whiz-nit hit the nail on the head......my personal opinion, i think you can manage cooking all 4 meats for a comp with one smoker....you just have to map out your time lines and hit your marks.
as for a recommendation......that's sort of like recommending a car for you to buy.....it really depends on what you are looking for in a smoker and what you plan to be cooking and how much you plan to be cooking outside of comps.
i loved the whole idea of the water cookers offered by Myron Mixon Smokers and I chose to go that route with a MMS-48. it's a perfect smoker for me, fits great in my enclosed trailer and allows me to room within the trailer to pack everything else I need when traveling.
However, with that said, let me also say, that my partner has a homemade smoker that he made out of a old water tank off of a concrete truck and it does fantastic. the only issue is that it isn't insulated.......but the point is whether you want to spend $5000 or make your own or buy something much cheaper, there are a ton of great options available to you. I would highly suggest you research the different types and strategies used to cook with them and choose the one that makes the most sense to you. i will say that having a smoker be insulated is a very important thing, because it allows you to cook in cooler weather or the rain without a great deal of difficulty.
however, in the end, it's all about learning your smoker and once you do, no matter who made it, you will be able to turn out some great food.
