Masterbuilt® Gravity Series® 560 Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker with Digital Control, App Connectivity and 560 Cooking Square Inches in Black, Model MB20040220

Ok, I was extremely hesitant to purchase this Digital smoker. However after several uses this item has proved to be a very resourceful piece of equipment.The key is the temperature control being consistent with very little variables in the heat. Like any barbecue it has its hotspots on the grill. But any educated smoker knows these locations on their barbecue and places they appropriate food in these areas to get a consistent cook temp. Overall the temperature control is unprecedented.With the new update on the Bluetooth software it connects easily with Both android and Apple devices. Also, the app is extremely’s easy to use. Straight to the point, temp and time!Now I’ll talk about the best part of this smoker and that is the searing at 700°. You go from a low to 250° to a high 700° in just a minute. It’s great for tri-tips that you want to smoke and then seer. Not to mention the incredible burgers and steaks you can get out of this thing.If there were any negatives it would be the process of putting it together. One part in particular is the screws for the lift bar on the main door. Very easily dropped into the inside body of the door void. But, with a little work you can get it back out.I did far too much research on this barbecue before buying it and watched a lot of reviews over the last year. There is a lot of negatives towards shipping and manufacturing defects. And a lot of negatives towards dealing with Manufacturing warranty.I have not myself experienced any of these issues and I would HIGHLY recommend this product.KNOW YOUR BBQThere is a great deal of value in this item for what it does. It is not a heavy cast iron built BBQ meant to last 100 years in the rain. If you know Master Built Products you know they use thin metal body’s , however they double wall the majority of areas required to contain heat and consistency. This bbq requires cleaning on a routine basis to maintain consistency in your cooked and to reduce GREASE FIRES. Remember this thing can get up to 700° after you’ve just cooked a pork butt for 10hr. I recommend using aluminum foil pans on the bottom rack and use the second rack for meat on your long smokes to reduce grease drippings on the manifold burner.

I purchased this as a gift for my boyfriend, who has been into smoking meat for several years. Previously he had a tower-style smoker, but gave it away to a friend because he didn't really like it. So we have been looking around at all the options, and he kept coming back to this one.I won't lie, it was a big pain to put together. You definitely want someone to help if at all possible, and allow extra time. There are a lot of parts. At one point one of the washers fell INTO the grill lid (between the outer and inner metal pieces is about a half inch of hollow space), so that was fun to fish out. However, once it was put together it's really easy to use.The only real problem we've had so far is when the charcoal in the hopper gets somewhat damp. So if possible, I'd recommend removing unused charcoal after everything cools off if you're not planning on using it for a while. If your charcoal is damp, it will take a while to light, but we've always gotten it going eventually. You will also definitely need fire starters to get it going (the Masterbuilt brand works great and they're pretty cheap). We also had to tighten the bolt for the ash tray door in order to keep the fan working correctly (the fan will shut off if it senses this door is not shut, so we had to tighten it).Also, just to reiterate all the other reviews that mention it because it's not really super-clear in the assembly instructions: The two metal slides that go in between the hopper and the grill? Those are for STOPPING the airflow, thus STOPPING the heat, so make sure they are OUT when you are using it!The flavor is much better than a pellet grill, and I would say it's equally easy to use once you get the hang of it. There's definitely more smoke flavor. Adding wood chunks to the ash tray for flavor is easy and you can play around with whatever combination you like. The app is also nice for monitoring temperature from, say, inside the nice air-conditioned house :)

It worked well, temp control works. Easy to use and mostly does what they say it will.BUT!!! IT LEAKS GREASE ALL OVER THE PATIO!! bad design I guess. I put down cardboard to catch it, unacceptable. I was going to take it to some amateur competitions but not anymore. I'll get something else. I contacted Masterbuilt customer service. First, they sent a bottom tray (grease catch) still leaked. Then they sent the whole BODY which entailed taking the smoker completely apart to replace. I went to use it after all that and now it doesn't work at all. Fan doesn't come on, multiple errors on the control panel. I disconnected and reconnected everything, didn't help. I contacted customer service again through email, same person I've been dealing with all along for months now. She responds with "Thank you for reaching out. This case has been closed. You will need to submit a new contact form for this issue. Have a great weekend!" HOW CAN IT BE CLOSED? WHEN I HAVEN'T VERIFIED THE LEAKING GREASE PROBLEM HAS GONE AWAY WHEN I CAN'T EVEN USE THE PRODUCT? Now I have submitted another warranty ticket for the error codes I'm now getting after the body replacement and wait up to 5 days for a response. And it will probably still leak grease. I think they know they build a junky product and use the online warranty submission as a delay tactic. I'll never buy anything with MASTERBUILT on the label.I really tried to do everything I could to get this to work. VERY disappointed in Masterbuilt quality but they build junk. Don't buy it.Update, installed controller and body replacement. Still leaks grease. No surprise there.