Introducing The Most Affordable Gravity Fed Insulated Cabinet Smoker on the Market

[Pigstew]

I have been looking for a smoker like this and found most were to expensive. What would be the next brand up from this one? I actually could go a little smaller. Thanks

 

[onemanlan]

If you wanted something similar that is a bit more pricey($2,300 - ???) you could look at Southern Q Limo Jr. If you wanted something cheaper($350 - 800) you'd be looking at an Masterbuilt or Chargriller gravity feed. Not sure if that's what you're asking.

 

[Pigstew]

If you wanted something similar that is a bit more pricey($2,300 - ???) you could look at Southern Q Limo Jr. If you wanted something cheaper($350 - 800) you'd be looking at an Masterbuilt or Chargriller gravity feed. Not sure if that's what you're asking.

Thank you, I was interested in the Masterbuilt till I watched a few videos, it is at 499 now. The ocgf is a step up and will last longer...I think. It is considerably more expensive though. I had looked at the q limo and it is really expensive. I think it would out last me and could be handed down to one of my boys. The same might be said of the ocgf too. Thanks for the reply.

 

[onemanlan]

Thank you, I was interested in the Masterbuilt till I watched a few videos, it is at 499 now. The ocgf is a step up and will last longer...I think. It is considerably more expensive though. I had looked at the q limo and it is really expensive. I think it would out last me and could be handed down to one of my boys. The same might be said of the ocgf too. Thanks for the reply.

If you weren't dead set on a gravity feed, but wanted an insulated vertical smoker that has a similar burn efficiency you could look to other manufacturers. Two brands that come to mind are Backwoods smokers & Sweet Swine o Mine RedBox smokers. I've seen a knock off of the Backwoods Chubby 3400. I'd be weary of giving up already limited space in a vertical smoker to host some of those smaller models. Also I have never owned any of these so I can't speak for their quality - seems some folks on amazon are unhappy with the Redbox. If it was an issue of going smaller from my IVS I'd probably just pick up or make a UDS instead.

I have a gen 1 MB560. It's great & puts out a solid product with ease. Do have concerns about how long it'll last or if one of the electrical issues will occur in the near future. The Chargriller 980 looked like a nice jump in quality when seeing it in person, but folks are reporting issues with them. Maybe give it a bit & see if both companies, MB & CG, improve upon the product. Perhaps another company will jump in the game to spice it up.

Best of luck on your hunt!

 

[Pigstew]

My local Academy showed to have a OCGF in stock as well as the MB560. Went to look at them yesterday. They had the MB but not the old country. Still says it's in stock today. I'm going to do what you suggested and hold off for a while.

 

[LSUSmoker]

I went to two Academy's yesterday looking for this thing to buy if the doors were straight, both said in stock. Neither had one on the floor. :sad:

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I have a gen 1 MB560. It's great & puts out a solid product with ease. Do have concerns about how long it'll last or if one of the electrical issues will occur in the near future. The Chargriller 980 looked like a nice jump in quality when seeing it in person, but folks are reporting issues with them. Maybe give it a bit & see if both companies, MB & CG, improve upon the product. Perhaps another company will jump in the game to spice it up.

Best of luck on your hunt!

I think most everyone on this forum that have them - including me - have had great luck with the 980 thus far. I posted about my flapper being caught by the fan wiring and not closing properly, but after that, it's solid as a rock with temps. Using it right now for part 2 of my brisket experiment. There are 2 things I don't like about it:

1. Leakage around the pit door. I assume some Lavalock would take care of that. There is minor leaking around the charcoal load door as well.
2. The controller doesn't have a cloud option, so you can't check on it if you have to step out for a bit.

 

[jthompson48]

Thank you, I was interested in the Masterbuilt till I watched a few videos, it is at 499 now. The ocgf is a step up and will last longer...I think. It is considerably more expensive though. I had looked at the q limo and it is really expensive. I think it would out last me and could be handed down to one of my boys. The same might be said of the ocgf too. Thanks for the reply.

I was really interested in gravity smokers and did a ton of research. At the end of the day I went with a humphreys insulated cabinet smoker. The main benefit I saw in the gf options was ease of adding charcoal during the smoke, but for my purposes the burn times never require this.

On the other hand, some people reported issues with gf airflow and flavor profiles. Also some say you need to add wood to the ash bin every few hours instead of mixing in the hopper. I can't speak to any of this personally as I never have used one.

Depending on how much you can downsize, the weekender could be a good option. It's small, but deep enough for full hotel pans and can fit a good amount of meat. With a controller these types of smokers seem to me to be at least as low maintenance, if not more so, than GFs.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Anybody get them One was a Good door .? mine still cooks Great.........

 

[Retry]

Got me one yesterday

Picked up mine at the Academy in Gadsden, AL, yesterday morning. There were three on the floor; now there are two! All three had straight doors. One has a slight tilt in the lower cooking rack, hardly noticeable, and all three had a scratch in the same place on the left side wall. Nothing serious but got me a discount. Got to degrease the inside and season it and get to cooking.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

I would like to look one over .. in person. But while my local Academy on-line, says they have them in stock. They never have one on the floor.


And I'm not gonna drive all over town to see one.

 

[Retry]

The one I bought yesterday was 200 miles away. My local store has never had one and couldn’t order one so I started calling stores. I lost count of how many I called before I called Gadsden and was shocked they had three. They gave me 10% off for a scratch on the side and another 5% for driving so far. That 5% more than covered my expenses.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Oh Ya.! GetChaSomeThat........... :heh: Put a TelTru 6" stem in it

https://www.stlbbqstore.com/tel-tru-bq300-glow-6/

https://www.stlbbqstore.com/tel-tru-bq300-black-6/

 

[SmittyJonz]

I Got a text......

.

 

[Pitmaster T]

1/4" crs plate should handle any heat a gravity feed can put out. !/4" plate works for 80% of offset smokers where there is actual fire. Burning hotter than any coals/wood chunks.
Sure heavier gauge should make any firebox last longer. But how much longer? Is it really required. Purchaser to make that decision.
There is a giant price gap to get a prettier paint job and thicker firebox.
If it only lasted 10 yrs. I'm guessing if taken care of. You would get more than 10 yrs.
By then, you might want to go another route/type cooker anyways. Saving money :wink:

i can gaurantee the ash box gets above 620 degrees on a normal smoke - why? How.... the reason is buried in the bbq injury thread. and no, i do not want to hear any guff about it once you read it

 

[Pitmaster T]

Nice work! Donnie looks like he lost a few pounds.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

i lost the weight of my last three girlfriends all under 100lbs -

here i am now

and now that i met my weight goal - expect some content.

 

[Pitmaster T]

WAIT, wait, wait.


Hold on a minute, here.


I know we're all about the almighty cue around these parts, but...


Did I just see that Pitmaster Donnie T finally "popped" the question to that beautiful gal of his???


AND the obviously crazy woman even said yes???


Hey, congrats, man!


Now did someone say bachelor party??
.

well - crazy - um she was - clinically it was called "disassociative identity disorder" sadly - REAL sadly - we lost two babies and i saw her get worse and i had to let go. honestly hard to let go of something that beautiful. i was certain she would have been the one to let go first - i am 57, great - now i am bummed. lol

 

[Pitmaster T]

Smitty do you know if they're going to make more for other stores?

this day in old country smoker history

4 15 20 - the day i heard a ruckus and walked in on my fiancée shouting at my 83 year old mom and her attacking my mom as she was on the floor. the pit was idle 5 months by this time = it would be another 17 months before it was fired up.

the fiancée was soon replaced by this beauty

then this


then


and now back to the first one

still miss the fiancee but we cant have our loves beating up seniors. what a 17 months i have had - actually - 4 years

 

[Pitmaster T]

I got one about a month ago and have cooked on it a bunch. I have to say that for the price, it's better than I would have ever thought. I absolutely love it, though getting it up to temp can take a while. I broke down and got a DigiQ to get it up to temp and then I take it off and add wood to the firebox for smoke. It's going to make for a great summer for sure.

i had good luck filling the hopper a third full, then it got quicker up to temp than a full hopper, then adding more like once it was up to temp - keep the hopper door open like a minute for any dust tosettle and not be drawn into the main chamber

 

[Pitmaster T]

Just did a quick unwrap and inspection. Nothing looks broken or bent that I can currently see. It does have some paint scuffs and one of the red rubber handle covers tore off. I haven’t decided if I will pursue any kind of refund or such as it all seems minimal to me. Not sure if they offer free paint touch up kits or not. Initial thoughts is about what I expected for a unit over half less expensive than any other similar size models. You can tell QC is minimal and they are probably pushing as many of these they can as fast as they can out of the line. I do have a few initial questions/concerns but won’t know if there is any impact until I fire it up. It seems that on my door the top is a little farther out than the bottom. Will need to see if I have air leakage around the seal. Also with the charcoal chute door while there is the gasket it seems like there is a spot at each end that has very little material inside the gasket. I wonder if it will allow it to seal air right. Only time will tell. I will do a more in depth review, maybe even in video format once I have time. Obviously if I have air leaks it’s an issue as part of the way Gravity flows work is making an air tight seal.

One other thing I noticed in where previous models had the entire seam welded where the firebox came into cook chamber mine only had small 2-3” spot welds. This leaves about an 1/8” gap there for a good portion of that area.

this was what happened to my PROTOTYPE - NOT A PRODUCTION MODEL -which is fix - the gap warped and the hotter it got, the more air sucking from the chamber (which has the stack) caused it to open more until i hit over 600 degrees! i put a crappy 8 inch weld in there and its held but i am tempted to put a bead of that lava seal for good measure