sdynak
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- Grill(s) owned
- Bull
I apologize for hijacking this thread for the MB 800 but wanted to share my initial unboxing, assembly and first part of the burn in.
My suggestion is if you ever plan on this unit be sure to give yourself a good couple of hours for the unboxing and assembly and do not rush it.
The unboxing took me probably a good 40 minutes at least. I did not time it but this thing has a lot of parts and they are stuffed everywhere. They are all wrapped and protected very well. Given I bought my unit off FB Marketplace, I did have some concerns about damage. I did not find any either from shipping or manufacturing.
For the assembly, I have to estimate somewhere around 2 to 2.5 hrs. I am a technical person and just took my time as I was not in any hurry and was not trying to get it together other than to get the burn in done for day 1.
I am actually impressed in the construction overall. It is nowhere near like the Recteq barrel for thickness and stainless but everything seems well thought out and sturdy. It does not feel cheap and you don't have to be a body builder to move it or open the hood.
Every piece went together without any issue using the manual. There were no thread, screw or alignment issues. It was quite pleasing to put together if I can say so. I could put these together all day if it paid enough LOL.
I did it myself even though my wife was home I had no issues handling it myself. It is very heavy in the box but very light on it's feet. Probably one of the things I found odd was once I flipped it over on the legs with wheels on it rolled effortlessly. Nothing like my Bull. The Bull you have to kind of put some lean into it where the MB 800 rolls quite easily. I'm not sure why this is so different as the weight seems similar right around 220 lbs. each. Maybe It's just me.. .
Onto the initial burn in. I started with the standard smoke/sear baffle and will do the griddle setup another time. I powered up the unit and paired with my phone / WiFi with no issue. I do have to say with my limited use it does appear the unit does need to reconnect every time you open the app. I assume it is designed this way and might not rely on servers like Recteq. The plus for Recteq is the temp history. I do not see that as an option at the moment but I can tell you the history is really not all that important as this unit is steady as a rock with temps. Only thing you have to be sure of is you have enough charcoal and if temps drop possibly it needs to be checked why. I saw maybe a few degree variation which I did not think could be possible with charcoal.
The burn in had stages. Stage 1 is to do 250 for 1 hr. I filled the hopper maybe between 1/4 to 1/2 way as the instructions said with Kingsford briquettes. Placed the starter squares (used 2) lit it and waited maybe 1 minute and shut the hopper and ash door and started operation. It is very quiet.. nothing like the Recteq. If you are looking for a quiet smoker this one is for you. Temp before starting was 48 F. It climbed to just under 250 in about 5 or so minutes. I have videos of some of this which are not downloaded yet. Very impressed in the starting and how quickly it achieved 250 and stayed there. They have this controller down big time!! Stage 1 went as planned with 0 issues and absolute amazing control.
I then shut it down right at the end of stage 1 to go to stage 2. This has you go to 400 for 30 min. I didn't check the hopper as I was hoping the initial amount they said would cover this. Somewhere between 1-2 minutes the unit went from 238 to just under 400 like 396. This is not a error.. 1-2 minutes is what I saw. I did not expect it and thought it was displaying the set temp. Literally walked into the garage to do something quick and came back out and bam it was already there. Stage 2 ran flawless at right around 400 for a 1/2 hour perfectly and without a hiccup. I am truly impressed and can't wait to see what kind of food this thing produces.
At the end of stage 2 I let it cool down and shut the dampers while I ran some errands for maybe 1.5 hrs. Came back and it was cooled down fully so I could put it away back in the garage where her home will be.
The final stage for burn in for smoke/sear is to oil it down inside along with the cast iron grates and run it at 350 for a 1/2 hr. I will do this maybe tomorrow if time permits or during the week to complete the smoke/sear burn in. I will still have to season & burn in the griddle components.
I can't say enough about the overall design, style, features of this unit.
My only complaint is I wish I did this sooner being charcoal. But then again.. I'm not sure how it evolved to this unit. I would have wanted WiFi for sure so that would be a factor if it didn't have it. I can see this unit lasting a long time for my purpose and how I will be storing it so the thickness for me I don't think will be an issue anytime soon. I expect by the time I'm in the market for something again it will be a push of a button and on a plate in front of me like the Jetsons.. LOL.
Sorry again for the hijacking of this post and the long comment. I just had to share how amazing this thing is!!
Here are a few pics after assembly. I will post videos if anyone is interested but don't want to keep this thread off track.
My suggestion is if you ever plan on this unit be sure to give yourself a good couple of hours for the unboxing and assembly and do not rush it.
The unboxing took me probably a good 40 minutes at least. I did not time it but this thing has a lot of parts and they are stuffed everywhere. They are all wrapped and protected very well. Given I bought my unit off FB Marketplace, I did have some concerns about damage. I did not find any either from shipping or manufacturing.
For the assembly, I have to estimate somewhere around 2 to 2.5 hrs. I am a technical person and just took my time as I was not in any hurry and was not trying to get it together other than to get the burn in done for day 1.
I am actually impressed in the construction overall. It is nowhere near like the Recteq barrel for thickness and stainless but everything seems well thought out and sturdy. It does not feel cheap and you don't have to be a body builder to move it or open the hood.
Every piece went together without any issue using the manual. There were no thread, screw or alignment issues. It was quite pleasing to put together if I can say so. I could put these together all day if it paid enough LOL.
I did it myself even though my wife was home I had no issues handling it myself. It is very heavy in the box but very light on it's feet. Probably one of the things I found odd was once I flipped it over on the legs with wheels on it rolled effortlessly. Nothing like my Bull. The Bull you have to kind of put some lean into it where the MB 800 rolls quite easily. I'm not sure why this is so different as the weight seems similar right around 220 lbs. each. Maybe It's just me.. .
Onto the initial burn in. I started with the standard smoke/sear baffle and will do the griddle setup another time. I powered up the unit and paired with my phone / WiFi with no issue. I do have to say with my limited use it does appear the unit does need to reconnect every time you open the app. I assume it is designed this way and might not rely on servers like Recteq. The plus for Recteq is the temp history. I do not see that as an option at the moment but I can tell you the history is really not all that important as this unit is steady as a rock with temps. Only thing you have to be sure of is you have enough charcoal and if temps drop possibly it needs to be checked why. I saw maybe a few degree variation which I did not think could be possible with charcoal.
The burn in had stages. Stage 1 is to do 250 for 1 hr. I filled the hopper maybe between 1/4 to 1/2 way as the instructions said with Kingsford briquettes. Placed the starter squares (used 2) lit it and waited maybe 1 minute and shut the hopper and ash door and started operation. It is very quiet.. nothing like the Recteq. If you are looking for a quiet smoker this one is for you. Temp before starting was 48 F. It climbed to just under 250 in about 5 or so minutes. I have videos of some of this which are not downloaded yet. Very impressed in the starting and how quickly it achieved 250 and stayed there. They have this controller down big time!! Stage 1 went as planned with 0 issues and absolute amazing control.
I then shut it down right at the end of stage 1 to go to stage 2. This has you go to 400 for 30 min. I didn't check the hopper as I was hoping the initial amount they said would cover this. Somewhere between 1-2 minutes the unit went from 238 to just under 400 like 396. This is not a error.. 1-2 minutes is what I saw. I did not expect it and thought it was displaying the set temp. Literally walked into the garage to do something quick and came back out and bam it was already there. Stage 2 ran flawless at right around 400 for a 1/2 hour perfectly and without a hiccup. I am truly impressed and can't wait to see what kind of food this thing produces.
At the end of stage 2 I let it cool down and shut the dampers while I ran some errands for maybe 1.5 hrs. Came back and it was cooled down fully so I could put it away back in the garage where her home will be.
The final stage for burn in for smoke/sear is to oil it down inside along with the cast iron grates and run it at 350 for a 1/2 hr. I will do this maybe tomorrow if time permits or during the week to complete the smoke/sear burn in. I will still have to season & burn in the griddle components.
I can't say enough about the overall design, style, features of this unit.
My only complaint is I wish I did this sooner being charcoal. But then again.. I'm not sure how it evolved to this unit. I would have wanted WiFi for sure so that would be a factor if it didn't have it. I can see this unit lasting a long time for my purpose and how I will be storing it so the thickness for me I don't think will be an issue anytime soon. I expect by the time I'm in the market for something again it will be a push of a button and on a plate in front of me like the Jetsons.. LOL.
Sorry again for the hijacking of this post and the long comment. I just had to share how amazing this thing is!!
Here are a few pics after assembly. I will post videos if anyone is interested but don't want to keep this thread off track.
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