Care to elaborate? What makes Jim Bowie the worst?
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I had a love/hate relationship with my JB. I loved the looks and capacity and I did make some good food with it. On the hate side, it was an annoying cooker because most cooks involved some level of fighting and fiddling with it to get the food right. Additionally, it's like that friend/relative we all have that has no concept of time and is always late, no matter what.
I found the JB cooked a lot slower than all the other pellet smokers (including Traegers) I've owned. Everything in the JB would take significantly more than every other cooker I've owned. Yes, I always checked the temps independently and what I was dialing in was also what showed on my electronic thermometers, but the JB cooks like a snail on racetrack.
Additionally, the smoke profile on the JB is the lightest of all the GMGs and it's difficult to get any kind of good bark on the food. Mechanically, I never had any issues with and I had it for several years. My personal theory about the issues with the JB is that there is not sufficient air movement in the cooker for good convection.
During the time I had the JB, I got my MAK1 (used) and after the first cook with the MAK, I quickly realized the JB is simply not in the same league as the MAK.
Cooking with the MAK1 is effortless and the food always comes out with great flavor and color. Plus, the food gets done in the expected time window. I've smoked many ribs and briskets in both the JB and MAK and there simply is no comparison in the quality of the food the MAK produces vs. the JB. If you took two identically prepared racks of ribs, using the same pellets, cooked one in the JB and one in the MAK, the one in the MAK would get done with the the expected time window with great color and flavor. The one in the JB, would be much lighter in color with much less flavor. And, most likely, you would be frustrated at how long it took in the JB. With that said, the ribs would still be good in the JB, but not as good as the ones in the MAK.
The MAK will make you look like a star to your family and friends.
Comparing the JB to the Daniel Boone - I haven't had this DB long, but I've used it a few times. While the smoke profile is similar to the JB - light, it cooks on time like it should. I can tell there is much better air circulation in the DB as opposed to the JB.
Comparing the JB to the Davy Crockett - The DC is the most temperamental of the three. It's the smallest and it WILL burn your food if you have the crappy 2-piece drip pan. I think all the new models now come with a solid 1-piece drip pan now, but the models for several years past had the 2-piece drip pan with holes that could be opened (for direct flame grilling) and closed for smoking.
In theory it was a good idea, but the even in "closed" position, the holes allowed excess hot air to come up through the bottom and it would make the bottoms of your food crispy/burned even on low temp cooks. This problem could be alleviated by foiling the drip tray or using making a raised rack on top of a solid metal pan to stop the bottom of the food from getting blasted by hot air. Thankfully, GMG started selling 1-piece solid drip trays (only $10), which now makes the DC a super nice little smoker. Temperatures are now super even and there are no more burned bottoms and crispy edges. I like my DC for small cooks. It produces very good food, but still not as good as my MAK.
GMG does have great customer service. They quickly return every email or will call you right back. The controller on my DC went out after a year. A tech called me and we went through a troubleshooting process over the phone. In the end, he determined the controller was bad and I had a new one in 2 days.
Hope this helps.