Tired of the Masterbuilt Digital Electric Smoker Problems

I got this smoker for Christmas last year and after some research I was able to get pretty darn good at getting some good smoke flavor. But, it seems that I am yet another victim of the control panel and element problems that seem so prevalent with these smokers. I have installed a new controller and element, fired it up and everything seemed OK. Went to start it up the other night and it went crazy and then shut down. According to Masterbuilt I need the body assembly, which they have agreed to send to me. I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer trust this thing and am looking at purchasing a new electric smoker.

After all of the digital problems I am very tempted to go with an analog controller. Those of you that have these please feel free to share your experience with them. Is it easy to get a temperature set? How about the smoke flavor? I have an old Brinkmann smoker with no temperature control and it seems the only way to control the temp is with the amount of water in the pan. It does OK but the meat will sometimes have a steamed flavor that I don't care for too much. Any opinions and/or advice is appreciated.