Smoker recommendation

[CO Horn]

I live in Colorado and am looking for a new smoker. I talked to my parents to see if they could look at a smoker from Academy and bring it up to me later this fall.

I'm looking at the Bandera or the Okie Joe's Wild West Tradition. Any recommendations? Pros/Cons between the two?

 

[RichUT]

Two different styles.

I've read up on the Bandera, and I do know that it requires a fair amount of mods to get the heat distribution to be even in the vertical chamber. Without the mods, the right side runs a fair amount hotter than the left.

If you are willing to read up and do the mods, it is supposedly a very nice smoker.

The OKJ smokers seem pretty decent for the money. I haven't used them, but have spent time at Academy checking them out, and they are pretty sturdy. Of course, the pieces are all bolted together, but you won't find welded pieces in that price range.

If you could spare an extra $150 for the Old Country, that would be my suggestion.