Good Morning. We love our 1050. Had it for about 9 months. No mods -except the new charcoal grate from Masterbuilt. ( we moved on from an electric smoker MES) We continue to use our Webber gas grill for grilling during the week or quick grills. My only complaint, not sure if its a far complaint is the time it take the 1050 to cool down to cover it. Although I'm getting better at adding just the right amount of fuel so that help. Doing bacon this weekend for the first time.
Welcome to SMF. Definitely come back and post pics of the bacon!
I've been fascinated with the idea of the 800 since I saw that it came with a flat iron grate.
But I like size, too and the 1050 has that.
They do have the 850 in stock at the Walmart the next town over.
Any of them are an expense I have to consider
This was the debate I had too before I purchased the 1050. I am glad I saw the 1050 in person, because I initially thought it would be way too big but after seeing it in person figured the 800 would be too small. I really liked the griddle idea for the 800, and I even emailed Masterbuilt to see if they planned on selling a griddle for the 1050 at some point (sadly, they confirmed in no uncertain terms this is not planned). Ultimately went with the 1050 because of size.
There is an aftermarket manifold shroud available that converts the 1050 from indirect heat to direct heat, so you can then put a regular griddle or pizza stone on top of the cook grates. I'll probably buy that at some point. What I'd really like to see is someone make a griddle insert for the 1050 as an after market option.