GMG Daniel Boone ?'s

[mrob22]

Does anyone here own one or have any experience with them?
How is the quality?
Are they reliable?
Any major issues?

What are the pros and cons?

 

[Cfpdscott]

I've had mine for about 3 months now. Build quality is pretty good. There's hot spots on the grill that you have to learn but I like it so far. Only cooked maybe 3
Times on it. Only 1 issue so far the auger motor started making a funny noise. GMG costumer service is top notch. Sent them an email and they shipped me a new motor the next day

 

[mowin]

Had mine for about 3 yrs now. Gets used constantly. It has it's quirks, but I know the unit so well, they don't bother me.

Yes, I'd buy another one tomorrow if this one was ever unfixable.

 

[radio]

Just got one a couple weeks ago and Customer service is top shelf for sure! Mine was a customer return at a local dealer, so I got a great buy on it! At first I wasn't happy with it, but we figured out the control board was bad, so they shipped a replacement. Installed it yesterday and just finished ribs on it which came out great! The brisket is still chugging along though. Definitely a learning curve after cooking on stick burners, but it's growing on me!

 

[ostrichsak]

I have to issue a bit of a warning as much as I hate to do this. I had a MES30 for years and loved it. I wanted to upgrade and my wife surprised me a couple of years ago with a GMG DB for my birthday. I've had lots of issues.

To be fair, customer service has been good & the build quality seems solid but I just keep having issues. I'd rather not know their customer service is good because I'd rather never have to contact them. I've had to replace four different controllers now and I seem to discover it's got issues at the worst possible times. When it does work there's hot spots and I don't want to have to keep up with what versions have what issues and what bandaid fixes exist for these individual issues depending on version. I had an issue with temps spiking or not maintaining temps properly.

I then kept tripping breakers which cost me a freezer full of meat (garage freezer is on the same circuit as patio outlet... which is something I didn't realize until days after it happened and I had a disgusting meat sludge leaking from my freezer. I've lost SO much money in meat from that episode as well as meat not cooking properly and having to toss it after getting up early, staying up late or getting up numerous times throughout the night to smoke food. The worst is when you do this to feed guests and it screws up.

My latest is it seems to have a bad/dead thermal conductor so now it won't ignite the pellets at all. I'm just... I don't know. I want to love this thing. I really, really, REALLY do. When it works it's fantastic and show signs of brilliance. If it worked just like that all of the time I would have nothing but the most glowing of praise to say about it.

The sad fact is that it's probably been about 50% for me which is WAY too low for something that costs a lot of time and money when it fails.

 

[goldmine1965]

I have not done alot of msoking on my Daniel boone, but what I have done has come out pretty good. The build seems solid, have not seen any issues.

the only con for me right now is the temp swing from left to right. 50-60 degree difference.Have to move the heat shield left or right to find the sweet spot. Still working that out.

 

[mrob22]

Thanks for the replies guys. How does the Wi-Fi and app work? I have heard mixed things about it

 

[Waterville Jesse]

My wife got me a GMG for Christmas 3 years ago, and I have done hundreds of cooks on it. Everything from jerky to brisket. Smoke on it year round. Only issue I have ever had is a broken cotter key on the auger feed once, 27 cent fix that took less than an hour. Knock on wood...

 

[ostrichsak]

My wife got me a GMG for Christmas 3 years ago, and I have done hundreds of cooks on it. Everything from jerky to brisket. Smoke on it year round. Only issue I have ever had is a broken cotter key on the auger feed once, 27 cent fix that took less than an hour. Knock on wood...

This is the review I fully expected to be posting years later when I got mine. Unfortunately it's not to be. I don't know if I got a lemon or what but I've been reading about lots of people posting about having to replace their controllers and other issues similar to what I'm experiencing so I don't think it's isolated just to me. I'm pretty bummed too because I really wanted to love this thing and when it works it's great.

 

[radio]

I have to issue a bit of a warning as much as I hate to do this. I had a MES30 for years and loved it. I wanted to upgrade and my wife surprised me a couple of years ago with a GMG DB for my birthday. I've had lots of issues.

To be fair, customer service has been good & the build quality seems solid but I just keep having issues. I'd rather not know their customer service is good because I'd rather never have to contact them. I've had to replace four different controllers now and I seem to discover it's got issues at the worst possible times. When it does work there's hot spots and I don't want to have to keep up with what versions have what issues and what bandaid fixes exist for these individual issues depending on version. I had an issue with temps spiking or not maintaining temps properly.

I then kept tripping breakers which cost me a freezer full of meat (garage freezer is on the same circuit as patio outlet... which is something I didn't realize until days after it happened and I had a disgusting meat sludge leaking from my freezer. I've lost SO much money in meat from that episode as well as meat not cooking properly and having to toss it after getting up early, staying up late or getting up numerous times throughout the night to smoke food. The worst is when you do this to feed guests and it screws up.

My latest is it seems to have a bad/dead thermal conductor so now it won't ignite the pellets at all. I'm just... I don't know. I want to love this thing. I really, really, REALLY do. When it works it's fantastic and show signs of brilliance. If it worked just like that all of the time I would have nothing but the most glowing of praise to say about it.

The sad fact is that it's probably been about 50% for me which is WAY too low for something that costs a lot of time and money when it fails.

If you keep tripping breakers, you have an overloaded circuit, or issue other places besides the GMG. Start up is only 240 watts, or the equivalent of four sixty watt light bulbs, and continuous draw is only 60 watts, or one light bulbs worth of electricity. I would check the circuit for overloads or faults and it is not out of the question a bad circuit could be causing your woes with the GMG

 

[ostrichsak]

If you keep tripping breakers, you have an overloaded circuit, or issue other places besides the GMG. Start up is only 240 watts, or the equivalent of four sixty watt light bulbs, and continuous draw is only 60 watts, or one light bulbs worth of electricity. I would check the circuit for overloads or faults and it is not out of the question a bad circuit could be causing your woes with the GMG

It wasn't a repeat situation and it was definitely my Daniel Boone. It was actually just one time & it was because one of the wires behind the control module got caught up in the cooling fan that's in there. When I called Green Mountain Grills they knew exactly what it was like it wasn't the first time they had heard of it. In my opinion this is a poor design flaw that allows for an unshielded wire to easily end up in an unshielded cooling fan. I addressed it as best I could but it's still something that probably should have been better handled during development of this product. The fact that it only happened once also doesn't mean that the damage it caused in terms of ruined meat was any less.

 

[gmc2003]

It wasn't a repeat situation and it was definitely my Daniel Boone. It was actually just one time & it was because one of the wires behind the control module got caught up in the cooling fan that's in there. When I called Green Mountain Grills they knew exactly what it was like it wasn't the first time they had heard of it. In my opinion this is a poor design flaw that allows for an unshielded wire to easily end up in an unshielded cooling fan. I addressed it as best I could but it's still something that probably should have been better handled during development of this product. The fact that it only happened once also doesn't mean that the damage it caused in terms of ruined meat was any less.

Probably the reason it was initially returned. Sorry you've had so many issues.

Chris

 

[ostrichsak]

Probably the reason it was initially returned. Sorry you've had so many issues.

Chris

Probably the reason what was initially returned? Are you talking about the smoker? It was purchased brand new.

 

[gmc2003]

Probably the reason what was initially returned? Are you talking about the smoker? It was purchased brand new.

Sorry my bad, I misread something.

Chris

 

[Waterville Jesse]

This is the review I fully expected to be posting years later when I got mine. Unfortunately it's not to be. I don't know if I got a lemon or what but I've been reading about lots of people posting about having to replace their controllers and other issues similar to what I'm experiencing so I don't think it's isolated just to me. I'm pretty bummed too because I really wanted to love this thing and when it works it's great.

I sure am sorry about your luck. I think the GMG smokers are much better than the traeger product. I have smoked on both at the same time doing briskets for a party. The traeger was shut off once, good thing I got up every hour to check em. Also the gmg seems to have more controlled heat with smaller temp swings.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

I've had my DB for bout 5 years now & have liked it! It has its quirks like any other smoker, but I've figured them out & it'll throw out some good Q. Build quality I'd say is solid. I have had to replace the low pellet sensor & the control board. Overall, I've been happy & have burned several hundred pounds of pellets through it!