I am fairly new to the 3D having acquired it in FEB of this year. The controller is simple to use. But the steps/programming can be intimidating. I ALWAYS have the instructions open at the smoker and am up and running in just a minute or so. Tony helped me on my first two cooks and life is good. He helped develop what many of us are using and did a lot of testing of probe location and the like. Here is a cut and paste from what Tony has stated:
"The Auber controls are one of those things that feel like reading stereo instructions, until you actually start pushing buttons on the unit. It's actually fairly intuitive, once you start. The six "steps" of a program always have 3 parts: Temperature, trigger, and desired result. So:
C01 What box temp? (250 with the +/- buttons)
E01 What trigger? Time or temperature of the meat? (select "t" with the +/- buttons, as opposed to "F."
t01 How long? (put 4.0 in the right window).
These three "ingredients" always make a program! "
I think a video would be helpful as a selling point to show some basic steps like ribs (temp and time), butts and briskets (temp and int temp) etc. For me the instructions work and a new manual is being worked on. I am hoping they will be very basic step by step, but the more I use the smoker the less I need to go to the instructions. Really! Still not intuitive but no longer intimidating. So for anyone considering a D model, go ahead and take the plunge. You fell down more when learning to walk than you will using the PID.