quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
I went with a MAK 2 star when I retired my old Traeger. Great service, great product, American made and all that. It sure looks better, and it does heat up faster and use less pellets, but the food tastes just the same as it did off my old grill. If I had it to do over I would just buy another Traeger.

But you bought American! I wish I could have afforded the MAK 3 Star, but I don't have $6,500 laying around.

Tony.

Take a long look at CookShack. Pricy, but made in USA and built like a TANK!!! I purchased cheap China crap only to have it burn out and no warranty or CS. Cry once and never look back!! I have owned mine now for 4-5 years and could not be more pleased. They are simple with no Bluetooth and all that other stuff. All Stainless steel and made in Ponca City Oklahoma. Take a look. I have the second size up from the smallest.

Rectec 700 here. The stainless construction, temp control features, and customer service won it for me. I debated on the Yoders for awhile but I do not regret going with the Rectec 700 at all.

I'm very happy with my Green Mountain Daniel Boone. Going on 4 years of frequent use.

MAK smoker/grill. Bulletproof.
Although, expensive.

I have a Rec Tec, about 5 years old. Runs like a champ, maintains +/- 5 degrees. Highly recommended.

I have a Kamado Joe II and a Weber smokey mountain. When it comes to smoking, the weber is by far the best tasting and is easy to use. The Kamado smokes fairly good, but nothing like the weber when it comes to taste and texture. Not sure on pellet smokers.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I'm very happy with my Green Mountain Daniel Boone. Going on 4 years of frequent use.

Same here.....I can run it from my iPhone.

Also look at the pizza cooker available.

https://www.amazon.com/Green-M...a%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-2

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
I’ve recommended Traegers in the past as I have loved mine. Recently mine overheats (temp spikes) and it shuts itself off.

What brand of pellet smoker would y’all recommend. I don’t really have a budget per say, but around $2k seems reasonable. I know some are up around $4k-$5k but I’m no master BBQ’er so that just seems overkill for me. Thanks.

There is a simple fix for this. Get thee one of these and install it. It is a far superior controller and with the auto-relight really fixes all of teh major issues with the Traeger controller.

I've had a Traeger for 12 years. I put various pid controllers on it but never had any interest in really finishing them. This guy did and he worked with a bunch of very dedicated pellet smokers to get it dialed in. I've had mine for maybe 4 years and it is still going strong.

That Traeger is now relegated to back up duty mostly because I bought the smallest and decided I needed more real estate. I ended up with A RecTec 700, cheesy handles and all. I like it very much. I studied the Yoder which I really like a lot, and the Green Mountain grills a lot.

The Green Mountain is what I suggest to my smoker pretender friends. It is very forgiving and has a great feature set for the money. I think you will be happy with any of those but I really urge you to consider the upgraded controller first.

https://www.savannahstoker.com/

Mark

quote:

Also look at the pizza cooker available.

https://www.amazon.com/Green-M...a%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-2

Has anyone tried that thing? I put a pizza stone directly on the grates in my DB, and with corn meal on it, it turns out some awesome pizza. Just curious as to what the oven accessory would do for me..?

I bought one for a good friend. He said it is just short of life changing. I haven't tried it. I just stick my pizza right on the grates and smoke it till it melts. Really good pizza that way

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:

quote:

Also look at the pizza cooker available.

https://www.amazon.com/Green-M...a%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-2

Has anyone tried that thing? I put a pizza stone directly on the grates in my DB, and with corn meal on it, it turns out some awesome pizza. Just curious as to what the oven accessory would do for me..?

The oven is able to get hotter than the grill itself is capable of. So if you're grill is only capable of getting up to 450F, the oven will get to 550F +

quote:

Originally posted by sig229-SAS:

quote:

Originally posted by bozman:
Rec Tec... Amazing customer service. When I got my 680, there was a business card inside with the 2 owners cell phone numbers. They claim they will pick up if you cannot get through to customer support... Even on weekends!!!

I have used their customer support and they have been stellar.

The smoker has been rock solid. I called for support for some upgrades I was considering (that is the other nice thing, you can upgrade it with factory parts from newer models if you like).

Regards,

^^^^^^^^^^
Love my RECTEC as well, great product, I have the 680 that’s 4 years old and flawless!

Love my rec-Tec. RT700, The Bull!

Weber introduced the SmokeFire pellet grill in January.I bought one for my Son the X-6 model for his birthday.
LOTS of problems initially but Weber has bent over backwards taking care of problems.
The grill works great now, built like a tank, Weber service is hard to beat.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
Weber introduced the SmokeFire pellet grill in January.I bought one for my Son the X-6 model for his birthday.
LOTS of problems initially but Weber has bent over backwards taking care of problems.
The grill works great now, built like a tank, Weber service is hard to beat.

This is the one I referenced on page one. My neighbor bought one and he loves it. I asked yesterday if he's had any problems with it and he said no. I'm thinking of getting one to supplement my Weber Performer kettle.

Jim

Weber now makes pellet grilles/smoker. Looks very good. I've had a small traeger for a few years. Had trouble at first. They ended up sending me a new controller after many calls. Good luck.
Dave

I have the CookShack SM066 (The Amerique model)and have been using it regularly for the last 6 years. American made and fantastic!

Please give it some consideration.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
Weber introduced the SmokeFire pellet grill in January.I bought one for my Son the X-6 model for his birthday.
LOTS of problems initially but Weber has bent over backwards taking care of problems.
The grill works great now, built like a tank, Weber service is hard to beat.

This is the one I referenced on page one. My neighbor bought one and he loves it. I asked yesterday if he's had any problems with it and he said no. I'm thinking of getting one to supplement my Weber Performer kettle.

Jim

I looked hard at the Weber as I have been a fan of their gas grills my whole life. No doubt it is very well built. It looked so well made I would have walked out of the store with it except for one thing I noticed.

I was extremely skeptical of the "flavorizer bars" in place of a drip tray. They work for a grill, but I couldn't wrap my mind around how they wouldn't cause grease fires. When I got home i googled it and sure enough, there are a lot of documented cases of grease fires and it's a real problem.

If you're going to use it as a grill, I would buy it over a propane grill every day of the week. However, I would not smoke something like a brisket overnight on it. I just don't think it's safe. People online are saying they're using a tinfoil pan under their food (placed on top of the flavorizer bars) and that seems like a reasonable solution, but I think Weber absolutely shit the bed by having the grease drip down near the fire pot. My guess is a gen 2 will be out next year with a grease tray. All of the smoking forums I found seem to say the same thing.

Thank you for all of the responses, I really appreciate them. I'll be doing my research on of the suggestions this weekend.

Traeger used to be a local company here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They started from scratch and built a great company employing many people. Then after undergoing a big remodel of the factory, they sold out. The new company promply closed the local factory and laid off all employees. Traeger's are now made in China with sales offices in another state. I was so disappointed in them and would never buy a Traeger after the way things went down.

I have no use for LINKEDIN but I found this, maybe it's worth trying.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremybandrus

Just an FYI though, 2016 or 2017 LINKEDIN had a data breach that involved the hackers getting passwords for those accounts. If you are going this route I would suggest another email address.

Well, unless you enjoy getting multiple emails a week from scammers stating that they have hacked your computer and watched you visiting porn sights all the while they have turned on the video camera in your computer and have a video record of you and your actions. Oh, and for a "donation" in Bitcoin they will delete all the evidence and not ruin your reputation.