Catchweight
Grills, Smokers, and Pizza showdown
The Best Gravity-Fed Smokers (2026): The Masterbuilt 1150 Two Test Kitchens Liked, Food & Wine's AutoIgnite 545, and Three Burn Times on One Hopper
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- contenders compared
- 7
- owner ratings · Home Depot + Amazon
- 1,621
- verified pull-quotes
- 7
- data last verified
- 2026-10-18
A gravity-fed smoker is a charcoal smoker with a pellet grill’s brain. You fill a tall hopper beside the cook chamber with charcoal and wood chunks, light the bottom, set a temperature, and a fan under the fire does the rest while gravity feeds the next layer down. It smokes at 225°F and sears at 700°F, and it is the one kind of smoker where the charcoal flavour and the walk-away control come in the same box. If you want to keep tending your own fire, the bullet and drum smokers are the cheaper way in; if you want a fan on a smoker you already own, that is a fan controller.
Masterbuilt brought out the first backyard gravity-fed smoker in 2019, as The Barbecue Lab tells it, and still makes almost the whole category: six of the seven smokers here are Masterbuilt Gravity or AutoIgnite models, against one Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma. We read all seven on their own Amazon listings on 17 October 2026, signed in, with the newest of their critical reviews, after scanning every Amazon list and search the class shows up in and the gravity-fed smokers sold only at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart. We read Masterbuilt’s product pages and warranty raw on 18 October. Two findings run through the whole page: the electronics are what owners say fail, on every model, and one Masterbuilt hopper is sold with three different burn times.
The short version:
🏆 Best overall — Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1150: the gravity smoker two test kitchens cooked on and liked. Serious Eats found it “rarely strayed from its set temperature”; Food & Wine named it Best Splurge. 1,150 sq in, sold by Amazon at about $1,099. The catch: no Amazon reviews yet, Home Depot’s owners put it at 4.0★ across 244, and the warranty is one year on electronics owners say fail.
💵 Best value — Masterbuilt AutoIgnite Series 545: Food & Wine’s Best Overall charcoal smoker, a “perfect 5/5 in every test category”, for about $500 from Amazon. Smaller (545 sq in, a 7 lb briquette hopper), 3.8★ across 67, and Masterbuilt no longer lists it on its own store.
🔥 The smallest Gravity — Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600: the same hopper as the 1150 on 600 sq in, about $749. No credentialed test, 3.5★ across 49, controllers and support in 7 of the 10 newest critical reviews.
🍳 The griddle pick — Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800: ships with a flat-top griddle insert, 3.9★ across 371, about $890.
📐 Most cooking area for the money — Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050: 1,050 sq in and the deepest Amazon base in the class, 3.8★ across 873, about $989. Two of its newest critical reviews are heat manifolds rusted through in a year, and the warranty excludes rust.
💎 Money no object — Masterbuilt Gravity Series XT: 1,260 sq in and the class’s only 3-year warranty. On Amazon only third-party sellers offer it, from about $1,655, and Masterbuilt voids the warranty for unauthorized dealers — buy it from a retailer Masterbuilt names.
⛔ SKIP — Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 Auto-Feed with Wi-Fi: 3.2★ across 9, an app and a control panel its owners write about, and no credentialed test of this model. The two-year warranty is the best reason to want one.
Billed Catchweight — ranked by what you need, from a 545 sq in starter to a 1,260 sq in cart. Ratings read live on Amazon on 17 October 2026, Home Depot on 18 October.
How they compare
| Model | Best for | Cooking area | Hopper | Burn time claim | Warranty | Owner rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The one gravity-fed smoker two test kitchens cooked on and liked | 1,150 sq in (Masterbuilt) | 12 lb lump or 18 lb briquettes (17.6 lb in Masterbuilt's spec table) | "Up to 15 hours" (Masterbuilt) | 1 year from original retail purchase; rust and paint finish not covered; proof of purchase required (Masterbuilt) | 4.0★ / 244 | ~$1,099typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| Food & Wine's best charcoal smoker, at about half the price of the field | 545 sq in (Amazon listing) | 5 lb lump or 7 lb briquettes (Amazon listing) | "up to 8 hours" (Amazon listing) | 1 year from original retail purchase; rust and paint finish not covered; proof of purchase required (Masterbuilt) | 3.8★ / 67 | ~$499.99typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| The smallest Gravity Series, on the same hopper as the 1150 | 600 sq in (Masterbuilt) | 12 lb lump or 18 lb briquettes (17.6 lb in Masterbuilt's spec table) | "up to 18 hours at 225°F" and "15+ hours" (Masterbuilt prints both) | 1 year from original retail purchase; rust and paint finish not covered; proof of purchase required (Masterbuilt) | 3.5★ / 49 | ~$749typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| The gravity smoker that is also a flat-top griddle | 800 sq in, griddle insert included (Masterbuilt) | 10 lb lump or 16 lb briquettes (15.9 lb in Masterbuilt's spec table) | "Up to 10 hours" (Masterbuilt) | 1 year from original retail purchase; rust and paint finish not covered; proof of purchase required (Masterbuilt) | 3.9★ / 371 | ~$889.99typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| The most cooking area for the money, with a manifold to watch | 1,050 sq in (Masterbuilt) | 10 lb lump or 16 lb briquettes (15.9 lb in Masterbuilt's spec table) | "Up to 10 hours" (Masterbuilt) | 1 year from original retail purchase; rust and paint finish not covered; proof of purchase required (Masterbuilt) | 3.8★ / 873 | ~$989typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| The money-no-object gravity smoker, with the class's longest warranty | 1,260 sq in (Masterbuilt) | 12 lb lump or 18 lb briquettes (17.6 lb in Masterbuilt's spec table) | "Up to 24 hours", "225° F = up to 18 hours" and "15+ hours" (all on Masterbuilt's page) | 3 years from original retail purchase, original purchaser, registration required; rust and paint finish not covered; Masterbuilt pays shipping on warranty parts (Masterbuilt) | 3.6★ / 8 | ~$1,655typical at AmazonCheck price → | |
| SKIP: the app and the temperature control are what owners write about | 900 sq in total (Amazon listing) | 16 lb of fuel (Amazon listing) | "up to 13 hours" (Amazon listing) | 2 years on all parts (Oklahoma Joe's); authorized sellers only | 3.2★ / 9 | ~$899.99typical at AmazonCheck price → |
Prices move constantly — any Amazon price shown is as of the date noted and subject to change; tap through for today's number.
How to read the ratings on this page. Six of the seven ratings are Amazon bases we read ourselves, signed in, on 17 October 2026, with their critical reviews. None of the visible review cards came from the Vine programme. The 800, 1050 and 545 show reviews from Canada, Mexico or Germany, so their counts are pooled across Amazon’s marketplaces and flagged global on their cards. The 1150 has no Amazon reviews at all, so its rating is Home Depot’s, read on 18 October, and some of the reviews on that page say they were “collected as part of a promotion” — its card flags it. Two of the bases, the XT’s 8 and the Tahoma’s 9, are too small to rank on, and we do not.
One hopper, three burn times
The number every gravity-fed buyer asks about is how long one hopper lasts, and it is the number Masterbuilt is least consistent about. Its own product pages, read on 18 October:
| Smoker | Hopper (maker) | Burn time the maker prints | Claimed hours per lb of briquettes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gravity Series 600 | 12 lb lump / 18 lb briquettes | “up to 18 hours at 225°F”, and “15+ hours” on the same page | 1.0 |
| Gravity Series 1150 | 12 lb lump / 18 lb briquettes | “Up to 15 hours” | 0.83 |
| Gravity Series XT | 12 lb lump / 18 lb briquettes | “Up to 24 hours”, “225° F = up to 18 hours” and “15+ hours” | 0.83 to 1.33 |
| Gravity Series 800 | 10 lb lump / 16 lb briquettes | “Up to 10 hours” | 0.63 |
| Gravity Series 1050 | 10 lb lump / 16 lb briquettes | “Up to 10 hours” | 0.63 |
| AutoIgnite 545 | 5 lb lump / 7 lb briquettes (listing) | “up to 8 hours” (listing) | 1.14 |
| Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 | 16 lb of fuel (listing) | “up to 13 hours” (listing) | 0.81 |
The last column is our arithmetic on the maker’s own two numbers. The 600, 1150 and XT share one hopper, and the spec table on all three pages calls it 17.6 lb; on that one hopper Masterbuilt promises 15, 18 or 24 hours depending on which page you read, and the XT’s page alone prints three answers.
The one independent hopper test we found is older but tells you which end to believe. AmazingRibs ran the first Gravity Series, the 560, whose hopper Masterbuilt then rated at 12 to 15 hours “at a cook temp of 200-225°F and an ambient temp of at least 70°F”. In springtime weather in the mid-40s, “a full hopper of Kingsford Original briquets gave me about 8.5 to 9 hours running at 225°F until temps dropped and I needed to add more coals”, and lump charcoal about 7. The 560 is a previous generation and its hopper is the 16 lb briquette size of today’s 800 and 1050, so read that as a class result, not a test of any smoker on this page: about 0.55 hours per pound of briquettes in cool weather, against the 0.63 to 1.33 the makers’ claims work out to. Plan a reload for an overnight brisket.
The catch on every model: the electronics
Read the critical reviews of every smoker here and the same sentence keeps coming back in different words: it cooked well until the controller, panel, fan or a door switch stopped. On the newest ten critical reviews of each Masterbuilt listing, the electronics account for 7 of 10 on the 1050 and the 600, 8 of 10 on the 800 and all 4 on the XT. The cooking itself draws almost no complaints; owners who describe the food mostly praise it.
The switches are a known weak point. AmazingRibs’ Gravity Series 560 lost two of its three safety switches “within a few months of use”, and the site dropped its rating from Platinum to Silver over it: “It has become apparent to us that the safety switches Masterbuilt uses are a weak link in an otherwise groundbreaking cooker.” An owner who has run both an 800 and a 1050 says a fan that will not run is “almost always those clamps not being tight enough to get the sensor buttons to fully press down” — the switches on the hopper, the coal door and the grill door.
Two things separate the contenders once you accept that risk: how long the warranty lasts, and whether you can get the part. Owners of the 1050, the XT and the Tahoma all describe waiting weeks or months for a controller.
The warranty, and who can claim it
| Smoker | Term | Who can claim | What it leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masterbuilt Gravity Series XT | 3 years | The original purchaser, and only if the grill is registered; Masterbuilt pays shipping on warranty parts | Rust, paint finish, labour, commercial use; any unit bought from an unauthorized dealer |
| Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 | 2 years on all parts | The original buyer, from Oklahoma Joe’s or an authorized retailer; proof of purchase | Units from unauthorized marketplace sellers “may not be eligible” |
| Masterbuilt 600, 800, 1050, 1150, 545 | 1 year | The buyer, with proof of purchase | Rust, paint finish, commercial use; any unit bought from an unauthorized dealer |
Masterbuilt’s page is direct about two things that matter on this class. “The Masterbuilt warranty does not cover rust” — which is exactly how two 1050 owners lost their heat manifolds. And “Purchasing any Masterbuilt product through an unauthorized dealer voids the warranty”, with no published list of who is authorized. Six of the seven smokers here were sold and shipped by Amazon.com when we read them, and the Tahoma had an Amazon.com offer beside a third-party buy box. The XT was not: on Amazon it was offered only by third-party sellers, and on a 3-year warranty that depends on where you bought it, that is the one to buy from Masterbuilt’s own store or a retailer it names.
Recalls
No recall covers any smoker on this page. We searched the CPSC recall database on 17 October 2026 for each brand, with a known-recall brand as a control at the start and the end: Masterbuilt’s recalls are propane and electric smokers, and none names a Gravity Series or AutoIgnite model; Oklahoma Joe’s returns none; none of the Char-Broil recalls (Oklahoma Joe’s parent) is a Tahoma; Char-Griller returns none.
Best overall: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1150
The one gravity-fed smoker two test kitchens cooked on and liked · A 1,150 sq in gravity-fed charcoal smoker: a side hopper feeds a firebox under a fan the digital controller runs, 225–700°F. Serious Eats found it "rarely strayed from its set temperature"; Food & Wine named it Best Splurge and found it "very fuel-efficient". Like every smoker in this class, the electronics are what owners say fail, and the warranty is one year.
Your pick if you want charcoal flavour with a thermostat doing the fire-tending, and you want the model Serious Eats and Food & Wine both put through a real cook
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
Picked before we checked what this link pays us.
“The flavor you get from this grill is amazing. It holds temp very well and it's a well-built grill. My only complaint is that customer service sucks.”
“In our tests, we found the smoker rarely strayed from its set temperature and delivered crowd-pleasing, moderately smoky results.”
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1150 Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker
The one gravity-fed smoker two test kitchens cooked on and likedYour pick if you want charcoal flavour with a thermostat doing the fire-tending, and you want the model Serious Eats and Food & Wine both put through a real cook
“The flavor you get from this grill is amazing. It holds temp very well and it's a well-built grill. My only complaint is that customer service sucks.”— CP, Home Depot
Pro review “In our tests, we found the smoker rarely strayed from its set temperature and delivered crowd-pleasing, moderately smoky results.”— Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm and Rochelle Bilow, Serious Eats
- Serious Eats: "In our tests, we found the smoker rarely strayed from its set temperature and delivered crowd-pleasing, moderately smoky results."
- Food & Wine's Best Splurge charcoal smoker: "very fuel-efficient, using only a quarter of its capacity to complete our testing"
- Sold and shipped by Amazon.com (read 2026-10-17)
- The class-wide catch: Masterbuilt's gravity smokers draw owner reports of controllers, fans and switches failing, and the warranty is one year with rust excluded
- No Amazon owner reviews yet; its only owner base is Home Depot's, where reviews collected in a promotion sit beside ordinary ones
- Serious Eats: the front folding metal shelf was flimsy, and the right door knocked the ash catcher open
Electronics and support, not the cooking. On the Home Depot page an owner whose controller "would not turn on" on the third cook wrote "If you read the non-sponsored reviews you will find this is a very common issue"; another loved the food but could not get it onto Wi-Fi and called support "non existent". A shopper asked whether Masterbuilt had "fixed the issues with thd fan not working and the lid switch melting"; Masterbuilt's answer did not say.
41 of 244 Home Depot ratings are one star (17%) as of 2026-10-18; the written critical reviews behind them were not all read · critical reviews read 2026-10-18
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
The one gravity-fed smoker two credentialed test kitchens cooked on and both liked. Serious Eats, testing 16 smokers, found “the smoker rarely strayed from its set temperature and delivered crowd-pleasing, moderately smoky results” and called it “a great option for beginners, since it does the charcoal monitoring and temperature regulation for you.” Food & Wine named it the Best Splurge charcoal smoker and found it “very fuel-efficient, using only a quarter of its capacity to complete our testing.” It has 1,150 square inches across its grates, the big 18 lb briquette hopper, and Amazon sells and ships it at about $1,099, under Masterbuilt’s own list price of $1,200.
Its owner record is the thin part. There are no Amazon reviews yet. Home Depot’s owners put it at 4.0 stars across 244, with 41 of those at one star, and some reviews on that page say they were collected in a promotion. The review that reads most like the average is one Home Depot owner’s: “The flavor you get from this grill is amazing. It holds temp very well and it’s a well-built grill. My only complaint is that customer service sucks.”
Not for you if: you need it to work for years without a call to support. The 1150 carries the same electronics and the same one-year warranty, rust excluded, as the rest of Masterbuilt’s line, and one Home Depot owner’s controller “would not turn on” on the third cook. Serious Eats also found the front folding shelf flimsy and the right door knocking the ash catcher open.
Best value: Masterbuilt AutoIgnite Series 545
Masterbuilt AutoIgnite Series 545 Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker
Food & Wine's best charcoal smoker, at about half the price of the fieldYour pick if you want the hopper-and-fan idea for about half the price of a Gravity Series, on a smaller 545 sq in grate, and you are fine buying a model Masterbuilt has stopped listing on its own store
“Good for a couple racks of ribs or a batch of burgers. Temp is fairly stable but heat is uneven in the chamber.”— Matt Turpin, Amazon · Verified owner
Pro review “scored a perfect 5/5 in every test category”— Greg Baker, Food & Wine
- Food & Wine's Best Overall charcoal smoker: "scored a perfect 5/5 in every test category"
- Food & Wine: "we were able to cook chicken and ribs without refilling the hopper"
- Sold and shipped by Amazon.com (read 2026-10-17)
- Masterbuilt no longer lists the 545 on its own store (catalogue read 2026-10-17) — buy it while retailers still have it, and keep the receipt for the 1-year warranty
- Its hopper holds 5 lb of lump or 7 lb of briquettes, a third of the big Gravity models', so long cooks need a refill
- Critical reviews describe units arriving bent, damaged or missing parts, and fans failing; 17% of its Amazon ratings are one star
Arrival and electronics. Three of the newest critical reviews describe a unit that arrived bent, damaged or short of parts ("there were a lot of missing parts on my grill on critical items"), and four describe the electronics, two of them the fan: "the fan module not turning on ever and the grill not being able to reach any heat over 150". One owner reports rust and cracked plastic at a year.
4 of the 10 newest written critical reviews name the electronics and 3 the condition on arrival, of 15 written critical reviews on Amazon (2026-10-17) · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
Food & Wine’s Best Overall charcoal smoker: it “scored a perfect 5/5 in every test category”, and on its best-smokers page the testers “were able to cook chicken and ribs without refilling the hopper.” It is a smaller machine than the Gravity Series — 545 square inches, 250 to 650°F, and an internal MiniHopper of 5 lb of lump or 7 lb of briquettes that the listing rates at up to 8 hours — and it costs about $500, sold and shipped by Amazon. Owners put it at 3.8 stars across 67; the one that reads like the average says “Good for a couple racks of ribs or a batch of burgers. Temp is fairly stable but heat is uneven in the chamber.”
Its status, plainly: Masterbuilt no longer lists the 545 on its own store; we walked all 621 products in its catalogue on 17 October and again on 18 October. Amazon.com still sells it new, and we keep it carded until it stops. Keep the receipt: the one-year warranty needs proof of purchase.
Not for you if: you want an overnight cook without a refill, or a unit that arrives perfect. Three of its ten newest critical reviews describe a smoker that arrived bent, damaged or short of parts, and four describe the electronics — “the fan module not turning on ever and the grill not being able to reach any heat over 150”.
The smallest Gravity pick: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 600 Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker
The smallest Gravity Series, on the same hopper as the 1150Your pick if you want the least expensive Gravity Series, with the same 18 lb briquette hopper as the 1150, and you can live with a 1-year warranty on electronics owners say fail
“The ability to dial in your temperature is the key. I know that if the tech breaks the grill is out of order, but so far (Approx. 1 mth) everything is great.”— Good Times, Amazon · Verified owner
- The same hopper as the 1150 and the XT: 12 lb of lump or 18 lb of briquettes (Masterbuilt)
- Sold and shipped by Amazon.com (read 2026-10-17)
- A Vine reviewer who owned a first-generation Gravity noted the newer firebox's fire-brick-like insulation
- 7 of the 10 newest written critical Amazon reviews describe the controller, panel, fan, door switches or Wi-Fi failing, and 4 describe support that did not answer
- No credentialed hands-on test of this model found
- Its deeper Walmart rating is mostly reviews syndicated from Masterbuilt's own site and collected in a promotion, so we do not count it
Controllers and support. The newest critical reviews describe a dead panel, door switches, a motherboard, fans, controllers and Wi-Fi, and owners who could not get an answer: "I have an issue with the motherboard to power up and I have sent several emails with no response from master built."
7 of the 10 newest written critical reviews name the electronics and 4 the support, of 19 written critical reviews on Amazon (2026-10-17) · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
The least expensive Gravity Series, about $749 from Amazon against a list price of $800, with 600 square inches and — this is the reason to look at it — the same 12 lb lump or 18 lb briquette hopper as the 1150 and the XT. Its owners who like it like it for the temperature control: “The ability to dial in your temperature is the key. I know that if the tech breaks the grill is out of order, but so far (Approx. 1 mth) everything is great.”
We do not rate it higher for two reasons. No credentialed outlet has tested this model. And its Amazon record is 3.5 stars across 49, with 7 of the 10 newest critical reviews describing a dead panel, door switches, a motherboard, fans or Wi-Fi, and 4 describing support that did not answer. Walmart shows a 4.7 for it, but every review we could see there was syndicated from Masterbuilt’s own site and “collected as part of a promotion”, and one of them reviews the earlier 560, so we do not count it.
Not for you if: you want the evidence the 1150 has. For a few hundred dollars more, the 1150 is the same hopper and controller with two tests behind it.
The griddle pick: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Charcoal Griddle + Grill + Smoker
The gravity smoker that is also a flat-top griddleThe listing's size menu spans 2 models: 560, 800 — this card is the 800. Check the size before you add to cart.
Your pick if you want one charcoal cooker that smokes, grills and griddles, and a deep Amazon owner record matters more to you than a test kitchen's verdict
“VERY happy with how this works once I get it up and running. It regulates temperature excellently and gives great-tasting meat. I am concerned, however, about the electronics.”— Mark, Amazon · Verified owner
- The only Gravity model that ships with a flat-top griddle insert
- A deep Amazon owner base for the class: 3.9★ across 371
- Sold and shipped by Amazon.com (read 2026-10-17)
- 8 of the 10 newest written critical Amazon reviews describe the controller, temperature control, fan or a limit switch failing
- No current credentialed hands-on test found (The Barbecue Lab tested an 800 in 2021 and 2022)
- The smaller hopper: 16 lb of briquettes against 18 lb on the 600 and 1150; 17% of its Amazon ratings are one star
Controllers, fans and limit switches. The newest critical reviews describe temperature control and fans failing after a few months, a limit switch, a unit that would not power on, a controller dead at 15 months and one at eight weeks; the oldest repeated complaint is the fan cutting out: "It will only work as stated for the first 20 min".
8 of the 10 newest written critical reviews name the electronics and 4 the support, of 103 written critical reviews on Amazon (2026-10-17) · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
The only Gravity Series that ships with a flat-top griddle insert, so one charcoal cooker smokes, grills and does smash burgers. It has 800 square inches, the smaller 16 lb briquette hopper, and 3.9 stars across 371 on Amazon, sold and shipped by Amazon at about $890. The review that reads like that average: “VERY happy with how this works once I get it up and running. It regulates temperature excellently and gives great-tasting meat. I am concerned, however, about the electronics.”
The Barbecue Lab, cooking on an 800 beside a Char-Griller 980 in 2022, found its controller “matched what we were seeing from the Thermoworks Signals” grate probes. That test predates the listing we card, so we cite it here, not on the card.
Not for you if: you want to avoid the electronics problem. Eight of its ten newest critical reviews describe the controller, temperature control, a fan or a limit switch failing, and 17% of its ratings are one star.
Most cooking area for the money: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050
Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050 Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker
The most cooking area for the money, with a manifold to watchYour pick if you cook for a crowd and want 1,050 sq in of charcoal smoker at the 800's list price, and you will keep it covered and check the heat manifold every season
“Overall this is an easy to use smoker that takes minimal watching to maintain constant temperature while using.”— Bryan and Angela, Amazon · Verified owner
- The deepest Amazon owner base in the gravity-fed class: 3.8★ across 873
- 1,050 sq in at the same Masterbuilt list price as the 800
- Sold and shipped by Amazon.com (read 2026-10-17)
- Two of the 10 newest written critical Amazon reviews describe the heat manifold rusting through in about a year, one under Masterbuilt's own cover — and the warranty excludes rust
- 7 of those 10 describe electronics failing; one owner could not buy a replacement controller all year
- No current credentialed hands-on test found
Electronics, then rust. The newest critical reviews describe thin wires at the board, an electrical failure, a failure after 12 cooks, a panel dead at nine months and a controller an owner could not buy all year; two describe the heat manifold rusting through in about a year, one bought "along with Masterbuilt's own cover" and kept covered: "Despite that, the heat manifold … rusted through."
7 of the 10 newest written critical reviews name the electronics, 4 service or parts and 2 manifold rust, of 170 written critical reviews on Amazon (2026-10-17) · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by Amazon · 30-day refund / replacement · read 2026-10-17
1,050 square inches at the same Masterbuilt list price as the 800, and the deepest owner base in the class: 3.8 stars across 873 on Amazon, sold and shipped by Amazon at about $989. Owners who cook for a crowd on it describe what the category promises: “Overall this is an easy to use smoker that takes minimal watching to maintain constant temperature while using.”
Not for you if: you store it outside. Two of its ten newest critical reviews describe the heat manifold — the steel box under the grates that spreads the fire’s heat — rusting through in about a year, one on a smoker its owner kept under Masterbuilt’s own cover, and Masterbuilt’s warranty does not cover rust. Seven of the ten describe the electronics, and one owner could not buy a replacement controller all year.
Money no object: Masterbuilt Gravity Series XT
Masterbuilt Gravity Series XT Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker
The money-no-object gravity smoker, with the class's longest warrantyYour pick if you want the biggest Masterbuilt gravity smoker and its 3-year warranty, and you will buy it from an authorized dealer so that warranty holds
“Assembly is a pain, and initially the temperature swings were annoying, but I’ve employed an internet found fix because their support is annoying to deal with.”— tony cooper, Amazon · Verified owner
Pro review “When we set the temperature to 275°F, it stayed steady for the full hour it took to smoke the wings without fluctuating (aside from when we opened the lid to take a peek).”Hands-on test (bread test, wings, burgers) by Monica Petrucci and Danielle DeSiato; the page names the Gravity Series XT and prints no model number; the XT has one model, MB20041223— Monica Petrucci, Reviewed
- The longest warranty in the class: 3 years, against 1 year on every other Masterbuilt model, and Masterbuilt pays shipping on warranty parts
- Reviewed, testing it: "When we set the temperature to 275°F, it stayed steady for the full hour it took to smoke the wings without fluctuating"
- The same 18 lb briquette hopper as the 600 and 1150 under the biggest cooking area, 1,260 sq in
- On Amazon only third-party sellers offer it (BBQ Island Inc held the buy box and four more sellers asked more, read 2026-10-17), and Masterbuilt voids the warranty for unauthorized dealers while publishing no list of who is authorized — buy from a retailer Masterbuilt names
- Reviewed found its grill surface "heats very unevenly", and starting on old coals left in the hopper "caused problems with igniting the coals"
- All 4 of its written critical Amazon reviews describe the controller failing, and its Amazon base is 8 ratings
The controller. Every written critical review describes it failing early, at a week or two months, or a unit that would not heat past 150°F, and slow parts: "The controller on mine died within a week though, and it took over a month to get a new one from masterbuilt."
4 of 4 written critical reviews on Amazon (2026-10-17); 8 ratings in all · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by BBQ Island Inc · 30-day refund/replacement · read 2026-10-17
Masterbuilt’s top gravity smoker: 1,260 square inches, the 18 lb briquette hopper, and the only 3-year warranty in the class, with Masterbuilt paying the shipping on warranty parts. Reviewed tested it and found that “When we set the temperature to 275°F, it stayed steady for the full hour it took to smoke the wings without fluctuating”, and that its grill surface “heats very unevenly” at high heat.
Its status, plainly: on Amazon it was offered only by third-party sellers when we read it, the buy box at about $1,655 against a list price of $1,800. That warranty is the reason to buy an XT, and Masterbuilt voids it for any unauthorized dealer without publishing who is authorized. Buy it from Masterbuilt or a retailer Masterbuilt names, and register it — the XT warranty requires registration.
Not for you if: you want to rank on owner reviews. It has eight Amazon ratings, and all four written critical reviews describe the controller failing early.
SKIP: Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 Auto-Feed with Wi-Fi
Oklahoma Joe's Tahoma 900 Auto-Feed Charcoal Smoker and Grill w/ Wi-Fi
SKIP: the app and the temperature control are what owners write aboutYour pick if you want Oklahoma Joe's 2-year warranty on a gravity smoker badly enough to accept an app its own owners call the weak point
“Got this for my brother for Father’s Day/ Birthday, putting it together he found it had a manufacturing defect with the fan mount holes.”— Richard, Amazon · Verified owner
- The longest standard warranty in the class outside the XT: 2 years on all parts (Oklahoma Joe's)
- An Amazon.com offer at the same price, under See All Buying Options (read 2026-10-17)
- Amazon 3.2★ across only 9 ratings, and the critical reviews are the app, a control panel back-ordered for six months and a fan mount drilled wrong
- The default Amazon buy box was a third party (Homestead Supply & More), and Oklahoma Joe's warranty says marketplace sellers "may not be eligible" — choose the Amazon.com offer
- Oklahoma Joe's own page titles it the Tahoma 900 and describes it as the 900A DLX (Gen 2)
The app, the panel and the parts. Critical reviews describe an app owners call "atrocious", a temperature that falls "40 degrees cooler than target", fan mount holes drilled wrong, and a control panel "bad" from day one and still back-ordered: "Six months later, it’s still on back order." The sibling Tahoma 900 DLX listing's critical reviews (newest April 2025) say the same: app, Wi-Fi and temperature.
All 4 written critical reviews on Amazon read (2026-10-17): 2 electronics or app, 2 parts or service, 1 fit; 9 ratings in all · critical reviews read 2026-10-17
Sold and shipped by Homestead Supply & More · 30-day refund/replacement · read 2026-10-17
Also at: Oklahoma Joe's
The steel-man for it is real. It is the one gravity-fed rival to Masterbuilt sold on Amazon, it has a 16 lb hopper and a barrel chamber with 900 square inches across its grates, Amazon.com itself offers it at about $900, and Oklahoma Joe’s backs it with two years on all parts, double Masterbuilt’s standard term.
The evidence does not follow. Its Amazon base is 3.2 stars across 9, and the critical reviews describe an app an owner calls “atrocious”, a temperature that sags “40 degrees cooler than target”, a fan mount drilled wrong, and a control panel bad from day one: “Six months later, it’s still on back order.” Nobody has tested this model; Food & Wine tested the sibling 900A DLX, which is not sold on Amazon, and “had trouble connecting the grill to Bluetooth and WiFi”. And Oklahoma Joe’s own page titles it the Tahoma 900 while describing it as the 900A DLX (Gen 2).
If the two-year warranty is the deciding line for you, choose the Amazon.com offer rather than the third-party buy box: Oklahoma Joe’s warranty says units from unauthorized marketplace sellers “may not be eligible”.
The gravity-fed smokers we read and did not card
- Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 DLX (24203105) — 3.2★ across 15 on Amazon, and 7 of its 9 critical reviews are the app, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, firmware or a temperature that will not climb; the newest is from April 2025.
- Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 1200A DLX (25203116) — one Amazon rating, and that owner’s smoker quit at four months. Food & Wine took it off its best-smokers page; its Editor’s Note says the smoker is temporarily out of stock.
- Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900A DLX (25203115) — the Tahoma Food & Wine tested; no Amazon listing in any search.
- Oklahoma Joe’s Tahoma 900 (24203104) — sold out on Oklahoma Joe’s store, offered on Amazon only by two third-party sellers at well over its list price, with no Amazon reviews.
- Char-Griller Gravity Fed 980 — not sold on Amazon (our signed-in brand search found only parts); it sells at Lowe’s and Walmart. The Barbecue Lab put grate probes in one and found it “actually running 25-50° less than what the digital controller was reporting.”
- Old Country BBQ Pits gravity-fed cabinets — the only other brand in our Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart scan, an insulated vertical cabinet smoker by its listings’ own titles, not a grill-smoker.
Buying guide: a gravity smoker that keeps running
- Buy it from someone the warranty covers. Masterbuilt voids its warranty for unauthorized dealers and publishes no list; Oklahoma Joe’s may refuse marketplace sellers. Amazon.com itself, the maker’s store and the big-box stores are the safe paths. Register the grill and keep the receipt.
- Tighten the switch clamps. The hopper lid, the coal door and the grill door each press a safety switch, and an owner of both an 800 and a 1050 says the fan will not run unless all three press fully down. When the fan stops, check the clamps before you call support.
- Cover it, and check the manifold. Masterbuilt’s warranty excludes rust, and 1050 owners report the heat manifold rusting through in about a year. A cover and a dry spot between cooks, and a look at the manifold each season.
- Plan the hopper, not the box claim. In cool weather a full hopper has run about 9 hours at 225°F in the one test we found. For an overnight brisket, top it up before bed.
- Mix wood into the charcoal, not instead of it. Masterbuilt’s own manual says “never use more than 1.5 lbs of wood chunks throughout the hopper”, as AmazingRibs quotes it; too much wood burns faster and less evenly.
- Clean the grease tray before you sear. AmazingRibs had two grease fires at 700°F on a smoker that had been smoking; at 225 to 400°F it had none.
What is the best gravity-fed smoker?
The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1150. It is the one gravity-fed smoker two credentialed test kitchens cooked on: Serious Eats found it 'rarely strayed from its set temperature and delivered crowd-pleasing, moderately smoky results', and Food & Wine named it the Best Splurge charcoal smoker and found it 'very fuel-efficient, using only a quarter of its capacity to complete our testing'. It has no Amazon reviews yet; Home Depot's owners put it at 4.0★ across 244. Like every smoker in this class, its weak point is the electronics, and Masterbuilt's warranty is one year.
How long does a gravity-fed smoker run on one hopper of charcoal?
Less than the box says, in cool weather. Masterbuilt prints 15 hours for the Gravity Series 1150, 18 hours for the 600 and 24 hours for the XT, and all three use the same hopper: 12 lb of lump or 18 lb of briquettes. The 800 and 1050 have a 16 lb briquette hopper and a 10-hour claim. The one hopper test we found is AmazingRibs' on the earlier Gravity Series 560, which Masterbuilt rated at 12 to 15 hours: in mid-40s weather, a full hopper of Kingsford briquets ran 'about 8.5 to 9 hours running at 225°F', and lump charcoal about 7. Plan a reload for an overnight cook.
Masterbuilt Gravity Series or Oklahoma Joe's Tahoma?
Masterbuilt, on the record we could read. The Tahoma 900 with Wi-Fi has nine Amazon ratings (3.2★) and its critical reviews are the app, a control panel back-ordered for six months and a misdrilled fan mount; Food & Wine, testing the sibling 900A DLX, had trouble connecting it to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and struggled with its ignition. Serious Eats tested a Tahoma beside the 1150 and wrote that 'While the Oklahoma Joe was fine and easy to use, we thought the Masterbuilt delivered smokier results.' The Tahoma's advantage is the warranty: two years on all parts, against Masterbuilt's one.
Are gravity-fed smokers reliable?
The cooking is; the electronics are the risk. Across the seven listings we read, most critical reviews that say why name a controller, panel, fan, door switch or Wi-Fi failing, often within a year, and many add that parts or support were slow. AmazingRibs dropped its own Gravity Series 560 from Platinum to Silver after the lining inside its firebox burned through and two of its three safety switches failed within a few months. Buy from a seller the maker's warranty covers, register the grill, and keep the receipt.
Gravity-fed smoker or pellet smoker?
A gravity-fed smoker if you want charcoal and wood-chunk flavour with the set-and-walk-away control of a pellet grill. AmazingRibs put it this way: the Gravity Series 'marries the ease of thermostatic control (as in your home oven or pellet smoker) with the smoky flavor you expect from cooking with charcoal and wood chunks.' The Gravity Series also runs up to 700°F to sear. A pellet grill if you would rather not manage a charcoal hopper and the door switches that stop its fan.
Does buying a Masterbuilt on Amazon void the warranty?
Masterbuilt's warranty says 'Purchasing any Masterbuilt product through an unauthorized dealer voids the warranty', and defines an unauthorized dealer as 'any retailer who has not been expressly granted permission by Masterbuilt to sell Masterbuilt products'. Masterbuilt publishes no list of who has that permission. Five of the seven smokers here were sold and shipped by Amazon.com when we read them, and the Tahoma had an Amazon.com offer beside a third-party buy box; the Gravity Series XT was offered on Amazon only by third-party sellers, and that is the one we would buy elsewhere.
Update history
- 2026-10-18 — Published. Seven gravity-fed charcoal smokers read signed in on their own Amazon listings on 17 October 2026 after a full field scan (the Outdoor Smokers and Charcoal Grills best-seller and new-release lists, five searches, page two, a review sort, a price band, three brand searches, and Home Depot, Lowe's and Walmart); the critical reviews read on every listing; Masterbuilt's product pages and warranty read raw on 18 October; Oklahoma Joe's store and warranty; the CPSC recall search for Masterbuilt, Oklahoma Joe's, Char-Broil and Char-Griller; and every tester quote matched on the live page.
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