Recent videos on the channel have featured two of my newest cookers — the Smokeslinger and the Spider Grills Giant Huntsman — and a bunch of you have asked the same question: how do they compare against each other? So I put them head to head with identical spatchcock chickens, targeting a hot cook of 350°F on both. One of these cookers has smart technology doing the work; the other is pure airflow and fire. The result surprised me.
The Setup: Same Bird, Two Very Different Cookers
Both chickens got the exact same treatment. I dry-brined them with kosher salt in the fridge for a couple of hours (I’d normally go longer, but we were working with time limits). Then I hit both sides with duck fat and coated them with my chicken rub — the same rub I use for my commercial cooks. Because the birds were already dry-brined, the rub contains no salt: it’s paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, 16-mesh black pepper, and a couple of other things I’ll keep to myself.
On the Giant Huntsman, I banked all the charcoal on the right side and placed the chicken on the left for an indirect cook, breast facing the coals, with a drip pan underneath to contain the mess. I set the Venom controller to 350°F and let the technology take it from there.
On the Smokeslinger, I set it up the way I usually do for direct-heat or high-heat cooks: both baskets filled with lump charcoal, tuning plates in place for a more indirect cook, and aluminum pans on the bottom rack to keep drippings out of the firebox. There’s no automatic temperature control here, so I opened the bottom vents and both side vents completely wide open for maximum airflow. I’m not trying to smoke these chickens — I want high heat and a nice bite-through skin. I monitored temps with the ChefsTemp thermometers I added, which give me a big digital readout I can see from a distance, plus an app on my phone.
One Hour In: Neck and Neck
After about 30 minutes of preheat, the Huntsman was sitting at 322°F — close enough to my 325°F–350°F window. The Smokeslinger was showing 300°F on the left side and 342°F on the right, so I put the chicken in the middle to split the difference.
At the one-hour check, the Smokeslinger was holding steady around 320°F with the chicken at 137°F internal. The Huntsman was more interesting: I’d set it to 350°F, but it was consistently running in the 310°F range, showing 288°F at the probe while the built-in thermometer read 300°F. But the chicken inside it was at 135°F internal — right in line with the Smokeslinger bird — so I decided to trust the technology and let it ride. Remember: we’re never cooking to time, we’re cooking to temperature. The goal is 165°F in the breast (you can pull at 163°F and let carryover finish the job).
Two Hours In: The Huntsman Hits a Wall
This is where the two cookers went separate ways. The Huntsman’s chicken had stalled around 260–262°F grate temperature, so I made adjustments: bumped the controller to 375°F and, following the Spider Grills app’s guidance, opened the exhaust from a quarter open to half open. The temperature did not come up — not a single bit. It stayed around 250°F. And it wasn’t a fuel problem: there was plenty of charcoal inside that hadn’t even lit yet.
Meanwhile, the Smokeslinger just needed one small pivot. The hot side had flipped from right to left, so I slid the chicken toward the heat. That was the only adjustment I made the entire cook.
At two and a half hours, the Smokeslinger chicken hit its internal temperature and came off to rest. To finish the Huntsman bird, I ended up pouring some lit charcoal over the unlit coals at the front of the basket, which brought it up to 325°F and got the chicken done a few minutes later. That’s a live cook for you — sometimes you have to make pivots.
The Taste Test
Side by side, these were two very similar chickens. Both had good flavor and that bite-through skin I was after. Neither had much smoke flavor — which is exactly right, because this was a high-heat cook, not a smoked chicken. If I’m picking nits, the Smokeslinger bird was prettier: the rub was more consistent across the skin, while the Huntsman version was a little less even. I can’t say for certain that would repeat on another cook, but on this day, the Smokeslinger chicken was beautiful.
The Verdict
For high-heat chicken, I’m reaching for the Smokeslinger. Here’s the thing: the challenges in this cook all came from the side with the technology. I love the smarts on the Huntsman, but no matter what I did — raising the set point, opening the exhaust per the app — it wouldn’t climb past the low 300s. The Smokeslinger, with everything wide open and zero adjustments beyond sliding the chicken over once, cruised to the finish line first with no frustrations.
To be fair to the Giant Huntsman: I’ve done low-and-slow cooks on it, and I think that’s its sweet spot. Letting the Venom controller manage a long, low cook is where it shines. It’s the 325°F-and-up territory where I’m finding it falls short of the goal I set — and I’m still learning its quirks and nuances with every cook.
If you own a Huntsman, I’m curious: what has your experience been cooking at high heat — 325°F and above? Does the controller handle it, or does it struggle the way mine did? Let me know in the comments on the video.
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