Kamado Joe Classic Joe III vs Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Charcoal Grill

The Kamado Joe Classic Joe III is a ceramic kamado grill, a design that uses thick ceramic walls to hold heat with very little fuel. That thermal mass is what lets a kamado run a low-and-slow smoke for many hours on one load of charcoal, and equally lets it reach the very high temperatures needed for pizza and searing. It is a single cooker covering a range most gas grills cannot. The Classic Joe III's specific contribution is the divide-and-conquer rack system, which splits the cooking surface into multiple independently positionable tiers. That means you can sear directly over coals on one half while cooking indirectly at a higher tier on the other, in the same session. The hinged design lets those tiers be lifted and repositioned without unloading food, and the grill includes an air-lift hinge that makes the heavy ceramic lid manageable one-handed.

The Gravity Series 800 solves the fundamental problem with charcoal: temperature control. A GravityFed vertical hopper holds enough charcoal for up to 10 hours, gravity keeps feeding the fire as fuel burns down, and a DigitalFan regulates airflow to hold the temperature you set. You set a number and the grill maintains it, the way a pellet grill does, but burning real charcoal. It is also three appliances in one: charcoal grilling on traditional grates, a full flat-top griddle insert for searing and sauteing breakfast, burgers and fajitas, and low-and-slow smoking. Control is from the digital board on the grill or from a phone through the Masterbuilt app, so temperature can be monitored during a long cook without standing over it.

• Extraordinary heat retention means long smokes on one charcoal load
• Covers both low-and-slow smoking and high-heat searing and pizza in one cooker
• Multi-tier rack system enables genuinely different cooking zones simultaneously
• Air-lift hinge solves the heavy ceramic lid problem

• Real charcoal flavour with digital temperature control
• Griddle insert included, not sold separately
• 10-hour hopper covers a full brisket cook
• App monitoring during long smokes

• Very heavy and effectively permanent once positioned
• Ceramic can crack if subjected to thermal shock or dropped
• Expensive compared with metal charcoal grills of similar cooking area

• More complex than a simple charcoal kettle, with a fan and electronics to fail
• Requires mains power for the fan and controller
• Ash and hopper cleanout is more involved than a pellet grill