I bought this grill sight-unseen through a recommendation from Abt (Chicago). I almost gave up on pellet grills as the augers kept failing. Humidity is a major problem here, the pellets would break apart and come back together so hard it would jam the auger and burn out the motor. I am more careful to clear out the pellets after each cook now. As for the Broil King: superior build, superior control panel. I would give it 5 stars but the only thing I have not been able to test... is longevity, of course. But so far, so good. As for temp variation... yes, there is some during the first 30 minutes to an hour, but it does even out. I can live with that as otherwise it is performing very well.