Masterbuilt Gravity 800

Quick verdict: The Gravity 800 is one of the most genuinely versatile cookers under $700. It smokes, it sears, and with the optional insert it griddles — and the gravity-fed charcoal system means you actually get charcoal flavor without babysitting a fire all day. But it’s not perfect. The app can be a headache, and the electronics make this a “charcoal grill that needs a power outlet.” If you go in knowing what you’re buying, it’s a hell of a tool.

What the Masterbuilt Gravity 800 Actually Is

This is a charcoal-fueled smoker, grill, and griddle in one cabinet. Instead of arranging coals and managing vents the old-school way, you dump charcoal into a vertical hopper. The hopper feeds the coals down by gravity as they burn, and a thermostat-controlled fan pushes air through the firebox to hit whatever temperature you set on the digital controller.

That’s the whole trick. Real charcoal flavor, set-and-forget convenience.

Key Specs at a Glance

How the Gravity-Fed System Actually Works

I’ve been cooking on charcoal since the Reagan administration, and the thing that always sold people on a pellet grill was convenience — set a temperature, walk away. The problem? Pellet smoke flavor is mild. You don’t get that real backyard smell.

The Gravity Series solves that. You light a handful of coals at the bottom of the hopper, close the hatch, and the thermostat takes over. Need 225°F for a brisket? The fan slows to a trickle. Need 650°F for steaks? The fan kicks on hard and the coals roar to life in about ten minutes.

You’re cooking over real lump charcoal the whole time. The flavor is closer to a Big Green Egg than a pellet grill — which, at this price, is the headline.

Real-World Cooking Performance

Low-and-slow smoking

For an overnight brisket or pork butt, the 800 will hold 225°F within about 10 degrees for 10+ hours on a full hopper. Add a chunk or two of hickory or pecan into the ash bucket area (there’s a designated spot for wood chunks) and you get clean smoke for the first 3–4 hours, which is all you need for the bark to form.

I’ve cooked plenty of briskets on this thing. They’re not quite stick-burner brisket — but they’re close enough that 95% of your friends couldn’t tell the difference.

High-heat searing

This is where the Gravity 800 separates itself from pellet competitors. Crank it to 700°F and you can sear a ribeye over open coals in about 90 seconds a side. Pellet grills physically cannot do this. Period.

The griddle insert

Worth the extra $80 if you cook breakfast or smash burgers. It drops into the main grate area and gives you a cast-iron flat-top surface. Heats evenly across the cooking zone. Smash burgers come out great.

What I Like About the Gravity 800

• Real charcoal flavor without the babysitting. This is the whole reason to buy it.
• Huge temperature range. 225°F to 700°F covers basically every cook you’d ever want to do.
• Fast preheat. From cold to 225°F in about 10 minutes. Cold to 600°F in about 12.
• Generous capacity. 800 square inches handles two pork butts and a rack of ribs comfortably, or 30+ burgers.
• The hopper holds enough fuel for overnight cooks. No setting an alarm to refill at 3 a.m.

Where It Falls Short

This is the section the manufacturer doesn’t want you to read. After hundreds of hours on units like this, here’s what to know going in:

The app is hit or miss. Masterbuilt’s app has improved, but it still drops connection, fails to pair, or needs a reset more often than it should. Treat the app as a bonus, not a feature you’re paying for. The grill works fine with the on-unit controller.

It needs to be plugged in. The fan, controller, and meat probe ports all run on electricity. If you lose power mid-cook, your fire will eventually choke out (no fan = no airflow). Not a “throw it in the truck and head to the campsite” grill.

Charcoal selection matters. Lump charcoal with irregular chunks can occasionally bridge in the hopper and stop feeding. Stick with briquettes or smaller, uniform lump pieces and you’ll never see this problem.

Ash management is a chore. The ash bucket fills up faster than you’d expect on long cooks. Empty it after every long smoke or it’ll start choking airflow.

The seal isn’t perfect out of the box. Most units benefit from a gasket upgrade ($15 on Amazon) to hold temps better in cold or windy weather. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing.

Assembly takes about 90 minutes. Two people is easier than one. The instructions are decent but not great.

Who Should Buy the Gravity 800

• You currently own a pellet grill and you miss real charcoal flavor.
• You want one cooker that can smoke a brisket and sear a steak.
• You cook for groups and need more than 600 square inches.
• You like the idea of charcoal but not the work of managing a fire.

Who Should Skip It

• Charcoal purists who want to manage their own fire — you’ll find the digital control insulting. Get a kettle or a kamado.
• People who only grill burgers and dogs once a month — this is more grill than you need. A Weber Kettle does that job for $200.
• Anyone who cooks where there’s no outlet — tailgaters, campers, off-grid folks. This grill needs power.
• Competition pitmasters who need full control over the fire profile. The thermostat decides what the fire does, not you.

How It Compares

Against a pellet grill (Traeger, Pit Boss, Recteq): The Gravity 800 wins on flavor and high-heat searing, loses on app polish and outright simplicity.

Against a kamado (Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe): Kamado wins on insulation, fuel efficiency, and longevity. Gravity 800 wins on price, capacity, and convenience. You can buy two Gravity 800s for the price of a Large Big Green Egg.

Against a traditional offset smoker: Offset wins on flavor depth and pitmaster cred. Gravity 800 wins on every other practical metric — temperature stability, ease of use, capacity per dollar.

Final Verdict

The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 is the best charcoal-fired grill/smoker combo under $700 right now. It delivers real charcoal flavor with pellet-grill convenience, and the temperature range covers everything from cold smoking salmon to searing tomahawks.

It’s not a flawless machine. The app is uneven, the electronics make it tethered to an outlet, and the ash management is annoying. But for the price, nothing else in this category does as much.

If you’ve been on the fence between a pellet grill and a charcoal cooker — this is the answer.

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