilt Folks here is My review so far with the Masterbuilt 440/S

After putting it together was fairly easy, the 14” leg kit is nice the only problem is lineup the holes, best thing todo is not to tightened down all the screws until it’s together..as far as the finishing element it’s a little harder. Takes 2 people to put on the top one to hold it in place. The element came with the ends heat shrink I had to take that off to get a good contact when you screw in the leads. The manual didn’t say what wire went where but the short wire goes to the left post and the longer one goes to the right. It took me about 2 hrs to put it on. Other then that it’s fairly easy.. The Rotisserie was real easy to put on as well as the side shelf..the racks are nice and heavy duty..and the cover is heavy duty too it fits nicely with the side shelf and Rotisserie..

Seasoning went well 3 hrs at 275° and the last 45 minutes add wood and turn on top element to high. my recommendation is to use a wood chunk on smoke No. 5. The chips take a long time to start smoking on smoke No. 1..

I tried out the Rotisserie and it was awesome did a 5lb Chicken using my chicken recipe..turned the finishing element on high and added 1 wood chunk on smoke No. 3..took about 2 hours to get the Breast to 165-170.

I really like how all the functions are independent of each other. You can use the top or bottom element and don’t have to set the timer..you can also just set the smoke setting..

Bluetooth getting it connected was really easy..the app has great features you can set alarms to say when you want to wrap anything and also set the temperature of the meat probes to tell you when you reached your internal temperature..

So far it living up to my expectations..I will post more as I get in to it.

#masterbuilt #masterofsmoke #masterit.

All Sounds Great.
However I think I would tend to believe it more if it came from somebody from this Forum.

Bear

 

[dr k]

All Sounds Great.
However I think I would tend to believe it more if it came from somebody from this Forum.

Bear

Right. As you can see no one here on SMF is looking in to replacing perfectly good Mes box, door and element and are getting their investment back with SMF engineering help. He also didn't mention the warranty and it needs to reflect the investment and one year wouldn't cut it with more stuff that can fail on a new design. The 400 series is not for me.

 

[Rudyjr]

Sorry posted in error

 

[Rudyjr]

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. My biggest takeaways from all of the negative reviews would be that people should really follow instructions. The manual clearly states that the smoke setting 1 should be used for chips. I have smoked three times once in setting 3 and twice on setting 4 using hickory and Apple chunks without issue. I purchased the rotisserie and broiler element directly from Masterbuilt for 50 percent off. The install on both was very easy and the parts were very well made. Lots of people in reviews complain about the heat shrink needing to be removed on the unit wiring. Newsflash! These are live electrical connections and the broiler is an optional part! How else could you isolate them for optional use. Several reviewers complained of the chunk loading door leaking air and causing flare ups. The knob and latch assembly are user installed and have adjustment built into them. All in all I would agree with the above assessment that was posted on another forum that everything on mine has performed well. My only dispute is that 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. Time will tell how trouble free this unit will be but so far it has performed flawlessly. ( sorry about the previous post)

 

[Bearcarver]

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. My biggest takeaways from all of the negative reviews would be that people should really follow instructions. The manual clearly states that the smoke setting 1 should be used for chips. I have smoked three times once in setting 3 and twice on setting 4 using hickory and Apple chunks without issue. I purchased the rotisserie and broiler element directly from Masterbuilt for 50 percent off. The install on both was very easy and the parts were very well made. Lots of people in reviews complain about the heat shrink needing to be removed on the unit wiring. Newsflash! These are live electrical connections and the broiler is an optional part! How else could you isolate them for optional use. Several reviewers complained of the chunk loading door leaking air and causing flare ups. The knob and latch assembly are user installed and have adjustment built into them. All in all I would agree with the above assessment that was posted on another forum that everything on mine has performed well. My only dispute is that 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. Time will tell how trouble free this unit will be but so far it has performed flawlessly. ( sorry about the previous post)

Thank You for your input !!!

Bear