Ha! Funny you mention this, as I was just about to send you a feature request regarding this very subject!
I never preheat my MLT, but instead, heat my strike water above the prescribed strike water temperature. Obviously, I do use the "Adjust temp for equipment" checkbox, but I usually go a little above that temp too, just to compensate for my own margin of error (usually I lose a couple of degrees at mash in due to stirring and the like).
I've gotten caught before when I forget to check the "Adjust Temp" box, so I have two little suggestions:
1) How about an option in the "Options" (duh) that lets you set the default state of that checkbox? For example, it would just say "Always adjust strike temp for equipment". When you design a recipe, the "Adjust Temp for Equipment" would be automatically checked. For someone who brews like I do--meaning never preheating the mash tun--this would be a headache-saving option.
2) In the mash profiles, would it be possible to engineer in a sort of static temperature loss that could be user-definable? Again, for a brewer like me who loses a few degrees on mash in, it would be excellent to have the program automatically factor in this heat loss. For me, it's usually in the neighborhood of 3-5dF, depending on how sticky the grain is, how big the grain bill is, and surrounding air temperature.
I do have to say, though, that once I figured out my system, the calculations for temperature steps that BeerSmith relies on are spot-on. Temperature control, in my mind, is the single most important thing when it comes to all-grain brewing. Of course, I learned this lesson the hard way when I first started AG brewing (Wow, that was almost a year ago!).
Thanks again Brad!
colin