I've decided to keep the battlebox because it's perfect when I need to be attending to other things or when the weather is bad. I can get about a ten hour burn with the battlebox. Using a BBQ Guru, the temperature is almost as stable as my kitchen oven. I'm planning on getting another smoker, and originally was thinking of selling the battlebox to partially fund the new one. However, the new smoker will need regular attention, and isn't conducive to being run under shelter when the weather is bad. So I'm going to keep the battlebox around for when I can't be tethered to the smoker.
What I have is a 2014 battlebox, stainless shelf upgrade, slide-in water pan, 8 inch wheels, drip tray, running with a BBQ Guru. It's a wonderful unit. The Humphrey product line is constantly changing, and I like some of the options that have come online since I bought mine. You'll want to take a look at the options available when you order.
The expanded steel shelves are a bit hard to clean but they will last forever. No sign of rust. Well worth the money. I like the newer style shelves even better though I haven't tried them. I just think they'll be easier to clean.
I opted for the slide-in water pan. This means there's a heavy piece of steel between the firebox and the cookbox. I think it might slow down the initial warm-up, but it's very convenient.
The 8 inch wheels lift the unit to a little more comfortable height. If they would have had pictures of their cart when I got mine, I would have ordered one. Personally, some additional work space would be nice. The cart also lifts the unit to a better working height.
My intent was to use the BBQ Guru for temperature regulation, so I skipped the manually controlled vents on the front of the firebox.
The warm-up is a bit slow. This unit has a lot of thermal mass that all needs to come up to temp. The way I light it, it takes almost an hour in the summer to an hour and a half in the winter to warm up to temp. Some folks use propane torches to speed that process along, but I haven't done that. Also, if I started it with a chimney of lit coals, I'm sure it would warm up quicker, but I think I'd end up sacrificing some burn time. But even that isn't a problem since it's easy to slide out the charcoal basket and add more fuel. Now they even have a larger basket that will give you even longer burns.
Fire control and smoke quality is going to be very similar to almost any vertical smoker.
Construction is very nice. They used very high quality door latches and hinges. The units weigh in around 300 pounds. That's a lot of steel. You'll want to be careful moving it. That's another reason I think the cart would be nice because you'd have a wider stance and it would be more stable.
I don't really have any criticisms about this unit. It matches the goals I had for buying it. Works very well, and friends tell me it produces some of the best smoked goods they've ever had. When I was looking around, it seemed like the best value for the money, and I still believe that.
Let me know if you have specific questions and I'll do my best to answer them.