First off let me say this, I grew up in Luling so I know BBQ, and it's always been to me post oak, salt & pepper, and in most cases an offset. However, when I'm not using the salt, red & black pepper method, I'm buying Meat Church seasonings. They've always done me right on anything I've made. They've recently went to a Traeger and I'm more than intrigued in getting myself one.

But I wanted to the opinions of anyone on here who may own one, or even a compatible cheaper brand. The most expensive TRAEGER goes right under 2k, so for an investment like that I want to make damn it's what I'm paying for.

Does anyone have any feedback or recommendations on off brands that have been good to them as well?

I'd be perfectly fine with buying a cheaper version to see if I like it, before going all in on one.

Thanks in advance.

For the trolls, all I cook on now is an offset. So save your bs..

https://grillagrills.com/grills/silverbac-wood-pellet-grill/

Im pleased with my Grilla Grill. I have the old version and they have made some improvements.

Bought the Green Mountain Daniel Boone Pellet grill a couple months ago. $700. Wifi controlled. Smoked some of the best meats on this guy. Too easy !!!

A second for Green Mountain Grills. I have the Bowie and it's super easy to use and turns out some good stuff.

I have a Traeger. I was pretty disappointed with the lack of smoke that it puts out. Its about 1 minute of smoke followed by 5 minutes of no smoke. I added an A-maz-n pellet tube and it made of world of difference.

Traeger was the first big brand. That said, a lot of other companies make better pellet grills now (more bells and whistles).

Personally i would look at the Cabelas brand ones. They are made by camp chef (great brand), carry the Cabelas lifetime warranty, and still have the searing station option

I say this owning a camp chef and finding that out afterwards

GMG Jim Bowie here. Love it.

redass1876 said:

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Traeger was the first big brand. That said, a lot of other companies make better pellet grills now (more bells and whistles).

Personally i would look at the Cabelas brand ones. They are made by camp chef (great brand), carry the Cabelas lifetime warranty, and still have the searing station option

I say this owning a camp chef and finding that out afterwards

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I have a Camp Chef too and wanted to add that their customer service is awesome!


Edit to add, a buddy has the big RecTec and absolutely loves it.

I have had a Louisiana pellet grill for 4 years and love it. They are similar to Traegar but tent to run about 15% cheaper.

There is a thread about 2 months old asking the same thing.

Everyone has their fav. Every brand is going to get a vote in here by someone.

The OP on that thread shared his analysis for going with the one he chose.

Search for that thread. It'll be helpful.

for sure many have their benefits, just don't see Traeger as one. They have less bells and whistles and cost more than a lot of clones that have good reputations

GMG, pit, rec-tec, cabelas, camp chef all have their merits.

A couple have wifi-temp probe built in; wish mine had that!

Honestly the pit boss I got from Lowe's has been pretty solid. $500 but I got it on sale for $450 a month ago.

I've had a green mountain for 6 years. would definitely recommend it over the traeger that several of my buddies have.

I have a Camp Chef Woodwind with a sear box for steaks. $900 last Father's Day with a cover and a bag of pellets. It took about 10 minutes to set up, we use it at least once a week.

It smokes pretty well, on a 12 hour brisket cook, I got a decent smoke ring. It truly is set and forget, I miss messing with the fire, but other than that the ease of use doesn't make me miss my offset stick burner at all.

BurrOak said:

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I have a Traeger. I was pretty disappointed with the lack of smoke that it puts out. Its about 1 minute of smoke followed by 5 minutes of no smoke. I added an A-maz-n pellet tube and it made of world of difference.

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Odd. My Traeget pours smoke. Never been an issue for me.

There's been a couple threads on this. I was looking at all kinds of different smokers a few months ago. If I went the direction of pellet I'd prob be looking at a rec Tec.

I just got a gmg Jim Bowie. Have used it every night this week and love it. The pork butts and ribs I've done had plenty of smoke flavor. There customer service is incredible

Customer service with Green Mountain is superb! Accessories are inexpensive as well. Purchased the pizza oven insert. Gets up to 700 + deg ! Makes quick work of pizza baking.

Figured this was a good spot to show my custom grates i bought for my pellet grill... Need to clean the sear box one obviously

For quality steel plus design and tech you should consider the made in Texas brand Pitts and Spitts.

IMO: When you compare it side by side with a Traeger, Pitts and Spitts is much more built to last.

Quote:

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Where are Traeger Grills made? Since late 2008, all of our residential grills have been manufactured in China.

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OP, based on your name, I assume you are a man capable of making things with your own two hands, and can appreciate heavy-duty, well constructed objects.

Curious, are you looking to fabricate your own version of a pellet grill, or are you truly looking to buy an off-the-shelf model? I can appreciate the functionality of a pellet grill, but have always been turned off by the rickety feel and cheap pressed-metal construction. Seems like they are a $50 charcoal grill, with a $100 brain and pellet dispenser.

I've thought about trying to finding a dispenser and making my own box/grill that's much better quality, but I already have an BGE and offset, so I don't see the need. If you are thinking of fabricating your own, I'd like to hear more.

I sold my offset to a good ag on this board about 2 yrs ago. I enjoyed it but never used it. I bought a Pit Barrel about 2 weeks ago after reading a thread on this board (Thank you OB). I cooked a Brisket in it last weekend that my wife and son raved about. It is stupid simple to use. Holds heat very well and using charcoal with wood chips is so easy.

Also experimented with ribs, chicken, and flat iron steak. Each were awesome.

I was looking at a pellet grill before taking a chance on the Pit Barrel. I am glad I did not waste the money. I am fixing to put on another brisket.

Much smaller company, but I love my Mak Grills 2 Star General. They make tanks out of heavy stainless steel, have great customer service, have a super-programmable controller with wifi capability, and put out really good smoke for a pellet grill. They also make sure any future upgrades are compatible with older models. For example, I got mine before wifi availability, but soon I'll be ordering a wifi kit to upgrade mine. I also upgraded to a better, faster igniter from the original version recently. I was down to Mak and Memphis, and while mine tops out around 450 rather than screaming hot, I wanted a great smoker, and that's what I got.

https://www.makgrills.com

I'm happy with my Pitts & Spitts pellet grill

Green Mountain Grills

I got a pit boss for Christmas and really like it. My only complaint is that the pellets get stuck in the hopper, so you have to watch it. A coworker has a rectec and won't shut up about.

Gator Pitts

FIDO 96 said:

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OP, based on your name, I assume you are a man capable of making things with your own two hands, and can appreciate heavy-duty, well constructed objects.

Curious, are you looking to fabricate your own version of a pellet grill, or are you truly looking to buy an off-the-shelf model? I can appreciate the functionality of a pellet grill, but have always been turned off by the rickety feel and cheap pressed-metal construction. Seems like they are a $50 charcoal grill, with a $100 brain and pellet dispenser.

I've thought about trying to finding a dispenser and making my own box/grill that's much better quality, but I already have an BGE and offset, so I don't see the need. If you are thinking of fabricating your own, I'd like to hear more.

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To be completely honest I have 100% thought about it. The only issue is I'm a month behind on work and when I'm not in the shop 6:45 am to about 7pm) I'm at home with my wife and kid, this would have to be side project, id want to build one and makes sure it works. I'm busy trying to pay to get the wife and kid the big house we want, I have a fully insulated smoker I started that just needs the top and bottom plated on and the doors welded on that's been on pallet for over a year. It's sucks because welding was a hobby when I started it then oil went to **** so now it pays the bills. But I enjoy it and I do good work. I have a background in automation and I&E

Plus I have come across copies of the wiring diagrams and design Oyler pits, which are trademarked, but they're non automated truthfully. One of my best friends owns a pretty good BBQ place in San Marcos I've done a lot of work to one of his pits and he wants a rotisserie bad. But they're expensive haha. Oylers are more circuits on a bread board. Obsolete I'd say. But they seem to be well respected. I thought about having a hmi touchscreen panel for the temps and adjusting, and monitoring would be pretty badass and doable to do that. But that app portion might be over my head. My buddy wanted to do a insulted wood burning rotisserie, but that was temp controlled with actuator and baffles.

If you're serious and want to discuss something further I can easily come up with designs and prolly
Even cad them, but I call dibs on the patent if it's badass. So see I gotta by House her dream home and knock her again before I get to start doing fun *****

FIDO 96 said:

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OP, based on your name, I assume you are a man capable of making things with your own two hands, and can appreciate heavy-duty, well constructed objects.

Curious, are you looking to fabricate your own version of a pellet grill, or are you truly looking to buy an off-the-shelf model? I can appreciate the functionality of a pellet grill, but have always been turned off by the rickety feel and cheap pressed-metal construction. Seems like they are a $50 charcoal grill, with a $100 brain and pellet dispenser.

I've thought about trying to finding a dispenser and making my own box/grill that's much better quality, but I already have an BGE and offset, so I don't see the need. If you are thinking of fabricating your own, I'd like to hear more.

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Also, what really sucks is I have the metal lathe, mill, etc to machine anything I'd need. Just not the time to do it.

After much research over the past 2-3 months, including the other thread mentioned above, I just recently got a Camp Chef pellet smoker. I almost pulled the trigger on a Pit Boss model, but I discovered a feature the Camp Chef had that none of the others seemed to have. It has an easy cleanout feature for emptying the ash that's leftover from smoking. All the other brands it seems you have to use a shop vac to vacuum out the ash. I don't have one and didn't want to have to buy one just to clean up the ash every month or two. It seems to be of a similar build as the other brands, with comparable features plus the cleanout for about the same price or less, especially compared to the Traeger types. Just my 2 cents.

Sorry I'm so late to this thread, but I feel like this is appropriate here.

There is some shiet you just can unsee.