Is anyone familiar with the Vision brand of Kamado grills? Would love some opinions and thoughts.

 

Vision Grills Kamado Pro Ceramic Charcoal Grill with Grill Cover-S-4C1D1 - The Home Depot

Here's a thread from a little while back about that type of smoker in general. I'm not familiar with Vision.

 

http://bluegrasspreps.com/bgp-break-room/anyone-use-kamado-305863.html

 

I'm still on the fence as to whether I should get a new pellet smoker of one of the Kamado type grills.

The biggest issue with that model of the Vision is the air leaks around the ash drawer. Kamado style grills are extremely efficient and can hold temps better than most conventional ovens, IF they are air tight. Unless you want to spend the money on a Kamado Joe, I would just save yourself some cash and get an Akorn, it's the best deal available IMO. The only negative I could even consider for it would be that it's made of double walled steel with porcelain insulation, eventually the steel will rust but if you take care of it and keep it covered it should still last you a long long time.

 

I ended up getting the Akorn early in the summer and absolutely love it, so much in fact that my gas grill went in the trash and I haven't fired up my indirect smoker since getting the Akorn. You can cook anything you want on it with minimal effort, once you learn how to control the dampers.

Thanks for the advice.

A friend just gave me a sweet deal on a Weber Smoky Mountain. Going to use that until I pull the trigger on a KJ.

A friend just gave me a sweet deal on a Weber Smoky Mountain. Going to use that until I pull the trigger on a KJ.

 

The smokey mountain is a great grill, you'll love it. My dad had one for years when I was a kid, those things are great cookers.

I have an Akorn Kamado and love it. It looks like it's basically a more simplified version of this one. But it's half the price.

I have an Akorn Kamado and love it. It looks like it's basically a more simplified version of this one. But it's half the price.

 

This one?

 

Amazon.com: Char-Griller 1662

This one?

 

Amazon.com: Char-Griller 1662 Akorn Kamado Kooker Charcoal Barbecue Grill and Smoker, Black: Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

That's the one.

 

Can probably get 25-30% off at Home Depot right now.

My advice is that no matter what kind of ceramic smoker you get, plan on getting at least one remote dual temperature probe. When you open a smoker to check the temperature of the meat, the influx of oxygen causes the temperature to spike, and really good barbecue requires the "low and slow" treatment. By using one probe for the smoker and one for the meat, you can keep the temperature in the smoker much more constant.

 

You can make great barbecue with a ceramic smoker, but it takes a lot of patience - but not as much as trying to smoke meat in an non-insulated steel smoker. Without the insulation, so much heat is lost that you just spend too much time adding charcoal to equal the results of a good ceramic smoker.

 

Because I cannot use an open flame grill where I currently live, I am using an insulated electric smoker. Although it does not produce a "bark" like the charcola smokers, it does keep the temperature very steady and, IMO, the results are equal to or better than you get in a restaurant.

 

Restaurant owners who compete in barbecue competitions tend to crank up the heat for the meat that they serve to their paying customers. Insulated smokers, such as the better electric models and ceramics also have the advantage of being almost unaffected by outdoor temperatures and wind. I really like having an electric smoker for use in the winter. I can preheat the smoker, place the meat in the smoker, add a few trays of wood chips, and take the meat out after 15 hours or more.

 

If money is no object, you can go really high tech and invest in a system for a ceramic smoker that monitors the temperature of the meat and smoker and keeps the temperature of the smoker constant by blowing air into the charcoal with a small fan. You can even have the system send updates to you via text messages and then plot the temperatures for you after you finish cooking.

Not to get completely off topic, but as @Dino Nova mentioned, I almost always use a dual probe thermometer on longer cooks. I will say that dome temps are not as inaccurate as some will lead you to believe, at least not on my Akorn. But a good digital thermometer with at least two probes is almost a must have IMO if you do many long cooks.

 

That said I've always recommended the maverick products, I have a couple of their ET series thermometers and they have always been great. But I just stumbled across the Thermoworks "Smoke" online. It's $100 but looks to me to be the best thermometer on the market at the moment in that price range. It was just recently released and I had no idea they made dual probe thermometers, but their Thermopen and Thermopop instant read thermometers are great. I just wanted to throw that out there for anyone looking to buy a new thermometer. Once I recover from Christmas spending, I'll be buying one.