Pellet Grill direction

[Dc78]

Have had a Pitboss for several years. Has treated me well.

[Twist]

Bought a pit boss about three years ago, and it’s been nothing but problems.. same with the pit boss I bought for my in-laws.

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PB definitely had a QC issue a couple of years ago, at least on some models anyway.

My first pellet grill was a PB 1000 SC2 that was an Academy exclusive. It worked fairly well, though I did get some temp fluctuation. Nothing what I’d call overly extreme, but 20° in either direction wasn’t uncommon. My brother tried to buy the same grill a couple of days later, but Academy was sold out so he snagged another one of their exclusive grills which was the 850 Pro model.

Absolute disaster. He had serious temp flux from day 1, and I mean it wasn’t uncommon for the grill to go from 50° low to over 100° above. Contacted Academy and they said to get with the manufacturer. He did, and I basically rebuilt that grill for him from the new parts they sent. Literally did the same thing. I tried dropping a brisket on it after an initial fire up and had to take it back to our place and cook it on the 1000. He ended up giving that grill away and bought a Green Mountain, which has been great. They called the models out by people’s names back then, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, etc, but he bought the big on.

I was impressed by how it cooked, so I bought one myself but they no longer call them out by people’s names. The big one is now called the Peak Prim+, and I’ve had that grill for about 15 months. Cooks great, I do have to rotate what I’m cooking if there’s a wind because there could be a hot spot on one half of the grill or the other, but temps hold awesome. I’ve never had more than about a 5° flux on it.

I did buy a Pitts and Spitts Maverick a few weeks ago, which is what I went looking to by before the GM but the shop I was looking at was sold out at the time. This one is ridiculous, but there is definitely a price difference between the 3 grills.

OP, knowing now what I didn’t know when I first bought one, step it up a notch and look into a Traeger at least. Again, PB may have gone through a QC, or growth phase, but every one of those grills I’ve been around just seems kind of flimsy, build wise. I’d personally spend a little more now after my experience.

[RifleBowPistol]

We just got a Pit Boss 3 weekends ago, cooked something every weekend with it, so far I have not messed anything up. I can't give any comparisons to any other brands, other than to say the model we got, has a much larger hopper for the pellets than anything else I have seen. Which this past weekend, when we cooked a 18 lb. brisket for 10 hours, that feature was pretty nice. I would guess the hopper will hold around four or five 20 lb. bags of wood pellets.

These things make cooking food almost fool proof. So far, with no prior experience using a pellet grill to cook each of these items. We have cooked/smoked pork ribs, that came out great, mahi mahi, that came out great, then chicken breasts, that came out great. Then the brisket that also came out great. It's very easy to maintain a given temperature, then checking to see what temp you should cook a certain type of meat to, then stick the temp probe in the meat and leave it in the smoker till you achieve that temp, then call it done. Then the one we got has WiFi, so my wife can keep track of the temperature of the smoker, and the meat temperature, change the temp setting on the grill or even turn it off, from her phone.

[topher]

Luv my Pitboss!

[Iceman89]

You might look into Camp Chef. I’ve had one for a couple years and it’s worked flawlessly.

[JEW]

Had a pit boss for a few years, and liked it , now have a Recteq 700 and
love it, holds temp way better than pit boss.

[Clearfork51]

Bought a Recteq bullseye in December and am really pleased with it so far. Easy to start and adjust as needed and cooks great. Have done ribs, steaks, asparagus, and corn on the cob so far. Just me and the wife so didn’t need a large grill. Highly recommend.

[Mike D]

In the world of pellet grills you do get what you pay for. There’s a reason the top dogs cost what they do.


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[Easttxbowman]

I've got a pitboss and I was skeptical at first but it's awesome once I gave it time. I will say, I'm not a fan of traeger pellets. My one complaint is my lid thermometer will not get near what the digital readout shows, must be faulty as it'll sear very nicely cranked up high.

[retrieverman]

I got a Masterbuilt 560 for Christmas, and I love it.

[Chase4556]

I have the original Pit Boss copperhead series 5 vertical. Bought it in 2018 I believe. It’s been great. A few quirks, which most brands have, but I figured out the best way to set it up and get it dialed. I can load the giant hopper and cook for 24 hours if I want with no issues. I’ve cooked 8 pork butts on it at once with no issue. Lots of room. Caught it on Walmart clearance for $99. Can’t beat that.

New versions have wifi and all that fancy stuff.

Mine:

https://pitboss-grills.com/grills/vertical-smokers/pit-boss-copperhead-5-series-vertical-pellet-smoker-pbvp1

New fancy one:

https://www.academy.com/p/pit-boss-competition-series-gen-2-vertical-5-pellet-smoker

[sasqy]

Recteq !
All day long

[BlackHogDown]

If not wanting to jump into higher end (Yoder and Pitts and Spitts) then rectec is the best of the remaining competition by far. Bit more expensive but stainless components, great CS, and rolls smoke at higher temps. Others only smoke on LO or SMOKE.

[MountainMan]

What grill do you have?

I have the PitBoss Austin XL. Works like a champ, even in the cold.
I did steaks the other night and it was a balmy 5 degrees outside.

A good cover is a must. Any moisture in with the pellets causes them to expand and then you gotta take it apart and pull the auger out to clean it. That's a PITA job.

[TexasBob]

I have a Green Mountain. I’ve been happy with it. Their customer support is exceptional.

This was my opinion... until it wasn't. Parts, outside of basic stuff like an igniter, is hard to find and they wanted $90 in shipping to send me the parts. Using mine until it breaks all the way and I'll replace it. Works crappier each time. I wouldn't give them a dime. Go recteq or better and don't look back.