I didn't think I'd use the insulated lid here on the Texas Gulf Coast ... until the freak ice storm in January. The insulated lid promotes very stable temps in the Blaz'n, and there is ample anecdotal feedback from those living in Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah, etc. who use their Blaz'n grills in the dead of winter with no consistency issues whatsoever. For Texas, it's just going to give me an efficiency boost on pellet consumption.
I think we've chatted on the Blaz'n Owners Group Facebook page ... HighOnSmoke and a few others are the ones on this forum who gave me ample advice and their experiences before I pulled the trigger on my Gridiron. There weren't any serious negatives from the owners I spoke with, and that spoke volumes. Tim Mickey at Blaz'n will answer ANY question you have as well ... he's super patient and never went for the hard sell.
To be sure, the Maks are good products, but 860" of max space just didn't get me what I needed. In my case, I needed the 2000"+ for wings, ribs, and jerky ... if I'd had the money for the Mak 3-Star General (and the willingness to built an outdoor kitchen around it) I'd have gone with that since it's got the space I was looking for AND it's built to last a lifetime (and has the aesthetic value of a Porsche 911 in your backyard).
I would personally put Blaz'n and Mak above Yoder ... and Pitts & Spitts, while intriguing, raises concerns for me regarding thermal mass. That, plus the local sales guy for Pitts wanted to charge me a higher amount to locally deliver (Houston metro area) a Pitts to my house as my Blaz'n cost for white-glove delivery going from Nebraska to Texas. That, plus tacking on sales tax, left a bad taste in my mouth ... they didn't really care if they made a sale, it seemed.
If you're down between Blaz'n and Mak now, you'll make a good choice with either option.