Dyna-Glo DGU505BAE-D 30" Analog Electric Smoker

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Tampabuc - Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2018

Superior

I purchased this in Dec 2017 and have used it about two dozen times. It just gets better every time I use it. It arrived with an incorrect smoke shelf and a torn door seal. Dyna-Glo customer service jumped right on it; I had new parts in a few days. The shelves are a bit tricky at first as they sort of lock in place when fully inserted and take a little upward pressure in the back to snap them free. It takes about 10 minutes after turning the smoker on for the smoke to start. I’ve used it with both wet & dry cherry, hickory and mesquite chips; all make plenty of smoke. The most impressive part is temperature accuracy and very little fluctuation either side of the target temp. At a target of 225, after the first 20-30 minutes it stays in a plus or minus 5 degree range. At lower temps, however, it tends to cook hotter than the target temp. Specifically, when set at 170, the box temp is actually 180-190; but almost all I do is closer to 225 so that deviation is a non-problem for me. It has a built-in meat probe which is spot on accurate. The only problem is that it’s not detachable so cleaning it involves bringing soap and water to the probe instead of taking the probe to the sink. I use an external remote control dual probe thermometer anyway, so I keep the built-in probe in its holder. I also did at least a dozen test runs with other thermometers on various places in the smoker to verify temp accuracy. When testing with water in the pan, damper closed and no food inside, there was moisture buildup inside which leaked about ¼ cup on the lanai. But with food inside and damper open there has not been a drop. The two wheels in the back make it easy to relocate and the outside of the box is barely warm (except the back wall). It’s cool enough on the top that I can set the remote thermometer on it. This is absolutely a set-and-forget smoker and I would definitely buy it again.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Colby - Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2019

If cost leads you to consider this smoker, reconsider.

Honestly, read the reviews, the actual reviews, this thing is the definition of design flaw. So it began with what I thought was an informed, well thought out purchase. In retrospect it was me being cheap. So I "seasoned" the smoker as per the instructions, everything worked and heated properly. I cooked once in the same day on the smoker. During the cooking process all the oils and fats from the meat dripped into the water pan, the wood chip, and the bottom of the smoker itself. The wood chips wouldn't smoke and the drippings ran down the legs of the smoker onto my deck. I cleaned the smoker with warm soapy water and protected it with esinkin smoker cover. The next weekend I tried to use the smoker, it wouldn't heat past 220. There were 3 attempts that weekend but all failed. The next step for me was to call customer service. I call customer service the first time and the guy tells me I need to "plug the smoker into a construction grade, orange extension cord and this will double my amps". At this point it takes everything in me not to tell this person where they're at, on an intelligence level, but I humor him to see what other options are available. The next option is that he can have a new temperature reading gauge sent to me, nope that's not the problem, I need the temperature control module I tell him. He says they'll pull the control off of a new one and send it right out... 3 days later I receive the temperature reading gauge I told the guy not to send that it wasn't needed. Round two with customer service begins. This guy tells me that the correct part was indeed sent. That I need to send a picture of the wrong part and a copy of my receipt, ok done. 8 days later here we are with no word from this company and no fix for my broken, design flawed, messy, POS smoker.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By bbobg - Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018

Works well, but wood/chips holder is small.

Got great tender brisket the first time I used this. I've shied away from brisket due to having to tend to the smoker through the night. My caveat here is that the amount of wood chips or pellets that it holds is small and are consumed relatively quickly. Reloading is easy, but does add back some tending to the time the meats are smoking. My wife commented that the smoke flavor was not as good as what I achieve with our more conventional smoker and suggested that I start them in the conventional smoker and transfer after the meats have absorbed the smoke. Still, the brisket was tender and the ribs will fall off the bone. Controls are good, the heating is good and the capacity decent. Like it a lot, just not quite 5 star worthy.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Chris S - Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2018

So far, Much Better than Masterbuilt Electric Smoker

I have only used this once, so my review may be a little premature. However, the one time, it worked much better than my previous Masterbuilt unit. Much like all of the MasterBuilt electric units, mine failed due to the heating element going bad. This is quite common in that brand so I did not want to go that route again. But, as I was researching, I found out there are not a lot of other electric smoker brands out there. I prefer electric, because it is just easier. I wasn't willing to spend $500 on a Bradley either and then be tied to buying their wooden discs. So, I was quite happy when I came across this brand. This unit appeared to be of better build quality than Masterbuilt based on the pictures. I think it just looks nicer too (not that I care that much about the appearance of my smoker). Let's get to performance. I smoked (2) 8lb pork butts/shoulders in just under 12 hours to an internal temperature of about 200 degrees (measured by the included probe, plus to ancillary probes). My old smoker would take over 24 hours to do the same thing. I am happy that I can count on much shorter smoker times now. As you can see from the pic, I have a "custom" base. My unit came damaged by UPS. One of the feet was broken and there was a slight dent the the unit. I planned on using this custom cart anyway, because the wheels are much bigger, so I wasn't too upset about the damage. I chatted with Amazon and sent pictures of the damage and they provided a credit that I was happy with. That way I didn't have to deal with returning this either. Since I bought this on Cyber Monday, I got an additional 15% off the $165 price due to a Target online price match. I think the $165 price is very fair as it is, plus I got a great discount for the damage. Overall I am very happy thus far. Also purchased the Squaretrade plan so I get an additional 3 years of protection since it was only $5 or so.