Any Suggestions for a New Pellett Smoker under $1,000

[Purc]

Welcome to The Pit from Texas.

[realdocBBQ]

Keep an eye on Craigslist and FB Marketplace for a Yoder you can pick up used. Even then, you're going to have hard time staying under $1k. It's just that budget is more the big box store price point and things like the Pit Boss, Cuisinart, etc. But those brands and stores are NOT known for heavy steel and added design features like searing plates or something.

It's gonna be tough, honestly. You're looking for a high-quality do-it-all kind of grill, and those usually aren't cheap.

[Alan Brice]

I know nothing about pellet grills, but I will be interested in what you find that suits your needs. Welcome from Cincy Ohio.

[Caffeine88]

Welcome!
Recteq DeckBoss 590 is $899, and Grill Grates for it are $122. I know there are some happy Recteq owners here with more info on the brand. I've got a DualFire arriving today, so I can give you some commentary on sturdiness soon!

[DaveD]

Welcome from the northern Virginia 'burbs of the nation's capital. Good luck on your cooker search! Agree with the difficulty of including proper searing in a pellet rig. You can get some great pellet smokers without a sear capability, though, and could always add a dedicated side unit for searing, like an induction burner, for a modest price. Looking forward to seeing what you get!

[Skip]

Welcome from Minnesota. As a Pellet Grill User myself I'd suggest the possibility of a used more expensive unit as mentioned by swartzster and realdocBBQ . I think the searing you would like is going to be hard to come by with many of the cheaper units. Their quality can be good but from my experience they won't sear very well. Good luck with your decision.

[STEbbq]

A used Yoder, MAK, or LSG pellet would be a good deal.

The other option is to buy something like a Pit Boss cabinet smoker (the Copperhead 5 or 7 are pretty popular here) for low & slow and add a Weber gas grill for the sear. Then move the protein as needed.

[Alan Brice]

Just saw a post with great response from a week ago. Broil King, right in your wheelhouse.

[LA Pork Butt]

Welcome to the Pit from Dallas, Texas! I am not a pellet smoker guy, but you should get plenty of good advice from those who are here in the Pit!

[Davek8282]

I have a Green Mountain that I have had over 10 years and still going strong. Does not sear though, I use another option for searing.

P.S. Welcome to the Pit

[ofelles]

Welcome from the California Delta. Good luck on your hunt. Pellet smokers are not known for their searing abilities. As mentioned Lone Star Grillz or MAC do well at searing and are quality cookers. I have a Yoder 640 and would have bought the LSG if they had been released then.

[klflowers]

I am a Grilla fan, so I would recommend the Silverback. I have the Grilla Chimp; I base my recommendation on it. One way to handle the searing is to keep the WSM - you can move the charcoal basket up onto the barrel and sear over it.

I am curious though. I have a WSM, have had one for years, and I can get it to run for 10-11 hours at 225-250 on 1 basket of charcoal without messing with it. You don't get that type performance?

[paulcairnsmajor]

Thanks - if it had that type of performance I probably wouldn't be looking. I can't go more that 4 hours without adding charcoal. I could never figure out why the poor performance so I have given up.

[paulcairnsmajor]

Follow-up question - you mentkion one basket, how many chimney full of briquests do you think that represents?

[klflowers]

paulcairnsmajor I am not sure how many chimneys that would represent. Before I got my fancy Arbor Fabricating basket, I would fill the WSM basket with charcoal and dump a fully lit chimney on it. Put it together and close the bottom vents to ~1/4 or so open and leave the top at ~1/2 open. Watch how fast it climbed and stabilize it between 220 and 250 by adjusting the top vent. Once I got it set it would just run. I used the water pan a lot until I got used to it.

[tstalafuse]

To me, the issue is going to be "thick" metal and under $1k. Pit Boss has a couple on their website that offer a sear station for under $1k, but I don't know if I would call them metal thick. Louisiana Grill has one where you slide the heat shield out of the way and sear over live fire for under $1k, which I haven't seen in person so I don't know how thick the metal used to make it will be.

I know you said the WSM was a pain because of cleaning, amount of charcoal, fiddling with, but you will find that pellet grills use a lot more pellets than you think unless it is well insulated (not just thick metal), and cleaning them isn't just with a shop vac. A grease fire will pretty much destroy the electronics that make them work. Besides the electronics, they have moving parts that no doubt can and eventually will fail. Not trying to talk you out of one (I have one), but I hear a lot of set and forget, but the folks who use WSM will tell you they are very close to set and forget without all the other potential issues and a better smoke profile.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Others have mentioned some options, unfortunately at the 1K mark these days you're really close to you might as well spend 2K

[bmillin]

Hi I am a new member and love to BBQ mainly on my classic Webber but also like to slow cook for the family.

I am considering upgrading my 12 year old Weber Smokey Mountain Bullet slow cooker for a new slow cooking pellet. I don't use the Smokey Mountain as much as I would like since it goes through a lot of charcoal and needs attention every few hours and is messy to clean. Any suggestions for a medium capacity pellet cooker that has good metal construction (thick) and a searing griddle for under $1,000.

where are you located? Check Craigslist and Facebook marketplace for deals.