I have a competitor and a pitminder, and only use the competitor when I using two cookers. With the competitor, if you don't turn the pit temp dial down when you power up, it defaults to ramp mode. I have had occasions where I forgot and couldn't figure out why my temp is dropping. Also the pitminder will run the pit at 175 degrees which is nice for jerky, that can be done with the competitor but it is a little more complicated to set up. -RP