I'm no expert when it comes to cast iron skillets, but the quality of this one definitely seems better than the one I had.  I bought this one specifically to make larger pizzas and although I've only had it for a few days, I have made two pizzas already and they were the best ones I have made.  One thing to note is that the rim of the skillet goes outwards so I think that the top of the rim has a 17" diameter while at the bottom, where the pizza sits, is roughly 15" in diameter.  The bottom line is that this skillet is great for making pizza and I will experiment with making lots of other things as well.