I was very excited to give this unit a try since I was in need of a slow cooker and a smoker. The smoker I am familiar with uses pellets and is the outdoor type. My first impression of this unit was how light it felt when I unboxed it. The slow cooker vessel is not ceramic it is metal. My first use was to smoke some chicken breasts. Not knowing how the unit would work, I set the timer for 4 hours. The instructions describe using wood chips and I only had pellets so I wasn't sure if it would be okay to use them but I went ahead and tried them anyway. I set the timer for 4 hours. I found this was way too long. I realize it will take time to master this unit. My chicken was overcooked and dried out. The smoke produced by the unit was very good and clean up was very easy. My second attempt was to use the slow cooker settings. This time I found that the unit worked like a regular slow cooker would. The outside of the cooker was very hot so I was a little nervous about that but it turned out to be ok. I do like this unit and look forward to mastering it's use. I would recommend this cooker.

The only thing that I didn't like is that there is not a separate area for the liquid to fall when smoking with heat. Due to that, the wood can't smoke after the liquid gets to a certain level as the wood is soaked and encompassed by a sea of liquid.

This is a great alternative when the weather does not permit firing up the outside smoker. It cooks quick and produces great tasting food. If you are on the fence about it I would say get it!

I hate to write this review but number one the inner pot for crock pot cooking has areas the finish is not on. Most of all no warranty card came with this so there isn't a way to claim the 1 year.