Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For the price, you really can't beat it. I'm giving it four stars because after the modifications that I made, it's a solid smoker that is on par with the 18in Weber WSM. Without the mods? Well, you get what you pay for. Out of the box, it's fairly simple to put together, however, the door latch is pretty cheap, and the ash can/vent feels cheap too (although, this hasn't been an issue), and the charcoal ring is small and kind of flimsy, I've smoked ribs for a solid 7 hours without adding any fuel however, so I guess it does the trick. Also, without modification, this smoker leaks like a sieve. Those are the 4 major issues I've had... so not terrible. After burning it in, I ordered a heat gasket designed for smokers and applied it to the seal of the lid and the seal of the door, it took less than five minutes and cost about $12 on amazon, it sealed everything perfectly. I also went to www.replacementparts.com and bought the charcoal ring for the 18in Weber WSM and the little thermometer port that the WSM comes with... it looked like a cool feature and was only $5, so I figured why not?.... With shipping, it ran me about $50. So for under $200 I have a solid smoker that, to me, rivals the WSM which is $300. And I get to brag about my mods. Overall, this thing holds temperature at 225 almost perfectly, for hours. I bought this smoker for a car camping trip that I take every year. It's way more portable than my old offset smoker. And it's been so impressive, that I'll probably sell the offset and stick and stick with this guy..