i know people beef about the vent and temp positioning, but frankly i don't get that.
when i use coal baskets on either side of a drip pan, the old type with the 90* orientation put the thermo over the coals, which does no good. (at least for me)
having the temp and vent NOT over the coals makes sense to me. i can vent from between the coals, and get a temp reading from between the coals. (in the area that the food is cooking).
so basically, i can read a temp from the cooking area of the kettle, not directly over the coal bins.
never understood why nobody likes that, it seems to make more sense this way to me. at least the way i set up my cooks.
i guess it's a ymmv type of thing.