Put the 6.6# boston butt in last night at 10pm at 225* after putting on rub and letting sit out of fridge for an hour. Put 4.5 oz of hickory in the wood box. Woke up several times last night (I have a 14mo. old that tends to wake up in the night). Meat temp at 0400 was 170. Temp at 0600- 178*. Temp now at 1000am (12hrs in the shack) is 190 --getting closer. I cannot believe how well my essential model 20 is keeping the oven temp at 225. There is almost no fluctuations in temp as described with the 08/09 models with the temp dial. The new digital controls are great. It is nice that the display gives you a constant oven temp reading. I checked it against my own oven thermometer during the seasoning process and it was dead on. I will post the results when my butt (meat-eor) is finished.