Fatboy VS Competitor

[DntBrnDPig]

After walking around the BBQ teams at some of the local competitions I am seriously interested in getting a BWS. I was leaning towards a Lang 60 or 84 but after seeing the babysitting that goes on with one, I'd much rather give up the bigger smoker for a less troublesome one.

Having said that, I am torn between these two smokers. I am getting into catering but nothing HUGE. I would like to eventually get into doing some local comps.

Is the Fatboy big enough for this? Is the extra $1k (base price) of the Competitor worth it? I am a new Dad and would be taking a huge leap getting this smoker. So price is something big for me. But dont want to regret not getting the bigger smoker down the road. although the idea of getting 2 fatboys eventually is entertaining.

Also, I've wanted to be able to do a whole hog, and have seen people rig the competitor up for it. So thats a plus on its side... but I dont want to spend the 1k extra (again base i know) for it when I would use it maybe 1 or 2 times for that purpose.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!
~Pig

[Dave]

Sir Pig, money will always be an issue, but what most of us have learned, always buy bigger the first time, which in the long run, will save you money. If you are really looking into catering and competing, spend the extra and get the Competitor. You will be amazed at what you can cook in one Competitor. Before I got mine, I made too many mistakes thinking the smaller cookers would do just fine. When I think of the money I wasted

Dave

[Braddog]

I used the same logic to buy a FatBoy over the Party. But as Dave said, money became an issue and I had to stop at a FatBoy.

I pick up my new cooker this week. Good luck with your decision.

Cheers,
Braddog

GrillandBarrel.com

[Vinny]

Mr. Pig,

If you are serious about catering in the future, hold off until you can spring for the bigger unit. In the long run you will be happy you did. I own a party and it is great for 95% of what I do for friends and family, but that other 5% would be nice for more room.

Also, moving around a competitor is a job. You just don't pick it up and throw it in your truck!

Vinny

[RickC]

I used the same logic to buy a FatBoy over the Party. But as Dave said, money became an issue and I had to stop at a FatBoy.

I pick up my new cooker this week. Good luck with your decision.

Cheers,
Braddog

GrillandBarrel.com

Yea, after a month and a half of cooking on my chubby I'm saving money to get a FatBoy or Gator. I think I would go for the Gator unless there is a big difference in price between the Gator and the FatBoy. The Gator has just a little more room in it and is the same width as the FatBoy

[Braddog]

While I've only had my Fatboy for a couple of days, I can already see that it'd be nearly impossible to get the stated capacity of 16 pork butts on this thing. Realisticly, you may get half that many on it. So, if you're looking for catering capacity, I think you'd be better off with the bigger cooker.

Cheers,
Braddog

[DntBrnDPig]

Thanks I ended up getting the competitor. Doing my first cook as I type. So far so good.. I just had a major temp spike when I added more lump.

I unplugged the guru fan and pushed the damper in it to fully closed until the temps settled back down to 235 or so.. then i pluggeg it back in and pulled the damper out again.

Hopefully this will take care of it.

But I am loving the guru and competitor combo. Got about 6 hours out of 5 lbs of RO Lump

[RickC]

Thanks I ended up getting the competitor. Doing my first cook as I type. So far so good.. I just had a major temp spike when I added more lump.

I unplugged the guru fan and pushed the damper in it to fully closed until the temps settled back down to 235 or so.. then i pluggeg it back in and pulled the damper out again.

Hopefully this will take care of it.

But I am loving the guru and competitor combo. Got about 6 hours out of 5 lbs of RO Lump

I have noticed that sometimes after adding fuel that I will get a temp spike, I think it happens because as the fire starts to catch it can draw more air in through the Guru fan and takeoff on it's own. I have taken to running the Guru damper about half way closed, it seems to have limited the overshoots after new fuel is introduced to about 5-8 degrees over the pit set temp.

[DntBrnDPig]

Do you mess with the exhaust damper at all? I didnt even think about doing that last night.

Overall though the cook went very good. I cooked 2 Boston Butts at 225 and they took almost 12 hours to get to 200. I also had some ribs on that I did.. they werent the best but I know what i did different than normal so.. chalk that up to learning the smoker. The Competitor and Guru combination is like a dream though. 225 every time i looked out until i had to add more fuel (which i was using lump).

[RickC]

Do you mess with the exhaust damper at all? I didnt even think about doing that last night.

Overall though the cook went very good. I cooked 2 Boston Butts at 225 and they took almost 12 hours to get to 200. I also had some ribs on that I did.. they werent the best but I know what i did different than normal so.. chalk that up to learning the smoker. The Competitor and Guru combination is like a dream though. 225 every time i looked out until i had to add more fuel (which i was using lump).

Yes, I have shut down the exhaust damper if I have let the fire get away and spike to high. I will shut it down until I have the fire back down to the temp that I want and then I open it all the way back up and let the Guru take over. I did that the other day when I had some wood chunks that were flaming up and driving the temp over the limit I wanted.

[DntBrnDPig]

I was afraid of closing that damper thinking the food may get a sooty (i dont know if thats a word or not) taste to it. But I will give it a shot next time.

I'm gonna do a bigger cook this weekend and I will try to load it up with more lump from the get go.

[Squealin Pig]

Tell the ol' gal I miss her!!!!

[DntBrnDPig]