The Texas BBQ Forum

Was thinking of buying this vertical smoker. Any advice or thoughts on the matter??





Description:
This unit will hold 40lbs of charcoal or a combination of charcoal and your flavor of wood in the charcoal basket. With 40lbs of charcoal this smoker will maintain 225 degrees for 30 hours. There is no temperature differential from one cooking grate to the other, meaning this smoker will be the same temperature no mater were you place your food. The water pan will hold approximately 8 gallons of water, or liquid and at the above temperature will consume around 1 gallon every 2-3 hours.

Sale Price $2595.00

Video of the smoker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sS7UjmvXaH0

This setup looks very similiar to the R&O fat girl or Pitmaker vault... You can use the search feature on here and see some previous comments on these. In short there are few if any complaints.

Nice. I've seen those too. I just like the fact that you can fill the water pan without opening the door.

Whats the manufactures name of that pit??? I have a R&O Vertical smoker and absolutely love it hands down...

R&O or Pitmaker! Either of those is top choice.

I have the Pitmaker Safe and will never regret it.

Im also gonna throw this out there, i can open the door to my safe, do what i gotta do and close it and within a minute my temp is back where it was. Super fast recovery time.

No personal experience with this smoker but Lone Start Grillz is a newer player in the game. I have never heard a single complaint about them, but I would still go with the tried and true tested Pitmaker or Gator Pits if cabinet shopping.

I have a stick burner from Lonestargrilz and it's been a very reliable pit. Solid welding (no cracks etc...)
cooks good etc... don't be afraid that they're new

I picked up at LoneStar 24"x48" patio model back on the 5th. It's been pretty good to me so far, I can vouch for the quality of construction.

Glancing through the website raised some questions for me.... The water pan is mild steel - 1/4" but still subject to a lot of corrosion over time. I'd want that replaceable or perhaps stainless like other manufacturer's offer. The firebox pan looks to be a little thin too but I don't know what the standard is for these type cookers. Not sold on the 30 hour cook time or even the usefulness of that - but you never know. I do like the 2" ball valve for temp control - wonder if it could be raised in similar fashion to the UDS valves.

Sure looks to be a lot of cooking space for the money. May have to give them a shout and make some inquiries.