Tell me about your Traeger

I can't believe I'm considering one either, but for the money I'm going to have to drop in what I want I might as well explore all my options.

They are basically set it and forget it. How do the electronics hold up? Where are the temperature probes and how accurate are they?

Pellets are expensive, about how many hours do you get out of a bag? Better places to but than the big box stores?

For that matter, are the box store ones cheaper junk versions or the same as you'd get buying online? 

My stick burner is on its last season, I can't save the fire box, and the smoking chamber is really rusting up. I'm still looking for another stick burner, but seeing $400-600 for anything decent I might as well explore the pellet burner. 

I'm no expert, so take my advice for what it's worth. I was in the same boat as you a few months ago and from all the research it sounds like Traeger has really gone down hill as far as the quality of materials and customer service. People were having issues with the electronics not working and either having the temp runaway or just shutting off completely.  However, I have hear a lot of good things about the Green Mountain Grills. If i were to buy a pellet grill, thats the brand I would go with.

I ended up going with an 18" Weber Smokey mountain, and really love it. I can fill the charcoal basket it up and have it hold 250 for the whole cook without messing with it. It's about as set it and forget it as charcoal smokers come.

Mine’s been great.

I don’t use it in a production style solution, but I’ve gotten about 6-8 long smokes/cooks out of a full hopper.

Obviously, grilling uses the pellets at a really quick rate, but for smoking it could go for a long time between refills.

the only issue I’ve noticed is that if the pellets are left in the hopper during wet/damp times they can clump up when you start using it.  So the temp tends to fluctuate wildly until those are worked out of the system.  Newer ones allow you to empty the hopper much more easily apparently.

I don’t know about the ones with the built in probes.  I just use a remote temp probe I bought off amazon if I need to track the temp.

The electronics seem to work pretty well and manage the temp fluctuations of the pellet sizes.

I think you can shop around on pellets, some use non-traeger pellets with no issue, but I’ve not tried it yet since I just pick up a bag or two every once in a while when I need it.

There are some good subreddits on Reddit that can provide some more info and experience that I don’t have.

I have a Camp Chef Woodwind. Similar to a traeger, but has an ash cleanout so you don’t have to open it up and shop vac it every few uses. 

I just don't understand how these are as popular as they seem to be.

Toebra said:

I just don't understand how these are as popular as they seem to be.

At least around here, they are a local company and the support is pretty good.

The fact that Costco carries them along with many local hardware stores helps make it an easy button for many who just want something relatively simple to setup and use.

Its like people who buy a Miata instead of another roadster.  The other roadster might be better in some ways (like the S2000 or the Elise, etc), but the Miata is an “easy button” to hit and get out and enjoy smoked meats without a lot of effort.

I’m not saying “don’t buy one.” I will say that the most consistently berkeleying amazing smoked meats I’ve ever eaten were prepared by a buddy of mine on one of the $75 big red electric jobs from HD. And he, too, would literally set & forget. The key, according to him was brining, and I *think* he used a mixture of dry & green wood. 

Could be an Indian vs. arrow scenario.

RIP Mike Hill!

So I have one that is almost 10 years old and its indestructible. In 10 years I have replaced one lighter and had one auger jam. I use mine at least once a week. 

New ones I hear not so nice things. 

If I had to spend the money I would get a yoder. 

For the past several years, I used a cheap green egg knockoff (Akorn Kamodo) that I bought at Lowes when I wanted to smoke some meat. It works well, but it does require frequent baby sitting and adjusting. I never could think of starting a smoke, then going to bed and let the meat smoke while I slept because the temperature would either get too hot or the fire would go out or something would go wrong. There were multiple times when I would get up well before dawn to start something that we wanted to eat for dinner and invariably it took longer than planned. About the only thing you can do wrong when smoking meats is to rush it.

I bought a pellet grill last month for my birthday present and I do not regret it a bit. It was expensive, but I've since let it do it's think overnight while I slept without worry. Made an excellent brisket a couple weeks ago that I started at midnight. I used it only once at a higher temperature setting to make some ribs and when it is set at 350F it burns through the pellets fairly fast. I think I would use the kamodo and charcoal next time if I wanted to make ribs again, but for things that like to be smoked around 225F it works like a champ. I've made the requisite pork butts, brisket, ribs, tri tip, and poor man's burnt ends out of chuck roasts (did these a couple times).

Mine got a ding in it during shipping, so the company gave me a 25% discount code, so I loaded up on pellets. Because of that I have only tried their name brand pellets and haven't yet tried whatever I can buy locally.

I have this one.

My buddy has one and we took it on a bro weekend.  It worked well for smoking dem pork shoulders, but if you can't smoke a pork shoulder you should probably stop grilling all together.  

The suckiest thing was that it needed power, so you had to run it on an extension cord and it was constantly being tripped on and unplugged, and when that happens it has a whole reset procedure to get it back to life.

In reply to poopshovel again :

I have a red electric Brinkman from Home Depot that I’ve been using for 6-7 years now and it does a really good job with little work.  The brining really helps a lot, especially on birds. 

I have a green mountain "Daniel Boone Prime Wifi". My back yard is bumpy and rough and the Prime models have very beefy legs and BIG urethane wheels compared to almost any other grill I have seen. There are other geegaws on the Prime models too, but it's worth it for the base alone. I haven't even set the wifi up yet. 

I quite like it. I did a prime rib (light rub of salt, pepper and garlic powder only) last Sunday and it was one of the best slabs of dead animal I have ever put heat to. I have also heard the Traegers have gone downhill. My buddy has a Camp Chef and likes his. I was able to get a Green Mountain from a local dealer with great service. Like the Camp Chef, the Prime has a quick and easy firebox clean-out arrangement. It has a flippy openy door with a vacuum out port. There's still soot inside which I suck out every 2nd or 3rd cook and that takes only a minute or two. 

I also have a Broil King Keg with a BBQ Guru/pit viper contraption. The pellet grill is a lot easier to manage for a long smoke because I don't have to take it half apart to refuel it. The charcoal burning keg is better for grilling though because it gets properly hot for searing. 

Hamburgers and brats/doggies come out fine on the pellet grill, but you can't get the "high and hot" temperature for a proper steak.

Wally said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

I have a red electric Brinkman from Home Depot that I’ve been using for 6-7 years now and it does a really good job with little work.  The brining really helps a lot, especially on birds. 

Every year for Christmas, I ask for two things: A cheap electric smoker, and a banjo. And every year, I’m disappointed.

I have a cheap electric, a Big Chief. Great when it's all that's around, but not for parties. I used one all the time in CA cause it was all I had, but it only goes to 150 or so and can't really hold the volume I cook at a time. I've looked at the ones at home depot, and they just don't strike me as worth it. The thing is for me is that enjoy the smoke. The whole process, cutting and splitting wood, controlling the smoke and temperature, adjusting and modifying components for different affects, it's enjoyable for me, very relaxing. 

So traegers have gone down hill. I'm not a fan of the green eggs. I want to like them, but bulky, expensive, and the layers of racks seem ripe for drip related flavor changes. 

I'll look at the Yoder. Starting price of triple my budget, damn fine looking machines though. 

I'm also looking at 22" Weber Smokey mountains and Oklahoma Joes reverse flow offsets. 

At the same time, I'm about $400 worth of steel from having a 275 gallon pig cooker/party trailer, but my welding skills and the whole cleaning out the oil from the tank are also rough spots with that plan. 

I'm really keeping an eye out for another dead 30-50 gallon compressor, as I built a decent prototype before I got the plasma cutter, but it's not good enough for parties since I used angle grinders and a sawzall to cut it up. 

This would be used exclusively for smoking. I have a 26"Weber kettle charcoal, and a decent enough propane for grilling with. This smoker will live it's life on big gravel in the carport, not in direct rain and snow, but during a windy storm it will get hit. 

I knew a guy in Texas that made smokers out of old propane tanks, like the ones people have next to their house.  Built them on a little low boy trailer that was light enough it was fairly easy to maneuver.  Once he got the counter balance right on the lid, it was pretty sweet.  Had a stainless steel tank for water that would get hot. 

50 gal would be a good size

poopshovel again said:

Wally said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

I have a red electric Brinkman from Home Depot that I’ve been using for 6-7 years now and it does a really good job with little work.  The brining really helps a lot, especially on birds. 

Every year for Christmas, I ask for two things: A cheap electric smoker, and a banjo. And every year, I’m disappointed.

Same here. I keep getting cheap electric banjos.

Take a look at the pit boss as well, especially if you plan on cooking steaks. They have a heat shield you can open just off the firebox for direct searing heat. Another buddy has a traeger and you can’t get a good enough sear, but it’ll cook the hell out of some wings

So I joined the pellet grill/smoker community today. Thanks Rural King. Their house brand, which was on sale for $299. 

So far, it's cute. I don't like either of the temperature probe locations. The brackets that hold the wheels to the base plate were broken out of the box, like half a spot weld holding each one. I called customer service and they're sending me new brackets and wheels, but without a way to attach them. So I fired up the welder and put some risky ugly welds on to attach the wheels. 

It's doing it's "cure" now, I'm going to run it several times this weekend without food in it, to get an idea of how it runs, how it responds, and how innaccurate the temperature guages are compared to actually on the cooking service. 

Tried a new thing on the smoker recently. Turkey loins. Brined them for 4 hours. Wrap in bacon. Smoke until 165F. Let rest a bit. We had 4 loins, two with bacon and two without. Was really good sliced, but was crazy good chopped up into little cubes with some of the bacon. Made sandwhiches that were spectacular. 

In reply to T.J. :

Did you use raw or cooked bacon??