FINALLY!!! got to try out my new MES.....managed to get it seasoned the day after I bought it, but then it rained and rained......Got to love that 1200 watt element.....absolutely no problem with getting and keeping it smoking.....temp only varies plus or minus approx 5 degrees...recovery after having the door open is remarkabley fast. I did find that the temp difference between the built in probe (smoker temp probe) and my ET 73 was about 25 degrees, the ET 73 reading lower than the built in one.....I had the probe placed approx in the center front of the unit.....don't know if this is the temp difference people have been refering to and addng the tile mod. to even it out.....I'll do more test first....as shown in the pics....I had left a few chips in the dump cup that I was going to add later and when I opened it up I found they had turned to ash....the pic shows it while it was still smoldering...later it was all white ash...guess I could use this for adding extra chips after loading the regular chip box...!!!....has anyone else notice this happening...? All chips in the regular chip box turned to white ash....I'm already thinking about adapting my Smoke Daddy to the unit.....I cooked both country ribs and a whole chicken.....chicken rubbed with regular seasoned salt and the ribs with Paula Dean house seasoning and used Hickory chips.......family got to the ribs before I could take a pic, but at least I got the chicken (Done to perfection).....so far I gotta say I'm lovin the MES even though I'm a regular propane smoker.....RICK