Camerons CAP

The Camerons CAP is a smoker box, not a laptop, so our tech scores are hilariously irrelevant. It's a simple, well-built tool for infusing food with smoke flavor. Just don't pay more than about $20 for it, some vendors have it listed for over two grand.

In its actual category, performance is about one thing: does it make your food taste smokier? By all accounts, yes. It holds wood chips, lets them smolder without catching fire, and pumps out clean smoke. The build is simple, which is a plus because there's nothing to break. It's not going to win any awards for thermal throttling, because it's supposed to get hot. The 'weakest area' being productivity is the understatement of the year, it has a 0% productivity score because it's a metal box.

Stacked against competitors like the JIMTAB F11 or Verbatim 70240, the Camerons CAP is in a different league, mostly because those are actual tech products with screens and batteries. The LWZCAM EJ-A4 is a camera. This comparison is broken. In the world of smoker boxes, Camerons is a known brand for a reason. It's a straightforward, no-frills tool that does its one job well. You're not comparing specs here, you're comparing build quality and the purity of the smoke it produces.

Value here is a wild card. We're seeing prices from $8 all the way up to a baffling $2331. At eight bucks, it's a no-brainer impulse buy for any home smoker. At over two grand, someone is either smoking something other than wood chips or it's a listing error. Don't get ripped off. Shop around and find a vendor selling it for what it actually is, a simple, inexpensive accessory. If you pay more than the cost of a decent brisket, you've made a mistake.

Alright, let's address the elephant in the room. The Camerons CAP isn't a laptop, it's a smoker box. Our database is built for scoring tech, so the numbers here are going to look absolutely tragic. A 25.8 out of 100 overall score is objectively terrible for a computer, but it's a nonsensical comparison. This thing weighs 100 grams and its main job is to hold wood chips, not render 4K video. So ignore the percentile rankings, they're meaningless for this product.

What you're actually getting is a simple, American-made stainless steel box designed to infuse food with smoke flavor. It works on your grill or stovetop, and it's built for both indoor and outdoor smokers. If you're looking to add authentic smoky taste to fish, BBQ, or pretty much anything else, this is the tool for the job. Just don't expect it to run Crysis.

Skip this if you're looking for a laptop, tablet, or any device with a power button. Also skip it if you don't own a smoker or grill, as a metal box full of smoldering wood chips on your stovetop will just set off the smoke alarm without actually cooking anything.

If you own a smoker and want an easy way to add wood smoke flavor, buy this. It's a simple, effective tool from a reputable brand. Just make sure you're paying a reasonable price for a metal box, not a gaming laptop. This is for the backyard pitmaster, not the PC enthusiast.