WooT .. Yoder Wichita Loaded ordered

[tsonka]

Ordered my Yoder Wichita Loaded .. eta 3-4 weeks, been wanting one for better part of a year

Thank you for reading ...... I feel better now :)

 

[phatbac]

 
Ordered my Yoder Wichita Loaded .. eta 3-4 weeks, been wanting one for better part of a year

Thank you for reading ...... I feel better now :)

Feel great you are getting a new smoker!

it was about a year ago that i got my new LANG! (Black Betty) when you get it you will do the happy dance!

when it comes in take pics and share on here! 

Congrats!!!

phatbac (Aaron)

 

[bbqbrett]

I have been looking at one of those myself. They have one at a shop not to far from me.

 

[rogerwilco]

 I will suggest you log onto The BBQ Brethren forum, and also The Texas BBQ Forum, and perform a search for member "slamkeys." Look for recent threads dealing with the Wichita. He is an individual who has had recent experiences with this cooker, and has been in contact with some of Yoder's personnel, as well as other owners of same. This could prove helpful to you, as you still have some time before delivery.

 Information can also be found on Yoder's own forum, under the stickburners section. Just look for the very recent thread that "Yoder Herb" felt he needed to lock, concerning the Wichita.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Sounds like a bad deal going on here hope you haven't lose any money up front!! Keep us posted for the benefit of all of us.

Warren

 

[tsonka]

Yea, Ive already read his posts. I hope his example and another negative one I found are the exceptions to the rule. For the cost, if their quality really was low I would expect many more negative reviews.

Things are made by humans so not every one will be perfect, and people with an imperfection are much much more likely to post a comment then the majority who bought one and is happy. I'm sure that if I looked hard enough, I would find a negative review or posted problem with about anything. I work on the service drive of a new car dealer, I frequently hear about the common problems people have seen on the forums, but oddly I have never seen in the shop.

 

[slamkeys]

Yea, Ive already read his posts. I hope his example and another negative one I found are the exceptions to the rule. For the cost, if their quality really was low I would expect many more negative reviews.

Things are made by humans so not every one will be perfect, and people with an imperfection are much much more likely to post a comment then the majority who bought one and is happy. I'm sure that if I looked hard enough, I would find a negative review or posted problem with about anything. I work on the service drive of a new car dealer, I frequently hear about the common problems people have seen on the forums, but oddly I have never seen in the shop.

I saw your other thread where you experienced heavy white smoke throughout your first cook, so you have already seen first-hand what the complaints are about.

Yoder's build quality is generally accepted as top of the line. Even my Loaded Wichita, with its well-documented quality flubs, should be viewed as a somewhat rare failing on Yoder's part - as you noted, "things are made by humans." Their crew has exhibited some fine fabrication skills over the years and the build quality in general is great - they take pride in that. It's the main reason I laid down my cash for the Loaded Wichita, complete with log starter, heavy log grate, charcoal basket, cover, even a Yoder t-shirt. I wanted the whole package. I'm an admitted Yoder fan.

The known flow issues with Yoder's smaller models (Wichita/Cheyenne) started to surface with the introduction of the heat management plate. This has been verified by an owner of the original Wichita model, before the plate was introduced. We just heard from another Yoder customer who said his dealer warned him three years ago not to buy the Wichita model because they received so many complaints. My personal belief is Yoder experienced such phenomenal growth due to their hugely-popular YS640 pellet model that their focus necessarily shifted towards manufacturing process improvements for the pellet cooker line, and nothing was done to address the performance complaints of the Wichita or Cheyenne designs, until now.

This year, the increasing number of complaints finally prompted Yoder's consumer feedback department to ask for a design change in order to improve the customer experience. Some experimental changes have already been sold to recent customers, but the effort is ongoing, and the Yoder staff has continued their efforts to cover up the design issues by posting "tips" and training videos that are viewed by most forum members as bizarre and unusual instructions for offset fire management.

The fact is, I'm not a "hater" or someone critiquing a product I don't own myself. I didn't even have an online presence when I bought my Loaded Wichita. I came online searching for answers when I started using my smoker, and that's where I found many other people who had the same issues, but who were successfully silenced by Yoder telling them they just didn't understand how to use the smoker.

If you have had a completely positive experience cooking with your Wichita, then you should share that too. Yoder assumes everyone who doesn't complain about their smoker is having a great customer experience, but I have talked to dozens of customers who either gave up and sold their pits, or didn't have enough confidence to argue their cases. Either way, I voiced my opinion publicly as a matter of principle after Yoder informed me their design had never changed because it didn't need to change. Customers have been saying otherwise for a long time.

I have scoured the Web looking for a single Horizon 20" Marshal customer who complained of flow issues, and didn't find a single one. I found just the opposite. Horizon customers rave about ease of use, and many have recommended I sell my Wichita and buy a Horizon to replace it.

Instead, I decided to tackle the flow issue myself by modifying my fire door. It doesn't fix the high firebox mounting position or the 6 1/2" wall of steel plate that blocks flow from entering into the cooker when you have the heat management plate installed, but it allows me to cook with a minimum amount of wood (no charcoal) and very little effort, all while the fire door is closed, preventing the heat from flowing backwards out of the door opening.

My workaround: A larger, lowered vent and upper vent opening permanently blocked: