M&M Style Goldees vs Texas smak king

[Schweb]

Hello Im considering one of these smokers, doe anyone have an opinion on one of these?

 

[tridiot]

Overrated in my opinions. The Goldees pit is not nearly as even cooking with 'no hot spot' as they made it appear.

The new Texas Smoke King - meh. It looks fancy, has a fancy pinwheel damper, has a fancy but completely unneeded exhaust damper and the internal collectors/vents with louvers and such, I just don't see the need. Seriously. I mean, I'm not saying they're crap, they're not, the pit looks very nice and probably functions well - but I think it's overengineered and that adds to cost and time. People pay $5k for Aaron Franklin's pit, mainly for his name. It's a straightforward traditional flow offset smoker. Yes, it's well built, but there is nothing fancy or revolutionary about it. I wouldn't pay that, but some people are all about it. Hey, good for you.

I feel the same about the M&M pits, but in a different way. They're adding to the cost by making them fancy and overengineering something that is ultimately pretty simple. If that is what the market wants, good for them. But I'm not paying $4k for a fancy pinwheel damper and some detents to see the exhaust damper - to me that's a solution looking for a problem.

Anyways, that's my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, this isn't taking anything away from their quality, M&M does solid work, makes good pits. But I just don't see the need for all of the specialty stuff - when even cooking temps and basic functionality can be achieved without bells and whistles and all the added cost that goes with it. Unless that's what you want.