I graduated from an el cheapo sidebox smoker to the Old Country Pecos. Picked mine up at Academy Sports. They actually allowed me to go into their store room and look at the Pecos models in stock and not rely the floor model as representative before purchasing. The one I picked out had the best fitting doors, and so far little to no smoke/heat loss around the doors.
I have had good results so far, and still in the learning curve about this smoker. It is well made, weighs about 350#, and holds heat well. The large metal wheels made mobility possible, but still a chore. Forget charcoal for smoking, and lump is good only for short cookings. Stick is the only way to go.
Cons....the heat deflector in the bottom needs to be longer as it creates a major hotspot right over deflector. I have added a couple of pans, (one perforated, one solid) that helped tremendously.
It recovers heat rather slowly after opening either of the doors, possibly needs a larger damper, but the one it has is pretty big.
Hope this helps.....
