Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Charcoal Griddle + Grill + Smoker (Black) Expired

...You don't understand this smoker. Lump smokers like this are far better than pellet smokers in many ways. Thus why pro's don't use pellet smokers.

Thanks but I hope it gets sub 300$

I burn whole splits with charcoal in my MB gravity. I get a smokier flavor than what is acheivable in a pellet but I can also get bad smoke which I have to manage which can leave a bitter flavor on the food.

Pellet grills, gravity, stick burners all have their places. I like a strong smoke flavor on my food and I like managing a fire but I don't have the interest in sitting up managing a stick burner like I might have when I was younger (and drank more).

These MB gravity series make good smokers but only ok grills. Charcoal burns pretty nuetral so most of the flavor people are taking about with a charcoal grill are from the burned fat, radiation and ash which these won't reproduce (except the ash). You can get charcoal pellets for your pellet smoker which makes absolutely no sense to me but to each their own.

With these you do have to manage grease or you will get a fire when you take it above 450F or so. Rendered fat, temps above the fire point of the oil and sparks make it pretty much unavoidable unless you clean it well ahead of time and catch your drippings. Even with a hopper full of wood you burn most of the flavorfull volatiles at higher than smoking temps so I just use my gas grill or a komado if I want to do some high temp grilling.

There is some innovation in bring gravity smokers down to this price point, prior to MBs entrance to market, you would spend $1500 for the next cheapest (Old Country) which was a steal compared to the next one around $2500. That said the construction of these incorporates a lot of sheet metal (and firebrick in the fire box) which just isn't going to last more than a couple of years if you regularly take it up to higher temps. A lot of replacement parts are available though for what seems like a reasonable price.

The WIFI and Bluetooth is a challenge to get working but I have managed to keep mine going. I reloaded the grill app recently and it took me about 3 hours of trying to get it to talk with my router. An aftermarket wifi antenna helps. Once I can get it to find my network and initialize it works great moving forward. I manage a lot of my cooks from work (though the built in TCs are junk, I use a secondary wifi remote thermometer).

This is a good deal if this meets your needs/wants but these do get clearanced out every year. That said, I'd rather be smoking some food than waiting around for a rock bottom price personally.