So time for the review…
Only had it a few days so probably not as good as if I had it longer to see how cooks go.
First part is about the Grill, second about the Company.
The Grill
PROS
The cliché – Built like a tank.
Body is 3/16”steel, deflector plate, and lid are 1/8” steel.
40 pound hopper – full should last thru all cooks that I can think of.
Grates slide out.
Virtually impossible to have an auger fire.
Pellet dump. Nothing new, many pits have it now, but a nice feature.
Pellet consumption – seems pretty good for low temp (225f high) cook
Was about 3 to 3.5 lbs for about 6 hours.
A little over 1/2 lb per hour. A low temp cook, but still nice consumption rate.
At a $1/lb cost (a little high) that would be about $3 or less for the 6hr cure/burn-in.
Fireboard Controller – Easy to connect to WIFI, fast response to changes, 6 probe ports,
many features (more than and other controller I have used).
Continuous TBS as advertized. None of my other smokers did that.
Not necessarily a pro, but hopper has hinges, first couple years they didn’t.
CONS
Not friendly for the Vertically Challenged user. I’m 5’7”
Standard wheels are 5”. Didn’t even think about height and got the 8” wheels, so +1.5”.
If I had purchased the off-road package with 12” (I think) pneumatic wheels, I don’t think I would have been able to open.
Wife can’t even open this.
The base of the crate should work out nicely as a platform, about 5” high.
A counterweight on lid would be a big plus.
I will have to come up with something to ease the opening for my bone-on-bone shoulder joints.
I’ll get into more on the counter weight in the Company Pros & Cons
Issues with gasket to prevent smoke escaping around lid.
Watched “Texas Bluesman BBQ” video and he showed bottom gasket sagging in a spot.
He said he hadn’t realized that when he slid grate out with a brisket on it that grease had dropped onto the gasket.
I’m not 100% sure grease was cause, as I have only done two cooks, biscuits & chicken,
and am starting to see the lower one sag in one spot. 99% sure no grease dripped on it.
Drooped a very small amount, but has moved.
After seeing his video (months ago) I bought a gasket kit.
The kit uses RTV for the adhesive. It should not be affected by a little grease.
Plan to replace gasket next week.
More to say on the gasket in the Company Pros & Cons section.
Fireboard has some quirks.
The buttons on left side are small and slightly recessed, making it not so easy to press.
As a result once you get one pressed and get in to a menu, you have 2 seconds tops to press nother button or it exit.
Maybe it’s just me, buy why exit at all?
When you get into a menu, you need time to find next item you want.
Also issue with the Alerting in the Fireboard app.
First, this is possibly something on the phone so not clear on this yet.
Waiting to hear from LSG.
Anyway, when chicken was on I had Alert set to alarm when IT reached 165.
Was set to alert from the app and via SMS.
I pressed button on phone to wake it (black screen goes away & lock screen is displayed.
App is set to display temp on the lock screen.
Temp was 162.6, so getting close.
A little later checked again and it was 167.4. ??? No alert.
This time I swiped the lock screen to open it.
Checked the setting and all were all good.
So grabbed plate and tongs, headed for the door, and then I got an alert from the app.
5 minutes later got another alert from the app. Had it set to alert every 5 minutes.
Never did get an SMS alert.
Hopefully this is just a setting someplace or I will not be able to trust it to alert.
When first turning pit on I noticed temp for pit was about 12 degrees higher than air temp.
Contacted Fireboard support about this on Monday, and about the Alert issue on Tuesday.
Thursday I got a response about like "Duh, I don't know, contact Chris at LSG".
I guess they don't want to deal with it if it's installed in a smoker.
Contacted Chris, he got back to me with some questions on Thursday afternoon and I replied back.
Didn't hear back (this is Saturday).
I went out to see about adjusting the PIT probe for the 12 degree higher issue.
Turned pit on and it showed 101. Only 77 outside.
So, I sent Chris an email explaining now it is off over 20 degrees.
An to my absolute amazement, I got a reply.
He asked if I had made an adjustment to PIT offset.
Adjustments are plus or minus, so he was thinking I adjusted it plus.
Replied that I just turned it on and hadn't made the adjustment yet, when then when I adjusted it -12 degrees it now showed 88 degrees, still 11 degrees high.
Waiting for response.
I think that is it. A lot of text, but not a lot of issues.
The Company
PROS
Make great products.
Chris Goodlander (owner) seems like a nice guy.
CONS
Long lead time to get your smoker. Almost 5 months for mine.
The moved from Willis, TX to a larger facility in Conroe, TX to reduce lead time.
Didn’t happen went up.
From what I’ve read was about 18 weeks in Willis, TX, now almost 20 weeks for mine.
Web site says “usually ships in 8-14 weeks”.
Chris told me in an email 14 weeks.
When I got the email saying built had started, I asked Chris how long it takes.
He said 4 to 4-4-1/2 weeks. When I got call saying it was ready to ship it was almost 6 weeks.
She said she didn’t know whey he told me that.
I may have posted this before, but a lot of misinformation from the owner of the company.
You have to pay full amount when you order, so they have your money for a very long time before you get the smoker.
A $1000 deposit would be better, for the consumer at least.
As for the gasket issue, even one of his own videos at his home shows the gasket loose.
In 3 separate emails I asked Chris if gasket could be put on the lid instead of the body.
He never responded to any of them.
He seems to pick and choose which emails he responds to.
Also asked about putting a counterweigh on the lid and he said we don’t do that.
Again one of his own videos shows an offset with a counterweight.
So the big bold letters “Custom Smokers - Custom Grills” on the home page must be
referring to another company, as LSG apparently doesn’t want to do any customization.
Summary
Some things I've criticized may seem small to, but they are the facts.
You don't see them in the online reviews.
Some in part because they are given the item to test or compensated in some manner.
Overall, I'm happy with the grill. Still some learning with it...
Would I buy it again?
Hard to say with knowing what I know now, and not being in that situation.
Gut says yes, but who knows. Yoder YS640 was high on my list.
If you think I'm being overcritical, fire away.
I'm just telling it as I experienced it, and as I see it.
If you are still awake, congrats.
Only had it a few days so probably not as good as if I had it longer to see how cooks go.
First part is about the Grill, second about the Company.
The Grill
PROS
The cliché – Built like a tank.
Body is 3/16”steel, deflector plate, and lid are 1/8” steel.
40 pound hopper – full should last thru all cooks that I can think of.
Grates slide out.
Virtually impossible to have an auger fire.
Pellet dump. Nothing new, many pits have it now, but a nice feature.
Pellet consumption – seems pretty good for low temp (225f high) cook
Was about 3 to 3.5 lbs for about 6 hours.
A little over 1/2 lb per hour. A low temp cook, but still nice consumption rate.
At a $1/lb cost (a little high) that would be about $3 or less for the 6hr cure/burn-in.
Fireboard Controller – Easy to connect to WIFI, fast response to changes, 6 probe ports,
many features (more than and other controller I have used).
Continuous TBS as advertized. None of my other smokers did that.
Not necessarily a pro, but hopper has hinges, first couple years they didn’t.
CONS
Not friendly for the Vertically Challenged user. I’m 5’7”
Standard wheels are 5”. Didn’t even think about height and got the 8” wheels, so +1.5”.
If I had purchased the off-road package with 12” (I think) pneumatic wheels, I don’t think I would have been able to open.
Wife can’t even open this.
The base of the crate should work out nicely as a platform, about 5” high.
A counterweight on lid would be a big plus.
I will have to come up with something to ease the opening for my bone-on-bone shoulder joints.
I’ll get into more on the counter weight in the Company Pros & Cons
Issues with gasket to prevent smoke escaping around lid.
Watched “Texas Bluesman BBQ” video and he showed bottom gasket sagging in a spot.
He said he hadn’t realized that when he slid grate out with a brisket on it that grease had dropped onto the gasket.
I’m not 100% sure grease was cause, as I have only done two cooks, biscuits & chicken,
and am starting to see the lower one sag in one spot. 99% sure no grease dripped on it.
Drooped a very small amount, but has moved.
After seeing his video (months ago) I bought a gasket kit.
The kit uses RTV for the adhesive. It should not be affected by a little grease.
Plan to replace gasket next week.
More to say on the gasket in the Company Pros & Cons section.
Fireboard has some quirks.
The buttons on left side are small and slightly recessed, making it not so easy to press.
As a result once you get one pressed and get in to a menu, you have 2 seconds tops to press nother button or it exit.
Maybe it’s just me, buy why exit at all?
When you get into a menu, you need time to find next item you want.
Also issue with the Alerting in the Fireboard app.
First, this is possibly something on the phone so not clear on this yet.
Waiting to hear from LSG.
Anyway, when chicken was on I had Alert set to alarm when IT reached 165.
Was set to alert from the app and via SMS.
I pressed button on phone to wake it (black screen goes away & lock screen is displayed.
App is set to display temp on the lock screen.
Temp was 162.6, so getting close.
A little later checked again and it was 167.4. ??? No alert.
This time I swiped the lock screen to open it.
Checked the setting and all were all good.
So grabbed plate and tongs, headed for the door, and then I got an alert from the app.
5 minutes later got another alert from the app. Had it set to alert every 5 minutes.
Never did get an SMS alert.
Hopefully this is just a setting someplace or I will not be able to trust it to alert.
When first turning pit on I noticed temp for pit was about 12 degrees higher than air temp.
Contacted Fireboard support about this on Monday, and about the Alert issue on Tuesday.
Thursday I got a response about like "Duh, I don't know, contact Chris at LSG".
I guess they don't want to deal with it if it's installed in a smoker.
Contacted Chris, he got back to me with some questions on Thursday afternoon and I replied back.
Didn't hear back (this is Saturday).
I went out to see about adjusting the PIT probe for the 12 degree higher issue.
Turned pit on and it showed 101. Only 77 outside.
So, I sent Chris an email explaining now it is off over 20 degrees.
An to my absolute amazement, I got a reply.
He asked if I had made an adjustment to PIT offset.
Adjustments are plus or minus, so he was thinking I adjusted it plus.
Replied that I just turned it on and hadn't made the adjustment yet, when then when I adjusted it -12 degrees it now showed 88 degrees, still 11 degrees high.
Waiting for response.
I think that is it. A lot of text, but not a lot of issues.
The Company
PROS
Make great products.
Chris Goodlander (owner) seems like a nice guy.
CONS
Long lead time to get your smoker. Almost 5 months for mine.
The moved from Willis, TX to a larger facility in Conroe, TX to reduce lead time.
Didn’t happen went up.
From what I’ve read was about 18 weeks in Willis, TX, now almost 20 weeks for mine.
Web site says “usually ships in 8-14 weeks”.
Chris told me in an email 14 weeks.
When I got the email saying built had started, I asked Chris how long it takes.
He said 4 to 4-4-1/2 weeks. When I got call saying it was ready to ship it was almost 6 weeks.
She said she didn’t know whey he told me that.
I may have posted this before, but a lot of misinformation from the owner of the company.
You have to pay full amount when you order, so they have your money for a very long time before you get the smoker.
A $1000 deposit would be better, for the consumer at least.
As for the gasket issue, even one of his own videos at his home shows the gasket loose.
In 3 separate emails I asked Chris if gasket could be put on the lid instead of the body.
He never responded to any of them.
He seems to pick and choose which emails he responds to.
Also asked about putting a counterweigh on the lid and he said we don’t do that.
Again one of his own videos shows an offset with a counterweight.
So the big bold letters “Custom Smokers - Custom Grills” on the home page must be
referring to another company, as LSG apparently doesn’t want to do any customization.
Summary
Some things I've criticized may seem small to, but they are the facts.
You don't see them in the online reviews.
Some in part because they are given the item to test or compensated in some manner.
Overall, I'm happy with the grill. Still some learning with it...
Would I buy it again?
Hard to say with knowing what I know now, and not being in that situation.
Gut says yes, but who knows. Yoder YS640 was high on my list.
If you think I'm being overcritical, fire away.
I'm just telling it as I experienced it, and as I see it.
If you are still awake, congrats.
