hello fellow cookers my name is David from Texas so the nick txdave i have used a wood burner most all the time sometimes good results sometimes not so good my biggest fight was always a consistent temperature so i bit the bullet and got a MES 40 20070311 stainless model i know its not the newest but from what i have read from here and others that it maybe the better one maybe a lot bigger than me and my wife need but if i need the space i know i have it i have used it 3 times in the last week and a half twice with ribs st Louis style and once with whole chicken butterflied and brine overnight..ribs were ok but need more experimenting and chicken was excellent..well look forward to some more interesting reading and maybe i can have a little input as well and thanks to all the posters