Are lower cost pellet grills reliable?

[Goph]

Before reading any reviews, I owned a $700 pellet grill for 24 hours. Long enough to find out the hot rod did not work. Great support on a sunday am, but i decided to return it. Then i started reading reviews here and elsewhere indicating that pellet burners can be trouble prone, but it is hard to figure out how representative those reviews are. I know another person with the same brand pellet burner who has had no trouble, so my question is: was my malfunctioning grill an anomaly or typical for that price range?

[FireMan]

Price does not say enough.

[JGo37]

Neither did you?

[Ricardo]

Consult the ratings and review section of Amazingribs.com
it has objective reviews and specific information pertaining to pellet smokers, as well as many other types of equipment. I bought a pellet grill solely based on Max’s review and it was spot on. As far as cost and quality, they usually go hand in hand, but not necessarily always true.

Consult the review section, you won’t go wrong.

Cheers,

Ricardo

[bten]

+1

[bten]

I have been pleased with my Camp Chef SmokePro SE. I have had it for a year. I do see complaints about temperature swings and people wanting to replace the controller.

It does amaze me that people will spend $500 to $800 for a pellet grill, and within 6 months, spend another $200 for a controller,

[Deaf Arty]

I originally had a small Traeger. Loved it, but I succumbed to MCS (More Cooker Syndrome). I wanted more space for cooking, so I got a Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone. Love it. Neither one is a high-end cooker based on price, but they both serve me well. I've heard nothing but good things about the (much) more expensive cookers, but I'm happy with what I've got.
I agree with consulting Max's reviews on this web site to get the information you need to make a wise decision if you decide to spring for another cooker.

[dahcopilot]

+1 on the d boone

[thecruiser]

Just bought a GMG myself Arty. Lookin' forward to my first smoke! It will be at least a week, got a trip comin' up.

[Fire Art]

I have a pit boss I suppose it’s a low price cooker and it’s a great grill not one bit of troubles with it. If other grills are 3 times better i can’t imagine but Time will tell

[bten]

I understand. I have a Camp Chef and have been really satisfied with the food it cooks, especially ribs. It does a good job on brisket as well. I just finished the Yoder rebuild, and I wonder if the food will be any better.

I do like having more space to cook. I will need it for Thanksgiving. I will be preparing brisket, ribs and ham.

[Jarret]

I'm on my second Traeger now and I loved how easy it was to fire up and cook some tasty food. What I have come to notice over the past 8 years of ownership is the standard controller that comes with the TEX, LIL TEX and other similar pellet smokers is the controller is not very intuitive. The lower end controller operates on a set schedule pumping in pellets in an attempt to maintain the requested heat. When heat falls below the threshold set by the operator it pumps more pellets. I have noticed that when you open the lid to spritz the meat or just flip it the temp drops rapidly and this can kick more pellets into the fire bowl causing temps to skyrocket. IMO if the lower end pellet cookers adopted the PID controller they could easily perform close to the higher end units. If I could get a PID controller for my current Traeger I would probably stop looking for a new smoker. In the end all i really want is a reliable cook for all the hard work that goes into this whole process.

[jfmorris]

Jarret there are several makes of replacement controllers for the crappy ‘notch’ controllers in the older and lower end Traeger. Ortech is one I’ve read of, and they are not that expensive. Some may use a PID.

[Jarret]

jfmorris thanks for the info about Ortech however that is the style my Traeger has now.

i just looked up a PID controller made by Smoke Daddy, it seems like people who use it in Traeger love it. $200 is the draw back for me. Plus the wife green lighted a new smoker already hahaha!

[Greasy]

A lot of people also like the Savannah Stoker as well. I've looked at PID controllers but am not going to get serious about them until someone makes one with built-in WIFI.

[CandySueQ]

As fall closeouts happen, I've seen pellet grills at $299. That's incredibly cheap! I consider those (any grill under $500) starter pellet grills. If they last 2-4 years, you've more than gotten your money out of it and can justify spending more for the next one. Frankly, I've never bought in to the "my cooker temp must not vary" theory. All that means is that the normal rhythm of pellet cooking is broken and there are never enough pellets dumped to make decent smoke. Without smoke, there's not smoke flavor happening.

Igniter failure should not be a problem -- learn how to light it manually. I love the new MAK grill igniter (and everything else about it), but my 2 star #23 works great with the old igniter and control board. More complicated doesn't always mean more better.

[Max Good]

I'm with CandySue and others here. I love pellet smokers. As the number of people discovering the joy of pellet smoking escalates, more choices in more price ranges are popping up. They have more electronics and moving parts than most other outdoor cookers so there are more things that can go wrong, but I've never had any catastrophic problems with any thermostatically controlled pellet smoker. No other smoker design is as easy to use while consistently producing excellent results.

[JGo37]

What do you feel is an inexpensive pellet source? I spent pretty good $$ for 6 or 7 samples just big enough for one cold smoke 12" tube each.

[Max Good]

JGo37 Pit Boss makes low cost pellets that should be good for use in a tube. Walmart sells 30 lb . bags of Pit Boss pellets for under $15.

[Rod]

Having owned both a Traeger Texas and now a Rec Tec 680 I can certainly attest price certainly does matter between those two. Rec Tec is a couple hundred bucks more, but is 2 or 3 times the cooker. I assume that is still the case with each companies current models. Warranty is also something to consider. Rec Tec has a 6yr warranty. I've had my Rec Tec for 3 years now and have had zero issues. Traeger cookers are not bad cookers at all. They just charge higher end prices for a middle ranged cooker.

[Goph]

Thanks for replies so far. Btw I am considering either GM Daniel Boone or Rectec Trailblazer or perhaps their mid size right now. All are less than $1000.

[treesmacker]

I have the Rec Tec Trailblazer and really like it. It does what all the reviews say and more. Let me know if you have specific questions about it.

[CandySueQ]

The only thing I don't like about the Daniel Boone is the pellet sensor that indicates the pellet quantity is low. I haven't disconnected it -- yet!

[Bogy]

Earlier this summer I bought a "used" Grilla. the "used" is in quotes, because it was a demo from someone who was a dealer for Grillas when Grilla had dealers. Three years old, used about 12 times. Made in the U.S. at that time, they cost $1500-1600. Now, made in China, mostly the same grill runs $800. Mostly, because there have been changes, including an upgraded controller (although not a PID), and more stainless steel parts. I'm very happy with it.

I'm happy enough with my pellet smoker that I convinced my son in law to buy one when his gasser needed to be replaced a month ago. He bought a Pit Boss, with the idea that it would be a way to try out a pellet smoker without a big investment. I told him to get it, and in a couple of years we would talk about what he should buy next. He's sold. Having a great time with his Pit Boss. I don't have any doubt that when the time comes, he will be ready to move up to something better, but it doesn't appear a less expensive cooker is turning out poor quality food.

I will say that part of the reason I bought the cooker I did was because of a double wall construction. I live in northern Iowa. It gets cold here in the winter, and I cook/smoke year round.

[jgreen]

No doubt the high end pellet units are better, but I think you can get one to fit in a much lower budget and still be happy with it. As the others have said, I trust the reviews on the main site.