What the Vinson 300 is, and where our information comes from
The Vinson 300 is an offset smoker for wood, charcoal or briquettes: a chimney on the left, a horizontal cooking chamber in the middle, and the smaller firebox to the right and slightly lower. That is how the catalogue photo shows it, and how Landmann describes it. The brand calls it a classic 18-inch smoker made up of a cooking chamber and a firebox with four functions (4-in-1): direct grilling, indirect grilling, smoking, and curing smoke. The size is given in inches and Landmann equates it with 47.5 cm; the grate dimensions are stated separately and follow further down. Amazon lists the device in black under ASIN B07BWD9V6Y, with LANDMANN GmbH & Co. KG entered as the manufacturer.
On the 2020 manufacturer page, Landmann classes it as an entry-level model in its own smoker range, intended for anyone who already has some first experience with smokers.
The sourcing affects everything that follows: on 14 October 2026, the Vinson 300 can no longer be found on landmann.de. The site is now a brand page without product pages, and the former product addresses redirect to the home page. The device data therefore comes from archived Landmann pages (snapshots from 11 February 2018, 21 September 2020, 21 January 2021 and 13 January 2025) and from the Amazon listing. Where these snapshots contradict each other, this is collected in a section of its own.
About the company: Landmann calls itself the oldest grill manufacturer in Germany and gives 1966 as its founding year. In 2021 the DS Unternehmensgruppe took over the company; the legal notice names DS e-Sales GmbH as operator of the current brand page, while Amazon continues to list the Vinson 300 under LANDMANN GmbH & Co. KG. According to our price box, the smoker costs approx. €599 (Amazon page on 14 October 2026: €599.00).
Cooking chamber, firebox, chimney: the construction
On the catalogue photo, the cooking chamber is a horizontal cylinder with a single lid and a long, horizontal handle; a round thermometer sits in the lid. The firebox is also a cylinder, smaller, set lower and with its own lid and handle. Four legs carry the device, two wheels run on the firebox side, and between the legs there is a wire shelf that does not appear in Landmann’s data fields.
As features, Landmann highlights a lid thermometer, a front shelf and a cleaning flap. The front shelf is removable, which according to Landmann makes the smoker directly accessible; the handles are stainless steel.
Grilling is done on enamelled grates. For the cooking chamber Landmann gives 81 × 44 cm, in three pieces, and for the firebox 39 × 39 cm (described as two-piece on the 2020 page). According to Landmann, the grates are solid, enamelled and 5 mm thick. The product of 81 and 44, around 3,564 cm², is our own multiplication and an upper limit, because a rectangular dimension does not subtract the gaps between three grate pieces.
Landmann states the device dimensions consistently on the 2018 page and in the 2025 shop: 128 cm wide, 88 cm deep, 134 cm high, plus a working height of approx. 90 cm. The weight is 68 kg, and the Amazon listing agrees: 149.91 pounds, converted 68.0 kg.
How thick is the steel?
1.5 mm, according to Landmann on the fire bowl and lid. The description on the shop page (archive of 13 January 2025) extends this to the whole device: the wall thickness of the Vinson 300 is said to be 1.5 mm.
Landmann cites the constant temperature of the cooking chamber as an advantage of this wall thickness. As a general rule: the more steel in the wall, the more heat it stores and the more slowly the chamber reacts to wind or an opened lid. Landmann lists the larger models in the range, Vinson 400 and 500, at 4 mm, so with more than twice as much steel in the fire bowl and lid. We know of no measurement of how 1.5 mm performs in use.
Landmann stays imprecise on materials. The data field on the shop page lists cast iron, enamel and stainless steel without assigning them to a part; Amazon describes the grates as enamelled steel. Individually documented are the stainless steel handles, the enamel of the grates and, for the lid, a heat-resistant paint finish (product page 2018).
In detail: how an offset separates fire and meat
The fire burns in the firebox, and heat and smoke travel through the cooking chamber and leave it at the chimney on the other side. The meat therefore does not sit over the embers but cooks in hot, smoky air, and in an offset it is usually hottest where the air enters from the firebox. The Amazon text credits the rounded design of the chambers with making the air circulate in the cooking chamber; that is a manufacturer claim without a measured value.
Landmann describes four operating modes. You grill directly when the food sits directly above the heat source, in the firebox or in the cooking chamber. You grill indirectly when it sits beside the heat source, in the cooking chamber or in the firebox. Smoking is done with smoking chips or wood chips that produce smoke in the firebox. As fuel, Landmann names wood, charcoal or briquettes. In line with this, Amazon lists grill grates and charcoal grates for both chambers in the scope of delivery, so the embers can sit in either. Landmann does not describe running both chambers at the same time for different jobs; the design suggests it, because the same embers heat both, but that remains our own inference.
According to Landmann, you set the temperature with the side vents on the firebox. Feedback comes from the lid thermometer on the cooking chamber. It shows the air temperature in the lid area and does not measure the core temperature of the meat; for that you need a separate probe thermometer. How far the reading in the lid differs from the temperature at grate level is unknown; we would not equate the two.
What Landmann does not state, and where the sources contradict each other
The following is missing from the archived Landmann pages and the Amazon listing:
- Temperature range or maximum temperature of the cooking chamber
- Heat-up time to a target temperature
- Fuel consumption, burn time and capacity of the firebox and cooking chamber
- Volume of the cooking chamber and capacity in ribs or brisket
- Steel grade and coating of the cooking chamber and firebox, plus the wall thickness of the cooking chamber body on its own
- Country of manufacture of the Vinson 300
- Minimum distances to walls and flammable materials, approval or prohibition for balconies
- Assembly time and number of people for assembly and transport
- Whether the lid thermometer is analogue or digital, and its scale range
- Position and purpose of the cleaning flap
- An adjustable damper on the chimney; the parts list shows only a chimney cover
- A warming rack in the scope of delivery; the 2020 parts list shows one including a support
- Diameter and material of the wheels
- Approval, test mark or standards for the device itself; the manual pages we could view list only standards for gloves and firelighters
- Current manufacturer price, availability of the device and availability of spare parts, because the Landmann shop at landmann.de no longer exists
The archived snapshots also contradict each other in a few places. On weight, 68 kg appears at Landmann in 2018 and 2025 and in the Amazon listing, against 60 kg product weight on the landmann.com page (21 September 2020); no page says whether this is with or without packaging. The same 2020 page gives assembled dimensions of 142 × 88 × 149 cm, whose labelling (W × H × D) does not fit the numbers, and a grate of 82 × 45 instead of 81 × 44 cm. The temperature display data field is set to no in the 2025 shop, although the same page lists the lid thermometer in the highlights and the description; in 2018 it said yes. The grease tray data field is also set to no, yet the spare parts list includes a grease collection pot with holder. We work with the values that at least two sources share: 68 kg, 128 × 88 × 134 cm and 81 × 44 cm.
What else is worth considering?
| Model | The difference | Price | Our score | Pick this one if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landmann Vinson 300 (this one) | Horizontal offset with firebox and its own direct grilling grate, according to Landmann 1.5 mm wall thickness, grate 81 × 44 cm, 68 kg | approx. €599 | 8.6 | published figures for grate, wall thickness and weight are worth the premium over the Highland to you |
| Oklahoma Joe’s Highland | Same offset design; Char-Broil states neither cooking area nor wall thickness, the Amazon listing gives around 83.7 kg | approx. €469 | 8.9 | you want the design for less money and can live without manufacturer figures for area and steel |
| Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker 57 cm | Upright water smoker with a water pan, according to Weber 4,683 cm² on two grates, 35.38 kg, on three legs | approx. €599 | 9.5 | you only smoke and want to control the temperature with the water pan and vent dampers |
| Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker 47 cm | Same design, smaller, according to Weber 3,103 cm² on two grates, 23.58 kg, on three legs | approx. €709 | 9.1 | you want to carry the smoker away after every session and compare the price against the 57 before buying |
The prices are guide values from the price boxes of our reviews and were not all checked on the same day. The score is our editorial assessment based on manufacturer and catalogue data, not a measurement result; we have not handled any of the four smokers. More devices of this kind are in the smoker category.
When the Vinson 300 fits, and when another smoker does
Start with your time budget, because an offset needs constant attention. You manage the embers in the firebox, adjust via the vents and read the temperature on the lid thermometer of the cooking chamber. If you have never smoked before, first read our guide Smoker for beginners and check whether a water smoker suits you better: with the Weber Smokey Mountain 57, according to Weber, the water pan catches juices and stabilises the temperature.
On the 2018 product page, Landmann names a number of people, namely 14. Landmann does not work out how many rib racks or which brisket fit in the cooking chamber. Tape the grate as an 81 × 44 cm rectangle onto your table and lay your usual food on it. The grate area is only partly comparable with the Weber models in the table: Weber states the area of both grates combined, while the Vinson has its area on one level.
The spot needs the dimensions from the construction section, plus room to swing both lids open and space in front of the firebox, and it must be outdoors. You manoeuvre 68 kg on two wheels; we would not plan on changing the spot after every session with that weight.
According to our price box, the Vinson 300 is at approx. €599, €130 above the Oklahoma Joe’s Highland (approx. €469) and about level with the Weber 57 (approx. €599). The Weber 47 is listed in our price box at approx. €709, around €110 above the Vinson. In our score the Vinson comes in at 8.6, behind all three: Highland 8.9, Weber 47 9.1, Weber 57 9.5. A cover, firelighters and fuel come on top; for more on the cover, see the section on accessories.
Our assessment follows from that. Going by the manufacturer figures, the Highland can also grill directly and smoke in one device, and for clearly less money, provided it is available; in return, it lacks manufacturer figures for area and wall thickness. If you only smoke, the Weber 57 offers the higher score at the lower price. The Vinson 300 remains the choice if published figures for grate, wall thickness and weight are worth the premium to you and you accept that they now come only from the archive.
It is wrong for two groups. If you mostly grill steaks and sausages, you carry the weight and fire management of a smoker without using them. And if you want a device for which the manufacturer currently maintains a product page, you will find only archive pages for the Vinson 300. You can cross-check whether an offset suits your grilling style at all in the Grill Finder.
Cover, accessories and spare parts
Neither the Amazon scope of delivery nor the former Landmann shop, which listed only one device as the scope of delivery, mentions a cover. In 2020 Landmann offered the Premium weather protection cover, art. 15727, designated for the Vinson 300 and other models: 600D polyester, waterproof at a 3,000 mm water column, UV-resistant with lightfastness level 6, for €79.99 (2020 price). As suitable, the page names devices with assembled dimensions of 130 × 126 × 85, with no unit given; that is a third set of dimensions that matches neither 128 × 88 × 134 nor 142 × 88 × 149 exactly. Added to the price box figure of approx. €599, that makes around €679 with the 2020 cover price, assuming the cover is still available at that price.
Landmann listed further Vinson accessories in 2020 with a pot holder for €27.99 and a Dutch oven for €59.99. In the same year the Vinson 300 was also available including a three-piece barbecue tool set worth €24.99, in the sale for €699.00; the Amazon listing mentions no tool set.
The spare parts list from landmann.com (2020 archive) runs from E11425-1 to E11425-39 and gives prices. The grill grate for the cooking chamber (E11425-3) cost €17.99, the wheel (E11425-25) €14.99, plus wheel axle (E11425-23) and wheel stand (E11425-24); the cooking chamber itself was in the list at €139.00. At that time out of stock were the warming rack (E11425-2) with support (E11425-1), grease collection pot (E11425-11) with holder (E11425-10) and cleaning flap (E11425-28) with holder (E11425-30).
Care and safety according to the manuals
Of the assembly and operating manual for the Vinson 300 (version 11425, 2018 edition, multilingual) we have only the beginning: the archived PDF breaks off after the first three of 44 pages. What is secure from it is the warning on page 2. The German instructions on lighting and cleaning come from page 5 of the manual for the sister model Vinson 200 (same 2018 edition, same warning on page 2) and are explicitly marked as such below. We have not been able to check whether the Vinson 300 manual says the same at these points.
The Vinson 300 manual prohibits use in enclosed and/or inhabited spaces and names buildings, tents, caravans, motorhomes and boats. As a consequence it states: danger to life from carbon monoxide poisoning.
From page 5 of the Vinson 200 manual (sister model, not the Vinson 300):
- Do not operate the grill in enclosed spaces, only outdoors.
- Do not use on covered areas.
- Set it up stably on firm ground.
- The grill must stand on a level, fireproof surface that is not made of glass or plastic.
- It gets very hot and must not be moved during operation.
- When grilling, wear grill gloves tested to DIN EN 407 (a standard that applies in Germany) or use grill tongs.
- Never leave the hot grill unattended; keep children and pets away.
- Do not use methylated spirits or petrol to light or relight, because deflagrations can cause uncontrollable heat build-up. Only firelighters complying with the European standard EN 1860-3 and non-hazardous lighting aids may be used; as an example, Landmann names its own solid firelighter.
- Never use water to extinguish the charcoal.
- The grill may be used only to prepare food suitable for grilling and only for private use; the requirements of the manual must be observed.
Before first use, according to the same manual, the grill should be heated for approx. 30 minutes. When lighting, in step 3 you light one to two solid firelighters with a match, let them burn for two to four minutes in step 4, then slowly add the fuel and observe the maximum fill quantity. After approx. 15 to 20 minutes white ash appears on the fuel, and according to Landmann the embers are then ready.
Cleaning is done only once the grill has cooled down completely. For normal cleaning, a dishcloth and water with standard washing-up liquid are enough; more heavily soiled enamelled parts get a standard enamel cleaner (oven cleaner), and the grill grate gets washing-up liquid and a rust-free scouring pad. According to the manual, abrasives are not to be used. Residual waste belongs only in containers intended for it, made of metal or non-combustible materials.
