A buddy of mine had the digital model and had some troubles with it.Apparently the customer service wasn't all that great either.If you check the reviews on Amazon and their home website I think you'll see very mixed reviews which I always take with a grain of salt.Personally,I have just stuck to the BigChief/Little Chief smokers and over the 30+ years I've used them,I've only had to replace the odd element or drip tray when they burn out.Like the depth counters on the new Scotty's,anything with a digital readout in the outdoors scares me lol.