Yeah, the standard kettle height is pretty low, all things considered. My back can tell when I've been cooking over my 26".
My one and only complaint about the OTP is the dome design. I love how the handle is in the front and opens straight back into the catcher on the rear of the grill, but that design puts the daisy wheel exhaust dead center on top of the grill dome. No problem when doing high-heat grilling, but the first few times I tried doing a low-temp smoke I learned that an indirect charcoal setup wasn't ideal. If you stack the lit coals on, say, the left side of the grill, you loose a lot of smoke and heat going right out the center exhaust vent before it even reaches the meat on the right side. It helps to split the coals on both left and right sides and put your meat in the middle, but still seems less efficient than other kettle models that let you spin the lid and place the offset exhaust vent wherever you like to control the directional flow of smoke and heat.
But considering I can smoke on other cookers, I love grilling on my OTP and happy to have a cooker that someday may be considered kind of rare!
EDIT: And I agree, the propane assist seems like it'd be somewhat handy but I dunno if I'd personally use it enough for the added cost. Although I do get jealous of that performer blue!
