Pellets smokers?

They all do the same thing dude. Burn sawdust pellets. If they were good smokers I think you’d see them in bbq competitions…. But you don’t. Oddly enough you will see webers there tho….
I like a steak cooked on charcoal but its not as convenient for me. Pellet smokers are just easier for me. I work 12 hr shifts, and more often then not, close to 3k hrs a year. I just dont have the desire or patience to babysit charcoal.
I want to set the temp and forget it.

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Yeah, tell that to the prime brisket I lost because my pellet smoker snuffed out over night. It also happened to a pork butt. I know multiple people who have had this happen as well.

Charcoal stays lit until it is burnt and has air moving to it. It won’t snuff out until you run out of fuel.

So how do I not know what I’m talking about?
Flame out is typically operator error due to not emptying the ashpot... after that, the only thing that can kill it would be a power outage or auger failure. Which are pretty uncommon...

Sucks that you've had a bad experience, but they are stupid easy for excellent results. Even an offset charcoal smoker with a temp controller is not as easy and still has parts that can fail during the cook. If you enjoy the babysitting of a regular smoker, I get it.... allot don't.
 
We have had a Reqtec as well, which is about a year old and well used. It is a really solid unit, which replaced a Traeger that lasted ten years and is still working. We switched because we wanted a larger cooking surface than our Traeger had. The Traeger was a real problem for the first year we purchased it, but we finally got it figured out through their good customer service folks. I'd buy a Reqtec again if I had it to do all over. They often have sales (the next one with be on the 4th of July) so you might want to watch their website.
 
I have a Weber it’s in the way most the time everybody prefers the food off the pit boss. Steaks cooked at 575 or ribs smoked or brisket. Only had one flame out I hand not cleaned it in 5 years my fault I should probably do it again I haven’t cleaned it since that time going on year six.
 
Gf bought “me” a trager about 2 years ago. I would never spend the money she did on a trager. Rarely any smoke flavor/taste on anything I have made in it. It’s fun and everything I’ve made on has turned out ok.
Guy I work with made wings on some POS smoker he bought at wal mart. He opened the container with the wings and it smelled like a campfire. And tasted similar.
That’s what I want in a smoker.
 
Pellet smokers are the manbun of grills. Buy a Weber, good charcoal, and study on zone cooking. It will literally do everything better than a pellet grill from high heat searing to long smokes. You’ll save money to boot and your friends won’t make fun of you for using an outdoor ez bake oven
I’m glad someone said it. Pellet smokers are great for guys who use crossbows during archery season and revel in hearing their yuppie dinner guests gush praise over the ashy pieces of meat set before them. Sawdust ovens are easy and (fairly) effective, but they leave something to be desired. I don’t know enough about charcoal to try to insult it, so I’ll stick with poking fun at the pellet posse.

Signed,

A Luddite who smokes meat on a cobbled-together stick burner fed with self-harvested post oak logs and tended like a newborn baby
 
I don’t ever shop at Walmart, except for that I bought the Pit Boss Walmart exclusive KC Combo.
Saves a ton of space by having a smoker and grill built together in one package.

Doubtful it’s on par with some of the suggestions, but it’s awesome as far as I’m concerned, zero complaints and even their app which apparently sucks according to online reviews, works well for me.
 
Recteq - Good
Pitts & Spitts - Good
Yoder - Good
Green Mountain - Ok
Traeger - Garbage
Pit Boss - Meh

Yes I’ve owned all of these. Still have the Pitts & Spitts.


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If money is no object check out the Memphis Smokers. I have had 3 Traegers, masterbuilt POS and a Big Green Egg. Inherited a Memphis Pro about 2 years ago and it is incredible. Gets hot enough to sear steaks. No more clogged augers or pellets turning to dust between uses.
 
Flame out is typically operator error due to not emptying the ashpot... after that, the only thing that can kill it would be a power outage or auger failure. Which are pretty uncommon...

Sucks that you've had a bad experience, but they are stupid easy for excellent results. Even an offset charcoal smoker with a temp controller is not as easy and still has parts that can fail during the cook. If you enjoy the babysitting of a regular smoker, I get it.... allot don't.

No, it’s definitely not, my igniter rod failed. It happened twice on the same unit. I vaccumed that damn box out everytime I used it.

Also - yeah I have one fan that could fail and if it does, I go and crack a vent open a 1/4 in more and I’m golden. The fan I use has an app with full remote control and alarms. An igniter rod fails or the damn thing snuffs out, unless you have an ash vac you’re moving that thing to the oven.

So what I’m getting at is I have all the “set it and forget it” features but it has a fail over and can still grill, sear and do all the things a pellet smoker is terrible for and in the long run it is way cheaper.

Maybe my delivery was a bit harsh but this is the point I’m trying to make. A weber charcoal grill is a cheaper, more versatile grill than a pellet smoker, period.
 
Been running GMG about 10 years now.

Started with a Davey Crockett and that thing was sweet. Super portable and I took it everywhere with me, just rode in the back of my truck and we'd make everything on it at work. brisket, turkeys, ribs, pulled pork, smokies, hot dogs, meatballs. Could run it off my truck battery if needed.

Got a Peak Prime Plus for my bday a few years ago and put a 3 rack system in it. I can do about 45lbs of sausage in it at one time which is perfect for when I make sausages from deer and elk.

Havent had any issues with either grill other than ignitors. One burnt out on the Peak and i broke the ceramic replacement while vacuuming it out. The newer metal one has lit every time for the last 3 years.

Their app is pretty sweet and you can see the graph of the set temp, actual temp, and both probes during the cook. I set temp alarms for when i need to wrap or pull off and it works great.

Also has a cold smoke option for fish/cheeses and a pizza oven which makes amazing pizza.
 
Have the biggest size KJ kamado, a 1/4” Texas welded offset, a pellet, a gasser and a weber. Pellets have their place in the outdoor cooking space definitely. I personally put them into two categories… top and bottom.

Top really only consist of the premium pellet poopers (ie P&S, Yoder, etc…)

Everything else belongs in the same group and wasting money on a recteq vs a traeger va z-grill is mental gymnastics. They all do well enough but none really better than another. If you don’t want a top end unit more people seem happy with pitboss and campchef than any other….
 
No, it’s definitely not, my igniter rod failed. It happened twice on the same unit. I vaccumed that damn box out everytime I used it.

Also - yeah I have one fan that could fail and if it does, I go and crack a vent open a 1/4 in more and I’m golden. The fan I use has an app with full remote control and alarms. An igniter rod fails or the damn thing snuffs out, unless you have an ash vac you’re moving that thing to the oven.

So what I’m getting at is I have all the “set it and forget it” features but it has a fail over and can still grill, sear and do all the things a pellet smoker is terrible for and in the long run it is way cheaper.

Maybe my delivery was a bit harsh but this is the point I’m trying to make. A weber charcoal grill is a cheaper, more versatile grill than a pellet smoker, period.
What you say does not make sense… The igniter rod is only used during startup of the machine. After the fire is started, it is never used again. If it failed on you, you would know at the very beginning, not midway through.
 
We've had a Reqtec 700 for about 5 years. Works good for our needs. It holds the temp really well. I think the meat probe might be broken as the last two big cooks (brisket & pork butts) were over done. I bought a Thermoworks RFX for the next cook.
 
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