Pellet grills

[robertwhite]

The HUGELY variable temps on smoke setting are one of the main reasons I got rid of my Texas. Traeger's answer was "our grill is designed to swing anywhere between 165-205 on smoke setting, so the swing you are seeing is normal. In one word, that is utter BS. If you can't get a real control unit (they use the same generic a lot of others do) and make the temp within 5* or so of what I set it at, I don't want your grill. They also have about 10 "heat" settings (P). Why?

Some people seem to love their Traegers and don't mind playing with the temp & settings constantly. For me, the reason I went to a pellet grill was t set & forget. If I wanted to play with it constantly, I would have kept using my stick burner. I went to a MAK and could not be happier.

Excuse the rant, but seeing the replies in this thread just burns me up, as I went through the same thing and finally gave up.

 

[kerstingm]

 
The HUGELY variable temps on smoke setting are one of the main reasons I got rid of my Texas. Traeger's answer was "our grill is designed to swing anywhere between 165-205 on smoke setting, so the swing you are seeing is normal. In one word, that is utter BS. If you can't get a real control unit (they use the same generic a lot of others do) and make the temp within 5* or so of what I set it at, I don't want your grill. They also have about 10 "heat" settings (P). Why?

Some people seem to love their Traegers and don't mind playing with the temp & settings constantly. For me, the reason I went to a pellet grill was t set & forget. If I wanted to play with it constantly, I would have kept using my stick burner. I went to a MAK and could not be happier.

Excuse the rant, but seeing the replies in this thread just burns me up, as I went through the same thing and finally gave up.

No excuse necessary, i jsut brought home several friends from the bar that we REALLY REALLY hungry after talking about my new grill. NEEDLESS to say it DID NOT work. I fired it up on smoke as normal and tried to turn it up to high and the fricken auger motor locked up. I even mentioned that I thought the auger motor sounded strange after over heating on SMOKE the other day (funny is over heating when HIGH is?) either way told them to come and get it piece of crap, i will get a the one I want. I will be ordering the REC TEC come Monday if all goes as plan I can get a good deal 

 

[robertwhite]

I will be ordering the REC TEC come Monday if all goes as plan I can get a good deal 

Obviously, I don't know your financial situation, but if you are somewhat flexible, give a hard look at the MAK. Not knocking the RecTec at all, but I am so glad I went with the MAK over any other grill. It is stupid simple to use and an incredibly simple design that just plain works.

 

[kerstingm]

I am not familiar with MAK grill, but will definitely give it a look. As you can tell by my recent rants I am definitely not happy with what I have for what I am paying for..

 

[kerstingm]

So now that I have had it with this grill, I have emailed and called the rep I purchased it from and cannot get a hold of him gee seems like I'm being ignored????
I'm about to take to their shop at our local mall and dump it on their doorstep. ...

 

[kerstingm]

Which MAK grill did you get?

 

[robertwhite]

Which MAK grill did you get?

MAK 1 Star General.

Difference between 1 star & 2 star is the 2 star is all stainless and slightly larger. The 1 star is plenty big enough for a normal sized family and friends. It is like $300 more than the Rec-Tec, but build quality is way better and way smarter. Smarter because the shape of the MAK allows for much more cooking area in a smaller footprint than the normal rounded style of all the other brands. The other HUGE difference between MAK & all the others is their controller. It's their design and their programming.

And BTW, MAK is actually MAK Metals who has for many years made those traffic control boxes you see on street corners and such, so you know they know metal and design.

 

[kerstingm]

Have to admit MAK are my initials. Lol

 

[kerstingm]

So I called into Traeger last night to setup the return, this customer Rep girl starts going through this whole troubleshooting speech with me. I kept trying to tell her I have been a mechanic for over 25 years now and I am very familiar with their feeding system and temp control system. I use very similar equipment in the plastic industry. When the grill over heated the other day the augur got warped and is now bound up, This girl 1st says they will send me a new augur to replace it, I'm like I am not doing anything to this grill I just got it I should not have to work on it, so she says I need to put it back in the box for a pickup. I tell her I purchased a DEMO model and have no box, she proceeds to say I need to purchase a box to return it??? I'm like I now need to spend money to return it??? As my blood starts to boil she has the nerve to start yelling at me saying there is nothing she can do to help me out at this point??? So now I am waiting on the dealer I purchased it from the arrange a pickup????? All I can say is WOW!!!!!! 

 

[robertwhite]

Was the dealer you got it from local? If so, I would show up at his door, pull the grill inside and not leave until refunded.

That's exactly why I bought mine from Costco as I knew if it was crap I could just bring it back. Took me all of 2 minutes to get my refund.

 

[kerstingm]

Yeap from a local mall. Already getting taken care of. He's picking it up tonight. He is already getting the refund processed to go back on my card....

 

[kerstingm]

Not a bad deal, he is definitely entertaining. Lol

 

[kerstingm]

Just looked them up, nice grill.my only debate/issue with my Traeger is the temp spikes. They keep saying the 10 to 40 degree temp differences is not okay yet I still have the issues. I've just learned to watch my temps and will be getting a Maverick remote thermostat setup here soon.

 

[chad martinell]

I have a Traeger Jr. and I love it. I can say that it does have issues with maintaining temperature consistency, and I'm sure not putting money into a insulating blanket or anything, so I deal with it. Some point pretty soon I'm going to have to get a bigger smoker anyway, so maybe at that point I'll look at other brands. I do want to get the temp. controller (about $100) because the flux is just too much on this one with only 3 settings (Smoke, Med, High). I've had it running on smoke as low as 120° when the outside temp. was around 30°, and I've had the thing up to over 600° on the high setting. It does work like a champ in that regard. I also let it sit out uncovered in the rain and had a problem with the auger and controller, but I got it working again.

The only thing that I REALLY don't like is that all the recipes and propaganda for this smoker say "set it and forget it" and that just isn't true. The grill right above the firepot gets hotter than any other spot in the grill, so you really have to rotate stuff around on longer smokes.

 

[kerstingm]

Chad

I totally agree it is not a SET AND FORGET grill. I am extremely with what I have cooked on it thus far, I just need to watch the temps. There is a controller out there I am looking at if it really becomes an issue, made by Blaz'n Grill works, I believe they said it runs right around $200 for the PID controller.. I'm not at the point where I need to spend that on it yet...

http://www.blazngrillworks.com/prod...um=&ty=&specials=&ws=&ps=&pg=1&ord=1&sort=Mfg