It depends on what your cooking and if your competing. We use a Weber to finish our chicken on just for temp reasons. I use 3 uds's for my ribs, pork and brisket. I am still not all that familiar with our new clone. Only cooked on it a few time before we put the trailer in storage for the winter. I am sure that I will start cooking my pork and brisket on it and get some use out of that stoker.
It also depends on which sanctioning body you're competing. Many great
smokers either aren't large enough to cook enough meat for some sanctioning
bodies or aren't legal (electricity, etc).
You'll find many of the competitors that compete across sanctioning bodies
stay with the stick burners. Within that there's reverse flow or not
reverse flow, and gas assist/start or not. We have both reverse flow and
not reverse flow. I've found that the reverse flow seems to have almost
a convection effect (ala. cooks faster a the same temps).
Contrary to above, many competitors like their set-it-and-forget-it types,
like Stumps, etc. These allow competitors to get significantly more sleep,
and that is not to be under-estimated.
Many competitors that stick with the smaller volume of meat sanctioning
bodies love their BGE's, Kamado's, etc. Very fuel efficient and many swear
by them.
Frankly, it has more to do with which sanctioning body you'd prefer to
compete and how you enjoy cooking. If sleep is high on your list, look to
the set-it-and-forget-it types. If you enjoy traditional old-school cooking,
then you might prefer the offset stick burners.
