@Shadowdog500, I see your point and I agree there are benefits to the technology, especially in something like the Meater; I personally don't find it necessary—unless it's steaks, roasts, or birds I don't even get the Thermapen out anymore; steaks and roasts I don't wanna ruin, and with poultry I don't wanna get sick.
I'm by no means an expert pitmaster, however I found that I can go by feel, looks, and time when dealing with L&S. I do own a Thermoworks Smoke and sometimes use it when I'm reverse-searing something and I have work to do or I have to be indoors for some reason; it's nice to pop the receiver out of the pocket and see what's going on.
On one hand, I believe having heavily relied in the past on digital thermometers when doing long cooks caused me to chase temps and babysit the smoker far too much; on the other hand, it gave me enough experience as to what to look for when asking myself whether something is "done", "ready to wrap", "stalling" etcetera. I still care for accuracy or, better yet, consistency of readings.
Ie, I removed the cheap factory thermometer from the stick burner and replaced it with a Tel-Tru BQ300, also moving it from the top of the lid down to the lower left corner at ~1 ½" from grate level. Perhaps the point is 20f hotter or perhaps there's a hot spot at the stack, I don't really care as long as the reading is consistent. I manage a clean burning fire (even too clean sometimes) between 250 and 280 and only act once the needle starts dipping below 250.
I added a small thermometer gauge on the Weber kettle, vent-side, as you would see in a SnS kettle. Grate level, according to the TW Smoke, is 20f colder, but I cook at 250+ so it doesn't matter. Meat turns out incredible anyway, I stopped caring.
I added a gauge to the PBC—that's a heresy, but I like knowing where the cook is going at a glance. I added a 2x4 exhaust pipe because sometimes I want 400-500f in there and sometimes I want 250f.
In the end I believe BBQ lies on a spectrum, on one end it can be made really complicated (like adding or moving gauges, prototyping baffles, experimenting with draft, splitting logs to the exact size needed), and really simple on the opposite end (throw a log, cook at 200-350, come back in 10 hours, eat); however, beyond "complicated" lies "stressful" and before "simple" there's "sloppy". To me, Q is the most relaxing thing I can do with my time; cook amazing stuff and share it with the people I love. Everyone should look for their own happy medium where Q is not yet another stressful thing in their already busy life, and I think I found mine
