I'm hoping that my overall 'relationship' with KJ will in time prove to be awesome. Can only say that for now, hitting those required 'magic temps' have been a little hit or miss. Overall...Here's the complete look at my purchase.Delivery was an absolute nightmare. Don't know to this day exactly what happened...Covid, short staffed delivery service, incompetent management at the nearby delivery terminal...not a clue, but KJ was at a terminal about 12 miles away for a week and they didn't communicate w/me. I knew it was there given tracking. Complicating this, I was due to be away for the coming week so was willing to pick it up myself. No way to contact them so had to do so thru Amazon who contacted the shipping company who tried to contact the terminal office and even they couldn't do it! Bottom line...cancelled order, reordered BUT original order was eventually delivered while the 'new' order was still in transit. I just wanted my damn KJ! So....that whole scene was an absolute S---Show.Packaged extremely well...very impressed. It's a very heavy item...my 5', 100lb wife was not much help. I managed to get the grill proper out of the stand it was packaged in, but needed someone to help me to mount it on the stand for the final portion of directions.VERY happy with quality. This is extremely well-built and should last many, many years.I watched several videos, read a lot to try to get up to speed on how to use it. Did baby-back ribs for my first cook, following all recommendations and they were awesome. Was able to get the temp to where I needed for the several hour cook. Had purchased the Do-Jo pizza attachment...did that next. Perfect! 2 for 2. Tried a Boston Butt for pulled pork next....2 for 3. Had an extremely difficult time getting that temp where it needed to be...result...little tough and overcooked. Last item...had neighbor over for campfire and pizza again, this time, had a very difficult time w/temp again...struggled to get that temp up there. Resulting pizza turned out fine, however had to really modify what I was doing to get it so.I'm about ready for another attempt...not sure what's next, however am hoping that I can learn about the temperature control of this guy soon! I'm definitely not a 'give-up' person so I'm thinking it's just going to take a little time. I look forward to having more awesome foods from this unit.I consider myself an outdoor grlll expert...not that I know everything, but with standard grills (...gas, Weber Kettle, etc.) I'm pretty good. The Kamado Joe is an entirely different animal. So far, I've had some resonable success with my smoked wings. The trick here is temperature control which KJ does very well, you just have to learn how not to "...chase the temperature". As far as the product is concerned, this Classic II is 'da bomb'! Well built, with much more grill real estate than you might expect...just a litle less than a standard Weber kettle. I'm looking forward to smoking my first brisket, pastrami and even making pizza. Don't be fooled into getting an older model. The 'Air Lift' hinge for the hood is worth the extra cost alone. I was in Bass Pro Shops with my wife yesterday and without knowning, she pointed out an older model (...classic I I think) saying; "..hey look, you could have got this one for less." As soon as lifted the hood, I knew something was different...much heavier, with no gasket to seal it and the control tower vent was the older model. One other note...they're not kidding, because of the internal ceramics, this sucker is HEAVY! Try to have it delivered to the area where you plan to use it. Use two, maybe three people to lift is into its stand and be sure to take everything out of the kettle before you do, to reduce the weight.Amazon shipped the grill via a scheduled shipper. The shipper delivered the package to my deck. The shipper gave me a three-hour window to arrive and they were well with in their commitment. Could not be happier with the shipping.Packaging was excellent. It was on a pallet and the sides were very heavy cardboard. All parts were very well protected by custom Styrofoam inserts. No broken items in the container.Given the weight and size of this item having it shipped to my home was a much better alternative than taking possession at a local store. This is not something that one person can deal with by him/herself. Assembly was extremely easy; however, it is a two person lift to get it out of the shipping container and into the stand. There is a video on the Kamado Joe web site that shows the assembly procedure. I If you have someone that can help you with the lift there is no reason to pay a professional to assemble it.First impressions. The stand had a chip in the powder coat that exposed bare metal about the size of a nickel. There was a small package of parts with the gill gripper that I could not figure out what they were for. I called customer service and was greeted by a very pleasant lady who was very knowledgeable. The parts were to secure the spring on the hinge if the top ever needs to be removed/replaced. She was more than willing to take care of the chipped paint under warranty. I declined the replacement of the stand as it took me just a few minutes to touch it up and I wanted to avoid lifting that bad boy again. My impression of customer service is they are first rate!With the exception of the paint chip, the fit and finish of the smoker is excellent. The lid is perfectly aligned with the bottom. I did a dollar bill test to check the gasket seal and it seems prefect.Kamado Joe changed the top vent in 2017. The new design does not excite me. Time will tell it is a good change. I will be getting cast iron grate and griddle as I like cast iron.I just lit the fire for the first cook. I will update this in about 6 months.Update:I have had this cooker for about nine months. The Kamado has been keep in the weather but still looks brand new. I have cooked brisket, pork butt, burgers, steaks, beer can chicken, cut up chicken, prime rib, pineapple upside down cake, corn bread, pancakes, bacon, and eggs.I have used a variety of lump charcoal. Royal Oak, and FOGO premium are my favorite brands and seem to burn the best. Less expensive brands seem to have a lot of very small pieces, dust and rocks in the bag. The best burn time that I have experienced with one load of charcoal at 225 degrees is about 10 1/2hours . This is not as good and my old "Buba Keg" that I replaced with the Kamado Joe. I have read other reports that people are getting as much as 16 hours. I may doing something wrong or the weather was cool when I was doing long cooks.After the weather cooled off in December (bought this in July) the lid would not stay open. I adjusted the hinge tension which was very simple and took about a minute. Other than cleaning, that was all the maintenance that was required. The unit still seems to be sealed as it was when new (still passes the dollar bill test). Cleaning is very easy. Just put in a load of charcoal and open the vents and it will get up to 700 degrees F. Once it cools down just use a brush and all grease and junk is gone. Works just like a self cleaning over. I have read several online post where the Kamado was full of mildew after winter storage. Thankfully that has not happened to me but if it does the solution is the same as normal cleaning.I was a bit concerned with the new design of the top vent. My fears were unfounded as It has proven to work extremely well and does allow water intrusion as the old design did.Temperature is easy to set and one once stabilized requres very little adjustment. (There is a bit of a learning curve) On a long cook I have found that after about one hour it will remains very stable uless the wind changes then you will need to make slight adjustments. I bought a BBQ Guru (a device that controls air flow based on tempature) for long cooks that I start at night and then go to bed. With the Guru it keeps the temp very stable even if the wind speed changes.I cooked breakfast one morning with eggs, bacon, and pancakes on the Kamado Joe cast iron half moon griddle. The food came OK but was a little tricky getting the heat right. A learning curve is required. If your food can be cooked with time and temperature then there is little or no learning curve.One lat thing. I f you are new to kamado cooking/smoking you will find that the kamados do not dry the food out as other grills do. The foods seem to be more juicy.All in all I am extremely pleased with the Kamado Joe Classic II.I received it with two little dings and two little chunks missing even tho the box was perfect when it arrived. So 4 stars just because of the little damage. But other than that this think is awesome.Got this grill for my husband for his birthday. He was a little intimidated at first, but once he tried smoking ribs, he's not hooked. We've also done pizza and it was great.It’s a very heavy, quality cooker. It controls very well and has produced many quality cooks.Expensive, but worth every penny. This grill/oven/smoker takes barbecue to a whole new level. So far we have produced meltingly delicious pulled pork (an 18 hour low smoke we could never have attempted before); creamily tender brisket; the moistest, tenderest roast chicken ever; and drop dead gorgeous pizza. Even relatively mundane dishes like pork chops and steak are elevated by the Kamado’s fierce but controllable charcoal grill.We bought this because we wanted to do a better job of hosting summer parties in our garden. Now we can cook for 20+ at a time with much less stress, and people love the wonderful smoky flavours we produce. But we’ve discovered that this BBQ isn’t just for summer: I have no spent several Friday evenings outside with a hea torch and an umbrella: I think we may end up slow roasting the Xmas turkey too.If you decide to treat yourself, invest in some good supporting literature. I recommend “Pitt Cue & Co”, “The Hang Fire Cookbook”, and “Berber & Q”.I have being using a large Big green egg for over 4 years at my place of work, when needing more cooking space I was really unsure on going for the Kamado Joe, its obviously better priced, but is it as good? Will it last as long? were my main concerns.Well, I have to say the Kamado Joe out ways the Egg on every level that I can think of other than a name with a longer history. The Joe's features are far superior - like the soft close hinge lid, the sealer than ages better, the built in ash tray, even the stand in come with is better and comes with shelves. I did think that quality may suffer with the lower price but please take my word for it. The Joe really is a winner!Was a bit pricey but was well worth the money. Beer can chicken was so moist didn’t dry out at all, used it quite a few times for different meats & every thing was very tasty & moist can’t wait for the brighter weather it will be used all the time, well recommend it as the topsU usually don't subscribe to reviews that state 'not unpacked yet but delivery was a problem' but this is the only way I can warn people that this is incredibly bulky and the delivery company will struggle to deliver 'to the room of choice' as advertised. The item is 135kg, so even two drivers will struggle to get this up any more than one or two steps. It sits on a pallet, so a hand truck doesn't quite cut it, but that's all the guys have to work with. So be prepared for it to be delivered to your premises and then it's over to you.Well worth the money, can't fault it in any way. Coupled up with there range of accessories you can cook near on anything. Holds the heat well for a low and slow cook aswell as quickly reaching blistering heats for searing and baking pizza's. From booklet to online there's tons of information which made for a quick and easy set up.