Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Pellet Grill Anyone?

First of all, I have a separate smoker for smoking meats, but I need a new grill. I had a propane grill but gave it to a couple of great kids to take to college. It cooked great but not sure if I want another one or opt for a pellet grill.

For general BBQ'ing......burgers, chicken, steaks, etc, how do you rate the pellet grill? Pros and Cons? I've been looking at a Camp Chef grill that has a sear box on the side of it for finishing off steaks with a sear. Thanks.

Pellets seem pretty lame.

Charcoal has been fun. No electricity.

The sear box uses propane.

I’m a charcoal guy to

I do like the convenience of gas but....... no fun nor flavor.

I like fire.

Bought a Traeger Timberline a while back. It's the heavily insulated model, which I would spring for over the standard thin sheet metal one. The idea is it keeps temps consistent where my buddies standard model fluctuates 30 degrees. They're not BBQ's that's for sure. Nor are they smokers. I think of them as smoky ovens. Got a pizza out there right now.

We cooked a 16 lb prime rib last weekend on it, and it turned out juicy and awesome. We charred the outside on a charcoal grill first, then smoked it at 225 for a few hours, until internal temp hit 132 degrees.

I love the internal probe. I have no idea how you could cook without it. MUST HAVE imo. Has an alarm when the meat hits the temp you preset it for. You could even set it with your smart phone if you wanted to. With ours anything below 225 degrees cooking temp you can use the Super Smoke setting which gives it more flavor.

Overall, it's smoky, but not really smoked like a smoker does it. Takes electricity, bad imo. Charcoal, less convenient but how you can beat the flavor?

The pellets are a much better flavor than charcoal, IMO.

i use my electric smoker for some things and they come out great but for brisket, ribs and prime rib roast its the wood burner.

I'm really enjoying my Traeger. Much easier than the old wood burner that I used the last 10 years. Great flavor. If you need more smoke, add smoke tubes.
However, it is not really a BBQ, in that you won't get the high temp direct heat that you will in a propane or charcoal grill. That is more than offset, IMO, by the ease of use and great results.

P.S. - I did add a blanket, which helps maintain temps in cold or windy conditions.

My son-in-law has a Traeger and likes it quite well. It is constructed from fairly light weight sheet metal and, after several years (5-6?) of occasional use, is probably going to need replacement soon.
I've been using a Yoder YS640 pellet grill for the last 4 years (4-5 times per week) and couldn't be happier with it. It BBQ's, direct (and indirect) flame grills, smokes GREAT. Very uniform and consistent temps from 150 deg. up to over 500 deg if so desired.
A bit pricy (2-3 times what a Traeger will cost) but it is built in America (Kansas) from heavy gage steel and should last a lifetime. Structurally, mine is like new with none of the signs of thinning sheet metal my SIL's Traeger is showing.
If you are going to buy a pellet grill and can possibly save enough coin buy a Yoder. You'll spend more on the initial purchase but you'll only have to buy once.

I have gotten some great "smoked" results by adding chunked mesquite to the bottom rack of .y Brinkman gas grill.
Two of my kids have Traegers and it is admittedly easier to work with than adding wet wood to a gas grill.

But I will never pay the inflated price demanded by Traeger. There are a lot of equivalent competitors out there for a lot less money.

Blazing Grill is also American made (somewhere in Nebraska). It has a removable fire box so easy to maintain. Traegers work fine now that they have had 20 years to work the bugs out of them but they aren't designed to be run 4-5 times a week.

Never owned one. Couldn’t say.

I do use pellets to smoke though. An “A Maze N” smoker tray, or some such. Works great and very little heat. Nice for smoking cheese, fish, and other items. Lots of pellets available. Use electricity to add heat if desired.

For cooking, I stick with the old Weber Kettle or a new favorite, Charbroil Big Easy cooker. Charbroil is gas with a pellet tray.

I am considering a verticle pellet smoker next...
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Pit-Boss-Pro-Series-4-Vertical-Wood-Pellet-Smoker/1000601259

I have the small and middle size Green Mountain grills and have been happy with them and no longer own a gas grill. Wife and kids like the flavor better than charcoal and we've all felt meat stays moister and comes out more tender than other grills we've used. They don't get hot enough to do a good sear on steaks, but I haven't tried the grill grates yet so maybe that is the answer there. I think they do best with longer lower temperature cooks like whole chicken, roasts, etc. I'm paying $15 for 28 lb bags of pellets and go through a couple bags a year so fairly reasonable.

In your case already having a smoker, I might be looking at the Big Green Egg or similar ceramic grills if grilling steaks were a priority.

If I ever make any money, the next outdoor cooking machine I buy will be a PK 360.

JG look at the Rectec 700 bull they have one of the better PID controllers and they really hold an accurate temp costs a little more than the others but they come with a 6 year warranty, we use ours 3-4 times a week and really enjoy it!

+1

love my traeger, as a smoker, we have grilled chicken on it once and didn't like the smokey flavor in that application. However, as a smoker IMO it obsoletes everything else out there. I dinked with huge smokers and real wood for years. I had a tow behind custom made smoker that I bought in texas that I brought up to where I live now. it was made from half a behind your house propane tank, such a PITA. you had to baby the thing and practically watch it constantly. now days its pick up a 13-15 pound brisket. put it in at 11 pm cook all night. while sleep. wake up, wrap, then cook till 3 pm ish. brisket comes out excellent and repeatable everytime. Before it was a crap shoot. pellet smokers should put all the others out of business.

this what i use got some fajitas in it right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCYMGJA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I do the same with my Trager on Briskets. Beef and Pork tenderloins come out perfectly moist and tender as well. Easy Peasy. I still prefer to grill a steak over hot coals!