Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this smoker from a large mid-western home center retailer. I am an amazon.com devotee but this time I saved $50 elsewhere. Anyway... I've used offset and bullet-type smokers with charcoal and also a Weber kettle-style grill set up as a smoking unit. All of them have required some diligence at keeping the coals and temperature just right. I've only used this smoker once as I just purchased it to cook a rack of pork ribs and a 12lb brisket. I used one application of wood chips in the box and the food came out tasting wonderful. The brisket is perhaps the best I've had. The temperature was very easy to modulate. Thus far I'm impressed. This unit works on electricity outdoors so you should have a GFCI protected circuit powering the device with a heavy duty extension cord to get it away from your eaves. I found the outside of the smoker to be cool enough to touch bare handed even while doing the initial seasoning at 400 degrees. Update: I used this smoker over the winter in Indiana even while the temperature outside was in the 20's. It still got up to temp easily and worked like a champ. I feel like I'm cheating because I barely have to do any work to cook ribs, brisket, shoulder, etc... Update 2 June 2012: I've been using this smoker nearly 2 years, about 1 or 2 times monthly. It still works great and is generally rust-free. The element is probably the only thing that will need replaced, and it seems to be a long way off from that. Update 3 September 2013: The smoker has lost a little off the top-end in terms of it's highest achievable temperature, but it maxes out at about 275º. The box is in pretty good shape still, as well as all the racks and interior surfaces. I just smoked 10lbs of pork shoulder the other day and it was generally regarded as some of the best we've ever had.