MossyMo, what are your thoughts when comparing them all? Which one is your go to grill? Do you find you use each one for different cooks? How much more space do you have on the YS640 vs the XL BGE? How much more pellets do you go through on the Yoder vs lump coal on the BGEs? At 1 1/2+ lbs per hour on the Yoder, thats 18 lbs of pellets on a 12 hour overnight smoke vs my
Akorn will only use maybe 5lbs of lump charcoal for the same cook? That's almost a full $20 bag of pellets vs 1/4 of a $13 bag of lump charcoal. $20 per cook vs $3.25 per cook is a big difference. Is that accurate? How about flavor. Some say pellet grills don't give enough of a smoke flavor. Others say it's just right without being over smoked. How does the pellwt compare to the BGEs? Sorry for soo many questions, but you having both are the perfect person to ask.
Thanks
This is from owning the Yoder 2 years and Big Green Eggs less than 6 months, but my wife and I do cook more often than most off each.
Steaks - Yoder
Ribs - Big Green Egg
Pizza - Big Green Egg (but I haven't even tried in the Yoder, too dang good in the BGE)
With that said, I wouldn't hesitate to cook just about anything on either one.
I like searing steaks around 550º where controlling internal meat temp is much more manageable (for me). Yoder's high temp is 600º plus, BGE's are well over 800º. Other option I like is a Yoder will hold a temp as low as 150º which is great for smoking the steak an hour before doing a reverse sear to the steak.
With ribs I feel I get a better looking finish product that is moister with the Big Green Egg. I attribute this to the the fans in Yoder drying the product more than the Big Green Egg will.
If I had to pick just one it would be difficult as I really like them both.
Yoder YS640 with 2nd rack - 1070 square inches of cooking area
XL Big Green Egg - 672 square inches of cooking area
Large Big Green Egg - 452 square inches of cooking area
I can not find the size of the cooking area added to the BGE's using their tiered rack systems available. But I know comparing them to the Yoder YS640 they will not compare when cooking multi-large pieces of meat or racks of ribs.
Fuel efficiency Big Green Egg excels compare to pellet grills. The large BGE is much more efficient compared to the XL Big Green Egg. Our Yoder isn't terrible but I have never really calculated how much it uses to guess very accurately... but don't choose the grill over fuel consumption, pick which will suit your needs best. If you are picking out a good quality pellet grill for fuel efficiency I would look at a MAK 2 Star, great grill but I would prefer a Yoder YS640 over it because of build quality, cooking temp ranges and I truly believe in the value in a Yoder.
Flavor is tough to describe as both are good but there is a difference. We can cook on the BGE's for a while and tell ourselves it is so much better, but the nest time we use the Yoder we taste the difference we didn't realize we were missing with a pellet grill. Lump charcoal cooks vs. wood pellet cooks really reminds me of Ford vs. Chevy debate - if you owned alike of each that were newer and under warranty it might be difficult to pick which you like the most, but it seems if you own just one of them it is not difficult to say which you think is better!
Any other questions I can help with just ask... look forward to hearing your decision as their really is too many other great choices out there beyond what has been mentioned.