compared Pellet grills

[bbqLuv]

I had a chance to compare different pellet grills at Sportsmans's Whare House. CampChief, and others.
Traeger was about 1/3 higher in price. But the construction seemed better.
I was surprised the CampChief grill's lid is light and flimsy.


An internet search produced the following:
The Traeger pellet grill is often considered one of the best due to its combination of high-quality construction, advanced features, and the ability to deliver consistent results. Here are some reasons why Traeger pellet grills stand out:

• Wi-Fi Equipped: Many Traeger models come with Wi-Fi capability, allowing you to control and monitor your grill remotely through an app
• Versatility: Traeger grills offer 6-in-1 versatility, enabling you to grill, smoke, bake, roast, braise, and BBQ all on one grill
• Consistent Temperature Control: They are known for maintaining steady temperatures, which is crucial for low and slow cooking methods like smoking
• Quality of Flavor: Traeger grills use hardwood pellets that provide a pure, wood-fired flavor to the food, which many enthusiasts prefer over charcoal or gas
• Ease of Use: With simple controls that are akin to using an oven, Traeger grills make it easy to set the temperature and let the grill do the work, often referred to as "Set-It & Forget-It" I said it and will forget it.

These features, among others, contribute to the popularity and positive reputation of Traeger pellet grills in the grilling community.

I love it when artificial intelligence agrees with me. LOL

[GolfGeezer]

How much do you earn in Traeger endorsement fees? How you ever used or tested a MAK? A Lang? LSG? Green Mountain? Gorilla? Geez, I feel like Ron Popeil is alive and well.

[bbqLuv]

No pay for me. I am justifying the cost I paid for my grill.

[DrJimmy2112]

I have not had a perfect experience with my Grilla OG but they make very well made products and the customer service and support are fantastic. Their OG is a very unique pellet cooker and I believe the build quality is dollar for dollar better than Traeger. Just a suggestion

[DavidNorcross]

Yeah, big fan here too.

[Jfrosty27]

My Recteq RT-700 has been flawless for just about five years now AND still has a year of bumper to bumper warranty left. I can’t imagine anything better. I have no knocks on Treager though. I have no hands on experience with one. In fact, I’ve never even seen one in action. And it seems their owners love them too. As they say, there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

FWIW the wiggle test isn't always accurate at the big box stores as the grills aren't always assembled properly or have been abused by customers and loose nuts get looser.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Agreed pellet grills/smokers are versatile and easy.

All of the things listed are not exclusive to Traeger and are not even uncommon, and most are pervasive to the category, not Traeger alone.

6-in-one - all pellet grills do ALL of these things, with the exception of searing - and lots of them have a feature for this. Bake, braise, roast, etc - pretty much all do this. Grill and BBQ - what difference are they using between these two 'categories'? 6-in-one is just their marketing, and Traeger is the king of this. In my opinion.

If I were looking for another pellet smoker, I'd probably look at MAK, LSG and Pitts & Spitts, I guess. My Yoder is good, but temps vary across the zone pretty significantly - I'm not sure if this is ALL pellet grills, I'm not sure if there's a way to get around it, but I'd like to have the ability to try some others and monitor their grate level temps at different spots like I have my Yoder. Maybe they ALL have this issue, I don't know. I'm just intimately familiar with mine, after dozens, or perhaps hundreds of cooks over the years.

Personally I just don't think Traeger is worth the extra cost - but then, I will be honest, I have not really examined them in the last few years. I know they went downhill after the sale to China and their quality declined, but I am surprised to hear you found their quality and construction to be higher than that of Camp Chef - I've been intrigued by the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro and its wood chunk burning feature to get more wood smoke. Pitts & Spitts has something like this now, as well. Seems like a good addition to me, a way to get more flavor and bark out of a pellet smoker.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, though.

[captainlee]

I get very good uniform temperatures on my Yoder top shelf. I spent some time on this a while back. My damper setting is just about all the way to the left. I don't know if it's an altitude thing or not. Of course it is warmer close to the outlet, but that is nice to have and know. I cook 95% of the time on the top shelf, that's why I worked on uniformity for that. I'm clueless as to what the bottom shelf is doing.

[glitchy]

Are you happy with your Traeger? If the answer is yes, then the price is justified.

I’ve had 4 Traegers. Two of them were great pellet grills. However, outside of the base models when found on sale, they are probably the most overpriced pellet grills on the market. Especially when you get into the latest Ironwood and Timberline models. Does that make them bad, not at all. Just makes them expensive. There’s positives like being able to walk into retail stores and get accessories, covers, etc. that aren’t available for many brands like that.

Where Traeger really sucks is ethics and customer service. My last (probably forever) Traeger was a Pro 575 when the WiFire D2 came out. I actually liked the grill, but there was a major bug in the firmware that had the RTD reading incorrectly. It was calculating 375 degrees as 500, so that’s as high as the grill would go. I called Traeger support repeatedly about the issue. Every time, this was the first time they’d ever heard such a thing. Meanwhile, I found a FB group with hundreds of people all reporting the same issue and calling Traeger about it. They insulted me when I called even, multiple times. If they were honest and just said it was a bug and would be fixed in a month when they finish testing the update, many would have been fine with the response.

Then the ethics, remember the tastes like gas gAss campaign? Drew such a backlash they tried to remove any reference to it within days. What about suing other manufacturers and trying to make claims they invented stuff years after the other already company had it on the market.

Temperature consistency is a joke. Traegers have had the most unstable temperatures of any pellet grills I’ve owned and that’s been a few. Similar with flavor. The design changes they’ve made in newer models probably make them better than they were. For me, other than the Traeger Junior I had, Traegers probably produced the least smoky flavor. The Silverton was so bad, I returned it to Costco after one single cook. I asked my wife and daughter what they thought of the meal I cooked without any prompting and my wife said it tasted like I baked dinner in the indoor oven.

If you really want to compare a Traeger to something, compare it to something that’s in its price range versus all the stuff trying to make it by being cheaper. Compare to Smokin Brothers, MAK, LSG, Yoder, etc. You’ll find something twice a sturdy and twice as heavy.

All that said, you don’t need to tie the Timberline to the bumper and drag it to the landfill. If it makes you happy that’s what matters. I just hope you can see why many people lose their love for Traeger when they learn more about the pellet market and aren’t lining up behind you to praise Traeger left and right.

[bbqLuv]

I agree the price of the new Traeger's are high.
Their customer service seems to be good. I didn't need service, but all my questions were answered.

What I have found on temperature swings and any problems regarding temperature has been proper storage of the pellets. Now I only use Traeger pellets from Costco and stay away from cheap brands.

[bbqLuv]

I agree the price of the new Traeger's are high.
Their customer service seems to be good. I didn't need service, but all my questions were answered.
What I have found on temperature swings and any problems regarding temperature has been proper storage of the pellets. Now I only use Traeger pellets from Costco and stay away from cheap brands.

[bbqLuv]

Thank you for your post.
I may suffer from Traeger-Blindness. I have been comparing it to other pellet grills.
The new https://www.academy.com/p/pit-boss-t...d-pellet-grill is worth a look see.

[smokenoob]

if artificial intelligence agrees with you, you can be replaced 😂

[bbqLuv]

Replace by a big red button

[Bkhuna]

Traeger, the Camry of the pellet world.