Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Unit is great at maintaining desired temperature, though its internal thermometer's accuracy leaves something to be desired. Use your own and adjust the unit's temp so your thermometer matches your desired level. This will also help you, as the digital display is very difficult to read during daylight hours. One might think that having great temperature control would be a benefit, but not in this case. This "smoker" is designed to function by heating wood chips placed over its heating element. Due to its ability to retain heat so well, the heating element does not cycle often enough to create smoke. If you somehow manage to create embers (I have done so by putting my chips in as I start up the heating process), you will need to refill the chips as often as every 30 minutes to keep that alive (You could be babysitting this device all day depending on what you're smoking). If the embers go out, you will find it very difficult to restart them to create smoke once again. You will likely need to open the main door, empty the chip tray and hope you lowered the temp enough to give it enough heating time to start the smoke again before the element turns off. This, of course, extends your overall cooking time as well. But wait, you may have seen the cold smoker attachment that promises 12 hours of uninterrupted smoke. I am sorry, but this unit, despite being digitial, will not fit as is with that attachment. I know. I tried and was very disappointed. You may have also heard about pellet smoking trays that you can place inside the unit. By this point, you may begin to wonder why you even bought this thing in the first place. Oh yeah, electric smokers were supposed to be more user-friendly. Unfortunately, again, for you, this device is sealed so well it does not get enough air flow to easily keep those pellet trays lit when placed inside. You could circumvent this by creating a separate box that you could place the tray inside then use duct to connect it to the smoker. Is this starting to sound like more trouble than it is worth? If convenience and ease are what you were looking for in a smoker, save up and buy a pellet smoker. If you're handy and like tinkering, by all means, buy this. It is great at maintaining temperatures. On a side-note, if you're thinking of making poultry in this and you like crispy skin, again give it a hard pass. It will not happen. The unit's highest temperature of 275 will not get you what you are looking for. You will end up with rubbery, tough and inedible skin. It will also not produce smoke at temperatures under 200ish (the element will almost never turn on), so lox or smoked cheeses are also out.