Where to begin ..... I've used a Brinkman 'coal fired water smoker for about 20 years - so I'm not knocking their product. It has what IMHO is a design flaw ... there is no way to adjust air flow to control the temp like on smokers made by other mfgs ... but I fixed that by adding my own dampers, and put in a real thermometer in place of the low-med-hot guage that came with it. There used to be a Brinkman User's blog somewhere - we all had the same complaints and we were all happy after we modified our smokers.
The electric version has a 1500 Watt element - no thermostat, no other controls - you plug it in to turn it on ... you unplug it to turn it off. The only place I have been able to find any reference to the temperature it produces is cooking.com - they claim a max of 350ºF ... but I somehow doubt that (Brinkman doesn't even make a temp claim in their manual sp I don't know where cooking.com got their number). And, the average life expectancy for the heating element seems to be about 2-3 years for moderate useage according to people who have them and have been using them for years ... I don't know if that means number of times used per year or based on number of hours used.
The only other negative comments I have seen are from a few people who claim it does't get hot enough to get their food over 145ºF ... but I think this is because they don't understand the differences between wet-heat and dry-heat smoking.
But, the main thing to think about is that this is a water smoker, a moist heat environment - and it's not the same critter as a dry-heat smoker. I think the folks who had trouble getting their meat up to temp simply didn't understand the differences.
THE DOWN SIDE: a water smoker takes longer to cook ... 2-4 times as long.
THE UP SIDE: You put boiling water in the water pan and the heat source below keeps it steaming ... the steam mixes with the smoke, and this constantly bastes the meat - so you get really good smoke flavor without drying out the meat. I've also heard of people adding things like wine and herbs to the water ...
With the electric model you wouldn't have to worry about adding more coals - but you will still need to add more boiling water from time to time.
And, I have sometimes just lined the water pan with foil to catch the drippings, skipped the water, and dry-smoked.
The only really bad experience I have ever had, where I had to give up and finish something in the oven, was one Thanksgiving when I lived in Golden, CO ... I was determined to have a smoked turkey - and it wasn't even close after 18 hours. Of course, the high temp that day was about 14ºF and we had around 20-inches of snow on the ground. Ever try smoking a turkey in a freezer???
The only advice I can give you is to understand what you're getting and what you want it to do. If it fits your needs I think you would be happy with it.