Just a heads up for any who are thinking about this smoker, you may want to look at Baby Back Maniac's review. He seems to have had some big issues with it. Grease fires and uneven heating, etc. Check it out.
I watched it and it's much more positive than the others, but it was basically a test of how not to get a grease fire and what you can do to prevent that. He did brisket and pork butt hot and fast, and removed them completely after 2 hours and took them inside to the oven. That's fine, but almost all of the problematic grease fire stuff seems to pop up during low and slow longer term cooks when ash mixes with grease and fat over several hours and clogs the drainage. They didn't test that. After cooking they go through the stuff you need to do to make sure it doesn't have a grease fire. That's all valid, but I think the point is you shouldn't need to treat a $1200 cooker with kid gloves to prevent it from catching fire. Harry even says something similar towards the end of the video in regards to the pellet chute being too shallow to feed properly.Harry Soo put a new vid out on it here 4 hours ago. Just getting ready to watch, but pretty sure I’m out on this grill. Wanted so badly to get one and love it. Guessing HS gonna fluff it up some given that it’s a YT subscriber’s grill and not even his own.
I think they were so focused on making it grill well that they just sort of overlooked the low and slow smoking aspect. It's as if they took that part for granted and all their testing was just searing and hot and fast related stuff.Wow, how can a company that has been in the BBQ business from almost the beginning, blow a product design this bad? Simple answer: they are a grill manufacturer not a pellet smoker manufacturer. Evidence: One smoke and there is significant amount of ash blown out of the pot and combined with grease right beside the firepot. Hmm... design doesn't even incorporate a grease drip tray to carry it to a collection point.
You are probably correct. Their expertise is grilling and the design they came up with points to it. What I find so disturbing is that their engineers apparently knew very little about Low & Slow which could have been resolved by bringing in a few well known experts to try out their design BEFORE it went into production. Unfortunately this is somewhat of a repeated & classic mistake in the design/engineering field where the development wasn't properly managed to ensure positive results. Was the due diligence performed? SOP is to do complete tear downs of the competition's units to gain a more thorough understanding of the issues to be reckoned with, etc. If the organization is marketing driven, the timeline can also get pushed thus forcing corners to be cut. The end result is all we actually have to make a judgement upon: a pellet smoker made by a well known company whose design has some obvious and significant shortcomings. At some point soon Weber will have to respond and hopefully with a retro fix for those early adopters. In the meantime, don't be surprised if Weber's bottom line takes a hit. Unfortunately, their reputation already has a received unwanted marks with this new unit.I think they were so focused on making it grill well that they just sort of overlooked the low and slow smoking aspect. It's as if they took that part for granted and all their testing was just searing and hot and fast related stuff.
I totally agree. I can't comprehend how the grease fire thing wasn't caught if they did any sort of real-world user or beta testing. Surely during development they gave out some units to employees or friends to just let them use them in the real world, and surely some of those people went low and slow?You are probably correct. Their expertise is grilling and the design they came up with points to it. What I find so disturbing is that their engineers apparently knew very little about Low & Slow which could have been resolved by bringing in a few well known experts to try out their design BEFORE it went into production. Unfortunately this is somewhat of a repeated & classic mistake in the design/engineering field where the development wasn't properly managed to ensure positive results. Was the due diligence performed? SOP is to do complete tear downs of the competition's units to gain a more thorough understanding of the issues to be reckoned with, etc. If the organization is marketing driven, the timeline can also get pushed thus forcing corners to be cut. The end result is all we actually have to make a judgement upon: a pellet smoker made by a well known company whose design has some obvious and significant shortcomings. At some point soon Weber will have to respond and hopefully with a retro fix for those early adopters. In the meantime, don't be surprised if Weber's bottom line takes a hit. Unfortunately, their reputation already has a received unwanted marks with this new unit.
Sad but true. this is such a massive fail...its mind boggling.Weber's bottom line takes a hit. Unfortunately, their reputation already has a received unwanted marks with this new unit.
I totally agree. I can't comprehend how the grease fire thing wasn't caught if they did any sort of real-world user or beta testing. Surely during development they gave out some units to employees or friends to just let them use them in the real world, and surely some of those people went low and slow?
ou are probably correct. Their expertise is grilling and the design they came up with points to it. What I find so disturbing is that their engineers apparently knew very little about Low & Slow