Update:
I noticed a pretty gnarly dent in the back of the smoking chamber, so I called Cabelas and they gave me $100 off for the trouble since I'm an hour and half away, so couple that with the promotion of $170 in cabelas points, I got $270 off the grill.
I ran through the initial burn-off and noticed 2 things:
1) my thermoworks was reading 80 degrees hotter than my setting with the grate probe in the "cool" zone (indirect and bottom shelf).
2) I was going through pellets at an alarming rate
I called PitBoss and they said their instructions are pretty poor and that the rain cap should only be about 5 threads screwed-in, where I had mine like 2/3 screwed in all the way. After adjusting that, the grill dropped 50 degrees amazingly fast. The guy also said their design actually has the "cool zone" over the fire pot where the sear plate is. So I moved my grate probe to that spot and let it stabilize, and sure enough, it dropped another 30 degrees within 1 degree of my setting and maintained 5 degrees for the 30 minutes I left it set.
What I'm not sure on, is why it wasn't adjusting itself for the temp. The only thing I can think of is the timer logic and the short amount of time cycle, the unit didn't have a chance to correct itself from the abundance of heat being used.
SO...for anybody new to this, I feel confident I debunked 2 of the negative points with the cabelas...If it's running that hot, check the stack. A lot of reviews said the center was too hot, and after dialing mine in, I can say that's not true.
I'll report back after I do some chicken breasts and the prime rib later in the week.
