Hello, all. I have enjoyed reading this group off and on over the
last couple of years and there have been a lot of good ideas and
techniques that I have tried and still use. Thanks!

My old pit/smoker of almost 17 years finally gave up the ghost. I was
an old New Braunfels smoker pit (the model name escapes me). I live
30 minutes from the old factory, so there were several models that
never left the state for sale, so no way of knowing which one this
was. It was a good soldier though, smoking briskets, turkeys,
chickens, etc. happily for all that time.

But, moving on I have used this as an opportunity to purchase a new
WSM, which is on the way. Since it is me and the SO these days, that
should be a great size.

BTW, I found these thermometers on Amazon at pretty good prices if
anyone is interested (I am upgrading everything while I can!):

http://tinyurl.com/yroequ (dual probe Polder)

http://tinyurl.com/yqejjb (SS grill surface/oven
thermometer)

So with the smoker part handled, I am looking for a good grill. I am
moving here soon and don't want to buy a 400# grill to move. So it
doesn't have to be a world class grill, but one I can fire up and do a
few chickens, sausage, and a steak or two. If I can keep it in the
$175 range or so I have one of my buddies that will buy it when I move
for 1/2 of what I pay. (This will get me the downpayment on my
Klose).

I have been looking at the Academy/HD/Lowes offerings and the
Chargriller looks OK. I don't know about using it as a smoker as it
looks pretty airy and doesn't have much capacity, but you can get the
smoker box attached and still be under $200. One of my buddies has
the NB Hondo, and I'll pass on that. Saw the Hondo Super or something
like that, and it is just an aluminum version of the regular Hondo.

The only other one that looks interesting to me in this price range is
the big square Brinkmann that is about $140. I don't know the name, I
think it might be the Chargriller Pro.

I don't want to get into this too deep as I have 4 excellent pit
makers in Houston where I go to visit family twice a year, 2 in New
Braunfels (40 minutes away) including the guys that sold most of their
interest in the original New Braunfels pit company, and an hour away
from Lyfetime pits on Uvlade. And there are a ton more in between. I
will gladly spend a nice Winter day driving around looking at pits
when I am ready as I have a lot of places to go see them.

At this time I just want a pit/grill to see me through the next few/
several months until I am ready to put the $1200 or so I want to spend
on the grill/smoker size and model I have been looking at. I'll get
the 400 - 500 gorilla when I get to the new place.

I read a lot about the Chargriller in the archives, but no one really
comitted whether it was worth the money or not. And I didn't find
very many posts with opinions (mods, yes - results no) on how this
works as grill or smoker. There is always that possibility that at
Thanksgiving I might want to do three or four turkeys and a ham at
once and I might want something to catch the overflow from the WSM.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance -

Robert