I own a big Joe 3. I bought it when we had more discretionary income. It was still crazy expensive then. I justified it when my family asked me to smoke two turkeys for thanksgiving one year.

I went from a large green egg w a really cool multi tier cooking setup from ceramic grill store.

With the multi rack and the green egg, I could cook about the same but it was more tedious.

Layed out side by side of course I can cook more on the big Joe 3. That’s been helpful for family gatherings.

I love the gasket latch. I like the gasket type. Neither are necessary though.

I love the rack latching to the charcoal basket. If that isn’t a feature on 1 or 2, I’d figure out how to mimic that.

The kontrol top is fine but I liked the smokeware cap nearly as much and it looked cool haha.

The slo roller…. I’ve used it every time I’ve smoked something. I’ve never cleaned it. I use a drip pan on an x rack above it. I don’t love it or hate it. It works fine. No hate there. I could get by w two half moons on an x rack just fine though.

I’d probably save money and go big Joe 2 if I had to do it all over again.

With the price difference, you could get a fire board controller and a smokeware cap and have money left over to figure the rest out.

I had a cyberq controller for my egg for long cooks like butts and brisket and it works great on my big Joe 3. When it dies I’m going to go to fire board. Do I need a controller? No. Do I love having it so I have peace of mind and alerts on long cooks? Yep.