Well the Mak performed admirably. Way too easy. Fill up the hopper, hit the start button, set the grill temp, insert meat probe and set meat temp - drink favorite beverages..... When the meat reaches temp, an obnoxious alarm starts beeping, and the grill temp lowers. Very cool. I smoked an elk rib (very lean), and it came out fantastic. Nice smoke ring and tender. Cooked it till it reached 130. Then we smoked a Wagyu tri tip. 160 deg this time. Perfect. This thing keeps the grill temp within 5 deg, always. Amazing. Looking forward to trying to different things with it.

It does go through the pellets though. Close to 1 pound per hour if you crank the temp up. The taste of the food is well worth it to me though.