Blazin Grill Works, Yoder, or Cook Shack?

At that price point you're looking at the Coohshack PG 500; I have a PG 1000 which is essentially an insulated version of the same grill. Cookshack, by design, does not have even heating throughout the grill. It has 4 "zones" with the direct grilling area the hottest, then clockwise to the lower indirect grate being the coolest. You would learn to take advantage of this as one could cook 4 different items each at their own temperature within reason. Cookshack also has a warming drawer that can be used for holding or cold smoking. Being stainless steel, they will last and the customer service is top notch.
I live fairly close to the Yoder plant so there are lots of them around here and most like them very much. I have not personally used one but seldom hear anything bad. I could see how it would take more pellets to get the mass of metal hot but would certainly think it would burn less pellets once it was up to temp since the heavy steel would help hold that heat. I'm sure some Yoder owners will chime in.
I don't think any difference in pellet consumption should be a deciding factor, a difference of half a pound an hour is still only about 30 cents/hour.
Although you may have already disregarded Green Mountain, I do have 2 of those as well. I don't have enough of a temperature difference to cause me concern. No, it's not exactly the same but hey, it's just BBQ :) Even though the GMG DB cost one fourth of what the Cookshack did, there are still some things that I it's better at.
Do you have anyone around you that would let you kick the tires on a grill?

i have a grand slam by blazin grill works and love it I don't know the gauge of steel that it is made out of but its heavy duty. I have the older ortech controller but all I hear is good things about the pid controller and its temp control. I really liked that my grill came with things that other would have charged me even more for like an upper shelf in the cook chamber and a front shelf. I also have an insulated lid which is really nice for the winter months here in nebraska. From the research I did when I was looking it sounded like these grills were a little thinner than yoder but not my much but i have never seen a yoder in person. i think anyone of the 3 would be a winner

Hey Mike! Gomez gave you great advice...agree with pretty much everything he said. I wouldn't let pellet consumption be a big factor either...I doubt there is enough of a difference to worry about from one grill to the next. All 3 cookers you listed are very well respected and high quality products. From a features standpoint, the Yoder and the Blazin are very similar, while the different temperature zones and the direct, open-flame grilling area in the PG 500 make it a little unique. Depends on what you want your cooker to do.

I think most most pellet grills, regardless of cost and quality, will have some temp variance across different areas of the chamber...that's the nature of cooking with a wood fire...although spending a little more money for a grill with a PID controller definitely helps. IMO, some guys get too caught up in wanting to nail precise temps across the grates...not only is this nearly impossible, but it's not really necessary...as Gomez said, it's only BBQ...it doesn't take precision to produce great smoked food. Back when I first started smoking meats in a cheap New Braunfels stick burner, I was happy if I could keep my cooker temps within a range of +/- 25 degrees, it still always turned out great tasting BBQ.

Don't know if that helps you or muddies the water more...good luck with your continued search! Thumbs Up

Red

I spent almost 9 months deciding on what smoker to buy and is extremely happy I went with my Yoder YS640. 

When I started my research I never looked at pellet consumption and concentrated more on what would be the best investment for me and what would last. I am lucky enough to have a BBQ dealer 15 minutes from me and he carried smokers from five different pellet manufacturers and I have a Yoder dealer an hour east of me. 

When I compared the price of all the smokers, I came to the conclusion that the Yoder would be my best investment. With the second shelf I can smoke a half dozens racks of ribs on the top shelf, a couple of briskets or a half dozen boston butts on the bottom and still fill the empty spaces with ABT's and moink balls! I actually had a big family picnic last year and the Yoder ran 23 hours with a 20lb brisket, 2 10lb boston butts, 6 racks on baby backs and a 7qt dutch over with my home made baked beans and some ABT's and SBT's.

I don't always do cooks that big, maybe once or twice a year but with the Yoder I nkow I can do cooks that large, I don't believe I could have done this much with the other pellet smokers I looked at.

One thing you do have to learn is that you have to let he controller take care of the temps, don't go chasing temps like you would a stick burner, I had a problem in the beginning but after realizing that, I let the controller do it's thing and wouldn't you know, the damn thing cooks like expected!     

Good luck on whatever you choose...   Joe

4 lbs per hour! holy cow that would have to be in an artic blizzard

mrad,

I can tell you that I may have used a pound an hour on my 23+ hour smoke but I cooked a lot of meat and sides and then put aluminum pans in it to keep the food warm.

I usually smoke at 275* for everything except for brisket. I am doing a 14 pound packer tomorrow and will run my 640 at 230*.

Joe