Holes facing the wind can be covered with refer magnets if it is a problem.... Exhaust on the top of a smoker can drip condensate onto food... or dirt, rain etc. can fall into the smoker.. It's a personal preference thing for me.... My MES 30, with the exhaust on top, is affected by wind and condensate... From what I understand about the side exhaust on the newer MES, it's a poor design and doesn't flow enough air.... Some folks removed the damper mechanism completely to get decent air flow... then put a 90 degree elbow, on same, to get it to work properly.... but that's on big hole versus 8 small holes... If there was a perfect solution .... we would all be using it...