Just switched to 10gal smart pots, felt like I needed more room than the 5's provided. Now you guys have me paranoid about breaking root hairs. With the 10 gal pots I just leave a 1-2inch lip and grab them by that, once the soil is in for a week or 2 I don't find them to be that unstable. I just use the premium-saucers, the 16inch wide thick plastic ones.
reason I went to smart pots in the first place was side-by-side comparison against hard sides. My smart pot plants always outgrew the others by at least 1.5 to 1.
Since I increased to 10gals I now am having to re-adjust my watering amounts and I agree it is easy to leave dry spots.