What to buy

Welcome to the forum Buttbouy. I have had the 066 for over 2 yrs. If you can do the $'s for this unit you won't be sorry. I noticed that your cooks seem to grow as you use it. I even got an SM160 as I now do catering and need the room alot of the time. They are great units that make Qing pretty easy. There is a big price jump to this unit, but well worth the price.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
Gary I.

I could be wrong, but I think that the hold feature will not be as a big of a factor as you may think. You can manually drop the temps in the other units to hold the product. Smokin' has taught us that a good cook usually wants to check the products, sorta hands on type of telling when it's done, instead of going by temps.

As the other fine cook said, you'll find out that you'll be asked to smoke more and more volume by guests. This may cause the need for a larger smoker and the AmericaQ will have an advantage on that.

What ever you decide, you always have CS money back guarantee if you need it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these smokers are so well insulated, that unless you open the door to dump some of the heat, it'll take a long time for it to drop to the hold temp. Possibly causing you to overcook your meat.

This thread may help: http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...132991827#7132991827

As a former owner of a 009 and a current owner of an 066 I can't say enough about how valuable the hold feature is to me. I use it all the time. No more waking up by the thermometer alarm, or stuck at home so I turn down the temp or pull the meat on time.

That said, FTC is more effective than purposefully using the hold to make the meat more tender.

Thanks Dan-Q that confims my thinking, sure sounds nice to cook and have fun at the same time. Ha wont know what to do not looking over temps all the time.

I started out with an SM008 which got me hooked out the craft, and it IS a craft. Upgraded to a used SM150 and I love that hold feature. I put my brisket or pork butt in using the preset button about 8pm, that's about as late as we stay up around here (chicken farmers get up early). I let her run the full 12 hours at 225 and when I get up I have a wonderful smell greeting me on the deck and perfect Q. Never worry about getting up to check my product, I just let the doggone thing run the full 12 hours without every opening the door to the smoker. I found my SM150 used and doggone I am set for life with this baby. Perfect size for me, a wide choice of shelf locations and wide shelves. Doggone Cookshack really musta been smiling when they designed this model.