It is time to order our Smoker, ? which one 1st? The FE100 or sm150?

You tend to hear about the "small glitches" on the very few,and a phone call usually handles it.

You don't hear about all off us that have been cooking on them ,for quite awhile, post"yep-one more month and not a problem yet".

There were a bunch of us at the Lakeland cookoff,this weekend,from all over the country.

We haul them everywhere,cook in the wind and rain,hook them to all kinds of weird electric,beat them around,overwork them and in all the weekend conversations,I never heard problems mentioned.

Funny,huh?

huckabee,
yes you are right. we have both an fec100 (non-ul model) and two sm150's (both non-probe models).
let's look at my problems after 2 years of hard use;
1- fec100
i had to replace the auger shear pin after 18 months. this took 3 hours time working alone but here is that labor brakedown. 2 hours 45 mins mins horsing my fec which has no rear legs or wheels due to its location over the rig wheelwell and the fact thatmy hood system is coped out for the top of the fec. used timbers and a floor jack to do this as i had but 1/16" clearence to move it out. shear pin replacement took 15 mins. i don't feel that one shear pin in over 18 months is too high of a penalty and replacement was ez.
2-SM150
never had a problem except it doesn't like the 300 setting on either one. chicken skin i still don't have a problem with (we got 2nd place at super-tailgate mania when the @#%&&*** super bowl was here in jacksonville and it was a chicken wing competition!!!!! and since i wondered whether peggy had lost her mind entering us in this i only used the SM for this comp!!!!!!)
3- don't get me wrong i love my fec but to be honest after a lot of work and consulting with a few other chef's i have been able to work around the so-called chicken skin problem. also i cannot stress enough how much candy sue weaver of bbqrsdelight has helped me achieve an exact match of any product that i can do in my fec with my SM's.
so as far as i am concerned either way you go is good but it might be easier to start with the fec and then when you get your product dialed in get an SM and dial your match in.
sorry the reply was so long and i hope that i did not ramble
jack
ps. i love both units. they are like kids. you love each kid the same but the are different lol
pps. just have to add jacksonville spent 13 mill for a super bowl. the final figures just came out today. total incrase in money to the city for a net loss of 10 mill but more importantly small business owners saw a net loss in profit of over 20% while this event was here. pray that your city never gets one of these "money making events"

Thank You Tom and prisionchef313, When you said they are like our *kids* I understood exactly!
Was very impressed to hear all the winners using the Fast Eddy too. After our purchase arrives will I be in the forum giving the details of what we're smoking each day and the results? =)
Our daughter lives in Jacksonville and had a lot to say about the NEVER again.