My better half wants a pellet grill for her upcoming birthday and I know nothing about them. So does anyone have any personal experience with one? What should I look for or stay away from. Any and all input is appreciated. Bottom line I like to eat, so I want to keep her cooking.

Got a Rectec 680. Has worked well for last year. They seem largely similar across brands but my buddy had a Rectec that worked great for years so I went that route. They are very easy to cook with and have turned out many great smoked meals with ours.

Wife and I have had a Yoder YS640 since February 2012 and are very happy with it, no regrets. Often this model is referred to as built like a tank, it is. Made in the USA, 10 gauge steel cook chamber.

December 2017 we got a Blaz’n Grid Iron for its ability to cook low ‘n slow 4 grates of ribs for cook offs over the Yoder’s 2 grates, very impressed with the quality of the build. In comparison to the YS640 it has a larger cook chamber and hopper, center mounted burn pot is easily removable for dumping the burn pot but the grates and heat deflector still need to be removed to clean ash in the lower cook chamber. The pro rack system has well over double the square inch grate space than the Yoder with the second shelf option. So far happy with purchase. Made in the USA, 16 gauge steel cook chamber with strategically placed double wall construction.

In my opinion the sear kit in the Blaz’n is a disappointment and does not grill or sear with direct heat. We did not purchase it for the feature and will never try it as have plenty of grills for that. Yoder on the other hand has a very descent searing set up, just my opinion for direct grilling and searing.

We bought a MAK 2 Star last fall, and really happy with it in all respects. Still keeping my Primo charcoal burner, as I've found nothing like it for searing steaks.

Jeff

I’ve ran treager for better than 15 years, on my second one. First one I had a lot of problems with but I didn’t take very good care of it, ie spent a lot of time outside... my new one I keep in the shop, very good unit, i smoke everything on it, eggs, sausage, Salmon everything...

Thanks for the thoughts. I had a fellow tell me yesterday that the smoke from the grills is slightly caustic and when it mixes with the moisture from the food it slowly eats away the paint/powder coating. For that reason he was telling me to look at stainless. Any truth to that? Is stainless worth the extra coin regardless?

Dunno bout that, my first treager did but it spent a lot of time outside. My new one is doin good

Being that your in the coast range I can see a grill rusting fast in left out and uncovered, over here in the blue's not so much.

I’ve had mine for two years here in Northern Va, i keep a cover on it when I’m not using it.

It has been the best cooker I’ve ever used to date. Can’t hardly screw up anything on it.

We bought the smallest Green Mountain Grill last year primarily for it's portability for camping, etc. It's about all we use at home now as well so we're talking about adding one of the bigger ones this year. I still prefer charcoal for some things, but we've been over all quite happy with the pellet grill.