BGE or Vision Grills Kamado???

I'm enjoying my Vision B series that I purchased at Sams. For 499, you can't beat it. It comes with a nice base. Some people have complained that the holes in the base don't line up when they are assembling the grill. I had no problems at all. Guess I was lucky! I ordered the lava stone from Home Depot and look forward to trying it out as an indirect/smoking accessory. You can also place a water pan on top of the lava stone.

So far I've grilled a beer-can chicken. The flavor was perfect. With the left over lump charcoal, I grilled some marinated chicken breasts that turned out excellent. The grill is very efficient and I haven't had any issues yet. My next cook will be ribs using some form of the 3-2-1 method at 225 or 250F. Then onto a boston butt. The versatility of this grill is amazing and the size is just perfect for us. The double rack really does increase your cooking area and it is hinged so you can get to the bottom rack pretty easily.

I was checking out the Big Green Egg today at a local dealer and the BGE doesn't really have anything on the Vision. The top daisy wheel vent control gives a little more control, but I'm not sure it's work the extra money.

The Kamado Joe's are also very good but expensive. The higher end visions with the ash drawer and electric starter seem like nice accessories, but I've heard that they leak air and make it harder to hold temp.

I bought an electric starter from Wal-mart for 11.99 that does the trick as far as lighting. I forgot how good they were. I've also used the weber starter cubes. You can't go wrong with any of them, really.

The water pan is totally unnecessary.it will make a steam bath .i learned the hard way

I have no Ceramic Smoker and cannot attest to which is the better. Intresting though , both came out even , guess that means they are 'both' a good choice. Only difference would be the prices IMHO .

Later

I have had a Vision for 3 years now. Cooks great. I also have a Kamado Joe - Big Joe and a WSM 22.5". Temp control is the easiest on the Joe, Vision is 2nd and the WSM is third, but all are very easy. Only issue I have had with the Vision is cooking space. Just not quite big enough for me.

That said, I like the top vent on the Vision better than on the Joe. The one on the Joe tends to get stuck a lot (keep a rubber hammer by the Joe all the time). All of them are great, if I had it to do again, I would still buy the Vision. Very good quality grill. Made in China, but they have been doing ceramics longer than just about anybody so that isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Comparing the three, the Joe can for sure cook the most food and has the best temperature control. The WSM is second for amount of food and temp control is not difficult if you can get the right amount of charcoal burning. But it is a fuel hog compared to the other two. 

All in all, great cookers and any of them are capable of preparing much better food than I am capable of cooking....