CS 150 or FEC100?

Once you take the plunge for the FEC, you will never look back.

hi pat,
1st welcome to the group as is saw it is your 1st posting!!!!!!!
we own both an SM150 and an FEC100 and we like them both equally well but for different reasons. the sm belongs to my wife peggy. she loves it due to the fact she can hit 2 buttons and turn out a great product. now that she is more familiar with it she also likes the manual settings that allows her to experiment.
myself i like the fec better (but the more i get to play with the sm the more respect i am gaining for it). i like its higher heat capabilities, being able to custom blend my own mix of wood flavors and being able to fine tune my heat characteristics by changing pellet manufacturers.
so either way you chose i don't see where you could lose
if you were to ask me i would say get the fec
if you were to ask peggy she would say get the sm. she has even started playing with using pellets for her smoke instead of wood.
hope this helps you
jack

Pat,
I really love the 150 for cooking just about anything. I can't fit a hotel pan in it but a 1/2 pan fits fine. My job right now is the chicken part of competitions and after some instruction from Ocala Bill, the chicken is a WOW in the FE.
For home slow smoking, I would think the 150 is easier. I heard problems with the pellets jamming up in the FE in our humidity. However, we've had no problems there. We're careful to burn out all the pellets, not leave any leftover pellets in the hopper and vacuum out the ash at the end of cooking and cooldown. The 150 leaves a very small amount of ash at the end of a cook probably because you don't use much wood. The pellets also leave a small amount considering the number you use to cook.
We have run our units on generators and notice the CS seems to use more power than the FE does. The FE has more room inside. Both are easy to clean.
I like both of them.
Peggy

Owning both units, I'd ask, what are you wanting to cook?

For poultry and ribs, I prefer my FEC. Butts and Briskets do great in the 150.

Tough call, if I had to only have one or the other, I'd probably lean to the FEC. More variation on temp than the 150 and maybe a little more volume (but not much).

Not having a 150, but based on FE versus smokette, I'll choose the FE to cook on everytime. Has to do with moisture retention in the smokette. It's a great little smoker, but I prefer a dry heat to cook with. I rarely put liquid in the water pan in the WSM. I've not even used my gas grill this year! That's a wet heat too.

I'm having the same problem. I like the FE because of the larger range of temps you can set it at, but for now, I think it's out of my price range. Anyone know why the other CS smokers aren't set up to heat higher than 250?

I guess I should clarify, I was looking at the CS 50 and not the 150.

Jamie, welcome to the forum, you'll get more detailed answers about a CS here than at BBQSearch.

You might post a new message in the CS Open Forum, instead of the FE Open and ask CS owners what they think of the temp range.J

It's a design issue, based on the heating element. It will cook everything you want, just won't make chicken skin crispy, but there are plenty of options, most people finish it on a grill...but after all most people throw the skin out, or they should.

Not me! I throw out the chicken and eat the skin. LOL

yeah, FF, because you're using a Pellet Cooker which DOES give us more options for the skin.

LMAO!! You betcha!!

Thanks everyone for the advice. Talked to John S. at Cookshack and he made me a great deal on a SM 150, seasoning now can't wait to load it up.

Pat