Weber SmokeFire - anyone get it yet

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Here's another review I just saw today. Watch Before Buying - SmokeFire Review
This guy had an even worse time with it. Some of these issues are to be expected, but others are surprising considering this is Weber and that they've theoretically been cooking with and testing Pit Boss, Traeger and other pellet grills for years and years before releasing their own.

I'm not a pellet guy and doubt I ever will be. This is one scathing review! I think the guy did a great job on it and seems very honest. The fact that he returned it for a refund and advises against buy it for safety concerns speaks volumes, there's a lot of issues for Weber to have to address. RAY
 
I'm a Rec Tec guy but Weber is a great company! I used a Genesis for over 10 years until I realized how great smoking is and ZERO regrets on my Rec Tec Bull but either way, still curious how people's experiences are with the grill. It was 'supposedly' released 3 days ago. I would assume that means people get them on that day but perhaps not.
The smokefire is getting beat up on you tube because of grease fires and the pellet deliver system. Of course others report they love the smokefire, so do your research.
 
The smokefire is getting beat up on you tube because of grease fires and the pellet deliver system. Of course others report they love the smokefire, so do your research.
Yeah....I'm not sure what you're saying. I have and did do my research. I think anyone (or at least most) who did a lot of research into pellet grills, arrived at Rec Tec. I did quite a bit of research. Traeger was actually the company that got me interested in pellet grills. From there I researched a lot of companies and somehow found my way to Rec Tec. Rec Tec does appear to try to keep negative comments off the net and try to resolve things in house which I admire. So I searched long and hard for negative comments. Most of them have to do with their older RT-680's and the paint peeling. The RT-700 is stainless steel.

As far as the Weber SmokeFire....I did not consider buying one, just more curiosity as like I said, always been a Weber fan. I love their gas grills and their charcoal grills speak for themselves. I've watched a lot of videos on YouTube now about the SmokeFire and I've seen several issues repeated by several YouTubers.

My guess from seeing all I've seen is people who are typically using the grill for "Grilling - 400 or above", won't see many issues. But those are smoking low and slow and also grilling, are seeing issues like grease fires and also running out of pellets b/c of feed issues. Perhaps it is just Weber's pellets? Regardless, that is not good.

How many other people are having issues that don't YouTube....you know? Anyone familiar with pellet grills saw this grease fire thing happening. I know that was my first initial question on how that would work in theory and even when I saw, I had my serious doubts. That's one of the reasons I was curious because I wanted to see how this would work out. Not that I want to see Weber fail b/c I feel more competition is better for all us consumers of Pellet grills and makes other companies step up their game.

I'd imagine some issues could be fixed by fireware updates but pellets not feeding....I'm not sure about that and the grease fires....not sure about that either. That's two huge issues. One of the main reasons people why pellet grills is so you can go to bed and sleep during the night while a brisket or whatever smokes. I always sleep great when doing that on my Rec Tec. No pellet grill is perfect but man....Weber has a long way to go here and this just screams rushing to market too fast in my humble opinion.

I don't know you and you don't know me but I'm always one to research a lot when buying anything that isn't normal spending budget on a monthly basis and that's what I did when I decided on Rec Tec.
 
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Yeah....I'm not sure what you're saying. I have and did do my research. I think anyone (or at least most) who did a lot of research into pellet grills, arrived at Rec Tec. I did quite a bit of research. Traeger was actually the company that got me interested in pellet grills. From there I researched a lot of companies and somehow found my way to Rec Tec. Rec Tec does appear to try to keep negative comments off the net and try to resolve things in house which I admire. So I searched long and hard for negative comments. Most of them have to do with their older RT-680's and the paint peeling. The RT-700 is stainless steel.

As far as the Weber SmokeFire....I did not consider buying one, just more curiosity as like I said, always been a Weber fan. I love their gas grills and their charcoal grills speak for themselves. I've watched a lot of videos on YouTube now about the SmokeFire and I've seen several issues repeated by several YouTubers.

My guess from seeing all I've seen is people who are typically using the grill for "Grilling - 400 or above", won't see many issues. But those are smoking low and slow and also grilling, are seeing issues like grease fires and also running out of pellets b/c of feed issues. Perhaps it is just Weber's pellets? Regardless, that is not good.

How many other people are having issues that don't YouTube....you know? Anyone familiar with pellet grills saw this grease fire thing happening. I know that was my first initial question on how that would work in theory and even when I saw, I had my serious doubts. That's one of the reasons I was curious because I wanted to see how this would work out. Not that I want to see Weber fail b/c I feel more competition is better for all us consumers of Pellet grills and makes other companies step up their game.

I'd imagine some issues could be fixed by fireware updates but pellets not feeding....I'm not sure about that and the grease fires....not sure about that either. That's two huge issues. One of the main reasons people why pellet grills is so you can go to bed and sleep during the night while a brisket or whatever smokes. I always sleep great when doing that on my Rec Tec. No pellet grill is perfect but man....Weber has a long way to go here and this just screams rushing to market too fast in my humble opinion.

I don't know you and you don't know me but I'm always one to research a lot when buying anything that isn't normal spending budget on a monthly basis and that's what I did when I decided on Rec Tec.

I was wondering the same thing about how widespread this problem actually is. I just looked at their website and the average rating across their first 25 reviews is 2.8 stars. All 3 models at Lowe's have bad initial reviews as well. Sometimes, a few very loud consumers make a problem seem much bigger than it really is, but in this case it looks like this is a real, widespread issue.
 
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I looked over the forum for the SF... lots of not so happy people and rather flimsy responses from Weber - IMO. Apparently they are telling people to use a water pan to catch grease - with no size or placement instructions. But doing so is just half a**ing what most pellet grills have - a GREASE PAN....duh...maybe thats why most have this design already...just sayin.
 
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I’ve been waiting for this product and have been so excited to get it all fall/winter. Now I’m like 99% sure I am not going to get one. Wanna takes a second and figure out what to actually get. I like Camp Chef and would reluctantly get a Rec Tec (I think they’re great products, but I despise the design). I don’t really want to spend $2k on a Yoder, but I guess that’s a possibility as well.


ETA: Weber (and I’ve been a loyal Weber customer for YEARS) needs to recall all of these grills.
 
My guess is that Weber won't recall, but they'll quickly tool up a pan and send it to people who already own it (hopefully for free), and they'll start including that pan in all future products until they can do a full on redesign for V2.0
 
I’ve been waiting for this product and have been so excited to get it all fall/winter. Now I’m like 99% sure I am not going to get one. Wanna takes a second and figure out what to actually get. I like Camp Chef and would reluctantly get a Rec Tec (I think they’re great products, but I despise the design). I don’t really want to spend $2k on a Yoder, but I guess that’s a possibility as well.


ETA: Weber (and I’ve been a loyal Weber customer for YEARS) needs to recall all of these grills.
Always been a Weber fan myself and thus why I started this thread. I've become a huge Rec Tec fan owning my Bull so I would suggest Rec Tec however I have a friend who has two woodwinds by CampChef and likes them a lot. He wishes he had a Rec Tec but they definitely do the job. Neither of his are PID though so the newer PID controller with CampeChef is probably even better.
 
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I don't want to bag on weber too hard, but pellets being a bad fuel source for direct grilling is kind of known to anyone who has used them. I am kinda shocked they didn't solve this problem before trying to ship it. You can't really control the combustion rates of pellets with air, like you can with charcoal. Instead you control it with fuel amount. The fuel will always need full flame combustion, so the potential for flare ups and full on grease fires is completely obvious.
 
Like everyone, I am very surprised that Weber finds themselves in this mess. It's very likely the result of a rush to market pushed by Weber's corner office. Coupled with their brilliant PR stunt with their media launch in November the pressure was on.

Unfortunately Weber purposely borrowed the credibility of the folks they invited as guests to their media launch and that appears to have stung some of them with the poor product release. Some are now vocal and others are seemingly laying low waiting for the dust to settle. Those that are speaking up now are bolstering their personal brand by being honest and saying that they were duped. The quiet ones are not helping themselves at this point. One in particular I follow claims he's doing a review and to be patient!

Meanwhile I will not give my views on or promote other pellet grill brands at the expense of this bad situation and those who have been truly impacted.
 
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Before long, Weber will wish they had gone gravity charcoal like the Masterbuilt.
I still have hope they can straighten it out.
I'm a year away from upsizing pellet grills. I would love to have Weber in discussion, but I'm still leaning Rec Tec. Unless I can talk the wife into a Yoder.
 
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I’ve been waiting for this product and have been so excited to get it all fall/winter. Now I’m like 99% sure I am not going to get one. Wanna takes a second and figure out what to actually get. I like Camp Chef and would reluctantly get a Rec Tec...

I am in the exact same boat as you - I was waiting to see if the SmokeFire was going to actually work. Apparently it is a good thing I waited.

I am looking for a pellet grill to add to the cooking arsenal. This will be our winter cooking "grill" and weeknight grill, as our outdoor kitchen isn't as accessible in weather or for quick cooks.

When I first started looking I saw the Memphis Grills and thought they would be perfect for my needs. However, the price on them is really a bit steep for a add-on grill. So now I am looking at the RecTec RT340 edit: Rec Tec 590 is a better size (I really don't like the bull styling though) and the CampChef 24 Woodwind with WiFi.

I will be doing more research.
 
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sweetride95 sweetride95 Youwont regret a Rec Tec. I labored over my choice for months. comparison spreadsheets - it was a full OCD situation...

that said - the Bull has exceeded my pellet grill expectations 10X over. I had a couple questions and rec tec customer service is beyond awesome!
 
I am in the exact same boat as you - I was waiting to see if the SmokeFire was going to actually work. Apparently it is a good thing I waited.

I am looking for a pellet grill to add to the cooking arsenal. This will be our winter cooking "grill" and weeknight grill, as our outdoor kitchen isn't as accessible in weather or for quick cooks.

When I first started looking I saw the Memphis Grills and thought they would be perfect for my needs. However, the price on them is really a bit steep for a add-on grill. So now I am looking at the RecTec RT340 (I really don't like the bull styling though) and the CampChef 24 Woodwind with WiFi.

I will be doing more research.
If you are looking for a winter grilling pellet grill, I would highly recommend the Rec Tec Bullseye when it is re-released in a couple months. I will be adding this grill along with my Bull. The Bullseye can get to 650 in like 12 minutes in summer weather. I believe it gets over 400 in around 15 minutes in the winter. It is the shape of a Weber kettle but with pellets. It can do low and slow but more of a grilling grill at higher temps. And it is more of a direct heat as it just has a heat diffuser above the firepot with no drip pan. Most put a water pan when doing low and slow. I know I'll use it for fast grilling and searing as it can get up to 750 plus.

If you can catch it its first month it is re-released, it will retail for $399 and I believe go up to $499 after that month as its normal retail price. The owners who have the original(non PID) absolutely love theirs!

The new design has PID, a few adjustments and is stainless steel instead of painted black.
 
Thanks for the info on the new Bullseye, that looks like an interesting grill and adds another option to my search.

I probably should state that winter here in Northern California on the coast doesn't quite mean a real winter as far as temps go...
 
Winter in CA...so cooler. I was thinking like winter in UT - snow cold, more snow. bahaha Cali cooking should be great on a rec tec.

the Bullseye looks very interesting to me. I like the idea of a temp setting and using pellets to smoke and grill = Bulls eye and Bull. I like my Gasser, but the bulks eye might be a better pairing
 
With anything just brought out on the Market, I wait at least a year for the others to find the issues and manufacturer fixes, you end up with a great product.

With Weber offshoring the builds, to me it is just another Brand name now. A brand name used to reflect quality, which you pay for.
 
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With anything just brought out on the Market, I wait at least a year for the others to find the issues and manufacturer fixes, you end up with a great product.

With Weber offshoring the builds, to me it is just another Brand name now. A brand name used to reflect quality, which you pay for.

You're right about that last part. If you took "Weber" off this product and had the exact same item at the same price launch with these reviews, people wouldn't even be considering it. That's not to say the brand doesn't matter at all, because behind that is customer service and support, but don't let that be the driving factor. As it stands right now, it appears you can get a much better product, with a lot of options at lower costs.
 
[snip]

With Weber offshoring the builds, to me it is just another Brand name now. A brand name used to reflect quality, which you pay for.

Pretty sure the Smokefire is made in America (with "globally sourced" materials).
 
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