Personal Opinion: Stoker vs DigiQ II

Yeah...I forgot, I have 3 shots of single malt scotch straight up in a sniffer glass, while my fire is getting started. After chimney is going good, I dump on top of new or used lump, close it all down w/guru set and on, wait for temp to come up and in about 30 mins I'm ready to put meat on. Hope this helps.

Don't get too close to that fire and breathe on it - you might get more than a flashback singe on your arm ! :woohoo:

I got the Guru2 myself a couple of weeks ago after carefully considering the Stoker. Simple, elegant solutions appeal to me, and the high level of customer satisfaction here with Guru2 owners was persuasive. The networkability of the Stoker was tempting but I was persuaded by the Guru2's simplicity. It seems like every few weeks here somebody's asking for help doing network configuration to read their Stoker via the Web or their home network.

I purchased the same configuration as you propose except that I got the appropriate door for my large BGE. I also got a small Dop-style zippered bag to hold everything, and a power cord to let me drive the Guru2 from a car battery. I don't see any need for the long wires.

Initial uses have been very satisfactory. The thing is so easy to use that I honestly have never looked at the manual. Just took it out, did the obvious plug-ins, and there ya go. The display flashes whenever the fan runs, so I can look thru a window and read temp and see activity without even opening the door. Probably the only thing I have done "wrong" is occasionally forget to move the fan's slider door to the half-open position recommended. That means the fan blowing into the bottom of the Egg is blocked ( ). Also, If I open the Egg and leave the dome open too long, the pit probe flashes LO, which reminds me, "Close the lid, dummy!" :ermm:

I'm usually in a hurry to eat when I start cooking, and tend not to take enough care building up the lump to make an ideal fire start. Having the powered draft helps the Egg forgive my sloppy fire-building. Or maybe it's not my fault and my lump just has too many little pieces. :ohmy:

I was initially disappointed with how slowly the Guru2 brought my Egg up to temp. Fidel gave me a good tip on using the Guru to start my fire. Just leave the pit probe outside the Egg until you're within 50 degrees or so; this will make the fan run almost constantly. I usually clip the pit temp probe to the tip of the Egg's dome thermometer.

My only disappointment with the transaction was that the young lady handling my phone order didn't seem to understand the options for running off a car-style 12-volt battery (they make two optional power cords; one plugs into a car cigarette lighter and the other has alligator clips to attach directly to a battery). Once I got to talk to somebody who knew the product, no problem. They also sent the shipment as signature required (without telling me), so there was some annoyance with UPS being unwilling to leave the package despite my phone calls to UPS and posted handwritten pleas to the contrary (I'd paid extra for quick shipping but ended up having to wait several days over a holiday and hadn't realized I was expected to wait at home all day). You might want to make sure that's clear before placing the order.