how good bad is webber ex gen2

[burning bruce]

how good bad is webber ev6 gen2

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[Huskee]

I believe glitchy has the Gen 2, let's see what he can say about it...

[glitchy]

Welcome to the Pit. I had a Gen 2 EX4 that I returned a while back. When it worked like it should, it was a fabulous grill and smoker. I got very frustrated with software issues that made the grill very moody and inconsistent in behavior. I know they’ve released at least one update since I returned mine, maybe more. I still see on other forums both love and hate for the grill. I just wanted it to get close to set temps every time (sometimes it would run 50-75 degrees off) and behave consistently. Sometimes I’d change the temp to reverse sear and it would start adjusting immediately and other times it would be 15 minutes plus before the temps even started to go up the first 10 degrees. Those are a couple examples of the types of things I saw.

Its pros are that the SmokeFire grills at high temps like no other pellet grill and puts out a better smoke profile that most others as well. It’s cons are that it’s picky about pellets, should be used with drip pans for smoking, and is a little immature on the software side with Weber being new to the pellet world.

Backroadmeats just picked up a Smokefire recently, maybe he can share if he’s seeing any of the issues I was encountering last fall/winter or if the updates have straightened stuff up.

[Backroadmeats]

I haven't realy had time to play with it much yet. Just done burgers and hot dogs.

[bbqLuv]

Hello from NW Oregon

[Redwng]

Welcome from St. Cloud, FL.

[zinfella]

Welcome to the Pit. I had a Gen 2 EX4 that I returned a while back. When it worked like it should, it was a fabulous grill and smoker. I got very frustrated with software issues that made the grill very moody and inconsistent in behavior. I know they’ve released at least one update since I returned mine, maybe more. I still see on other forums both love and hate for the grill. I just wanted it to get close to set temps every time (sometimes it would run 50-75 degrees off) and behave consistently. Sometimes I’d change the temp to reverse sear and it would start adjusting immediately and other times it would be 15 minutes plus before the temps even started to go up the first 10 degrees. Those are a couple examples of the types of things I saw.

Its pros are that the SmokeFire grills at high temps like no other pellet grill and puts out a better smoke profile that most others as well. It’s cons are that it’s picky about pellets, should be used with drip pans for smoking, and is a little immature on the software side with Weber being new to the pellet world.

Backroadmeats just picked up a Smokefire recently, maybe he can share if he’s seeing any of the issues I was encountering last fall/winter or if the updates have straightened stuff up.

Unfortunately, when you returned your last SF, we lost the detailed SF info that you provided. That means that we don't have that same level of reliable info for how it operates WRT subsequent software updates/upgrades. While I don't wanna subsidize your purchase choices, I was sad to see you return it because it cut off a resource that I came to depend on, in anticipation of getting my own SF, if they ever get it to perform consistently.


Sometimes Max updates his SF review, but he doesn't post that info in red ink , or something, to separate the update info from the rest of his lengthily review. Oh well....................

[glitchy]

Thanks for the kind words. I thought hard about keeping it and seeing how it progressed with updates, but just needed something more reliable for my primary outdoor cooker.

[NewMexRedRaider]

I just purchased an EX6 from Ace a week ago. I couldn’t be happier so far. It was $999 with the $200 discount they have right now. It was the floor model so fully assembled and free delivery-that’s a win to me. Another win was I had $100 in Ace Rewards. The terms of the rewards specifically excluded Weber products. However, I thought I’d try and they applied my rewards!

Before the EX6 my main cooker was a 26 inch kettle with the slow n sear. I love the kettle and SNS, but I have a 2 year old, and infant, and a new business and time is not a luxury I have right now. Really wanted something I could quickly fire up on a week night and grill chicken, burger, or a steak. I was planning on getting Weber Genesis gas, but after a lot of time researching the gen 2 EX6 and feeling confident the bugs were worked out I pulled the trigger. I love it.

After doing all the set up (software update, burn in), my first cook was grilled chicken pieces (bone in). It took 25 minutes from the time I turned the grill on to 400 degrees to having the chicken hit target temp. Chicken was great.

Yesterday I did some chuckies at 225 for 6 hours until they hit 180 measured by the built in probes. Excellent. Also did green chiles (I live in New Mexico) stuffed with cream cheese, corn, purple onion, shredded cheese, and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and cumin. Then wrapped each chile in 2-3 pieces of bacon. Grilled the stuffed chiles for 30 minutes at 400 after pulling of the chicks. Mucho excellent.

At 9 pm last night I threw on 2 pork butts at 225. The hopper was full. At 6 am this morning it was essentially depleted and needed a refill. The butts are at 166 and 167 right now. I’ll let you know how they end up.

So far it is about the most perfect grill/smoker I can imagine for what I was looking for. My only complaint, is that it is somewhat difficult to pour pellets into the hopper. The hopper is narrow and I’ve spilled a lot. I’m sure I’ll get better with some practice.

Hope this helps. Happy 4th of July!

[zinfella]

The chilies sound great. I have Hatch green chilies in my breakfast 2-4 times a week. Good luck with your SF, and keep the updates coming!