I agree. I had initial concerns same as you but so far I have not experienced many issues other than some uneven heat and the pellet hopper feeding (which the ramp solved). Using it every weekend now for long and slow cooks nothing major is coming up. Clean up really is as simple as scraping into the grease pan which is not bad at all. I usually crank up the heat and cook any excess grease before clean up and I have not had an issue doing that either or grease fires.
All of the food just comes out soooo freakin’ good. I don’t know if it’s the open flame concept that makes this one different but it’s just really good no matter what you cook on it. For example after a long and slow brisket cook I cranked up the heat and cooked corn on the cob directly on the grates with my special corn baste, and oh man the open wood Fire makes such a huge difference in the flavor and gives it some nice char marks.
I have full confidence in Weber. Anyone I have spoke to in the past with my other Weber equipment and now with this grill are just fantastic and will bend over backwards to make you happy. They don’t price gouge you on old grill parts either and have everything available (replacement ss burners from my 15 yr old Genesis were only $36). A sort of customer service experience rare to find these days. Improvements will come. And they told me directly that no matter what the improvements are, they won’t leave any of us original Smokefire purchasers “in the dust.”
