Time for a new smoker

[in-hoc]

I've been smoking for a few years now and I'm looking for a new piece of equipment. I started my journey with a MES30. (To my surprise lasted me 8 years) After 2 years I purchased an OKJ Highland Reverse flow. After a year I welded in a new shelf and made it a two tier system. I used the MES30 for short small cooks where I didn't want to babysit the temps in the OKJ. I'm looking to upgrade/add another piece of equipment to the collection (Weber Genesis, 36" Blackstone, 2 Turkey Fryers, and a 90qt Seafood/Crawfish boiler) If you couldn't tell I like to cook.

I'm leaning towards buying a pellet smoker for ease of use and overnight cooks, but I'm also open to other suggestions. I have a budget around $1,800 maybe $2k tops. I was looking at a Recteq Flagship or possibly for a used Yoder YS640, but I'm not dead set on either. I'm definitely open to suggestions!

I do a number of larger cooks for friends and family (50+ people) every year. I don't do any competition cooks. The OKJ gets good smoke on the meat, but it's a chore to babysit the temps on long cooks. I've thought about buying a better quality offset, one that regulates temps better, but I also like the idea of trying out something different.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Fraser]

Had a RecTec RT-680 for years, did all the upgrades. Good smoker but couldn’t get it above 375F (took hours to get there). When it died we got the YS640 with all the trimmings. VERY well built. It literally does everything from 190F low&slow to 900+F in the pizza attachment to open fire grilling and searing. And anything in between. It gets called on 4-5 times a week; it makes the Weber kettles, Blackstone, drum and Coyote gasser almost unnecessary (although I can’t part with my homemade drum!). Oh, they all still get used occasionally, but the YS640 is the horse.
Yes, it takes a little time (and storage. Get the drawer!) to swap from WFO (pizza) mode to griddling mode to grilling mode (and now Rotisserie!!) etc but we arrange the menu for cooking modes so it’s not bad.
Most of the time it’s just the two of us (I do all the cooking) but it’s really nice to have grate space when friends come or when I get (overly) ambitious.

Hope this helps!
-fraser