Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050

The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 is a digital, app-controlled charcoal grill, griddle, and smoker that uses a gravity-fed charcoal hopper and a fan-driven digital controller to automate charcoal cooking. It blends real charcoal flavor with set-and-forget convenience.

The 2025 revision of the large Gravity Series, sold alongside the 1050 rather than replacing it. It adds 100 sq in, takes the hopper from 15.9 to 17.6 lb, and moves to a narrower and taller cabinet — 54.3 inches wide against the 1050's 60.6 — which is the real argument for it on a crowded patio. Masterbuilt rates the larger hopper at up to 15 hours of fuel.

The current entry point to Masterbuilt's gravity-fed line and the direct replacement for the discontinued Gravity Series 560. A vertical hopper holds charcoal above the firebox and feeds it down by gravity while a variable-speed DigitalFan regulates air, so it behaves like a pellet grill but burns lump or briquettes. The 600 keeps the 560's footprint but adds dual-wall insulation with a porcelain interior and takes the hopper to 17.6 lb.

The Gravity XT is Masterbuilt's current gravity-fed flagship and a direct response to the #1 complaint about the original 560/800/1050 series: build quality. The XT gets dual-wall FuelSaver insulation, a porcelain-coated interior, beefier hardware, and a 3-year warranty (up from 1), while keeping the party trick that made the line famous - real charcoal flavor with pellet-grill automation, from a 225F smoke to a legitimate 700F cast-iron sear in minutes. Owners and reviewers consistently call it the best-cooking gravity smoker you can buy, with better fuel efficiency and steadier temps than the old 1050 and the Char-Griller Gravity 980. The honest caveats: at $1,799 it costs nearly triple what a Gravity 800 street-prices for, it's a 199 lb two-person assembly job, and the electronics-in-a-charcoal-grill concern hasn't vanished - fans, switches, and control boards remain the failure points owners report, though XT-generation complaints are notably rarer. The hopper's 12 lbs of lump or 18 lbs of briquettes genuinely runs an overnight brisket. If you want charcoal taste with an app and don't want a Big Green Egg's learning curve, this is the class leader.

A propane vertical cabinet, which sits between an electric smoker and a charcoal one: a single burner at the base heats a wood-chip tray, and the ThermoTemp thermostat opens and closes the gas valve to hold a set temperature the way a gas oven does. That thermostat is the distinguishing feature — most propane cabinets in this price band have a manual needle valve and drift with the weather. 960 sq in over four racks, and a 375°F ceiling that beats every electric cabinet here.

The 40-inch step up from the 30-inch already in the catalog: the same insulated cabinet and side wood-chip loader, stretched to four racks and 970 sq in. An electric smoker heats with a resistance element and makes smoke by smouldering chips in a tray beside it, which is a fundamentally different mechanism from a pellet cabinet's auger — the smoke is thinner and more controllable, and you can hold 160°F for cold-ish work such as sausage or cheese. The viewing window and glass door are on the pricier Window and Legs variant, not this one.