Char-Broil Analog Electric Smoker (Open Box)

After comparing this smoker to similar brands, we chose this one for several reasons: it's excellent insulated walls and newly re-engineered chip & water trays. The large chip tray is big enough for 6-7 hours of smoking, though the new large water tray will still probably need refilling. We expected a learning curve to be able to adjust the analog heating plug so it held a low and slow temp for smoking - but immediately discovered that it was difficult to find a 'sweet spot' that kept the analog plug hot enough to keep the wood chips smoking. If you had enough heat to keep the chips burning, you had too much heat to properly smoke at 200-225. The unit began billowing smoke very good very quickly, but the top vents don't have any way to close them down - so all the smoke pours out of the top. Not only can you not keep the smoke in the box, but you can't adjust the air intake to control the smoldering chips. Not enough air and the 'fire' in the chips goes out, and the smoking quits. (I suspect the lack of an air vent in the bottom of the unit, to cause an air flow up, through and out of the top, is one of the reasons that the chips don't properly smolder.) (TIP TO OTHER BUYERS: Line the chip box with a little metal grate, handful of nuts and bolts, or something to allow AIR to come into the box and keep the chips glowing. And - consider a bit of foil to partially block the top vents. We'll be doing that on the replacement that we're getting.) The kicker, however, was the DAMAGE that had been done to the unit - probably at the TIME OF IT'S MANUFACTURE & ASSEMBLY. The front right top corner of the door frame had been bashed in enough that the door didn't seal properly, and smoke leaked out - more than where it was supposed to vent out. Curious - the unit was almost completely assembled, with only minor things like installing legs and handles needing to be screwed on. HOWEVER, the assembly manual indicated that other bits and pieces had to be attached to the unit - as an example, screwing in the thermometer to the outside of the door, for instance....but that had already been done to this unit. It made me wonder if the unit had been delivered to someone else previously, then returned - and shipped out again to us. While we chose the analog version (like plugging in the heating element into your pancake grill) for economy, we decided that we were too old to babysit a smoker for several hours to keep the temperature in the proper range -- and beyond the age, also, to enjoy a 'cold one' while we sat and watched the smoke waft into the air. So, we grudgingly forked over the nearly $100 more to go 'digital'. Amazon is allowing us to return the unit.. We would have purchased the digital version of the smoker (with a solid black insulated door) from Amazon - but they curiously had only the glass door version...and those weren't going to be shipped for 1-2 MONTHS!. We did find the black door digital version at 'WM' - at a very good price - and expect to receive it tomorrow - three days after we ordered it - which is faster than the week's wait we had via Prime 'two day' shipping. We're disappointed in our experience with this purchase - normally Amazon and it's vendors are 'top notch'. But, we are looking forward to 'set it and forget it' smoking this weekend!