Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is a very slick little unit with a digital temperature control and automatic smoke generator, using a wood chip biscuit feeder. Technically it should be hands off. More on that later. It is made in the Asia and resembles one of those small inexpensive refrigerators complete with plastic trim. The interior is lined with very thin gauge Stainless Steel, and has 4 thin gauge racks. It is fairly light weight especially without the smoke generator attached. Assembly was fairly straight forward and is easy to move around. The smoke generator uses lightly packed disks consisting of small wood chips. These are distributed by Bradley in various wood types. The smoke generator heats them individually on a small plate until they smoke. After 20 minutes another is indexed into place, pushing the used up bisquette as a blackened disk into a water tray, just short of rendering it to ashes. A tubular magazine holds enough bisquettes to last for many many hours. The main issue I have with it is it's very poor temperature control. The key to smoking meat is to keep the temperature low and slow. This unit struggles with that, deviating considerably from the set temperature, specifically going higher. There is a 500W heating element in the smoke tower that comes on once the thermostat drops 10 degrees below the set temperature. The actual temperature in the smoke tower rises rapidly once the heater comes on but the thermostat lags way behind, allowing the actual temperature to rise well above what is desired. The temperature could be some 40 degrees or more above the thermostat reads. This is an especially serious problem if you are using a sugar based rub, because it will start to burn above 240 to 250F. Not to mention the fact that the meat will cook too rapidly. Also being that the smoke tower has so little mass there isn't much to hold the heat, so opening the door to check on the status or baste causes the temperature to drop rapidly. The other issue I have is that after 3 hours of smoking, I was surprised to see that the meat showed little evidence of smoking. The taste was there somewhat but seemed weak. In my final analysis I would say you get what you pay for. Conceptually it has a lot to offer, and it's design seems very well thought out, but in practice falls short. With just a little more effort in the way of a better thermostat it would be immensely better. Also I initially thought it could get by with a smaller heating element, say a 250W unit instead of the 500W, thinking this might help with temp control. However that was in the summer, then cooler weather arrived and it couldn’t get up to temperature. Update: It's Superbowl Sunday 2012 and I'm using my Smoker for some Chicken Thighs. It's only the 4th time I've used it in just short of a year from when initially purchased it. It heated up initially but then packed it in after about 30 minutes. The heating element has failed. I now get to check out their customer service. Update: Customer service is so far excellent. Update: Fall 2017. I used my smoker a few times at first but then it sat for a few years languishing in my backyard. I put it in storage and then pulled it out again to give it another try. The cover rotted out of course and I see there was some water ingress to the cabinet. My biggest complaint is the touch pad has now become difficult to operate. It requires a lot of pushing. I also noted on warm days it’s nearly impossible to keep the temperature below 170F(salmon), even with the heating element off. The smoke generator creates a lot of heat on it’s own. Finally I can’t believe I paid nearly $40 for a case of Bisquettes. If I eventually get into this smoking thing I will buy a Masterbult when my Bisquettes run out. Update: Summer 2019. I bought a Kamado at a Membership Club. Wow, I am so impressed with it and how good it is at maintaining temperature. I can use it for smoking by adding some wood chunks or just grilling. It’s also very efficient with charcoal. I’ve given up on the Bradley having used it perhaps a dozen times in the 7 years of ownership. Whether it was the broken heating element, sticky biscuit feeder, loose plug connections, or it’s inability to get hot in cold weather, I lost interest in it. I’m now in a quandary, do I move it to storage, or just put it out to trash.