Art, like you I love the design of the kettle. The dome shape works so well, and the Stoven conversion takes advantage of that design and still provides very good roasting ability.
The Stoven's firepot is positioned down in the bottom, center of the grill, and a heat diffuser sits over top that, so the heat is very even. Venting is built into the design, so the vents of the kettle itself stay totally closed. Once the heat builds up the domed lid reflects the heat very well giving very good, even roasting ability. So the trick is to NOT keep taking the lid off and let the dome design do it's work, which is no different than using the kettle with charcoal. For longer cooks, with a 4 lb hopper, you do need to check & add pellets every couple of hours, but it's still a whole lot easier than adding charcoal, and can be done without removing the lid.
Here are a few pics:
On a separate note...
I recently had issues with the controller (it would not feed pellets), so I called John. He told me another customer had the same issue, so he had me open the hopper assembly to see if the controller was coated with pellet dust from the past 5 years of use. Sure enough it was, and after blowing & vacuuming the dust out... VOILA! Everything was fine.
On a sad note, however, while talking with him, I learned that, due to health reasons, he is looking to sell the company and is currently not manufacturing any more units. He still has some in stock for sale.
