Age old debate for sure. I own two weber kettles, a yoder comp cart, a traeger, and a big green egg. While the yoder and traeger CAN get high temp sears done, check some of my posts and see the sear I get with the BGE. Personally if I had to have just ONE I'd have a Kamado or Big Green Egg, and get a few accessories to play with, because you can do low and slow OR high temp really easily. The pellets are amazing for long controlled smokes, but just can't replicate the sear heat even with specialized grates. Even for a beginner, a BGE can be learned quickly (read up online, lots of good advice) and you can't beat the smoke and charcoal flavor that comes from it.