I posted this on pelletheads site ...hope it helps with your decision. Joe
First off I have had my Yoder YS640 going on two years.
When I looked at pellet smokers I was able to see many of the other manufactures pellet smokers out there and compared construction, size and features. I was lucky to have a BBQ shop 15 minutes from me who carried MAK, GMG, Traeger and Louisiana, as well as a couple of other dealers within a hour or so drive. Of of those dealers was a Yoder dealer and I spent a lot of time looking at what he had, pellet and stick burner. What made me go with the Yoder was construction and watching a team using one at a BBQ competition in New Holland PA. The thing is a tank, weighs in at 350 pounds and has a huge cooking surface with the top shelf. My wife said I would never need all of that room but she was wrong, I have filled the thing a number of times. I also liked that the fire pot and burn grate are the same heavy steel that the smoker is made from and not some stainless steel insert.
As for cost, I ended up buying from a dealer in Kansas and still saved a few hundred bucks over buying from the dealer in PA. I was able to get my YS640 with the second shelf, the probe port,
grill grates and a half palette of pellets, delivered to under $2,000. I did not order the comp cart since the thing has not moved into years from the same place on my deck.
What I didn't consider when buying my Yoder was the level of support I was going to have after purchase. I have to say I was completely surprised the first time I emailed them on a Saturday night and received a phone call a half hour later. It was Herb from Yoder, he was calling from a restaurant while waiting for his wife to meet up with him for dinner. Within a few minutes he had advised me what to do and I was back up and smoking that night in no time. I have emailed support a number of time, mainly because I was unfamiliar with the smoker and have received emails from the owner of Yoder as well as support to provide assistance.
Another thing I have found is that Yoder is always looking to improve on their design and takes input from their customers. They designed a new fire grate and burn pot that used could self install. They listened to owners and designed a new two piece deflector plate that makes it easier to clean out the burn gate with out removing all of the grates and deflector plate. It also makes it easier to change over to direct grilling. In addition, last week they sent any registered user that wanted on a new, reinforced deflector plate for the cost of shipping only. The new plate is reinforced to help prevent warping, which was one of the biggest complaints and lets you grill on the
grill grates without removing it. I used it last night and set my Yoder to 400* and cooked two pork tenderloins.