I have a Mak 1 star and am very happy with it. The differences between the 1 and 2 stars are, the 2 star uses all stainless steel if i'm not mistaken and the one star is alumanized steel which is very efficient in heat retention. 2 star comes with the flame zone, but haven't looked and not sure if the new 1 star does as well? The hopper box is a little different on the 2 and the 2 has a smoker/warmer box. You can also add a smoker cabinet to the 2 star as well, check out Smoker Pete's. The cooking areas are the same size and both use the same controller. Great units and can't go wrong if you can swing the coin for one.
I’m in the middle of deciding on a new pellet and the 1-Star and 2-Star are on the list.
1-Star doesn’t come with flame zone but you can add it for $400.
If I’m doing it correctly, building out a 1-Star similar to the 2-Star (ie add bottom shelf, side shelf and tool hook, flame zone, etc.) results in about $300 difference or so.
You, of course, don’t have the warmer box or all stainless construction on the 1-Star but other than that you can get 1-Star built out pretty similar to a 2-Star.
Seems to me that the biggest thing is if you don’t need/want the flame zone, the 1-Star would probably be more than sufficient for the lower cost compared to the 2-Star.
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