Yeah, just to reiterate. I have no regrets in buying a Lang, and despite the initial "gulp" of the shipping costs, I do not regret the decision whatsoever. Given the epoch this will last and the amount of cooking i will be doing on it over time, the shipping costs are part of the investment.
To be honest, I don't think shipping for me of a Yoder or a Horizon would have been that much cheaper. All these pit makers are quite far from NJ. And Meadow Creek, which is closer, is just to $$$$$ comparatively.
You can't set and forget a Lang, but I will say that after a summer of smoking cooking quite a bit, once you get the hang of the Lang, you add a log every now and then, adjust the vents a bit and its pretty easy going. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of fire management, its quite easy.
My initial mistake was using larger splits, Now I use chunks of apple or oak cut down to a soda can size, add one or two maybe every 45 minutes and just let it roll. Maintaining a clear stack is easy, and it's not that much trouble to run.
Like I said, I'm sure you'll be happy with the Yoder if you go that route, but as Bayou mentioned, I think the Lang is probably somewhere between the Wichita and Cheyenne in size. And trust the old adage -- whatever size you think you need, you need the next one bigger.
Cheers,
Nicholas