I have been playing around with the new akorn getting to know its personality a little better. One thing I don't like is when I use a heat deflector ( I Use the BGE one ) the temp on the outside of the grate differs greatly from the direct center. This is fine if I have a butt in the center but with ribs the edges will cook much quicker than the center. I have seen a few people use large metal pizza pans that have only an inch gap on the edge but how much heat will this actually deflect compared to the ceramic stones? I didn't get an actual temp difference but I estimate with a water pan on top of the deflector and the middle of the grate at 225* I bet the outside edges are around the 260* mark.