With so much free time these days, here’s an interesting diversion. Read or scan the 430 reviews on Weber.com of the new Smoke Fire. Reading them sorted by newest first seems to show that their problems persist. An average of just 3.1 out of 5. Many issues such as pellet feeding and getting to temperature persist even after users replace parts. It seems like the product still suffers from major issues. Not to beat a dead horse, but after all this time you’d expect the problems to lessen if they really had fixes for their issues, but no signs of that here.
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Why didn't they build it right the first time. At 67 I am tired of these young CEO's bringing out junk and selling it on there name. Have you asked them why they didn't do it right the first time. They pushed this through and let the customers find the problems without doing enough product in-house testing. Been there done that.Last edited by mountainsmoker; May 16, 2020, 10:21 PM.
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mountainsmoker, tell us how you really feel lol. At 62, I agree wholeheartedly. Young whippersnappers!!!
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Couldn’t agree more. I was having so much trouble getting a response from customer service that I used my old trick of finding the CEO on Linked In and sending a direct message. It worked in that they called me but not only did he not respond at all, he doesn’t even post his last name on the site. Embarrassed is he?
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Waiting for delivery of a newly purchased pit reminds me of being a kid at Christmas. To be that excited only to have nothing but problems when it arrives really makes me feel sorry for these people. You feel comfortable buying the Weber name which, I'd imagine, makes it even more disappointing when the problems start. Really strange that there are also lots of 5 star ratings as well.
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Just remember that there's probably warehouses full of the first gen without fixes applied somewhere. That and happy people are less likely to post reviews compared to unhappy people. I try my best to always leave reviews for anything I buy online good or bad, but I often don't get that done unless I'm VERY happy or VERY mad.
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Club Member
- Jun 2016
- 2374
- Beautiful Downtown Berwyn
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Grill: Grilla Original / Weber Genesis EP-330 / OK Joe Bronco Drum
Thermometers: Thermapen / iGrill 2 / Fireboard
For Smoke: Chunks / Pellet Tube / Mo Pouch
Sous Vide: Joule / Nomiku WiFi (RIP Nomiku)
Disqus: Le Chef - (something something something) - it changes
After the initial release of the Genesis 2, you'd think they'd've tested the F out of the Smoke Fire and gotten it right the first time.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 2108
- Central IA
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MAK 2 Star General
KBQ C-60
Weber Summit Charcoal Grillw/ Big Joetisserie, SnS LP, and VortexWeber Genesis II - S-345
Weber Traveler
Fireboard 2 Drive
Anova Precision Sous Vide
All the (pellet) grills I’ve loved before:
Traeger Junior Elite^
GMG DB
Traeger Texas Elite
Memphis Pro§
Traeger Pro 575
CampChef SmokePro STX (ugly grills need love too)
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
Traeger Select
CampChef Woodwind WiFi w/SearBox^
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
^ = Favorites
§ = Love/Hate Relationships
I definitely have mixed feelings on the SmokeFire. They broke the mold on this one and it is a pellet grill unlike any other I've seem for less than $2500. It cooked the best tasting food I've ever made on a pellet grill hands down. I cannot believe that they did not encounter the pellet feed issues repeatedly during testing. As quick as they had the hopper insert available, they actually probably had, but just won't admit it. The biggest problem I have, however, is the false promises. Repeatedly saying that no drip pans are needed on greasy cooks, then finally back tracking on that. If I were not 6'4" I probably would have kept it, but all the time spent hunched over scraping it after about every cook was very uncomfortable on the lower back.
If you learn the pit and how wind affects it (high temps) and are willing to clean it after every cook you are probably in the happy camp. If you want convenience and set it and forget it, you are probably frustrated.
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You're still spot on glitchy. I think we were both of the same mindset, but I ended up keeping mine. Probably because you're 6'4" and I'm 6'3" - haha.
If anyone cares for an update, I'm still cranking out delicious food, and have become content with the little workarounds that are required. The food has been worth it to me (and the family I guess I should say) so far. I have the pellet ramp but have not installed as of yet. Will probably do a full clean of the hopper and install this weekend or next.
Is it perfect? Nope. My biggest issue at this point is the lack of app updates to this point. I'm tired of having to use my Thermoworks smoke setup to kind of babysit the Weber temp setup on long cooks in case of any temp alarms or major temp changes. They added an alarm to the app but it's the smallest little beep that if you're not actively listening for it, chances are you're going to miss it. This needs attention badly.
As far as cleaning goes, I've learned the easiest way to handle it is to crank the temp up to max right off the bat and burn out what's already in there before backing back down to the temp I want to run at. I am using drip pans on anything longer than a SLC/Baby back rib cook (4-5 hours). Not a huge deal to me, but I can see if others don't want to mess with it.
Also, found this traeger tool to be pretty helpful when scraping out the bottom during cleans. Don't know if Weber will ever put one of their own out, but the long handle is nice for getting down in there. To me, it's still extremely easy to clean because you can just scrape everything down into the drawer and pull it to dump. Have done a couple of clean outs since I purchased, but not nearly as often as I was thinking I was going to have to.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I realize I'm probably one of the lucky ones that didn't have major issues, but once I realized it worked for me and I was happy I pretty much tuned out the noise, both good and bad. I just keep on cookin' until I hit a major issue, or the wife gets unhappy with the results!
Pics of various cooks since my last post attached. Decided the skillet fits perfectly in the smoker so that's been my go to for onions/shrooms rather than the foil.
Edit: Sorry for no pics of the shredded pork butt from last weekend. It got destroyed before I could snap any post shredding. Also, the two pics of the wings are after smoking but before hitting them with a quick sear, and then cranking up the temp and searing them a bit to get crisp skin (second pic has a few more charred wings in there). First time trying smoked wings, they turned out great!Last edited by BDCarp04; May 22, 2020, 09:14 AM.
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And of course, I complain about the app and then swing over to the smokefire reddit page and see there is an app update being pushed out now - right before Memorial Day weekend including a low temp smokeboost mode and temp control from the app. Going to have to give these a whirl and see if things are better.
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