Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First let me say the the construction quality is top notch. This is a heavy(ish) unit that is very sturdy and well put-together. The design is functional but handsome, and while one doesn't buy a smoker for the looks, this one certainly does look good (especially the "deluxe" model with the glass front - but more on that later). The insulation on the unit is very good, and while cooking there was almost no heat radiated from the top or sides, which is good because it means that all the heat stays inside where it should. The controls of this unit are not quite as "intuitive" as the manual would suggest. First thing you need to know is that you MUST set either a time or a target meat temperature in order to run this machine - you can't just set the temp and walk away. This isn't really a big deal, but because I didn't realize this my first cook in this machine ended up getting delayed because I didn't realize for almost an hour that it wasn't actually on. This problem is compounded by the display which is both illegible in daylight and somewhat confusing - I had thought it would display current temp and target temp, and sometimes it did but other times it did not. I might need to play with it a bit more to really understand how to get the information I need, but either way it's not a big deal; once you get the hang of it, it's pretty straight forward. The remote that comes with the deluxe model is yet another problematic control. My biggest problem with it is that the connection is intermittent - sometimes I get three "bars" sometimes none, and I'm only maybe 10 feet away with a wall in between. If the remote can't connect over these relatively short distances, it's pretty much worthless, since the point of a remote is to monitor from somewhere other than standing next to the smoker itself. My unit might be defective though so I'm going to contact CB to see if this can be resolved. The other problem with the remote is again the lack of intuitive controls - the remote "on" button is the same button that is used to actually turn on and off the smoker, so at least once while trying to get the remote to "connect" I ended up turning off the smoker itself. Luckily I realized this quickly and the cook was not interrupted, but it's something to watch out for. Finally, sometimes the remote would just display gibberish (see pic) probably because of a bad connection, but either way it's not helpful. The meat thermometer is one of the most surprising upsides to this machine. I've had mixed experiences with thermometers that are actually in the oven, so I tend to "spot read" temps instead. This one however stayed accurate throughout the cook and could be trusted to be read either on the remote or on the machine, though AFAIK the temp of the meat can only be seen when using the temp-cook mode, not the timer mode, unless you have the remote. In other words, if you're doing a timed-cook, the unit itself does not display the temperature of the meat inside, only the temperature of the oven, even if you have the meat-probe inserted. If you have the remote though, this will display the meat-probe temperature even on a timed-cook, so that's one advantage of the remote. If you can get it to connect. There are four racks that come with this cooker, and each one measures 15" wide x 12.5" deep. It turns out this is the perfect size for a brisket of 6.5 lbs (see pic) or smaller, so theoretically it's possible to smoke about 25lbs of meat at a time, which is probably more than even I need on my biggest day of cooking (the 4th of July, of course). I'd estimate that it's possible to cook two good sized pork butts and probably 6-8 slabs of baby back, and 3-4 slabs of spare ribs, though I think the average length of a slab is a little longer than 15" so you'd probably have to cut them up a bit. For fish, obviously it depends on the type, but we're probably talking up to 8 2lb filets of something like salmon. TL:DR - you can fit a lot of food in this smoker. One note about the "deluxe" version vs the regular version; the glass window does give off heat, and while it's nice to be able to see what's being cooked (even at night with the internal light) I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off. In particular it's worth noting that the front glass gets hot enough to burn, which makes it particularly unsafe when kids are around. Not that anyone should allow kids to play around a smoker in the first place, but it's something to think about when purchasing this unit. So how well does it work? Well I've just done one cook of a brisket so the jury is still out, but so far I'm relatively impressed, with some caveats; the brisket I made turned out great, largely because of the consistent temperature of the unit. The meat flavor wasn't as smoky as my previous smoker (a basic Weber) but I think this could be corrected by refilling the wood chip box once during the cook (which they don't recommend, but I think might be needed). The real upside to this unit is the ease of use and cleanup - it's so easy to get food in and out, to add water if needed, or add wood that it makes it much more approachable. The fact that it can cook longer with less refills also makes this a more every-day (well, every-weekend) device. And the cleanup is much better than with my previous smoker, since all of the components can be fit in the dishwasher. My previous smoker was so difficult to clean that I often didn't use it just because I didn't want to bother with the cleanup. So in short I think this is going to encourage me to smoke more often, give me the capability to cook in larger quantities when needed, and most importantly, control the heat and smoke more carefully to produce a better tasting result. Overall a good purchase at a pretty reasonable price, though in hindsight I might opt for the regular rather than the deluxe version since the remote is not as useful as I had hoped, and the glass door is both non-insulating and possibly a danger to children.