I’ll throw this out there more generally too. Some of it is stating the obvious. All cooking is the cook and techniques first, cooker second. If you’ve had a Traeger or similar that is 5-10 years old the MAK is awesome in comparison. If you’ve had a newer pellet grill, you’ll likely still think it’s a lot better, but more for construction than performance most likely as the sub $1000 pellet grill controllers have gotten a lot better in last five years.
I’ve only had my MAK 2-3 months. I’ve done a lot of cooks on it already and am very happy. Has it cooked food above and beyond anything else, no. It just works far more efficient and reliably. What really stands out to me with the MAK is mid-high temp cooking. Outside of the unreliable SmokeFire, the MAK is the next best pellet ‘grill’ I’ve had for quick things like burgers, chicken, chops, etc. It gets to 400-450 easy and recovers quickly after opening to flip and rearrange food. Not that it’s not an outstanding smoker too, it’s just that almost all pellet smokers do this part well. I also, know it’s going to last a long time too and is worthy of upgrades if or when MAK makes them.
I do agree on the cleaning part though. It’s not hard to clean, just not as easy as many other pellet grills. However, it’s easier than the Memphis to clean. You had to keep the Memphis spotless inside to avoid grease fires.