My 2 cents are that allowing the smoker to be able to reach 325 or 350 degrees stock would be a tremendous advantage from a marketing standpoint for Steve and SI. People do not drop $1400 for a smoker and do not know what they are doing. Those people buy Masterbuilt Electric Smokers from Bass Pro for $150, not a Smokin-It. I would have to venture a guess that every single person that bought a Smokin-it did a tremendous amount of research to find that it is worth the extra money to invest in a Smokin-it vs a Masterbuilt and that its a great value compared to some of the other electrics.
Personally, I owned a pellet grill before the Smokin-it and never once did I cook pork higher than 225 degrees or chicken at less than 325 degrees. The amount of money involved with these cuts of meats pretty much guarantees that you look up the best way to cook the cut, including spices, temps, and cooking times.
I talked to Steve at the show before buying my smoker and told me to come to the forums to find out how to modify my smoker to have it run higher than 250 degrees. It could be liability that it is limited to 250 degrees but I think he is missing out on what could happen to his demand if this maximum would be raised to 325 or 350.
I am also wondering if we can just modify the analog controller itself to bump up 75 or 100 degrees. This way, the machine would maintain its failsafe shutdown ability past 350 degrees. If anyone has the electrical diagram of the analog controller, please let me know. I have some talented electricians at my work.
thanks,
paidin