Your Opinion is Needed!

[Central PA Cowboy]

Good Morning!

I am planning to upgrade (if my wife let's me) from my MES 30 to a pellet smoker such as the Davy Crockett, Pit Boss, or a Traeger. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I have looked at reviews, but would prefer your opinions because of the knowledge I have already gained from this forum. Thank you all!

 

[smokinq13]

I also am looking at upgrading since my mes30 took a dump on me( probably fixable but new toys are okay too!) Personally me I'm probably going to go with the pit boss Austin xl. For the price you can not beat the value!! 1000 sq ins of cooking space, a searer plate for those fire grilled burgers and steaks. I've found them in my area for around 250 bucks also so its really a deal i cant let go!

 

[SonnyE]

My opinion (like rectums, everybody has one), would be:
1. Davy Crockett
2. Pit Boss
3. Traeger
But other than the Davy, you don't say which model of the other two.
Still, I like the GMG's so far. I almost bought a Davy Crockett because of it's portability.

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

My opinion (like rectums, everybody has one), would be:
1. Davy Crockett
2. Pit Boss
3. Traeger
But other than the Davy, you don't say which model of the other two.
Still, I like the GMG's so far. I almost bought a Davy Crockett because of it's portability.

I would go with the smaller Pit Boss (maybe 440?) Or the Junior Elite Traeger.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

My Rec Tec has served me extremely well!

 

[Winterrider]

I believe there was an earlier post that GMG is extending black Friday sale thru 9th I think it was.

 

[oldsmokerdude]

There are tons of choices in the pellet grill space these days. It would be helpful to know what your price range is (how much your wife will let you spend) to narrow it down for you.

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

There are tons of choices in the pellet grill space these days. It would be helpful to know what your price range is (how much your wife will let you spend) to narrow it down for you.

Maybe $400 max? Not sure. The problem is that I have a $40 charcoal smoker and an MES that was like $130, so she said I don't need another one.

 

[oldsmokerdude]

The under $500 range for pellet smokers is a bit limited. In order to get the price point down, you will most certainly have to compromise on features. For example you may have to trade more cooking area for a meat probe. There are manufacturers that make good pellet grills in this price range though:.

• GMG Davy Crocket -- great gill but too small for any but the smallest of families. If you think you'll ever cook for more than three of four people, I would look elsewhere.
• Pit Boss -- decent grills with a decent controller. The 440 is right at your price range with about 50% more cooking area than the Davy Crocket. If it were me I would try to reach for the 700. It's a little more but more than double the cooking area of the Davy Crocket.
• Smoke Pro 24 SE by Camp Chef -- I've seen these in the $350 range at Walmart. They get very good reviews, though I don't have any personal experience with them. This one does not have a meat probe, but you should have your own anyway.

IMO (for what it's worth) in this price range I would go with one of the Pit Boss smokers. The others are good as well and you wont' go wrong. I specifically didn't mention Traeger as there seem to be lots of reports of issues with them lately, though they have a large and loyal following.

Hope this helps a little bit. Good luck and let us know what you get!!

 

[banderson7474]

If you are willing to spend the money, the rec tec 700 is the one my friend got and it's the Cadillac of pellet smokers.

 

[WaterRat]

I've had the Pit Boss 440D for just under 1 year and I've managed to put out quite a bit of tasty food on it. Fires up easy, "usually" keeps a good temp though it can swing briefly. Is reasonable to me as far as pellet consumption. Works just fine in the 20s (haven't used it colder) maintaining temp. Things not so great: original control board died about a month in - replaced under warranty. Left side is hotter than the right due to the offset burner. Temp probe is a couple inches above grate level (seriously all the manufacturers seem to do this, WHY!?!?!?).

So quirks and learning curve aside I like it. It is an entry level model so it doesn't have all the bells and whistles. I would look for a smoker with a centralized burner going forward and maybe a bit bigger but that depends on how much you usually cook. The Austin looks very nice if you have the extra $ ($479 everyday at WallyWorld) and CampChef appears to make a nice one in the <$500 range too.

Hope that helps!

 

[smokinq13]

^^^One mod to help with maintaining temp... take fire bricks and cut up and place in the bottom of the unit. I've read ( I think it was on here) where an individual did this and it worked too good that he had to remove some of them becuase it was holding too much heat and wouldn't let the hopper feed the fire box enough to keep the flame going and would go out.
I am also in the same boat, not being able to spend over a certain amount, this is why Trager and a lot of other pellet smokers are out the door and pitboss is in.

For my other point; I would get a size bigger than you think you need( why I mentioned the Austin lx). I loved my MES30 but I learned quickly that size does limit you. I'd rather have a unit bigger than I need than not have enough room to cook! I did a surprise party with 85 people and 7 pork butts later... I was literally stuffing the butts into my MES30. Seems when people caught wind that you do "good" BBQ, they come out of the woodworks asking you to do some for them. And to compensate for the not used up space on small cooks, just use the method above for reserving heat.

 

[smokinq13]

^^^One mod to help with maintaining temp... take fire bricks and cut up and place in the bottom of the unit. I've read ( I think it was on here) where an individual did this and it worked too good that he had to remove some of them becuase it was holding too much heat and wouldn't let the hopper feed the fire box enough to keep the flame going and would go out.
I am also in the same boat, not being able to spend over a certain amount, this is why Trager and a lot of other pellet smokers are out the door and pitboss is in.

For my other point; I would get a size bigger than you think you need( why I mentioned the Austin lx). I loved my MES30 but I learned quickly that size does limit you. I'd rather have a unit bigger than I need than not have enough room to cook! I did a surprise party with 85 people and 7 pork butts later... I was literally stuffing the butts into my MES30. Seems when people caught wind that you do "good" BBQ, they come out of the woodworks asking you to do some for them. And to compensate for the not used up space on small cooks, just use the method above for reserving heat.

 

[smokinq13]

^^^One mod to help with maintaining temp... take fire bricks and cut up and place in the bottom of the unit. I've read ( I think it was on here) where an individual did this and it worked too good that he had to remove some of them becuase it was holding too much heat and wouldn't let the hopper feed the fire box enough to keep the flame going and would go out.
I am also in the same boat, not being able to spend over a certain amount, this is why Trager and a lot of other pellet smokers are out the door and pitboss is in.

For my other point; I would get a size bigger than you think you need( why I mentioned the Austin lx). I loved my MES30 but I learned quickly that size does limit you. I'd rather have a unit bigger than I need than not have enough room to cook! I did a surprise party with 85 people and 7 pork butts later... I was literally stuffing the butts into my MES30. Seems when people caught wind that you do "good" BBQ, they come out of the woodworks asking you to do some for them. And to compensate for the not used up space on small cooks, just use the method above for reserving heat.

 

[cord]

For that price i'd buy the non wifi sale model of the daniel boone at 399. I've seen much more positive feedback on gmg than the others. Last i saw the sale was good through the 9th.

 

[jmardock]

I made the upgrade a few years ago from an MES-30 to a Rec-Tec. I chose Rec-Tec due to the ceramic igniter and the long warranty. I couldn't be happier with it. Most people seem to recommend whichever brand they're most loyal to. Everyone has their opinions on which features are most important, but all of them are perfectly capable of producing great BBQ. Just figure out which features are most important to you and choose your pellet grill accordingly. Like one of the earlier comments mentioned, get one with slightly more surface area than you think you'll need if your budget allows.

 

[jake0531]

I just bought a GMG Daniel Boone non WiFi couple weeks ago. LOVE it. Got the non WiFi. The sale is good through the 9th, so hurry if you’re interested. $399 plus tax for a usually $600 grill, and this sale only comes once a year

 

[mike243]

Been loving my PB Austin LX since about may,2 probes central burn pot have had 2 probes go bad but that was easily taken care of

 

[schlotz]

Buy once, cry once ... otherwise you'll end up spending more money via upgrading one or more times

 

[InThePittBBQ]

I grabbed a GMG Danielle Boon since they extended the sale and I found a dealer with fresh inventory, for the money I don't see a better value anywhere that's even remotely close in price.

Heat regulation is as good or better than the Cookshack unit's I have owned in the past, overall build and construction is excellent and it has made some tasty chicken and ribs so far.

The stainless heat deflector and one piece grease tray are heavy duty and well built, and I was surprised at the low cost of replacement parts for future needs.

The dual fan design is a hoot, especially the firepot fan underneath the burner when it runs in variable speed mode it sounds like a mini locomotive puffing away under the grill but that darn thing fine tunes the heat far better than any other pellet cooker I have used in the past.