We have rounded up one of each type of smoker: Electric, charcoal, or gas so your search will be easier. These are the ones that received the best ratings on Amazon. Without further adieu, check out the best-rated smokers in their own category:
Masterbuilt Electric Smoker
This is an electric smoker that is rated 4.2 out of 5 stars on Amazon with over a thousand reviews. It’s definitely one of the must-buys in the site because it comes in a variety of size and shapes. You can choose if you want a 30 or 40-inch size and choose if you want to have a glass window fixed on the door to see how your food is cooking inside. Having a window will cost you another $200 addition.
PROS: The body is made of solid steel with insulation so you don’t have to worry about the heat and smoke leaking out of the box. The built-in thermometer is pretty accurate too. If you are unsure about the heat yours produces, you can check it using your own digital oven temperature.
Most times the difference is just 1 or 2 degrees. The 30-inch size is enough to fit most of your food and meat; it has four racks inside that offer more than 730 square inches of combined cooking surface.
The smoker also comes with a wood chip loader so you can add your favorite wood chips for it to smoke and add smokey flavor on your meat. You don’t have to open the door to add the chips as it comes with easy-to-use side wood chip loader.
Apart from the chips, you can also add a variety of liquids such as juice, vinegar, or your favorite beverage to the removable water pan, used to infuse moisture and add a layer of flavor on your grilled goodies.
CONS: Majority of the negative reviews complained about the heating element breaking up. Once it breaks up, your smoker is good as gone as it won’t be able to function anymore. When contacted customer support, they offered to replace the heating element at the expense of replacing the body of the smoker as well. This is because their newer heating elements aren’t compatible with the old body.
To avoid this, it is important to get the latest model from Masterbuilt before buying. This is so you can be sure that if you run into problems, all their replacement parts would be compatible to the smoker you bought.
Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker Smoker 18.5 Inch
The Weber Smoker is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon by close to 500 reviewers. This is a charcoal or wooden type of smoker, the best choice for seasoned grillers who want to have the maximum smokey flavor infused on their meat and food. It seems expensive for a smoker that will use charcoal as a fuel but you’ll know why once you have inspected it closely; it’s made of high-quality porcelain-enameled steel that comes with 2 nickel-plated 18-1/2-inch-wide cooking grates.
PROS: You’ll be able to put in a lot of food at once with its 481 square inches of cooking space. The package comes with a water pan, built-in thermometer, individual vents on the bowl and lid, a heat-resistant nylon handle, and a storage cover. Similar as the Masterbuilt smoker, you can put any liquid you want in the water pan for added steam and moisture while cooking.
The grates are made of heavy-duty steel and have ample room for smoking ribs and a roast at the same time. To make sure that you’ll have the best experience out of your Weber grill, the company has given this product a 10-year limited warranty. The door for adding fuel is also wide that you’ll be able to easily add chunks of fuel easily.
CONS: Weber creates great products that are built to last, but that’s only the case after you have received your product in perfect condition with no missing parts whatsoever. This is where Weber fails; they have poor quality control that most of their negative reviews aren’t performance related but service related.
Many customers received their products with the wrong grate and/or incomplete parts. The worst thing is, Weber takes ages to send the correct replacement.
Smoke Hollow 44241G2 44-Inch Vertical LP Gas Smoker
21 customers rate this smoker 4.5 over 5 stars. The smoker comes with a welded 44-inch double door cabinet style body, three standard cooking grates, two jerky trays, and one rib rack.
Among the ones smokers listed here, this one is the heaviest at 100 pounds so moving it may be difficult. You’ll need a crate to transfer it especially if you don’t intend to have it fixed in one place.
PROS: It’s easy to assemble despite the lack of manual. It can accommodate a lot of food, perfect for owners who always like to celebrate backyard barbecue parties. This may be a con if you don’t plan on smoking too much, for example, you only need it to smoke an entire turkey and some pieces of meat.
You might feel like you’re wasting fuel because the box is big and can fit more food. Otherwise, it’s a good gas smoker and does the job well
CONS: You might want to buy a new propane hose because some have reported that theirs arrived damaged. You don’t want to start your smoker only to find out that there’s a leak in the hose. It will be risky, a hazard waiting to catch fire. Propane hoses aren’t expensive and you can purchase it in major hardware stores.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to go electric, charcoal, or gas, you’re bound to enjoy smoking meat and food when you get one of these best-rated smokers. Owners have spoken for them and they have nothing short of good praises. If you want to know more about each, visit the links and read about their experiences. You are bound to get some insider tips and tricks that will make your smoking experience better.