I have a problem, newbie wants easy solution

Which models are you considering? That may help us with more specific answers.

Here are my general answers to your questions...

1) How hard are they to clean?
Very easy. Just cover the parts that get the most grease and drippings in HD foil and toss the foil when you are done. Most of us wipe the walls and door as well.

2) Are they set and forget?
Yep.

3) any suggestion on which one?
The biggest that you can afford I bought a Smokette four years ago and wished that I had gone bigger after a few cooks. I always seem to find more food to cook

4) where do people get their chips/pellets, through the web or local?

You can buy wood chips at most hardware and outdoors stores plus Walmart, Target, etc. So far I've bought my pellets online.

Thanks for the response.

As for which models I am considering this may seem odd but it may be between the Smokette and the Amerique. yeah, drastic price difference but my thinking (please correct if wrong) is all three smokers do a great job. The only complaint with the smokette is running out of room. But for me the smokette's storage in winter would be a lot easier because of its smaller size. If I were to jump up to the size of the Super Smoker for the extra room, I might as well go whole hog and get the AmeriQue for the internal meat temp control (which sounds useful, anyway). So my decesion so far on which smoker to get has been weighing storage size vs cook size, not an easy choice. I wish I could see these things in real life but don't live close to any distributer.

I also wonder if the Amerique is too much smoker for me. I don't envision doing much more than mostly chicken/turkey, pork, and actually seafood for myself. My son and actually my daughter's husband will both probably want ribs and brisket though I guess. *sigh*

5) What is the maintenance? Using tinfoil in the drip tray makes sense, and guess the grills are dishwasher. But anything else? In other words, with a gas grill you have burners (spiders in the venturi) and the gas line to deal with. Anything like that on these?

6) This is silly question, but I am a newbie. WHERE do you smoke? Where do you keep your smoker? On a back deck I presume? Don't the elements (hot sun, rain, cold, etc.) hurt these things? Trying to figure out if this thing sits in the garage until you smoke then you roll it out onto the deck, or if you leave it on the deck and only put it away in the winter.

Maintenance: I live in northern MI where it is *cold* all winter. I have my 055 (my recommendation) sitting out on my back deck on a table, but it is under an overhang so it doesn't get rain or snow and rarely any real sun. I moved from an 008 to the 055 figuring it is the last smoker I will ever need to buy. The Amerique was a bit too big to put on a table and I wasn't sure at the time whether I wanted the extra electronics. Having seen remote temp probes go bad right and left (but haven't heard this about the Amerique probes) I didn't really want to deal with that.

And besides, they are "set it and forget it" so I figured I didn't need the electronics to turn the thing off for me. A remote thermometer is all I need.

Back to the maintenance: Since it sits outside in the cold all winter, I am not prone to putting a lot of effort into clean up. I do the foil thing of the covering the bottom and the drip pan (and top of the burn shield) but I don't change them every time. It wouldn't be a big job if I did, but a lot of my smokes occur in a baking pan (salmon for dinner) so there isn't a lot of drip. But the foil would be the only thing I do in the winter. Come spring, I might scrape a bit of the flaking off the sides and do a good wipe on the greasy parts. In all, I would guess a couple hours a year of time spent would be about it, if that. Not bad at all.

Also, if you're buying an 8 or 55 or Amerique, you'll want to be using wood chunks, not chips or pellets. The units come with a sample box so you will see what is needed. A typical smoke only requires 2 to 4 oz of wood which amounts to 1 or two golf ball size chunks of wood. Cabelas sells wood chunks at a reasonable price as well as Cookshack. But in addition, you may have wood around your area that you can use. I get cherry, apple, hickory, maple off my property. Oak wouldn't be hard to come by.

In any event, you'll enjpy your Cookshack regardless of which you buy.

My Smokette has lived on my deck for over three years. It is also under an overhang but I have the cabinet base and long cover so it is completely covered when not in use. The only sign of wear is a little bit of corrosion on the feet of the cart.

As far as maintenance and clean up, if you foil the bottom of the cooker and the top of the firebox the rest of the cleanup is easy. Spray the racks with non-stick cooking spray before each cook and clean them while they are still warm. Remove the foil while things are still warm, especially in the winter. Wipe down the walls and door once in a while. That's it.

My original advice on size still fits. Buy the biggest that your budget can handle. You will fill it up at some point. To give you some idea of capacity, my Smokette can handle three or four racks of ribs (depending on the size of the rack) or two to four butts (again depending on size) or two briskets (I cook whole packers that are around 12 lbs.), three spatchcocked chickens or a whole bunch of jerky. You could probably also get two prime rib roasts in there (again, depending on size) but I have never tried it. The Cookshack cookers make a fantastic prime rib!.

I have the AmeriQue and love it. If you can afford the AQ, go for it, you will never regret your decision. I keep mine on a deck with an overhang, keep the cover on it when not in use and have not had any problems. You can hang or lay on the racks full slabs of ribs. Clean up is a snap, just foil the bottom, poke a hole, foil the fire box and that is it!

Thanks for all the replies. I bit the bullet and ordered a smokette....least investment to see if it is for me. If the family goes all out then maybe will just have to upgrade!