gerard

Forgive me for hijacking this thread, but since I started it, I'm entitled. 7 years ago, the (Sacramento-Indo-Mexi) Kamado forum was a happy place. The owner was a constant participant, fanboys were everywhere and delighting in his presence and his candor and his insistence that we owned or were about to own the best cooker in the world with the best warranty in the world. SongDog can vouch for this if he wishes. We bought it hook, line, and sinker. He and his company could do no wrong. If RJ hadn't gone out of his way to trash the BGE, there would have been almost no dissension at all. After 6 months to a year there were a few problems but nothing major, or whatever problems arose, were handled off the forum. It was only after hundreds of cookers were out in the field for several years that many of us realized the product and the warranty were not as advertised. That's when many of the oldtimers dropped out... this was much different than the cooker flame wars. We could no longer recommend the product. Strangely, RJ became too busy to participate in the forums at that time. Now RJ participates in his forums again. But AlanZ has the forums so fortified that very little dissension surfaces. Never could quite figure out Alan... he's obviously a genuine cooking fanatic and has spent much effort trying to teach others and has pushed the boundaries of ceramic cooking... but to prevent (or enforce the K policy that dictates) frantic, desperate owners from seeking warranty support on his lovingly crafted forum when they have literally no where else to turn would keep me from sleeping at night. I know of many dissatisfied owners and I've been out of the loop for a long time. How many nightmares must the forum moderator know about? Gawd, I'd have to scrape the K sleaze off my monitor nightly. Oops... I've been prattling. Didn't mean to go beyond the cautionary tale that I thought should be told. This is an extremely new product with no history. Maybe accolades should be reserved for a while. Brag about how beautiful the komodos are when you receive them. Boast about the attention to detail and the overengineering. Crow about their cooking prowess. But issues such as durability, customer service, and warranty support require years to become clear. Lastly, don't try to convince others of the durability, customer service and warranty support and risk them buying on your recommendation until you really know. I've done it and have felt guilty ever since. Hope my cynicism hasn't made me unwelcome. I plan on being a guinea pig and getting one of these cookers. And I'm certainly enjoying my time here. But my time is short - my wife read this over my shoulder and told me to "Get a life."

Dang That was the perfect answer. No wonder folks are so smitten with you.

$84...$116...$180... are the price differences between a classic and an OTB for the three trim lines... standard, supreme, and deluxe, respectively. For the same cookers, right? Is there a reason? Seems kinda arbitrary otherwise. Of course, it's your business Dennis. You get to price 'em how you want. Damn, I'm spending way too much time on this site if I'm starting to notice discrepancies like that.

Hey Dennis, about that chicken wire question.... Well now I'm more than curious since I didn't get an answer. Is chicken wire part of the komodo's construction? I understand all about the necessity of rebar in concrete so I'm not opposed. And, if so, are we going to see it as a reticular pattern on the inside of the komodo the way it slowly appeared in my kamado? Thanks in advance.

What, no chicken wire??? Not that there's anything wrong with that. Actually I'm just curious. I never understood the big hullabaloo over the chicken wire discovery in the other brand's units, except that at that time the Kompany was still aggressively defending its use of the term "ceramic" and no one had ever seen chicken wire or any other metal support in anything else ceramic. The use of "refractory material" came about much later.

Re: It's funny I remember Jason. His misunderstanding of your proposed grout sealing technique isn't what made him unique. Along the same vein.... remember the aging British rocker (whose alleged name totally escapes me)?

Greetings. I'm Gerard. I've been using ceramic cookers for two decades but am a lousy cook compared to most of the folks that post on these forums. I mostly cook steaks, salmon, hamburgers, butts and ribs. I'm most proud of my ribs.... always served dry and always St. Louis cut - figure God created babybacks so folks with gas grills could claim to cook ribs too. My first cooker was a clay egg and it's still in my driveway. I currently cook on two Primo Kamados with which I'm quite happy. I've also owned, been a huge fan of, and still miss my Mexi K7. I was one of the first owners of an RJ K7. I became caught up in the kult, became a true fanboi and a forum mouthpiece. But durability and customer service issues killed the allure and like all of the old timers I faded away. I'm now somber and cynical of all the manufacturers and their claims, including this one, though I certainly like what I've been reading. I'll probably end up with one of these cookers in the next year. There's simply no substitue for the size and especially the dome height of a K7 when doing large amounts of meat low and slow. Maybe, after 10 years of no problems and of great customer service, I'll become a fanboi once again.