I'm interested in this too -- I'm going to try my new smoker without a digital control, but if I have trouble hitting my temps I want to know the options are.
Since these are vertical cabinets, I can relate my limited experiences and opinion. We assume that we know that these controllers turn a blower on and hope to achieve a consistent cook temperature. And with a long burn time wanted, these devices have proven themselves. Once I'd found this out, in pursuit of excellence, I figured it's had to be the best way to go.
On the first 15 burn and cook cycles with my large gravity feed I discovered a neat little fact. With the design of draft thru the cooker, it allows that ball valve on the end controlling the air intake, to have a range of operation well within the consistency of a controller .
Temps vary as little as 3 degrees and most times I cook at about 240 and it will not vary from 240 for 5-6 hours by even 2 degrees. Once the ball valve position is set, a very slight tap to open or close it is all it takes for a 5 degree change.
I bought all the parts to build my on pid controller....it works perfectly with regards to on/off cycling. I have still not installed it since I cannot be more satisfied using just the ball valve. Whether or not it might overshoot temp before shut down or allow it to cool too much before turn on is something I don't yet know. I'll eventually place it in service but currently... I get great results without the complexity and I can sit in the house or the yard and remotely monitor temps with the iGrill 2 or ET-733.
Make no mistake, there ain't no powder in this Puff ! And... I'm not really a crazy person but I play one in real life
I have a stoker and have used it for about six years with great results. I can't say how it compares to CyberQ as I've never seen one.
I use the Stoker on a Weber Smokey Mountain and a modified Weber kettle. I had to use it a few times before the software zeroed in on getting the temps constant without over shooting. The alarms for CC temps and meat temps work great and the temps stay within a degree or two of the 225 I usualy cook at.
This has all been with charcoal, I've just finished a reverse flow made from a propane tank and will be using wood only, I hope it works as well on a stick burner.
As for their customer service, I've tried to bring up their website many times in the past few months but only get a'"failed to connect" message. If anyone knows how to get in touch with them I'd like you telling me, I need to buy some more probes and such.
Al
Both sides of my smoker are run by bbq guru’s. DigiQ on the rotisserie side and cyber q on the shelf side. They both do a good job of running my smoker. I don’t have any experience with stoker.