Optimus H-3001 Mini Compact Utility Heater with Thermostat Review

Customer Ratings:

I like this heater because it is so compact and keeps me warm. I am happy with this size of heater for easy storage & it does not take up alot of room on my desk.

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Good/tough heater for small spaces. Used it to heat up an outdoor cabinet in freezing temperatures. It often ran continuously for days.

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I bought one at Western Auto, $30. It worked lo with fan, eventually fan sticks, hi breaks circuit, & 'tis all, 2yrs. Optimus H-3001 Mini Compact Utility Heater with Thermostat

Discount Dimplex Caprice Free Standing Electric Fireplace in Cherry

Customer Ratings:

I am SO happy with my Dimplex mantle and fireplace. It works perfectly and looks gorgeous in my room. The finish is darker than I would expect from "cherry," but the pictures do show it as being dark.

I check out gas fireplaces now and think my Dimplex has a prettier "fire"

There is a soft motor noise when I use the heater, but it's not bad. Choosing whether or not to have the heat is a great feature. Also there is a slight "new appliance" odor when I use the heat. I expect that to go away. I definitely would recommend this product.

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Bought for my parents , who absolutely love it. It adds depth to whatever room you place it in. The fire looks realistic and it also provides heat. My folks are giddy!!!!

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I've had this fireplace for about 3 years now and couldn't be more pleased with it. It looks great in my living room. The remote that comes with it works wonderfully, you don't even have to aim it at the fireplace to turn it on or off. This fireplace heats well too. I wouldn't recommend it as your only source of heat of course, but for those chilly nights you can turn it on and feel a noticeable difference in the room temperature within a couple minutes. The flames also look very realistic! I constantly get compliments on this fireplace, I'd highly suggest it.

Honest reviews on Dimplex Caprice Free Standing Electric Fireplace in Cherry

I bought mine from OneWayFurniture.com to save a little money. They used Ceva Trucking to deliver it. The fireplace was delivered today and it's more beautiful than the photo. The delivery guys carried the box up a flight of stairs, opened it and took all the pieces out for me so I could inspect everything and then they were happy to haul the empty box and packing away for me.

It took me about 15 minutes to put together, using the wing nut bolts provided. That's it. No screwdriver or alan wrenches. The veneer is a rich cherry, more like mahogany, and once put together, everything fit great. The glass and log insert just slides right in.

I put a solid piece of wood a little larger than the fireplace base underneath because I have carpet, giving it a firmer foundation to sit on.

This really is an elegant addition to my room and am looking forward to many hours of cozy fireplace time this winter.

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I bought this because it was electric with a bulb & nothing to mess with. Now that Amazon keeps sending me comparable ones that are HALF the price of the one that I bought, I'm feeling like I should've researched more. Also, it arrived with some pretty major scratches on it, but I fixed them easily with a wood marker.

All that said, I love this fireplace. The look, the flame, & the heat all feel like a real fireplace!

Reviews of Lincoln Electric Stove

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.00
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus: 40% Off

Our Dimplex Lincoln Cranberry Freestanding Electric Stove-DS5629CR arrived today--days ahead of schedule. It is very well made with a very nice color and finish. The fan runs quiet and the flame looks real.

All in all a very awesome little stove!

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Best Bunn-O-Matic NHB 10-Cup Professional Home Coffee Brewer, Stainless Deals

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List Price: $129.99
Sale Price: $99.99
Today's Bonus: 23% Off

This is the fastest coffee maker I have ever experienced!!!! When you first set it up, be sure to follow the instructions, because it's a little weird that you fill it with two decanters of water to get started. However it really does make 10 cups of coffee in what seems like seconds! Great for home or office. You will not be disappointed!

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Water runs through to fast, coffee taste like hot colored water. We have tried up to 15 heaping scopes for a 10 cup pot and still no real coffee taste, plus wasting a lot of coffee. Not at all what I expected from a Bunn.

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I have wanted a Bunn for as far back as I can remember. I finally got this one and am so disappointed. Unfortunately for me I knew it was going to be awesome and I threw the box out so I can't return it. It'll work for guests I suppose.

Best Cuisinart CFO-1000 Lazy Susan Electric Fondue Maker Deals

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List Price: $145.00
Sale Price: $79.95
Today's Bonus: 45% Off

Great Foundue. I bought two of these at the time I ordered it. The electical cord is a little short but I could deal with that. I did a good job heating the cheese and clean up was very easy. I would buy another one. But I already bought two. I bought two for one reason. Holiday time. Keeping dips warm for holiday party's and one dipping fruit into white or dark choc.

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My family of five loves fondue. I've owned maybe 4 different fondue sets over the last 20 years, but recently researched for what I thought would be the best fondue set available, within limits of cost. The CFO-1000 has everything I needed: Stable pot or legs, magnetic release electrical cord, Teflon coated, can use with cooking oil(not all fondue pots are designed for oil), very precise 10 point temperature control dial, heavy gauge aluminum pot, 3+ quart tank which will accommodate up to 8 fondue forks and completely, completely dishwasher safe! The lazy-susan is just a bonus and it really is a great lazy-susan. The legs that elevate this fondue pot are made from a high-impact type plastic and are very securely attached to the pot, which makes this pot unbelievably stable. This pot should realistically last a lifetime. Every part on this set, including the legs, heating control dial and electrical plug-in, are all individually replaceable. Heating element burns out...order a new heating element and not a whole new set. Good Luck!

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present for hubby who cooks as good as my mom! Happy father's day! The quality of this fondue set is outstanding!

Honest reviews on Cuisinart CFO-1000 Lazy Susan Electric Fondue Maker

I love this brand is one of my favorites, what I like most is his style and is ideal for the whole family. certainly one of the best fondue I've had.

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Tired of not being able to keep oil or broth hot enough for meat fondue on traditional fondue pots, we switched to this electric and are very pleased. Fondue stayed hot through the whole meal, and when it got too hot, a quick turn of the knob lowered the temp very quickly. The forks were great quality too, though I wish they were a bit longer they are slightly short for fondue forks. If it came with 8 condiment/sauce dishes for the lazy susan, I'd give it 5 stars. There's plenty of room for more dishes, but no way to even order more as accessories. Also, the lazy susan tends to be a little difficult to turn it sticks at times. It's not a big deal, but if I were trying to improve the product, I would address that. Warning the cord is very short. It didn't matter to us, as we were using an extension cord anyway, but the cord is much shorter than I have ever seen on any kitchen item. Superb temperature control plus the lazy susan for access to sauces or dipping items make this a winner.

Cheap Bionaire Micathermic Element Console Heater

Customer Ratings:

This product is very similar to the higher priced BH3900. The review below also applies to this.

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My new home came with central heating. I loved the convenience, but wanted a heater for the bedroom so I didn't have to heat the entire home through the night, when it was only one room we needed heat in. There began my quest for a portable electric heater!

My first try was a Bionaire Digital Tower Ceramic Heater. It went right back to the store the moment I realized how powerful (read : noisy) the fan inside was. It did do a decent job warming up the room though.

I knew I'd like something quiet. Real quiet. My next try was an Oil Filled Radiator. It was much quieter just low clicking sounds (probably from the metal or oil expanding?) but failed to impress on heating. It took almost an hour to make a significant difference to a cold room (12x14) and barely kept the temperature up through the night with the thermostat dialled up. When in use the surface turned really hot and I worried about someone stepping into it in the middle of the night or my cat scalding herself while trying to kill it :)

I decided to try the Bionaire BH3900 it promised swifter heating and a cool surface. My wife and me were delighted! It warms the room up much swifter than the oil filled radiator and is absolutely silent! The heat mostly escapes out the top and there isn't a lot of heat radiated to the sides. The grille on the side makes this look more elegant than the radiators and just gets luke warm even when this has been running all night. And while my cat has sniffed at the grille (when on) she hasn't been tempted into attacking it yet.

This was twice the price of the other options we looked at but were sold on it the first night we tried using it. I wish the thermostat were digital (knob takes some tweaking to find your sweet spot) but our quest for a heater has ended.

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We bought this model from Costco in October, 2006 and used it for about two years, with pretty much continual usage from October to May. It's quiet and puts out enough heat for a large room. It stopped working after two years. I noticed that it was still under warranty so I contacted (emailed) customer service at Bionaire. They were very cooperative and sent us a new unit at no charge.

I disassembled the older unit and it seemed well built. I found that the on off switch was broken. This is a "snap in" plastic switch and if you are careful you can pry it out of the faceplate with a small screwdriver or knife. For those of you who may have a similar problem the switch is a round, illuminated SPST rocker type and it's made by a factory in China under the brand name RLEIL model RL3-5. Either the switch broke and then fried or it overheated and some plastic melted internally. In any case the switch doesn't appear to be as heavy duty as it should be and I would recommend not using the "high" or 1500 watt setting for this unit. I bought a pack of 10 spare switches on Ebay for $5 so that's gives you an idea how cheap they are made. It doesn't appear that these switches have a UL rating.

Postscript: April 14th OK, I got the new unit under warranty and it's been improved! Instead of a lighted on off switch they have a separate light on the front panel to let you know the unit is running. So the new switch looks to be heavier duty. Also, they changed the design of the front panel handle to allow easier access to the panel for disassembly and repairs should they be needed.

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One of the reasons I like shopping at Amazon is that you get to research the product you're interested in by getting some real feedback on the product from actual owners. I find that part extremely valuable. Anyway back to my thoughts on the Bionaire BH3950-U Silent Micathermic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat. Keep in mind I only had this heater for a few days. First thing is that shipping was incredibly fast. I selected Super Saver shipping which knocked out the shipping charge and I was expecting it to arrive a bit slower than regular shipping but to my surprise I received the heater in 2 days. I was not expecting that at all. There is a bit of assembly required with this heater but trust me, it is minimal. You'll just have to attach a set of wheels, a set of foot pegs and then the handle. All of it was done without tools. Yes that's right. Without tools. The screws that were supplied were the wing-nut or thumbscrew type so you honestly don't need a screwdriver and the assembly was accomplished in 10 minutes.

The heater is very neat looking. The design is very similar to the Duh-long-high type oil-filled heaters. (Yes I was being cruel to Delonghi) The frame of the heater is made of hard plastic and the sides are what appear to be of a chicken-wire type enclosure. This allows you to fully see the internal panels or heating elements. You will notice 3 heating elements. Now strangely the design is not ugly. It's kind of cool to see what's going on inside the heater. Now those oil filled heaters work OK but they take soooo long to get hot and if you're not careful you can burn yourself with them. No worry about burning yourself with the Bionaire and it gets hot very quickly. Even on the Low wattage setting the unit begins to give off heat after just 30 seconds of turning it on. I have not needed to use the High wattage setting by the way. The controls are similar to the oil-filled heaters. Could it use a digital thermostat?? Maybe but really the turn-dial thermostat works just fine. The heater is near silent. Just the occasional expansion sounds as the unit heats up or cools off as well as the clicking sound coming from the thermostat. These little noises didn't bother me at all. They actually reminded me that the unit was running. What about the weight?? Anybody who owns an oil-filled heater knows that you have to be somewhat healthy enough to lift that thing. The Bionaire is incredibly light. The product specs claim 15 or 20 pounds but that cant be right because it feels like only 5 pounds or less. It is truly and remarkably light weight. I find that sometimes the wheels are a bit unnecessary because if I need to place it in another room, it's faster if I just pick it up and bring it to the other room instead of rolling it around. I plan to purchase a second unit soon because it is working so well but I want to give this unit a chance to properly prove itself to me before I purchase a second.

To be honest I was pleasantly surprised at how well this heater works. I wasn't expecting it to work too well but I was happily proven wrong. Strong and quick heat in a handsome design. Now I've seen some folks mention that they bought theirs from Costco but since I don't have a membership to that place it didn't pay for me to go and get membership and then pay for the unit. For current Costco members yes you absolutely got a great deal on a fantastic heater.

I am very, very pleased with this heater. I have it on in my den right now as I'm typing this review and it is so toasty warm in here. Give it a try for yourself. Good luck and stay warm.

P.S.When you turn the heater on for the first time there will be somewhat of a strong odor coming from the unit. "New smell" as I like to call it. Completely normal. In fact the papers that come with the unit mentions this. Let it run for about 30 to 45 minutes in a room with a window slightly open and it will be fine. I placed mine in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the exhaust fan running and after that the strong odor was gone.

Honest reviews on Bionaire Micathermic Element Console Heater

This Bionaire BH3950-U MicaThermic Heater is the exact same product as the Holmes Micathermic CNSL Heater that sells for $79.99 at sears (Sears item# 03276161000) that has good reviews as well. The Holmes heater's model is the same as well (Mfr. model# BH3950-U). The confusion is the the earlier model (Mfr. model# BH3900) has the Holmes brand while the later model is the Bionaire brand. There are a few modifications: changed from 8 smaller heating panels to 3 larger ones; changed low/high dial to a low/high switch. Go figure?! We like our Bionaire MicaThematic. The new technology (sandwiched element between 2 layers of mica) works well in our small den.

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We bought this heater a few weeks ago from Costco for just under Fifty bucks. Much less than the $80+ models I have seen elsewhere. I was concerned that it might not effectively heat our large downstatirs bedroom/nursery (200+ sq ft). Well, my concerns have been abated. I set the heater on low and the dial to almost half way and our room stays at a nice 65-68 degrees. In our cold Colorado temps (it snowed just last night) it has performed well above my expectations. This heater makes no noise. The only indication is a green light that illuminates when it is running and a soft click when it turns on. There was a slight smell during the initial burn in, but I just set it in my garage on high for an hour and have not smelled anything since. Over all, a great little heater. I would definately recommend this to anyone

Discount ProCom Dual Fuel Vent-Free Gas Log Set - 32,000 BTU, Model# PCD24TD

Customer Ratings:

We actually purchased the Cedar Ridge fireplace (Lowes because Amazon did not sell it) which included the Procom 32,000 btu gas logs, unvented, with a remote to control the heat setting. We placed it in our dining room, and find it heats the 1800 sq ft ranch house we live in. Our home is an open plan, so this helps the warm air move from room-to-room, plus we use ceiling fans located in most of our rooms. If we had placed it in our family room we would have found it too warm for our needs or maybe we would have purchased a unit with less BTUs, but we knew we needed to heat more of the rooms than just the family room.

We keep a window slightly open at each end of the house, and so far have had absolutely no health problems with this unit, such as headaches, nausea, sleepiness, etc. We use a couple different brands of Co2 monitors and they have not moved from zero. The odor is slight if at all, which surprised us because my husband has a workshop in the basement, which I thought would become a problem with it mingling with gas, but this has not been the case. We had relatives compliment us on our unit due to not having the odor that some units seem to have.

I know there is much debate about unvented natural gas logs, and we once had a gas stove that we hated, but that was some years ago. We decided that we would try this again and so glad we did because we haven't had to run our furnace (electric heat which expensive) during the day and evening, but it is set to run if needed should our home go below 64-deg. at night when we are sleeping.

WE DO NOT USE THE GAS UNIT WHILE WE SLEEP AND THE GAS IS TURNED OFF FOR SAFETY. As far as humidity goes, so far we don't have a problem with it, and in the cold weather, the humidity is welcomed for us since we do not get the static as we do with our furnace.

One thing we will absolutely do is keep our unit maintained. We will follow the directions in the book concerning cleaning, maintenance, etc., so that this unit will be efficient and effective.

For us, this unit has been every thing we hoped it would be, and of course we hope it stays that way.

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I also bought the "Cedar Ridge" branded version of this but it is the same manufacturer and product. It is a basic gas log without any frills but it looks nice and is a very good value. Install was pretty straightforward and it has been working well. We like the thermostat feature which turns it off for a little while when the room warms up then back on after several minutes to keep the room warm.

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I purchased a Procom gas log set Model # 4222357 approximately 2 1/2 years ago from Lowes. Just about 1 year 10 months from the date they were installed they stopped working. I called the installer to check them and he quickly shut off the gas and took out the logs. At that point, he felt the logs were not safe to repair and reinstall. Part of the metal on the unit was actually melted. I called the company since they were supposed to have a two year warranty. After waiting about 45 minutes to get to talk with someone, I explained the situation and he told me to take pictures and send to them. I did this but after 3 weeks, still no response. I e-mailed them again only to get a response saying they would have to get more information and speak with the installer. To make a long story short, I purchased a new set of logs (not ProCom of course) and ended up disposing of the ProCom set. So like I say, no use dealing with customer service. It's the worst experience I've ever had dealing with a Customer Service department!

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very pleased with item--have saved all kinds of money on our fuel costs this winter by using vent free logs

Cheap Bradley 4 Rack Digital Smoker

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $549.00
Sale Price: $359.00
Today's Bonus: 35% Off

It looks like a very small refrigerator.

Every piece of sheet metal is sanded on the edges, no cuts from sharp edges.

Easy to put together, no more difficult than putting together a refrigerator.

Quiet as a refrigerator too.

Read the instructions and season it first as directed.

You will need extra wood pellets. It does not come with any in the box, so order some extras. Each pellet lasts about 20 minutes.Bradley Apple Bisquettes 48 pack

NOTE: you have to put at least 4 pellets in the stacker to get it to burn 1 pellet. Just the way it works. I put in two pellets and nothing smoked. It needs 4 pellets to push the pellets along the tray to the burner. Not a problem, just try to remember that 3 of the pellets won't burn.

So, if you want to cook for 4 hours you need: 3 pellets per hours x 4 hours = 12 pellets + 3 pellets to get them to burn plate = 15 pellets.

I tested a Butterball Turkey Breast first. I followed the Bradley instructions in their cookbook Bradley Recipe Book Volume 1 for the turkey cooking temperatures. I used their glaze recipe under the skin. I also used a wireless remote meat thermometer Oregon Scientific AW131 Grill Right Wireless Talking BBQ/Oven Thermometer feed the probe wire through the roof vent of the smoker. I used the apple pellets from Bradley Apple Bisquettes 120 pack

I sat back and waited. A few hour later the Oregon Scientific AW131 Grill Right Wireless Talking BBQ/Oven Thermometer began to chirp "almost done" "Almost done". The wireless thermometer is great because I was smoking the week of Thanksgiving and it was in the 30's outside so not having walk out to the smoker to check the meat was ideal. (My wife was concerned about the smoker being able to maintain cooking temperature in the cold outside. This smoker was stable, the temperature stayed steady. the outside of the unit did not get hot to the touch, except around the smoke vent which is to be expected.)

I used a Taylor Analog Instant-Read Dial Thermometer to verify the temperature of the meat when the wireless told me it was done. Both thermometers were within a degree of each other.

I took the turkey breast out of the smoker and let it rest for about an hour. The color was extremely golden skin. Not black or Smokey but as if was dipped in golden lacquer. A gorgeous turkey breast. No burnt places, not excess smoke, perfect. When I carved the Turkey breast it was as moist as a wet sponge. Unbelievably tasty, nothing like store bought smoked turkey. The taste of the turkey was like that of caviar compared to fish sticks, it was rich, smooth and wonderful.

This smoking robot works. Just add a Oregon Scientific AW131 Grill Right Wireless Talking BBQ/Oven Thermometer to you don't have to walk outside and let it do its job.

Also, we ran the smoker on our back porch, about 10 feet from the house. It only exhausts a small amount of smoke while working. It did not look like a fire at the, just a little smoke, less than the steam from a tea kettle. If you cheat and peak while it is cooking you will get your clothes smoked and have to change for dinner, but the smoke from the smoker did not get into the house otherwise.

Easy to setup, easy to control and easy to cook with. Oh, the trays are 11x15 so you could put a 12-14 pound turkey in it. Next is a Roast, Ribs and some Cheeses. The Bradley Recipe Book Volume 1 also includes recipes for cheese, fruit, and more. Just follow the instructions and be patient. It can do both hot and cold smoking.

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This is a very slick little unit with a digital temperature control and automatic smoke generator, using a wood chip biscuit feeder. Technically it should be hands off. More on that later.

It is made in the Orient and resembles one of those small inexpensive refrigerators complete with plastic trim. The interior is lined with very thin gauge Stainless Steel, and has 4 thin gauge racks. It is fairly light weight especially without the smoke generator attached. Assembly was fairly straight forward and is easy to move around.

The smoke generator uses lightly packed disks consisting of small wood chips. These are distributed by Bradley in various wood types. The smoke generator heats them individually on a small plate until they smoke. After 20 minutes another is indexed into place, pushing the used up bisquette as a blackened disk into a water tray, just short of rendering it to ashes. A tubular magazine holds enough bisquettes to last for many many hours.

The main issue I have with it is it's very poor temperature control. The key to smoking meat is to keep the temperature low and slow. This unit struggles with that, deviating considerably from the set temperature, specifically going higher. There is a 500W heating element in the smoke tower that comes on once the thermostat drops 10 degrees below the set temperature. The actual temperature in the smoke tower rises rapidly once the heater comes on but the thermostat lags way behind, allowing the actual temperature to rise well above what is desired. The temperature could be some 40 degrees or more above the thermostat reads. This is an especially serious problem if you are using a sugar based rub, because it will start to burn above 240 to 250F. Not to mention the fact that the meat will cook too rapidly.

Also being that the smoke tower has so little mass there isn't much to hold the heat, so opening the door to check on the status or baste causes the temperature to drop rapidly.

The other issue I have is that after 3 hours of smoking, I was surprised to see that the meat showed little evidence of smoking. The taste was there somewhat but seemed weak.

In my final analysis I would say you get what you pay for. Conceptually it has a lot to offer, and it's design seems very well thought out, but in practice falls short. With just a little more effort in the way of a better thermostat it would be immensely better. Also I'm not convinced it needs a 500W heater, it's possible a 250W unit could keep up and improve heat versus thermostat control.

Update: It's Superbowl Sunday 2012 and I'm using my Smoker for some Chicken Thighs. It's only the 4th time I've used it in just short of a year from when initially purchased it. It heated up initially but then packed it in after about 30 minutes. The heating element has failed. I now get to check out their customer service.

Update: Customer service is so far excellent.

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I've owned the OBS for about a momth now and have smoked all kinds of meat. It's so simple and easy that I know I will be using it far more frequently than a standard smoker just because it's easy. I'm able to run it on my deck without worry of torching the house since it cooks with electric element.

One of the cons of this product as I was researching it is that you have to buy Bradley's wood chips (biscuits) to use in the feeder mechanism and the cost associated with that. I don't see that as a problem at all since you'd be spending money for charcoal and or standard wood chips anyway. True that running this unit would be a bit more expensive than another electric smoker. But, it's well worth the additional operating cost to be able to run an overnight smoke without having to get up in the middle of the night several times to add wood for smoke or stoke a fire.

One last thing....if you're comparing the Original Bradley to the Digital Bradley; buy the Original and purchase the Auber digital PID with it instead of buying the Digital Bradley. The Auber digital component is a plug and play digital temp control unit that is much more accurate than what is provided with the Digital Bradley. I find on the Bradley forum that many who bought the Digital Bradley end up purchasing the Auber PID to override the standard Bradley digital component anyway.

Honest reviews on Bradley 4 Rack Digital Smoker

Note, comments relate to the 6-rack digital but I believe are largely applicable to all the Bradley Smokers

I was really excited to get this product and spent over a year trying to get it to work. After a year and a bunch of research I came to the conclusion that the product is crap. You are welcome to do your own research but I think what you will find is that this product is very easy to use. However, the ease of use comes at the cost of a smoker that does an unsatisfactory job of actually smoking. As you know the key to good smoking is maintaing conistant heat and the Bradley is simply not designed to do this.

My list of issues are as follows:

1) The six rack smoker has the same heating element as the four rack smoker. So while it is significanlty larger it has no more power than the smaller model. I believe its heating element is only like 500 watts and I believe my wifes hair dryer has more power than that.

2) The heating element in the smoker is way underpowered for the six rack unit (and I suspect the four rack one as well). It takes over an hour to heat up to 200 degrees and then drops way down when you open it up to put the food in and takes well in excess of another hour to get back up to tempeture. It was so under powered that I would just leave the unit set at its highest setting, like 300 degrees, and I do not think I ever got the unit up past 250 degrees. Since it was so underpowered it took very long cook so that towards the end of my use with it, after the smoke had set, I would take the food out and put it on the gas barbque at 250 degrees to finish off.

3) Owing to the design every time you have to open the unit to check on the food you loss all of the heat (i.e. there is no effective heat sink) which then takes for ever heat up. Think about it, to service the unit you have to open the door competely allows all the heat to escape.

4) the design of the heating element creates hot spots along the back of unit and it is significanly hotter at the bottom than it is at the top. Bradley themselves recommend rotating the racks front to back and top to bottom to get an even cooking. This means you need to open the door which allows all the heat to escape.

5) the digital thermostat is located just above the heating element so it reads high. The spread between the tempeture reading on the digital unit and one taken manually from the top of the unit is like 30 degrees.

6) the digital thermostat has like a 20 degree varience between starting and stoping when it is at tempature. Do research, I read that people recommend buying the orginal and an after market digital thermostat which is far superiour and overall cheaper than buying the digital Bradley.

7) An electric smoker will not give you a smoke ring. The smoke ring comes from a chemical reaction related to the carbon burning off from charcol or wood. The smoke ring is a sign of good smoked food.

My reasoning for giving it 2 stars is because the smoke generator works wonderfully well.

The cons in my humble opinion so far out weight the pro's that a cheap guy like me gave the Bradley away. Spending almost $500 on a smoker to dump it becasue it does not do a good job hurts, expecially when all of the issues that I listed above are well documented on the net and I failed to do the detailed research before hand.

Rather than trying to modify the Bradley to try to get it to work I decided to buy a Weber Smokey Mountain. While WSM is lacking the electronics it is wonderful to use. It maintins the heat like an oven, I actually cannot believe how fast it heats up and how long it will maintain a constant tempeture without any adjustment. There is lots of support for the WSM on the internet and I really do not see it being any harder to use. Personally, I also like the idea of cooking with charcoal, it just adds to the mistique of smoking food and impresses the neighbors.

This product in my mind is just a gimmick which produces an unsatisfactory product. Please, do yourselves a favour and read the Bradley sites on the net and you will see all of the issue I mention above are documented and the modifications people are doing to deal with heat and tempeture issues. Knowledge is power.

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I've actually had this for nearly two years. My wife initially scoffed at my purchase, suggesting it would only be used a couple of times before it was forgotten. However, she's since come around and we use it frequently -she actually uses it more than I do. We've probably put about 150 pounds of salmon and easily 600-800 pounds of brisket through it. In addition to ribs, turkey legs, sausage, potatoes and even eggplant.

My one complaint is that the fuse holder broke about a month ago (20 months after I bought it). I repaired it with a $1.99 fuse holder from Radio Shack and about 15 minutes of labor -by no means is this a deal-breaker, but at the price they could have sprung for a more durable component.

All-in-all the ease of use of this la-z-que is unbeatable. I can put a brisket in before I go to bed, load the feeder tube with pucks, set the temp and know it'll be perfect when I wake up.

Best EdgeStar Server Cool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner Deals

Customer Ratings:

Installed this unit in my server room and the exhaust blower fan broke in 5 months. The company sent a replacement unit and this unit lasted 2 years then the cooler blower fan broke. It worked well while it was working but considering I have a "As seen on TV" portable air conditioner" in my other server room thats been running for 8 years without failure and cost half as much I wouldn't recommend this product.

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Had mine for only two months then compressor went, all of a sudden BAM loud and jumping,

Now lets see how they stand up to the warranty,

Best Deals on EdgeStar Server Cool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

First of all, it does work quite well for a portable unit. None of these will work as good as a window unit, but we need to cool an internal office with no windows. We have bought smaller of the same brand before and had mixed luck, so this time we luckily bought an extended warranty. Like other people mentioned, they cost more to repair than replace. The extended warranty company is just going to send us a new one.

It seems with this brand if you make it past the 2 year mark, they keep going. I'd highly recommend some type of extended warranty.

Honest reviews on EdgeStar Server Cool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

READ UPDATE BELOW ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This unit was a good unit for us. We were really happy with it. It seem to work good, cool good, have all the parts we need, etc. We bought it in 9/2011 and it helped lower the heat in the server room we have.

We purchased it because we have a room with a few servers and wanted to cool it down. We had to put it on its own breaker because with the servers and hardware sometime it would trip the switch which was fine.

So as good as it seem to be we never thought we would be writting this review. DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT!!!!

WHY YOU ASK, after their one year service agreement expired, our unit started to act up. Not blowing out cold air. Well they would not help because it was out of warranty, ok I understand that. They said just contact your local AC repair company and have them come fix it. No problem, just like if we need our house unit repaired. Then as we call around we find that NO ONE SEEMS to repair these units. This company does not have any agreements with anyone to repair them. You can not find anyone who is willing to come repair them. At almost $1000, i figured someone out there must repair these things. My team has been calling and searching for a few days and when I ask the company again here is their reply:

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Hello,

Thanks for contacting EdgeStar. In response to your inquiry:

You can contact EdgeStar Support to obtain a Return Authorization to send the unit to the EdgeStar Authorized Repair facility, and you would incur all costs of shipping to and from the repair facility, cost of packaging the item properly, and the cost of parts and labor.

Please contact us at 1-866-319-5473 to set that up.

Regards,

Michael

EdgeStar Support

service@edgestar.com

866-319-5473

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SO imagine how this will work, your server room or what ever you are keeping cool, you now have to send your AC unit back to them. Pack it up, ship it off and hope you get it back in a few weeks. OH and pay for the cost, which who knows what that might be. It might be the price of a NEW unit.

DO NOT DO NOT BUY THIS!!!!! I understand warranties but how do they sell something that can not be repaired when THEY say have your local repair person repair it.

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UPDATE!!!!!!!!

Got the unit back after a couple of weeks from EdgeStar. Had it less then one month and it BROKE AGAIN, not a different problem but the same problem. You would think paying $300+ for the repair, and over $70 for shipping and handling (almost HALF the price of a new unit) you would get something back that worked.

SO How did this go, well called them and they were so SHOCKED it broke again. They wanted us to ship it back to them again!. This time they would pick up the shipping and repair and not cost anything. Of course, they never fixed it right the first time. They made it sound like they were doing ME a favor. I paid to get it repaired, I shipped it to them, I waited for them to get it done and they could not GET IT right. Just tells you how bad this company is.

SO I go to send it and they ONLY use fedX, and FEDX does not ship these from all their location and THEY WILL NOT BOX IT UP. UPS, they take care of you, boxing, shipping, handling everything. But FEDX, (The walmart of LOW COST shipping), wants you to do it all. You think the company cares NO! That is your issue and your cost and THEY DO NOT SUPPORT ANYONE other then FEDX. As the manager put it to me "We are looking for the lowest cost to use and FEDX has the lowest cost for us" EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don't care about your customers! CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP, BAD customer support, LOW COST SHIPPING, BAD PRODUCT, and a "WE DON'T CARE AOUT YOU" attitude. This all from the Managment Level of this company.

What is wrong with us American, we should NEVER buy from companies like this! Companies like this should go away!

RUN FROM THEM!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for EdgeStar Server Cool 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

We measured out our room, took into account how many servers we had, and figured we needed about 12000 btu of cooling. Surely, a 14000 BTU unit would work. Well, it does work to a degree. I guess it is keeping the temperature from skyrocketing, but it runs all the time, never turns off, and temp climbs during the day. I am not sure this unit puts our as much cooling as it claims too. We are purchasing a 9000 BUT unit to help supplement the cooling in our server room.

Best Air Conditioner/Heat Pump Kickstart 3-1/2-5 Ton 208-230V (Rheem Deals

Customer Ratings:

Turn AC from thermostat off and power off from breakers, Connect the blue terminals to the existing run capacitor pins that are clearly stamped marked one COM (Common) and the other one Herm (Hermetic)

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