I've had a cheaper brinkman charcoal unit that I used for about 8 years before it died. I thought it was great.. until I tried other units. The charcoal was hard to add- the pan was "in place". no draft control. No heat control. No moisture control. Still had some great smoked turkeys, but results and times were inconsistent.
I switched a few years back to a "side box" smoker, by charbroil. It worked pretty well, but being in the north east, wind, rain, winter, fall, all affected the temperature. Got some excellent results, but often ended up with over cooked items.
Last year, I purchased a masterbuilt electric smoker. For years I was shunned by fellow BBQers, but I didn't care; bbq competition rules only apply to competition. And here's why I think they are superior.
1. Try to get an "insulated" smoker. Whether it be charcoal or electric, insulation is key to smooth out any external temperature fluctuation. Even out west, it gets cold at night, so having insulation gets you more consistent results. It also saves you gas (propane), electricity, wood, charcoal. And some of those wood for smoking can get expensive. A super hot fire will burn through it quick.
2. Draft control. If you cant control the air going in, your fire may overun you, making for impossible temperature control. A flue damper control isn't enough (the one on top). it will trap in a lot of the not so good burning flavors. ones which don't have draft control (like my old brinkman) also don't have air tight lids, making for some not so great (and sometimes disastrous) results.
Electrics have a lot of gadgets that are really great for having awesome overnight smokes without a lot of user intervention. In competition, we are not allowed gas or electric as the heat source, so we have fancy devices that track internal temps of the smoker, and the internal temp of the meats. Its all hooked up to mini computer. They do sell an electric draft controller that you can retrofit on your charcoal smokers if you wish, (mostly for side boxes) which will open and pump in air should the temp die down (which it does, as the charcoal gets ashy the heat is insulated in).
My masterbuilt came with an internal meat probe- internal air temp- timer, remote control with remote display, external wood chip feeder, clear door, and insulation. By far the easiest and best way- And also allows you to do cold smoking of cheese and fish. I smoked a few racks of ribs in the winter time- it was 28 degrees. As the wind blew, the temp did change- by 1 degree. Its so consistent, that I can just about set the timer, go back inside the house, go to sleep, and just check the remote from bed after 4-5 hours to see the internal meat temp. If its good, I just hit the off button, and go back to sleep!
I could never do that with any other option!
As for "pellet"- It is more smokey- If you want a good heavy smoking, pellets are the way to go. You have to do more work on the cheaper ones with the chute- it drops the wood pellets onto a little tray that is right over the coils. It burns quickly, even when soaked overnight- I'll get maybe an hour of smoke or less. I've dumped 4 loads, and gotten only 2 hours of smoking. The pellets are truly set it and forget it options.
