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Shipping was incredibly fast.
I had to use the smoker to find out it didn't work; now it can't be returned.
What's wrong with the smoker:
1. The wood chip box is too far from 800 watt heating element resulting in NO smoke. I followed the initial use instructions and added wood ships in the 2nd hour. After the 3rd hour, the chips on the bottom of the chip pan had started to turn black. I modified the chip box to set directly on the heating element and cranked up the temp to 250 now the chips would burn.
2. Chip box is designed so you can't pick up and empty the box while smoking; you can add chips during smoking but can't remove the ashes.
3. Then there's location of the drip under the chip box and under the water pan; I tried to smoke some salmon and guess where all drippings went? Answer; the drip pan was clean, the water pan and chip box was a mess and so was the area where the heating element was connected.
4. Now that I've used it twice, the steel plate on the back of the top drawer has buckled pulling out the rivets that hold the magnetic drawer seal strip in place.
5. One of the incredibly durable rear adjustable feet broke off the first time I moved the smoker.
6. The top drawer (the one that catches all the drippings cannot be removed for cleaning, the bottom drip pan drawer (the one the stays clean) is removable for cleaning.
7. There's more but that would be nit picking.
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Bought this as a step up from an electric model without temperature control. Had an issue with the first control panel, but Landmann sent a new one right away and it was easy enough to replace. Not sure about any cord issue.This thing is great. It keeps the temperature consistent.......now I can predict within minutes when things will be done. Low maintenance, and I can leave it out in the colder weather and not worry about changing charcoal or my Thanksgiving turkey taking 16 hours. Temperature probe is handy for trying new kinds of meats / foods.
Smoky, juicy flavor can't get any better. Taste is only as good as your recipes, but now there will be no blaming the smoker.
The easy to change water pan and wood compartment are convenient and make clean up simple.
Definitely purchase again.
Best Deals for Landmann USA 32910 Smoky Mountain Vertical Electric Smoker, 32-Inch
Customer review from the Amazon Vine ProgramI've owned this Landmann Smoker since last summer, and wanted to try it out in both warm and super cold weather before reviewing it. Here in northern Minnesota, winter runs about half the year. We start seeing snow every fall around Halloween and usually have our last big snowstorm of the year in early April. So I wanted to see if this electric smoker could handle cooking outside in our extreme cold temperatures. Since it's cold here so much of the year, I was eager to see if the Landmann would hold up to year round smoking.
It arrived packaged well and with no damage. My husband and I spent a little while getting it set up on our side deck and then trying out some of the features. The wheels on the bottom and handle on the back make moving it around easy. The door opens and closes smoothly and stays tightly shut using a magnetic seal. The inside has 4 huge shelves, giving you more than enough room to smoke a ton of food at the same time. There is a food thermometer built into the inside, which lets you monitor your foods internal temperature without needing to open the door.
But my favorite feature is this is a wonderful smoker for both experts and novices. This Landmann Smoker will appeal to both those who like to control every detail of the smoking process and also to those who are just trying to follow directions they pulled off the internet or out of a cook book. With the digital display, I am able to set the temperature of the smoker and then go inside my house and monitor the display from a window. No need to babysit it. This feature has been a huge help while it's been cold outside. Most recently, last week we made a batch of wild goose jerky, even with it being well below freezing temperatures here (it's the beginning of February). It was no more than 5 to 10 degrees outside in the middle of the day, and this smoker held the internal temperature perfectly for the whole day while the meat was cooking.
The metal shelves/racks on the inside slide in and out easily to make room for smoking larger foods. It's also handy for pulling them out and washing them. I've even brought them inside and washed them in our dishwasher. The whole smoker is designed really well, even having a storage drawer on the bottom for keeping the pans and wood chip box. The only thing I would change on this smoker is the length of the power cord on the back. While it's not recommended that people use heating/cooking appliances (like this is) with an extension cord because of the increased chance of an electrical fire starting, you'll find you pretty much have to use one with this smoker because of the short power cord. So if you do use one, get one that's thicker and shorter. Something that's better suited for an appliance like this, and not something thin and long that you would just plug your Christmas lights outside into.
The Landmann smoker is amazingly easy to use, works in even the coldest of temperatures and cooks/smokes food perfectly! It can hold a ton of meats, and the digital panel makes setting the temperature and length of cooking time extremely easy to do. We've been putting ours to the test and other than a short power cable, wouldn't change a thing about it. Love it!!!
Honest reviews on Landmann USA 32910 Smoky Mountain Vertical Electric Smoker, 32-Inch
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The Landmann 32901 is a capable smoker, with a built-in temperature probe and four racks it's easy to smoke several cuts of meat at once. It takes on a fifteen-pound turkey with ease. I've been making some incredibly tender, juicy and delicious hickory smoked turkey this week. The manual conveniently includes a food temperature chart and four recipes to get started with; glazed pork ribs, thanksgiving turkey, smoked Boston butt and smoked salmon.Assembly is not too difficult; all of the necessary hardware is included in a marked packaging for easy cross-reference within the manual. A screwdriver and a level are the only things used during assembly. I find it distracting that of the three identical main handles, the door handle goes flush to the molded door, while the other two leave a very thin gap against the curved drawer surfaces where attached.
The materials are adequate, though the metal for the woodchip box, which is as flimsy as that of the drawer structure holding both it and the water pan, may bend easily as I discovered applying pressure while scrubbing. There are no heavy-duty materials used to build the 32901, but with care, it should last.
The manual provides an initial-use procedure to follow, which consists of a two to three hour run with no water in the pan, and with wood chips added at the second hour; I got this out of the way as soon as I finished assembling the unit.
There are some minor design flaws as far as convenience goes. The meat racks would have benefitted from having a tab on the sides to keep the racks from tilting downward when pulled out; I have to remove the racks completely and set them on something or have someone hold the front of the racks while I'm putting meats on. In addition, the water pan will not lift straight up; because the drawer is permanently attached (unless unscrewed) the water pan must have the front tilted upward to get past the rubber seal around the drawer, and then the pan needs to be pulled out at a tilt this is where having too much liquid and grease will spill.
The cleanup process is proportional to the amount of food prepared. I've quickly learned from experience some best practices to make future cleanup simpler. Most importantly, I know to put foil on the lowest rack above where the wood chip box is to keep off dripping grease. The drawer holding the water pan and woodchip box does not come out, so I will use less water than the recommended one inch below the top of the pan so that I'm not tipping a tray full of grease when I go to remove it.
Operation is incredibly simple. Press the temperature buttons, and then the "+" and "-" buttons adjust the value. Then press the temperature button again to set the value. The cooking time is set in a similar manner, the first press of the time button is for the hours and the second press is for the minutes; adjust each value and press time again to lock it in. The display will alternate the current temperature with the remaining time every five seconds once started. There is a meat button on the front which, when pressed, switches the display to the reading of the temperature probe within the smoker it is internally attached to the smoker by a jack, much like a heat resistant earphone jack, making it easy to remove.
Overall, I am thrilled with the Landmann 32901 Electric Smoker and I'm completely happy with its results. Slow smoking is the way to go for mouthwatering flavor. The food comes out five-star quality. In fairness to potential buyers, I rate the unit overall at four-stars because of the flimsy materials used for specific components and also because of the minor design flaws that Landmann could still iron out if they refine the product. If I had it to do all over again, I would without a second thought. I am very satisfied with this smoker. I love it, and I will continue to use it very often.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Landmann USA 32910 Smoky Mountain Vertical Electric Smoker, 32-Inch
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program When we were debating smokers we looked at both electric and charcoal. The great reviews and history of the Weber 721001 Smokey Mountain Cooker 18-1/2-Inch Smoker won us over, but I still wondered about electric. The ease of use, the cleanliness, the no charcoal mess. So when I got a chance to review an electric smoker I was really excited.The smoker came and looked fine, no shipping damage. When we opened the packaging, however, it had been packed damaged. The top looks like something dripped on it, the bottom back had a large dent, but since it powered up and nothing else seemed damaged I went ahead and had Zach assemble it. The 15-20 minute assembly time might have been right if one of the wheels wasn't over bent at the lip and refused to line up. Zach had to get tools and crimp it out, took him about 15 minutes just for that. If I didn't have guy power I would have had to contact the company for another wheel.
Okay, now it's together and we seasoned it, no big deal, 3 hours on, no water, add wood the second hour. We ended up having to stop and dash it to the shed because it began to rain. Uh.. yeah, that was a big old wake up call, and a foreshadowing of events.
For three weeks I've been unable to even try using the smoker because I live in New Orleans, our average annual rain fall is 62 inches. Problem number one that I never thought of.
The directions say not to use it in rain or storms, and not to store it outside. I hadn't thought of that either. Next it says not to use it under any sort of overhead cover like a carport.. but what if one's patio is covered? Tethered by a 3 foot cord, with admonitions not to use an extension cord, one is a bit limited.
Further reading introduces further limitations, do not use on a wooden deck or porch. So people who live in condos with a covered balcony shouldn't use this, even if they have an outside outlet. With the weber I can move it anywhere, middle of the driveway, etc. Okay, so we have weather and limited mobility.
Today was sunny so I finally decided to set up both smokers. I had grandiose plans, dear reader. I took a pork roast and split it in half. I rubbed both exactly the same. The idea was to smoke half in the electric smoker and half in the weber, and then compare, compare smoke rings and do a blind taste test with my guys.
At first the landmann was really winning. Ease of set up beats the weber hands down. Plug it in, fill the tiny water pan (which has to be filled every three hours. I once did a brisket with the Weber and 14 hours later it still had water in the water pan), set the temperature, put in the meat, and it's on.
Meanwhile I have the charcoal mess of the Weber, starting the chimney, the landmann was a good half hour quicker to get going, much easier and less messy, no open flame, point Landmann, right up until it blew a fuse. Okay.. but we reset, and this time it was going great guns. It's on!
And then, in the background, an ominous rumbling. Dark clouds rolled in like something from a Stephen King movie. Rain lashed, thunder boomed, Lightening struck, and the power went out, which was good as it gave us a chance to yank the cord out of the outlet without getting electrocuted. Meanwhile the Weber chugged on.
45 min the storm is done, but there is an inch of water on my patio and no way am I risking electrocution to try the electric smoker again. so I moved the meat over to the Weber.
15 minutes later we lost power again for 25 minutes, so my meat would have just been sitting there.
Now, one can argue this isn't a good review, it doesn't say how the meat turned out, how the smoker performed, but to that I answer if I can't use it because of all the restrictions then that too is a review. I never thought about the fact I couldn't move the smoker more than three feet from wherever my outlet was located, that I couldn't use it under a covering like a patio cover, or on a porch or deck. I never considered the rain we get and how often I would not be able to use the smoker.
If one lives in the dessert where it rains once a year, has a concrete patio with no cover, an outlet, then this is probably a great option. The mess is minimal, set up super easy, and it did seem to be smoking nicely until nature interfered.
The unit itself seems nicely made if they send an undamaged one. And for some situations it might be great, dry areas, people who don't plan to smoke often, etc, but it's just a little too demanding for this swamp gal.
*edited, I finally got some salmon to test out the smoker. I figured salmon is a short smoke time and I could maybe get it done before it rained. The book that comes with the smoker has 4 recipes. I decided to try their recipe for salmon because I figured, being one of the recipes in the book, it would work. Hmm.. first it called for 2 gallons of water, 2-3 cups sugar, and salt. Salt? How much salt, a tablespoon? A cup? No answers here, I had to go online to look for salmon brine. I I know this isn't a cookbook but come on, four recipes, and they can't give the salt ratio for a brine? I'd expect they'd want to show off the smoker better.
Okay, so I got the 90 minutes to smoke the salmon, and it was fine. It was moist, I could tell it was smoked, it wasn't as smokey as what I get in the Weber but for something delicate like fish that's good. I had no problem with temperature control and the door kept a snug fit allowing the smoke to fully permeate the fish.
My final thoughts:
Pros:
hands down easier set up than a charcoal smoker
Does a nice job for quick smoking like fish
Cons:
cord limits versatility
small water pan is inconvenient for meat needing long smoking times
anywhere that is prone to afternoon showers or a rainy season will have long stretches of time they won't be able to use the smoker at all
In the end I would stick with my charcoal smoker except for short bursts of smoking, like fish, when it's too much of a pain to set up the charcoal for something so quick. Would I buy this, or any other electric smoker, no. In the end the short term convenience isn't worth the limitations on an electric smoker.
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