Question: Slow n Sear vs Charcoal Baskets vs fire bricks

[Troy]

I love talking kit as much as anyone, I'm just saying it will cost you nothing to give it a try WITHOUT the gadgetry before deciding if you really need to spend the dough.  I have cooked more than anyone I know on everything from drilled-out coffee cans to $25K+ custom trailer-mounts and if my experience is worth anything let me say the basic Weber kettle is ALL the cooker 90% of pitmasters will ever need.

The BBQ experience is about the fire and the food.  Everything else is for show.

Time.
Time is something I don't have a lot of anymore.
Going to home depot, finding the right stuff, and then figuring out how to cut it apart, bend it, etc.
Those aren't 5 minute tasks, probably 2 hours (possibly more)
If i can save those 2 hours and get a better, easier, more efficient result, than to me the products are totally worth it.

I do think plenty of the gadgets are gimmicky, overly complicated,  and un-needed though.