If you plan on frying, get this, else, don't.

Temperature regulation on this thing isn't fun, it takes a while to warm up, the electric smoker works excellent, my folks have that, I'm sure the gas upright smoke'n'grill with the heating element built in works wonders too, I don't know, but I wish I did! This one wastes fuel like crazy since the heating unit is below everything and a lot of heat blows across and radiates downward rather than it all being used to cook your food.

Realize this, the gas upright one with the enclosed heating element has only a 17,000 btu burner which I'm sure is plenty, this one has like a kazillion btu burner, and I have to turn it up to 1/5th of a kazillion(180,000) to get some good cooking going on. Its saving grace is you can use plenty of wood to help keep the temperature up and not waste too much gas, no need to worry about gas elements getting all rusty, as they usually do before the grill does, this sucker is for the long haul.

Budget-wise, all in one will cost you more in the long run than the other brinkmann gas upright smoke'n'grill, if you seldom cook, all-in-one might be good for you, if you invite friends and throw crawfish boils, or if you like a lot of fire, this is right up your alley. Else, stick with the smoke'n'grill series, it won't let you down other than the button ignition switch croaking, which seems to happen often on most grills.

Good news is, its a cinch to clean the entire unit since it all breaks down into sections!!!

NUTSHELL --> If you don't plan on frying/boiling, I can't recommend this, there are less pricy models for smoking and grilling which do a LOT better job.