ISO: Self-cleaning oven...worth the trouble, smell and noise??

We had a slight pizza mishap last night, so I decided to use the self-cleaning feature of our oven this morning. I turned it off after only 2 hours (was supposed to go 4 `1/2).

To begin with, the pre-cleaning and washing with vinegar you have to do according to directions included with the oven are nearly as time-consuming as just manually cleaning my old one!(which I never minded much on account of spray-the-night-before products)

Then you have to run the exhaust fan on high the first couple times you use this feature. The noise of the fan is so annoying I want to leave the house, but am afraid to with a gas oven set to such high a temperature.

There was no smoke, but the gaggy smell from the new appliance was horrible. And I now know that if there ever was a fire (or a stink-bomb) in our home, our cats would wake the dead! After about an hour both cats began yowling at the top of their lungs (they are not Siamese, but would have given a pair of them a run for their money!!) This of course upset our Corgi to the point she was a nervous wreck. Enough! I turned it off.

I thought it might have done the job anyway, as the instructions say you can set it for a shorter clean if you move fast and tell it within a minute of starting the cycle in the event your oven is not that dirty. It wasn't, but it didn't.

I don't think I have the option of manually cleaning it since it is a self-cleaning one, I have to check the manual. I'll do that later, I'm headed out to the PO and library to get away from the lingering stink!

Is everyone else happy as clams with their self-cleaning ovens or are there others like me out there?