After about 50 cooks on everything from brisket,to chicken,to ribs , to roast, to fish finally satisfied with a pellet grill.  With the off set fire pot have never had a grease fire especially easy to have on chicken tights.  Easy to clean   Only issue is not well insulted.for Chicago. I do know the pg 1000 would take care of that but had one when they first came out and had a bad experience.  That’s in the past  happy as can be.

Get a welder's blanket for those cold Chicago nights.

> Only issue is not well insulted.

The PG500 is really ugly. And it's fat too. There, feel better? 

I’m north of you, and honestly I sometimes wish I had the PG500 instead of the PG1000.    I can assure you that it is easier to dump more pellets in the hopper in winter than it is to try to keep the temperature low enough in the summer sun.    It’s fine for most cooks, but I really don’t attempt fish or jerky during the summer months anymore, it’s a real struggle to get below 200 degrees.

Get a welder's blanket for those cold Chicago nights.

I discourage welding blankets for pit insulation.
 
Welding blankets are designed to provide nearby items with protection from slag, molten metal and grinding or welding sparks.  They are not necessarily good insulators.  But the primary reason that I discourage their use as pit insulators is that, as they age, they begin to shed their glass fiber stuffing.  You want to avoid eating glass fibers.

Get a welder's blanket for those cold Chicago nights.

I discourage welding blankets for pit insulation.
 
Welding blankets are designed to provide nearby items with protection from slag, molten metal and grinding or welding sparks.  They are not necessarily good insulators.  But the primary reason that I discourage their use as pit insulators is that, as they age, they begin to shed their glass fiber stuffing.  You want to avoid eating glass fibers.

We have different opinions which is fine. I have used Welding blankets for quite a long time and never had any issue of them shedding and me eating glass. Maybe I have just been lucky.