ryantt said:

What I think is great about the product is the service, hands down the most responsive company I’ve ever felt with.   

Eric could make a fortune teaching BGE and uuni about product launch management and customer communication
The 'any day now' in BGE terms is really a year or so from now and the jury is still out on uuni as the summer of 2017 is over and i grew tired of non responses from uuni when inquiring about gas burner availability.  Im sure theres an answer somewhere hidden on their website and schmoes like me can access only after jumping through a bunch of hoops and login sequences that frustrate me to no end...maybe the uuni is just for millenials, i dont know....


BgE failure to deliver a product when indicated actually saved me money as it kept me from dropping $5,000 on the XXL.   Instead i got the minimax, which, as many on this forum will remember was worse than being a little kid anticipating Christmas.  It was like 25 Dec came and went and we got to open presents on Valentine's Day.....

You won't regret it.  I have been using mine more than I expected.  Original thought was only for low n slows.  I find myself using it for normal cooks now too.  After the temp gets to around 150 or so, set the temp and throw it on.  Then don't worry about it until I add the meat.

jeponline said:

What's the highest temp you can use the smobot for?  Is 350 ok to do a turbo butt?

Don't recall what the max temp is but I've used mine to hold 400+.

... Went to look it up - the grill probe is good up to 750°F.

They are using a Type K probe and you can buy those in a wide range of probe types and temperature ranges if you needed a probe that measured higher temps.

You guys have cost me money again. I just ordered one.

Thanks for pointing out the discount.

Bought one.  Damn,   Said I would never use an automated temp controller.  Laughed at my Brother for buying a trager.  Damn.  Cant wait to get it.

Ragtop99 said:

the advantage of having a fan is when the cook is behind schedule.  On an XL, passively bringing the temp up can take a while, especially with a partially blocked daisy wheel.  If I'm out and realize a butt is stuck in its stall, i can tell the FB to crank up the temp and the fan will push the temp from 235 to 285 within a couple minutes.  

I really like the Smobot's simplicity, but I already own a flameboss. 

I have a battery to power the FB.  I bought one bigger than FB suggested, about $45 or so.  If you don't mind...which battery pack?

I know I had done 195, after already chugged along at 235 and wanted to slow things down.  Haven’t tried Lower.

Elijah said:

What's the lowest it can reliably hold? That's one of the advantages for the blower type for me. I can hold really low temps that I wouldn't be able to with the vents alone.

dsleight said:

Elijah said:

What's the lowest it can reliably hold? That's one of the advantages for the blower type for me. I can hold really low temps that I wouldn't be able to with the vents alone.

I can hold 225 without any problems, I have never tried to hold anything lower using the smobot.  

225 is what I am looking for I can’t wait to try mine out. (when it gets here)

reinhart36 said:

On my phone,  so brief response.  Thanks for all the kind words! 

Every summer,  I use smobot to run my BGE large at 190F for about 24 hours to smoke dry jalapenos from my garden.  The firmware will allow for 185F. It's nice and stable at those temps as long as you have a good lid gasket. 

Recently ran an akorn up to 650F, though I'm not sure there are many excuse to do that.  Just an experiment for fun. 

Kind regards, 
Eric

@225F, how far is the bottom vent open?

If you want the exhaust more open than less,  you can close down the inlet more rather than less.  It's just a balance thing mainly,  with some minor wind robustness implications. 

This is a fairly out-of-date firmware for SMOBOT, so I suspect it'd be more precise now.  Data for blower was a BGE Large, from a third party.  I mimicked the setpoint profile on my BGE Large and just documented the performance, and overlaid the two.  Surprising, huh?

clifkincaid said:

Ragtop99 said:

the advantage of having a fan is when the cook is behind schedule.  On an XL, passively bringing the temp up can take a while, especially with a partially blocked daisy wheel.  If I'm out and realize a butt is stuck in its stall, i can tell the FB to crank up the temp and the fan will push the temp from 235 to 285 within a couple minutes.  

I really like the Smobot's simplicity, but I already own a flameboss. 

I have a battery to power the FB.  I bought one bigger than FB suggested, about $45 or so.  If you don't mind...which battery pack?

Talent Cell YB12011000-USB from Amazon.  Its overkill at 11000 mAh.  8000 mAh should have adequate capacity to provide solid overnight coverage.

Good discussion.  I've kicked around the thought of adding a controller to my setup and hearing the feedback from fellow Eggers and the support and contribution from the smobot folks definitely eases the decision making process.

stompbox said:

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

HeavyG said:

FearlessTheEggNoob said:

The smobot is a clever solution to controlling temps, no doubt. But to me its like throttling your engine by restricting flow at the tail pipe.

Doesn't the stock daisy wheel that most folks use work the same way?

Why yes, yes it does. All the Smobot does is automate that method.

On briskets I'm moving to keeping the dfmt wide open and controlling the temp with the lower fan. The point being to increase the airflow, lower the humidity, and maintain clean smoke.

Airflow is the same, not increased. If it were,it would be hotter.

I disagree. My thoughts are that by opening the top more, I reduce the efficiency within the cooking chamber through a freer release of rising heat. This results in a greater need for makeup air to stoke the fire to compensate. The additional flow (however minor) helps evacuate excessive humidity. I can confirm that by the reduction of condensation at the lower vent. Bear mind these are low and slow temps hovering around 275.