Gear

Every piece of gear on this site earns its spot by getting used, not by getting rated off a spec sheet. Most of it, I buy with my own money. Some — usually something new enough that buying it myself isn’t realistic yet — comes from the manufacturer, and I say so on that specific review. Either way, nothing gets covered until I’ve actually cooked on it.

Granted, that’s a smaller sample size than a site running units through a full lab. What I can tell you is how a smoker holds temperature in real wind, how long a cheap probe thermometer stays accurate before it drifts, and which accessories I’ve actually replaced because the first one wore out. A spec sheet can’t tell you that.

Smokers get the most attention here because that’s the highest-stakes purchase — a bad one will fight you on temperature control for years. Thermometers and accessories matter more than people expect. A $15 probe that reads five degrees hot will lie to you at exactly the moment you can’t afford it to.

If something here turns out to be a dud, I’ll say so in an update rather than let the old review sit.

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