Well, I had an Old Country Brazos which is what he called cheap at a $1,000. Bought it used for $600. It had been fired up three times and still had the marks from showroom stickers on it.
Even at that price for 1/4" steel, I battled with it for 3 years. I had to tinker with it and made some minor mods and should've made some major mods. The cook chamber door was sprung and it leaked badly. I probably ran a dozen or more biscuit tests trying to figure it out.
Then I antied up for a quality Franklin and don't worry bout the smoker any more. Sold the Brazos for $700.
And smokers aren't getting cheaper. I paid $3400 for my Franklin and am glad I bought when I did. Steel prices are not going down.
A good quality patio gravity feed will cost $2,500 to $3,000. The larger ones the comp guys cook with go up to $5,000.
I saw a Recteq ad the other day and they did not have a pellet pooper for under a $1,000, ones I saw were around $1,500. Cookshack and MAK pellet poopers can run up to $5,000.