Help choosing first bullet smoker - Pro Q or WSM?

[smokeyBandit]

I have a an excel , I have had a few issues in the past with temps but have got around those recently.

I absolutely love the smoker, the ability to add and remove stackers easily is so handy, both for accessing meat in the cook process (foiling etc) and if you are doing small cooks, such as today, I am just cooking a pork shoulder, so I will only need one level. However a couple of weeks ago I cooked a should, a brisket and 4 racks of ribs so used 3 stackers.

As I mentioned I had some some problems with temps, this was mainly due to - filling the water bowl up too much. I am not sure if this is solely related to excels, but a lot of people seem to not use water in the chamber at all and foil the dish adding an an additional ceramic dish to regulate heat, have seen some people do this with WSM as well, would be interested to see if anyone on here does this?

Depending on the ambient temps depends on how much water I use now as I like to have a water in the cook chamber. Last cook I used a kettle full each top up (which is easily done through the door)

The eyelets are really handy, last cook I had an iGrill running for the oven temp and the another couple of probes for meat temps

Also would totally back up the customer service from Mac's bbq, Ian is a great bloke, extremly helpful and just loves to talk Q

[YetiDave]

I'll second your comment about customer service for Mac's BBQ - absolutely outstanding. My Excel base had a chip on the enamel so I called up asking the best way to replace it. Ian offered to send out a replacement base the same day and I hadn't even purchased directly from them

I used water in my Excel once and it was a pain in the arse to clean up afterwards. Since I've just foiled over the bowl with a clay dish in there, but to be honest I'm not convinced the dish actually does anything

[Scantily]

Just out of interest, what warranty do you get with the pro q range?

[YetiDave]

Just a year I think

[Scantily]

Just a year I think

In that case I think the warranty alone makes the wsm good value, as far as I remember you get 1 year on the grates, 2 years on the handles and 10 years on the main sections. Speaks volumes for webers confidence in their products.

[The Social Smokers]

I started my smoking life on a Pro Q frontier, and then bought a WSM to cook on. I actually find that my frontier holds temps better than the WSM but now I use digital temp controllers so it doesn't matter. It's a difficult one, they are both good. If you're on a budget then go Pro Q, they work just fine. We cooked a 2nd place Brisket on an Excel at Grillstock. Bunch of Swines have also won comps cooking on an Excel. I'd start with a Pro Q and upgrade later on to a WSM when you find you want more capacity. Because you will haha!

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[BBQFanatic]

This is not the first time this has been discussed. Ed from bunch of Swines posted a similar commentary a few years ago and as an owner of both units I provided my feedbak http://bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1254&start=10#p10428.

The long and short of it IMHO is -
ProQ - Best value for money smoker for home use. Inconsistent cooking if using water pan, but can be remedied by moving to clay saucer and force draft system. Recommended for home cooks

WSM - Expensive bullet style smoker, perfect for comp's and consistent cooks. Doesnt need a clay saucer, but becomes incredibly fuel efficient when it does use one. Recommended for competition teams and home cooks with more tin to spare