Side by Side Comparison of: Masterbuilt vs Dyna-Glo

I'm new to smoking, but so far I'm pretty happy with this grill. If you are looking for a top of the line grill, you probably won't like it, but if you think of it as a basis for a great smoker you will like it. It isn't really heavy sheet metal, but it's sturdy if you don't abuse it. The handles and clasps are actually pretty nice. And the fact that it's not really heavy steel makes it easy to move by yourself.If you want to make a really great grill, then, buy some nomex tape for the doors. This one from BBQgaskets.com works great, and there is enough extra to make a mistake or two. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TAJW0QE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You also will want to run to your local car parts store and buy some high-temp RTV silicon to seal up ALL joints. The red silicon actually adds a nice accent, and it's usually rated much higher than you should ever get the grill up to. Wipe off any excess before it dries and it's not hard to make it look pretty good.I also recommend buying 1 or 2 rolls of aluminum foil tape and completely lining both boxes and doors with at least two layers of foil. The foil really helps with heat retention. You absolutely must do this before you use the grill the first time though. If you apply it while the inside is still clean, it sticks great and should last for years. If you wait until after you have used it once, you will always be fussing with it. I covered everything, even where the rack holders go. You just poke the holes out after you are done and the rack holders fit still without any problem.The last thing I did was buy a few 13.5 x 9.5 x 3 inch aluminum foil pans. I don't really get why they put a water pan under the firebox, and made it out of steel. I use the factory water pan as an ash try, and put one of the foil pans at the bottom of the larger smoker box to both old water, and catch drippings. I've been experimenting with putting the foil pan on the first shelf to get a little more moister in the main grill box, but it works pretty well in the bottom, the only catch is you have to keep the heat up to at least 220-240 for it to do much.This grill will hold a lot of meat, and is a great choice if you have been wanting to try smoking with charcoal.

We bought this to smoke a turkey for Christmas. It was easy to assemble even though there was quite a bit to assemble. It looks just like the picture, which is really nice. We easily and successfully smoked a 12 lbs turkey in it. I do recommend removing all the arms and tray inserts that you don't need when using the smoker. This makes clean-up much quicker. Be sure to follow the cleaning instrructions, too!

I have wanted to get into smoking for some time, I looked at smokers from all over, priced from about $80 up to $1500. I was going to start out smaller than this but for the difference in price why not get the bigger one? well I'm now glad that I did. This thing works grate and is easy to use. It also looks good setting on my patio. The only thing I did to mine after using it the first 3 or 4 times was to put 2 more temperature gauges on it and a gasket on the door. It did loose a lot of smoke but the gasket material I got on amazon worked out very good. This box is easy to use and I would recommend it to my friends.

Delivered quickly and with no damage-not a scratch. Very easy to assemble. It is already mostly assembled in the box. You just have to put large parts together and add handles and legs. I did get a tube of the black silicone to seal it up at the joints and was glad I did. Very impressed with quality and fitment of components.Used it for the first time yesterday for pork butt and chickens and very impressed with the final product. I did preseason the smoker before use as recommended in the instructions. Easy to maintain temp using mix of charcoal briquettes and chunks of hardwood. Better than my old horizontal offset box smoker. This smokes better and takes up much less room. I will be buying some of the tape sealant to seal the doors. They really don't leak much smoke but I would like to have full control over temp on colder months. I also got an aluminum drip pan and placed it in the bottom of the unit when using.Highly recommended.

For a starter smoker this is GREAT! Very easy to put together, took about 45mins. One of the pictures in the instructions was a little hard to follow because I couldn't tell what angle was pictured. The firebox is very easy to use and clean. My only two complaints about this product so far is that the smoke stack doesn't tell you which position is technically closed/open. From use I can say the up position is open while down is closed. The other complaint would be it does need some a little extra love to seal around the doors. Particularly where the firebox attaches to the smoker.This smoker is about 70lbs empty and feels very sturdy. Overall I'm extremely happy with this smoker and have plenty of parties/cookouts to put this to use.

So far so good. Waiting for the weather to warm up a bit to try this puppy out.**NOTE if you get this I highly recommend getting some SMOKER TAPE AND SILICON For better sealing

Considering the price, a very good product. Definitely a good smoker for a first-timer. Go ahead and buy the fireproof caulk and smoker seal tape to help seal everything up. It leaks around the thermometer (shown on the front), cooking chamber door, and firebox door. Also, it's made out of very light gauge steel, but after modifications it will make some great BBQ and other foods. After you get through learning curve of how to use it, holding a constant temperature is easy. We use it regularly.

I am impressed with the smoker. For the price you cant beat it. Took a total of 30-45 min to assemble everything. One thing that did make me a little unhappy was the dents in the door to the meat box. They are 1/2 inch in size. One at the top left of the door and one at the bottom right of the door. They did effect the way the door seals but with some smoker gasket it will be remedied. Also the temp gauge that came with mine was very accurate. I used my oven temp gauge and put it in the smoke to see any discrepancy and there were none.

Just put together the Dyna-Glo wide vertical offset smoker. Smoker had a few small dings and scratches, but nothing major. Super easy to put together. Used the high temp silicone where recommend and so far no leaks. I've only seasoned it, no meat yet. A couple notes:1. Mine came with a gasket installed on the big main door. Seems to be a good one. I added a high temp gasket to the fire box door. Because, well, I'm a man.2. The wide version comes with a fixed handle on the front and two small latches to secure the door. One on the side towards the top and one on the bottom (see photo). They work fine but the bottom one is a little awkward to use. My face is all close to the hot door. And I'm curious if these little latches will last long with use and heat.3. When I was putting it together one of the small screws that holds the fire box sliding damper fell out. They come loose so watch for that.4. Speaking of the fire box damper, yeah it won't close. Screws are loose and it won't budge. Any ideas?5. I use a chimney to start my coal fires and it was awkward dumping the coals into the fire grate with it pulled out some. I may try starting the coals directly in the box next time, but that's so 1990.I'll try to update once I smoke a few butts and ribs and cats. Just kidding. I don't smoke cats. They taste funny.

My first smoker, smoked a salmon and a Pork shoulder last weekend and they both came out excellent. It was easy to use, simple to put together, and has a lot of room for food. I did buy the heat silicone and door seal to go with it and glad I did, very little smoke leakage. (small amount around thermometer and door handle) It seems to run hot to me.. I couldn't get it under about 250 except when I let the coals die out which is really cooking instead of smoking on the salmon, but I think it is my lack of experience that drove this. Some cooking instructions including how to control the heat would be nice to have included. I went online a lot for some ideas. Also I would like to see it come with a water pan, I am using throw away aluminum pans for the water. Just smoked a 14 lb Turkey, I have learned to control the heat better and the Turkey came out great.

This smoker is ok would be great if it was made with better care. at the top of the back of the fire box there are no bolts holding it together. Mine had a 3/8 inch gap even after trying to straighten it and using the lava lock sealing strips I got. Thankfully there was space for me to drill a hole through the smoking chamber and the fire box and bolted it together and the gap was gone. Also like others my temp gauge was installed with the needle in backwards on the high side. When I put the gauge in the freezer the needle moved counter clockwise. I took apart the gauge and moved the needle back to the correct side. I bumped the gauge and it jumped back the high side "just like it did during shipping these do come from China" so to correct this put needle to low side and bend down slightly now when bumped it wont jump to the high side. If you are serious about buying this know that you will have to make mods to it to make it better once you do it is a decent smoker without breaking the bank even with the mods costing extra $20

Awesome smoker for the price. With a few modification, this smoker is a champ! I recently started taking this bbq thing seriously and decided low and slow was the way to go. So, after doing some research, I decided to go with the Dyna Glo Vertical Smoker. If you don't want to be a Hank Hill, this charcoal smoker is for you. If you like diy projects, get ready for some fun. This smoker is great, BUT. ..it was made in China! With that being said, you might not get it in prefect condition. Mines with a little ding up. But, with commonsense and a hammer, that problem was no more. You might come across some negative reviews about smoke leakage. THAT'S NOT A LIE! !!! But, a simple fix. Be prepared to spend a little extra. You'll need high heat silicone and smoker gasket. Apply in all the right places and you can't lose. Turn off lights and place a flashlight behind smoker to see all cracks (use silicon to seal). To keep smoke from escaping from around door, use the gasket. Very simple and amazon sells everything you need. I uploaded some photos of my smoker. Hopefully, amazon will let you see it. If not, i have a video of my MOD on YouTube. .. Enjoy and don't forget to like,share and vote on my review and video!

I was debating between three and two stars for a long time on this one. I modded the hell out of it, sealed every conceivable gap, and it still leaked like a colander. The paint on the firebox bubbled up - and yep, I did wait until flames died down and I had nothing but glowing embers. The metal is insanely thin - even for a 'cheap' smoker. The thermometer was wonky as hell - but the provided ones usually are, so I expect that.On the positive side, the assembly is something one person can do pretty quickly. Once I got most of the leaks worked out, temperature control was a lot easier - and yeah, I have been smoking and grilling with charcoal for a long, long time, so I am far from a novice. The price is reasonable if you are willing to invest a LOT of time and effort correcting issues the design team should have taken care of when they engineered the smoker.I've been doing some thinking and I will use this - but I have had it with cheap smokers that end up being a pain and are fragile. The next one will be a Kamado Joe - you can buy six or seven of these for the price of one of the KJ's, but I know that it will likely outlast me.I wonder if I am going to get two years out of this one.

First, let me start by saying that the smoker did not come with the 32 required M6-12mm screws required to assemble it, the additional cost to purchase them from Home Depot and Lowes was about $12.60. Assembly is relatively simple and took about 30 minutes with the proper tools on hand. The meat box itself is made of thin material but seems to hold up well, the fire box is somewhat stronger. Lastly, if your serious about smoking then you are going to need to apply gasket material around the door to create a better seal.

For the price, it's one of the best smokers on the market. Yes, it leaks (RTV and Nomex tape are not optional), but it holds a stable temperature for four or more hours and it holds a boatload of meat. I fit two half briskets, three racks of ribs, six steaks and a lamb leg in it.The area between the firebox and the smokebox should have a baffle, and my included thermometer is off by as much as 20f. Assembly was straightforward, and mine arrived undamaged, though the locking handle for the smokebox did not fit, I needed to file the bolt holes to get it to latch. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat, but expect to put in a little extra time and money tweaking the assembly.

I did a lot of reading before buying this smoker, anticipating that it would need modifications. This is a hobby for me and I like to tinker with stuff so from that standpoint it seemed perfect. Before looking into this product I had considered building and ugly drum smoker, but decided I did not want to mess with trying to obtain a suitable drum through shady craigslist ads. Plus, I liked the idea of a vertical offset smoker. It has a generous capacity, a small footprint, and I can tend the fire without opening the smoking cabinet and wasting precious smoke or heat.Upon unpacking the smoker I found many of the same issues that others have expressed. The sheet metal is thin. As a result it doesn't hold up well to the rough treatment it gets during shipping, and min arrived with two dents and a crease in the top of the smoking cabinet. I was able to fix these with a rubber mallet. As many others also experienced it also arrived with a thermometer that was assembled improperly. I took it apart and assembled it correctly, but it seems likely that it will still be inaccurate. I plan to test it in boiling water but I have also made sure to purchase a remote thermometer for monitoring ambient temperature. Without reading carefully I bought the food-grade high-temp RTV that Amazon listed under "Others Also Buy..." That was a mistake. The stuff I got was only rated for constant temps up to 350F. While I will be smoking at temps well below that, the parts where that sealant would be used (between the smoking cabinet and firebox) will likely reach temps higher than that. I had to buy different stuff rated for higher temps, which has delayed assembly of the smoker. Also, I'm pretty much stuck with the original RTV I got since it costs more to ship it back than what I paid for it.Assembly was easy and the instructions were straightforward. Be careful though - the hardware attaching the slider to the damper on the firebox was assembled loosely and I nearly lost one of the screw/nut combos that apparently came apart during shipping.I seasoned it per the instructions. Despite that, when I did my first smoke the following day I found that some of the paint on the inside of each door has cracked and peeled. Looks like I'll need to scrape and sand and paint with some high-heat spray paint. That's disappointing. Also, even after assembling the thermometer correctly it was inaccurate. I would suggest in investing in a good remote thermometer with multiple probes. Also, temperatures within the smoking cabinet were wildly inconsistent during my first smoke. It's going to take some time to learn this thing's quirks, but it's probably worth playing around with some additional mods to try to even things out - heat sinks, deflectors, etc.All in all, I'm happy with the price, and the capacity and the barbecue I was able to produce. It is not a plug-and-play (so to speak) smoker. It's going to take some tinkering and experimenting to run it easily and efficiently. Some of this is good and enjoyable because it's part of the fun of the hobby. Other parts of it I think could be improved upon by the manufacturer while still being able to offer it at a budget price point. I realize that you get what you pay for, but there is room for improvement here.

The smoker has to many gaps around the doors. I recommend you buy some wood stove door seal rope and either screw it on, or use a high heat silicone. And seal everything. The handle for the main for has a c-clip that holds it on that had popped off three times. I finally gave up trying to fix it. The fire box is to small. You have to constantly feed wood to it to keep the temperature where it needs to be. The hole that allows heat and smoke to get to the food is right next to the fire tray. So burning wood will fall inside and onto the floor of the cooking area. The hole could be up higher. I placed a piece of wire mesh over mine to keep that from happening. My plan is to build a bigger wood box for mine. Because it would be nice to add enough wood to it so I can get a beer from the fridge or better yet go to the bathroom when I'm cooking...

this is adequate. better than a horizontal smoker (heat moves up, not horizontally). lots of room inside and plenty of racks. Used high-temp silicone to attach firebox to smoker cabinet. first time I used it, the intake damper got stuck. I think maybe the paint melted or it was painted after it was assembled. Loosened the nuts to end of bolts and used the silicone to keep the nuts from working off. works fine now. Overall, this has a sturdy design but the legs seem too flimsy to add wheels to (don't know why it doesn't have wheels). I love the charcoal box. it is designed like a chimney and has an ash pan that is easy to empty for long smokes. Door leaks smoke, but nomex fixed that. Temp gauge is a joke; just looks nice. Took 6 hours for it to reach a reading of 150 degrees although the electronic thermometer read 200-250 for the entire 10 hr smoke

Half decent smoker but there are problems. Requesting return.Pros: accurate thermometer, easy to assemble, great cooking space, handles on the side make easy to move for storage.Cons: the welds are bad and can break, there are small pins on the door latches that may (or will in my case fall off) making you unable to close the door for cooking. No avoiding this you will have to repaint with high temp rust resistant paint sooner or later. The racks to put the meat are kind of annoying to remove since they tend to come out at an angle and get stuck....not that bad.

It's a low budget smoker and needs a lot of high-temp sealant to make it work at all. Each metal seam is folded metal with only a few spot welds, so there are lots of air gaps. The air dampers are also not sufficient to do low temp smoker (too drafty) so you'll have a hard time keeping low temps.

Just like outhers have said. Their packaging is horrible and results in a dented smoker... Fortunatly mine wasnt too bad so i decided not to send it back. Decent smoker just poor product packaging that results in damages durring shipping.

The smoker arrived with one of the main door hinges broken off and a bent and torn corner at the bottom of the main smoking chamber. Having read other reviews of damaged goods this didn't really shock me. I am returning it for replacement. Having said that...I have, because of limitations placed on me by my homeowners association, done pretty well cooking in competition with cheaper, lighter cookers such as this one. Having seen it now, I am sure it will do the trick (and I can make it run with the big boys) should I ever get one that isn't defective beyond reasonable repair.Update: Amazon shipped the replacement withing 4 hours. It should be in today...that's good. What is NOT good is that, while preparing the busted one for return, I noticed the item's point of origin was "Returns Center, Amazon.com." Does this mean they shipped me something they already KNEW was broken? Sounds like it to me. Next one needs to be perfect.

Somewhat pleased. I didn't expect a great product for the price. It worked as advertised. I was upset the temp gauge didnt work out of the box. It leaks a little where it shouldnt. Other than that it works as advertised. Wish I knew how to get a replacement temp guage

The smoker is a decent smoker but don't expect to hear back from manufacturer about any problems or suggestions. Expect to spend extra for high heat gasket set and high heat silicone to seal all of the places that smoke leaks out (heat loss) and heat control issues. If the seal kit works as I have read in previous reviews I will consider giving 3 stars. They just need to address some very minor design flaws and this would be a top rate entry level smoker (because of their use of such light gauge metal for especially the firebox and the upright smoker to firebox interface.

One star is probably to much for this. Both doors do not seal and leak badly. Unit was bent in box and not from shipping but from cheap steal. Had to straighten the doors and smoke chamber. Sealed both compartments with high temp silicone, not included. Fire box damper does not slide properly and was missing screws. Damper on smoke chamber assembly is put together with an aluminum rivet and broke on seasoning of the unit. Temp control is impossible due to lack of air restriction. Do not recommend this unit for serious smokers.

This can be a great smoker if you want to take the time to modify it. If you were going to build one anyway, it is a great start... BUT, if you want one ready to go right out of the box it might not be for you. I have a full size smoker and was looking for a smaller one. The smaller version of this smoker has a single door latch that appears to work very well... this one does NOT. In stead, it has two latches with the lower one being on the bottom and very contrary to latch. I requested the latch from the smaller one, but customer service sent me the wrong parts, TWICE. I gave up on them and fixed it myself. It does need a damper between the fire box and smoker box to help control the flame. The door has a seal, but smoke leaks out between the smoker box and around the temp gauge. On the up side, it has a nice fire box with removable ash drawer and it seems to hold temp very well. Customer support is not much! I would highly recommend to purchase this from a local supplier and not from here, that way you can check it out for yourself... again, don't rely on customer support.

Thought this would be a great purchase... just opened the box to find a broken door... not very happy at all with that....

It came in broken and dented

Very flimsy metal, got it for my brother for Christmas and when he opened it up to put it together it was dented and scrached up the side. And the dents impair the offset charcoal box from being flush. Would really reconsider a different smoker.

Used this smoker for the second time to smoke a brisket for 12 hours. We smoked a chicken for 6 hours and had no problem. With the brisket all the paint on the inside started melting all over everything inside including the brisket and the juice we were collecting. Unfortunately the juice was tasted by my wife before we noticed anything wrong. Now I have to figure out who I get my money back from. We also prepped the smoker exactly as was recommended. Stay away from this one.