Customer Reviews for Dyna-Glo Vertical Wide Body Propane Gas Smoker

20 pound turkey smoked Great Job

Overall not horribly disappointed, but not amazingly impressed either. I was aware of some of my concerns noted below, and it would have been a much lower rating had I not been aware of a few things. End of the day, you get what you pay for, but it is a pretty big departure from units like this to pro level smokers for thousands of $, and not much available in between. PRO: huge amount of surface area to smoke. At the time of this review, 40+ lbs of ham smoking with plenty of room to spare. The duel burners can indeed put out a fair amount of heat, but that will also fall in the CON column later. Assembly instructions were not fantastic, but it did go together pretty easy in about 15 min or so. Despite other review saying the gaskets would not seal tight, mine hasn't shown a wisp of smoke coming through the door seal. CON: Upon lighting it up, I let it burn with both burners on high for about 15 min to burn off any residue that might be on it, only to find that it hadn't gone over about 175 deg on the thermometer. I looked inside to see a fairly small flame coming off both burners. It took me fiddling with the gas inlet before I had a good flame. Once I got that sorted, it took a little playing with the burners to figure out that the prime smoking temp, as indicated on the thermometer, required only 1 burner at the lowest temp to keep in that 225-250 range. With the 40 lbs of ham in, I have the single burner about a 1/4 up from lowest possible flame to maintain about 225 deg. Here is where it becomes a really big CON for me. With the single flame that low, it does a pretty poor job of heating the wood box to get enough smoke rolling off it. I ended up putting the smoke box on the floor of the smoker directly over the flame to get a good smoke. That performance issue aside, the next big negative is the construction. I bought the very specific Dyna-Glo cover for this unit and it doesn't even come down to the ground, if falls ~3" short. I pulled the cover off to find that the top of the smoker had some moisture on it and even before my 1st use of the thing, I had rust spots in a few places. This entire unit is powder coated steel and will eventually have issues. The fact that the cover falls short of the ground and the failure of the powder coat already makes me worried that eventually the legs that sit on the patio with simply rust apart. The next big departure from my old smoker is that there is no insulation, just the thin sheet metal with the previously mentioned powder coat. The last gripe I have is the propane tank. Going back to my old unit, it had a lower compartment to house the propane tank which kept it out of the weather. I would have paid a little more for a taller unit with an enclosure for the tank.

Love the smoker! Easy to assemble . There was a dent on the top but I'm pretty sure i put it there, Loading and unloading solo. Great smoker and it came in fast too.

This is my 4th smoker. I went BIG due to cooking pork butts. This smoker is very durable and built well. Cons: chip bin/container too small causing me to chop the wood small to lay flat in the bin. Chip container and water pan slips off rails if not careful, Smoker burns WAY too HOT! hard to maintain any temp under 250 Deg. I have to shut off one burner then crack the large door for heat to escape followed by my smoke loss. I went and purchased a thermometer to make sure temps gauge was correct. The smoker gage is very slow to react to heat changes this chasing the temp constantly. Looking for another smoker :(

Really nice smoker,couple of things ,the tin holder for the wood needs to be wider on the slides, reason beoing they will fall off the slides very easy, the grease tray are not slides, difficult to remove them to empty.with those exceptions off my recommendations I really like this smoker the door gasket are a major plus also.

Works as advertised, however the quality control is not good. Body is dented, top air vent bent, one of the side vents not attached and one of the igniters was not seated. Small things on the whole and after reattaching and reseating, assembly and seasoning used it to make 2 each pork ribs, beef ribs and teriyaki turkey breasts.. PERFECTION

I was starting to get worried when I went to assemble it and found no hardware to assemble it with. I called the manufacturer, they were friendly and shipped a new hardware kit to me. Assembly was easy but you may want some help as smoker is heavy and awkward to move with just one person. I've smoked a couple turkeys in it. I had to add a rod to hang them from as I prefer this method rather than cook it in a pan or on the grate. They turned out great, just need to adjust the temp and cooking time a little. My wife and I cooked a smoker full of beef jerky, it was awesome. We also smoked a brisket, chicken breast, and brats. Everything seemed to turn out great. We do have a little adjusting to do on temp and cook time but overall this was a great buy. Now for the down side, if you can call it that. I did some reading on other reviews and I did find that to get the low temp I wanted for my Turkeys to start out with I had to run the smoker with one burner turned all the way down on low. It was about 40 degrees outside. The smoker held steady at about 150 degrees all night. To let you know, I cook my turkeys for 18 hrs. The wood chip box will only burn on the side that your using so you'll need to switch burners once one side of the wood chip box gets done. Other than that, I haven't found anything I didn't like about this smoker. I did by the cover for it and it is a great way to protect it from the elements if you plan on keeping it outdoors.

So this is my first foray into smoking. I have been grilling and cooking all of my life but I was always wary of this genre of food prep. The equipment arrived well protected. The box was definitely heavy and you may want to plan on help when arrival is expected. A bit of bad luck for me the delivery driver dropped it at the neighbor's home by mistake. Got the unit home and set aside the smoker for a few months while back porch renovations were completed. Finally opened it up and ran through the assembly manual and unpacked the parts. Assembly is very straight forward and explained well in the manual. After unpacking, the entire assembly was probably less then twenty minutes. Be careful when unpacking, though, some boxes inside are empty to keep parts from shifting and some have smaller parts inside. Check everything... Followed the seasoning instructions and picked up a cheap bag of mesquite from the grocery store and ran the unit for an hour or so as directed. The smell from the unit was intoxicating as I opened the back door at the end of the hour. Nearly everything went perfect with one exception. I didn't notice it during assembly, but the temperature gauge was defective. There is a pin at the bottom of the gauge that prevents the needle from going past a certain point, but the needle is stuck on the wrong side of the pin. So I still desperately wanted to try out the unit despite not having the working gauge. I chose something relatively quick and easy. I saw a number of comments and recipes online for burgers. I had never had a smoked burger and thought PERFECT. I was a little worried about the heating control. Another reviewer had commented about the gas knobs not having much flame difference between high and low. I did not have that experience. My flame heights were visibly different. I left the bottom vents mostly closed and the top vent at mid and gave it an hour with the meat as close to the bottom as possible. The burgers came out perfect. They even had that tell tale smoke ring around the surface. Now as I said I had left the smoker un-assembled for quite a while after purchase. I did not know if the manufacturer would be willing to replace the gauge as a warranty item or if they would have to sell it to me. To my amazement, even though the part was not for sale on their website, and I purchased the grill the previous October. They said they would send out the new gauge within a week. Very impressed. I would definitely recommend this product. Simple assembly and controls that are not intimidating for a beginner.

First, I can’t figure out why this is called a 43” wide smoker when it’s actually 24” wide. Adding in the handles only gets it to 28”. Even the specs on the website contradict the title. This is SOOOO much easier than cooking with charcoal. I have no interest in debating the differences of charcoal and gas. This fits our needs perfectly. There’s a TON of room inside and lots of adjustable shelving and one rib rack shelf accessory. We’ve made a turkey, a pork shoulder, brisket and baby back ribs. Delicious! And the entire neighborhood knows what we’re up to. I’ve gotten texts now from two different neighbors asking what smelled so good! For years I avoided smoking because it seemed like way too much effort. I’m so happy to have this smoker. It’s not a lot of effort, and in fact, is actually an enjoyable process. My Wife also loves it. She loves the process and checking on the food and smelling it throughout the day. We’re just learning the different types of wood chips/chunks, injectables, marinades, etc. It does seem to take longer than we plan for, so you have to “figure it out” before you can count on dinner being done on time! Home Depot carries a great selection of wood chips and chunks, by the way. I highly suggest purchasing a cover because it takes on water any time it rains. I had a really hard time locating a cover for it. The mfr does not seem to offer one large enough. I finally found one that fits really well. It’s the perfect length and width, has zippers to make it easier to put on/take off and the chimney pocket aligns and fits perfectly. There’s some overhang in the front, but it’s a non-issue. Search for “Smoke Hollow SC44 Smoker Cover for 44-Inch Smoker” on HD’s website. The build quality is almost perfect for this price point. The one thing I’d complain about is sloppy door fit. The hinge pins are a loose fit, which allows the door to hang crooked on the latch side. It looks awful, but works just fine. Installation was quite easy and didn’t take too long at all. I’ve assembled many such items and this was well executed. !!! NEEDLE VALVE !!! Big complaint coming up… on its lowest setting we could not get the temperature below 270 degrees. We wanted 200 for one batch and 225 for another. I’ve read many similar complaints and I just don’t understand why the manufacturer wouldn’t address this issue. We actually had to prop the lower door open to keep the heat down! Hopefully I have my facts correct here, because I’m going to try to help you. The regulator that comes on this is 0.5 PSI. Believe it or not, there’s still too much flow, so you want to add a needle valve. Home Depot had nothing in the grill section and nobody in the store that knew anything about this. I couldn’t even find any needle valves in plumbing. I found a replacement regulator / needle valve combination at another store, only to discover that it is NOT the right product to use, at 10 PSI! We were able to get our desired temperature with this, but I believe it’s dangerous and am taking back. Even throttled down the burner controls were unresponsive. Plus there are warnings not to use a 10 PSI regulator on a grill. After a ton of research I settled on ordering a high quality “scientific needle valve” online that allows for micro adjusting. I also had to order the misc. brass couplings and adapters required to plumb this into the line. The problem when doing this is that valves and extensions are all NPI (National Pipe Thread) while the gas fittings use a flare SAE fitting. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to locate the required parts. Some were easy once I figured out what to look for, but the adapter for the grill end? Forget about it! I could only find it on a BBQ website in Texas. See the included pictures for my final setup. Parts list for installing the needle valve, starting at the smoker. Note that I went with 3/8” . If you want to step down to 1/4” control valve you’ll have to adjust. • “3/8" Female SAE Gas Flare x 3/8" Male NPT Adapter 33-6B” from Tejassmokers. Only place I found this! • Eaton Weatherhead 3300X6 Brass CA360 Fitting, Coupling, 3/8" NPT Female • Anderson Metals 38300 Lead Free Red Brass Pipe Fitting, Nipple, 3/8" x 3/8" NPT Male, 3-1/2" Length. This is the extension pipe. • Parker 003371002 337 Series Brass Micrometer Flow Control Valve, 3/8" NPTF Port, 250 psi, Fine Adjustment, 59 scfm • “3/8" Male NPT x 3/8" Male SAE Gas Flare Adapter 48-6C” from Tejassmokers. This threads into the NPT valve and you then connect the regulator hose that used to go to the smoker to the SAE flare end. • Teflon tape. No need to go crazy.

This is a nice product, that Came very well packed....take 15 minutes to read the assembly manual, then go to it,It takes about the same time to read the manual as is does to assemble it. A beginner can do this her/himself without any problems as the directions are clear and well written. Remember before you actually cook anything you should light the unit., then turn on high for at least 30 minutes to burn off any oils and grease from assembly at the factory (have wood chips & water in it) As well as seasoning it like you would a good frying pan, I had no experience using a smoker and spent a good amount of time cruising the inter-web for recipes ,suggestions and cooking tips. I ended up cooking some country style spare ribs that turned out delicious.. (see pictures below) It is a heavy gauge well built unit that is easy to use and maintain temperature and I think it is good for anyone from a beginner like me to a seasoned pro....

This is a real big smoker that is an excellent value for what you get.That being said there were a couple of problems,but not a deal breaker for me.The smoker weighs over one hundred pounds and the handles seem a little thin.One of the latch tabs was bent so the door wouldn't lock properly.I had to bend it back to get it to lock.The instructions were excellent and easy to follow,it took about 30 minutes to put together.It comes with a smoker box,water tray and tons of racks with a rib rack.There was Styrofoam everywhere from shipping but the smoker was in good shape.It heats up quickly and holds temps well.All in all this is a great smoker with room for a lot of food and is built to last a long time.Value wise it is excellent.

This smoker was easy to assemble but when unpacking it the upper door had a dent in it. I called Dyna-Glo and they asked me to e-mal them a picture of it and my purchase receipt which I did and they called me back in less than a hour and said they would send me a replacement door in 5-7 business days. It came in 2days! What great customer service!! I've used it a couple of times and all I can say is that I love it! It's really nice to be able to put a whole slab of ribs without having to cut them in half. After reading some of the other reviews about how the temperature was to hot I didn't have any problem keeping it at 200F. One thing that I did do was to buy a 20" x 13" sheet pan that I put on a rack under the food that I'm smoking to collect the drippings and makes clean-up much easier! All I can say is I'm a very satisfied customer!

Arrived on time in perfect condition. Runs about 20 degrees different frim top rack to bottom. As long as you rotate racks your good.

When smoking my burners will go out randomly, Even with a brand new tank..

Takes a little while to get it assembled. I love that it comes with pre-installed door gasket. Had zero smoke leak while doing a brisket. Even with outdoor temperatures down in the low 40s, it did a great job maintaining temperature.

Easy set up just pretty big and heavy. Works great but only for large quantities at once don’t expect to do anymore small smokes.

So far have smoked a prime rib and whole chicken. Both have turned out delicious!! The heavy duty double burner was the selling point for me. Easy to keep the temperature where you want it for several hours with little to no fuss.

You need to high temp caulk the top to the base and the stack. I’ve used it twice now. The firebox is great and holds enough chunk wood to go roughly 6 hours, the water box holds plenty of water but it’s a little odd to fill up. Temp is not an issue in the current cold temps(I’m in TN). I’m very happy.

There was a few dents in the product

Smoker real easy to assemble and use

Great smoker, good price. On my second one ( went to wide body), seals on doors is great feature.

Awesome smoker, no regrets!

Great smooker,easy to use and easy to assemble

Totally satisfied! Great design! Easy setup! Smokes perfectly! Very efficient for its large size!