I got a MES 40 for Fathers Day this year. I have only smoked things on a Brinkmann in the past and everything has come out awesome as I'm told. I did a batch of venison jalepeno summer sausage on the MES. First it took FOREVER to get the woodchips to smoke. One they started it was nearly impossible to keep them smoking as you had to add more throughout the smoke. I've read where EVERYONE has purchased an Amazing pellets system and used that. If I have to spend $330 on a smoker and a must is to purchase the ampns system, that just isn't right to me. They need to fix their crappy product. My SS came out dry and tasted like CRAP to me so i literally threw it in my truck and took it back for a refund. I will continue to use my old fashion smoker...... Just my 2 cents......
I have a lot of problems with the info in this post. First the dude says he's smoked things on a Brinkmann they come out awesome, yet we have lots of people on this forum who have upgraded from their inexpensive Brinkmanns because things DO NOT come out awesome, unless they spend a lot of time fine tuning their methods to work ok on that smoker. Most give up because it just isn't easy. Had this poster bothered to read through the forum, he would have found hundreds of posts first complaining about the smoke issues with the MES, this has been a persistent problem since they upgraded the heat element to higher wattage in both the MES 30 & MES 40. The result is several have posted mods on how to fix the problem by eliminating the extra piece of metal between the element & chip tray. Further
Masterbuilt has followed suit and provide a FREE Chip Tray Assy kit that has the extra piece of metal removed. Note that
Masterbuilt has also released some versions of the MES that already have the retro kit style chip tray assy, so they are making an effort. This problem has been around for about 3 or 4 years,
Masterbuilt is fairly progressive in addressing issues, so there must be some reason they have not completely done away with the double metal tray problem.
Next comes the complaint about having to buy a 3rd party smoke accessory to improve performance. Guess what people are buying the
AMNPS not just for the MES but for other smokers and their BBQ grills, why? Because it works, the
AMNPS can provide consistent smoke for hours. The MES has ALWAYS required owners using wood chips to add chips every 20-30 minutes. Some of us know how to get a few extra minutes but that is about it, so after a month or two of getting tired adding chips every 20-30 minutes almost all MES owners are now buying a
AMNPS just for the sake of convenience, it simply makes the pitmaster's job easier especially for really long smokes.
Bottom line this is NOT a "crappy product". Had you bothered to read reviews and posts all over the internet of at least 3 BBQ forums you could easily have found out what the good & con of the MES is. Further you do realize that all those rave reviews are from people who encountered the same smoke issue you have, yet they still give rave reviews, that says a lot about something. You paid for a smoker that is loaded with features that no other smoker in this price range offers. Yes there is one persistent problem, yet there is a FREE fix. Let us know after you applied the fix what you think.