The award medallion at right is given to products that are highly recommended, that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
When a product is available on Amazon.com, I often provide a direct link. Amazon.com often has the best prices anywhere, even better than many manufacturers' websites. That's because manufacturers know that if they undercut retailers, these important resellers may drop their products. In addition to low prices, Amazon.com offers fast delivery (often free), no sales tax (in most states), gift wrapping (on many items), and painless refund policies. Amazon's Gift & Wish Registry is a great way to drop not so subtle hints about what you'd love to get for Christmas, Mother's Day, Dad's Day, your wedding, housewarming, graduation, birthday or other event.
Full disclosure.Amazon.com pays me a small referral fee when you purchase from them after clicking on a link on this site, so purchasing from them helps underwrite the cost of operating AmazingRibs.com. If you like all the info I give you for free and would like to help me buy charcoal, copy the link below bookmark it. It takes you to Amazon.com and tags anything you buy with my code so I get that small referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. http://tinyurl.com/yazmwlq
Illustration courtesy of MAK Grills
Buying Guide, Reviews, and Ratings of Pellet Smokers and Grills
Bottom line: It's all about the taste.
These smokers use hardwood sawdust compressed into pellets as fuel. The pellets provide the heat as well as flavor. Pellet smokers produce superb tasting food at low to medium temps with push-button ease and set-it-forget-it simplicity. They make fabulous ribs and other smoke roasted foods like pulled pork or brisket. Surprisingly, the do not produce overly smoky food. I love my pellet smokers.
On the other hand, the manufacturers advertise that these are both smokers and grills, but it is best to think of these devices as superb outdoor convection smokers, not grills. They just don't do a good job of searing a steak. I can sear steaks better on a $20 disposable charcoal grill than on a $2,000 pellet smoker.
Their behavior is sometimes counter intuitive. The hotter they get, the less smoke they produce, and at their top settings, they don't produce much smoke at all. This is good for when you are baking cakes or pies or doing dishes that don't need smoke. But down under 250°F, they produce plenty of mild, elegant smoke. And even though the fuel is wood, it is hard to oversmoke with a pellet smoker. Burning wood on a charcoal grill produces much more intense smoke flavor. Odd.
Pellets look like rabbit food. They are about the width of a pencil and as long as a couple of erasers. Pellets are made by compressing hardwood sawdust. They have no additives or binders, and if they get wet they turn into a pile of sawdust. They are an excellent source of compact energy and smoke flavor, and because you can precisely control the amount of fuel you can control the temp. No hot coals, no flareups. There is also very little ash. 10 pounds of pellets will produce about 1/2 cup of ash. All the rest is converted to energy and combustion gases. At high temps there is very little smoke, at low temps the pellets smolder and produce superb smoke flavors. Click here for more about pellets.
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Because they burn wood, pellet smokers are allowed in BBQ competitions and they have been winning top prizes at many of them. Fast Eddy's Smokers have won the top prize at numerous competitions, enough to make some traditionalists cry foul and try to get them disqualified. Too easy, they claim.
Most cooks are crazy about their pellet cookers, but some say the flavor is different than they are used to from charcoal and gas grills, and more than one has told me they do not like the flavor. They are a minority.
There is another advantage: Wood pellets are an all natural product. No petroleum products in them, no fillers or chemicals.
This is a exciting time to for pellet grillers. There are a number of new designs and they come packed with convenient features. Newcomers like MAK and Memphis Grills are truly easy and versatile.
Pellets are available from a number of sources because they are also becoming popular for use in home heaters, so if you are worried that you will be buying a gizmo that might be worthless someday if the pellet supply runs out, it is unlikely. Pellet suppliers include BBQr's Delight (my fave), Traeger, and Bear Mountain. Pellets are made from different woods, each of which imparts a distinctive flavor to the meat. Hickory, oak, maple, alder, apple, cherry, hazelnut, peach, and mesquite are among the flavors available. Pellets run from $20 to $30 for a 20 pound bag, plus shipping. For more about pellets, read my article, The Zen of Wood. There's also a pretty good forum for people who have pellet cookers at Pelletheads.com.
Take note. Before buying, please note that most pellet smokers need access to electricity to run the auger that transports the pellets to the firebox and the convection fan that circulates the air in the cooking chamber. These cookers can use a lot of pellets at high temps. At high temps there is little or no smoke, and at low temps smoke is unavoidable. So if you want to cook, say, a chicken breast low and slow to retain juices, but you don't want it smoky, you're outta luck. If you want to torch a thin burger to get a crunchy crust and add a little smokiness, you're also outta luck.
Below I have listed several popular or noteworthy pellet smokers alphabetically. Click the red links for current pricing and more info.
This company offers a stainless steel unit that is both a gas grill for when you want to sear steaks, and a pellet smoker for ribs and other smoked foods.
Made by made by Dansons in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their website shows six models, the largest of which can handle whole hogs and has two pellet mechanisms, one on each side. The mechanisms in the pictures appear to be made by Louisiana Grills (below).
Ed "Fast Eddy" Maurin, winner of scores of BBQ competitions, has designed some of the best commercial pellet burners on the market. Until 2010 they were all sold by Cookshack, the high end electric smoker company. In 2010 Eddy released his first consumer pellet cooker, the Fast Eddy's FE1000PC, I have not seen it yet, but if Fast Eddy has his name on it, it must be good.
I have never seen one of these, so I list them here just in the interest of completeness. They make two base units with 400 or 600 square inches. I have heard good things about them.
Louisiana Grills are second generation pellet burners with several innovations such as double-lined hoods for better heat retention and cold-weather cooking, thermostat controls, a full range of temperature options, and an on/off switch for generating smoke. The combustion-air fan also circulates oven air, making it a convection oven to reduce hotspots although I have heard users say there is still a hotspot. They have innovative heat diffusers and flareup reducers above the firepot, cast-iron grill grates, and easy ash and grease cleanout from the front. I have heard that it does not hold temp as steady as a Traeger, but it gets hotter and is better for grilling meats such as steak. They make many different sizes, models, and designs, from cart mounted to pedestal to built-in with a wide range of features and prices. I have never cooked with any one of them, but people I know who have used them say they are equal to or better than the Traegers, below. There are no prices posted at their website and several links are broken. Not a good sign.
Introduced in summer 2009, built in Oregon, these folks have clearly worked with first gen pellet smokers and addressed their problems. The MAK is definitely well thought out and well built.
The most important feature is its temperature control system. Temperature control is at the heart of good cooking. Our indoor ovens have had thermost control for decades, but the concept is still foreign to most outdoor cookers. Not the MAK.
All the combustion and temp control is managed by a digital device with a sealed touchpad they call the Pellet Boss. It is fairly easy to learn, but it is not quite intuitive. Just feed the hopper, plug it in, flip the switch on, and the unit ignites itself. The thermostat is highly accurate and fluctuates less than my GE oven in the kitchen. Heat distribution is very even all across the cooking surface. It also comes with one meat probe and has ports for three meat probes, so you can load 'er up with three different thickness meats with three different target temps, say a beef brisket (190°F target), precooked ham (140°F target), and a turkey breast (170°F target), and monitor all three meats.
The controller can even be programmed. You can put your Thanksgiving turkey on at 300°F, when the probe hits 165°F, it can drop the oven temp back to 170°F, let the meat rise to that temp, and hold the bird there until you're ready. Set the temp in 5°F increments, set a timer, set an alarm for a time or an internal temp of the meat, set a program so that the unit changes temp at a predetermined time or meat temp, spend some time with the family for a change. Truly a marvel.
At 60" wide, 49" high, 25" deep, weighing in at 185 pounds, there is a 14" tall 429 square inche cooking area. There are few backyard cookers built so well. Solid. I cannot see vulnerability to rust. Fit and finish are very good. This is clearly not the standard cheap Chinese-built unit designed to cut corners and drive down price. All parts a heavy and built to last. Several parts are made from high grade heavy duty stainless steel, and the rest are thick steel and well powder coated. Assembly took about two hours, but the only tools needed were two hex wrenches and a crescent wrench, both supplied. Nuts are welded onto the body, so you only need to twist in the screws. Minimal fumbling. I only needed my wife's help for about 30 seconds to get the thing off it's back and standing upright on the casters after I attached the legs.
The left shelf contains the 20 pound capacity pellet hopper. You dump pellets in it and its funnel shape gravity feeds them to an auger that moves them to a fire pot in the center of the grill. There you find a glowing element that lights the pellets and a blower controls oxygen supply. The beauty of pellets is that they have none of the additives and fillers in charcoal briquets, so they combust almost completely. There is very little ash, but MAK has designed ash removal and cleaning of the ignition pot well. On a 50°F day I got it up to 485°F, so on a hot summer day it should go well beyond 500°F. The problem with pellets is you can go through them in a hurry at high temp. Cooking ribs on a 68F day I went through about one pound an hour for a four hour cook including warmup and cooldown. Pellets cost about $1 per pound plus shipping, so that's a bit more than $1 per hour at low temps.
The MAK also has a door to remove your pellets so you can switch wood types when you switch meats. Want alder for salmon and hickory for pulled pork? No problemo.
The cooking chamber is tall enough for big turkeys, whole hams, and beer can chickens. The heavy duty stainless steel grates will last forever, the sloped drip pan below has perforations on one side so bare flame can reach the food if you want. If you don't want, there is a cover for the holes. It's a bit awkward to maneuver the cover beneath the grate, but it can be done. Below this is a heat deflector that covers the combustion chamber. With the holes covered you essentially have a large convection oven and there is no need to turn the food. They clearly have worked hard to defeat the bane of the first generation pellet burners, hot spots. Still, I plan to buy GrillGrates to replace their stainless steel rack. Nothing beats GrillGrates for magnifying heat and distributing temp evenly.
The right shelf holds a warming box that can keep one dish warm until the others are done. For example, I put some raw minced potatoes in a perforated pan on the grill about an hour before the chicken breasts went on. I thought they'd finish about the same time, but the potatoes were well done before the meat. So when they were done, I moved them to the warmer, and they held there until serving time.
Now this method is not foolproof. The main cooking chamber was chugging along at about 300°F, while the warming chamber was about down at 180°F. So when I brought in the taters and the meat to the dining table together, they spuds got cold quicker. I also noticed that when I knocked back the oven temp to about 200°F, the holding temp got below 140°F. That's in the danger zone for microbial growth. Probably not an issue because they had been heated well beyond the kill temp of 155°F, so they potatoes were safe, but this is something a good cook will need to be careful about. Another great feature of the warming chamber is that it gets low enough for cold smoking or cheese. But don't make the mistake I made. I smoked some cheese in the warmer while I had some salmon in the main cooking chamber. I got salmon flavored smoked not-so-gouda.
Summary
Pros. Well built in Oregon, not likely to rust. Highly accurate temperature control, and control of temp is the most important thing in good cooking. Versatile programmable controller with lots of bells and whistles. Large capacity pellet hopper, easy to change wood types. 14" overhead cooking space, enough for turkeys. Cooking range is advertised at 180 to 500°F depending on ambient temp and how much cold meat is in there. I have never gotten mine much above 480°F and that was on an 85°F day, empty. Still, that's pretty good for a pellet burner. The warmer chamber can be used for cold smoking cheese or fish. Comes with a 3 year warranty.
Cons. Price. At about $2,000, this grill is four times the price of a good Weber gas grill. And, as with other pellet smokers, it just does not get hot enough to properly sear a steak. Modest 19.5" deep x 22" wide, 429 square inch cooking surface will not handle a large party. They sell an optional upper grate that can get you up to 858 square inches. Does not come with a cover included, but, because of the electronics, you really must order one unless you plan to wheel it under cover. That there is no handy place to store the electical cord is another minor aggravation.
Wish list. I'd love to see Pellet Boss with a wireless remote readout like the Maverick thermometer. With the Maverick I can watch the game in my living rooms and the meat temp at the same time. For now I will use both systems. I would also love to see them ship from the factory with GrillGrates installed in order to further reduce hotspots. A double layer of metal in the lid like the Memphis would go a long way towards heat retention and reduce pellet usage. I'd like to see a thermometer in the warming chamber. It would be nice if the cart had sides and a door for dry storage. A rotisserie.
Question marks. There is the eternal question for digital controllers on outdoor devices: How well will they stand up to the elements, especially winter in Chicago?
Bottomline. I have had a LOT of iron on my deck and, although I have only had this unit for a short while, it is one of the best cookers I've ever used. This new device has already spawned a following at PelletHeads.com. Go there to read more. To order one, click here.
Pros. Introduced in 2010, this is a very high quality, very well built, very good looking unit. It comes in three cart mounted designs, Select, Advantage, Pro, and the Pro is also available as a built-in model. In May 2010 the manufacturer sent me a cart-mounted stainless steel Pro to test.
It is extremely well built and designed. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with the way this baby is put together. Most impressive, the cooking compartment has two layers of metal with an air gap between and a gasket on the lid to provide better heat retention. Just like your indoor oven. It is designed and built like a high end indoor appliance.
The stainless is thick and extraordinarily well machined. The fit and finish are impeccable. The grates are the heaviest stainless I've ever seen. The main cooking grate is 25" wide by 17.5" deep. There is room for upper grates that allow you to almost double the capacity.
The "Intelligent Temperature Control" digital control panel is simple to operate, much easier than the MAK, but there are no memory modes or jacks for meat probes. Personally, I can live without them. The range is said to be 180°F to 650°F but I have managed to rev mine up to 680°F on the left side while the right side maxed at 636°F, an average of 658°F. For some strange reason the controller reads a steady temp, the same temp I set it for, while my test thermocouples show that it is still cooler and still heating up. So the controller may say, for example, 480°F, but it could actually be 430°F, and it won't hit 480°F for another 10 minutes. There is a less temperature fluctuation when it hits temp, about 5°F, than my indoor oven (check yours, it can fluctuate 25°F or more). This is truly set and forget ease.
Cons. At about $2,500 I would hope for zero flaws, but this is a new design, so a few glitches are to be expected. I have two complaints, a burn risk, and the location of the exhaust.
Memphis uses a large tray under the cooking chamber to catch grease and ash. It gets VERY hot and I burned myself when I went to check it during a cook. Once burned, I know better now, but it would have been nice to have a warning on the tray or in the manual. In any case, I prefer the MAK's grease collection system, which drains the grease into a small, an easy to handle bucket on the outside where it remains cool (although it is in reach of the dog).
My other major complaint: The exhaust on the Pro is a 1 x 24" gap that runs the length of the oven at the top in the back, much like an indoor oven. But because it is on the top, rain gets in easily unless you are under a cover. It doesn't get into the cooking chamber, but it runs between the walls and collects the grease pan and overflows it spilling into the storage cabinet in the pedestal below. If you store pellets there, they could get wet, and disintegrate into sawdust. If the drip pan has grease or ash in it, they will get into the storage space too, and that could get ugly. There are three workarounds: (1) Locate the grill under an awning or other overhang, (2) Get a cover (it costs extra) and remember to use it as soon as the oven cools off (I often forget), or (3) fashion a damper out of sheet metal from the hardware store to cover the gap when it is not in use. Of course you cannot use a cover or damper if you are cooking in the rain as I often do.
Another minor issue. The fire pot is in the center below a large stainless "flavor bar" bent in the center to allow grease runoff. There is a gap between the flavor bar and the interior walls to allow hot air to circulate. If you place food up to the edges of the grate, the ends that are over the gaps can overcook or burn.
As long as I'm being picky: I would also like a hook under the shelf to hang the cord where it is protected from rain and snow when it it not in use. Right now, it just lays on the ground. Finally, the pellet hopper is around back and a little awkward to load for a short guy.
Question marks. I will repeat here what I said above about the MAK: There is the eternal question for digital controllers on outdoor devices: How well will they stand up to the elements, especially winter in Chicago?
Bottomline. I have had a LOT of iron on my deck and, although I have only had this unit for a short while, it is one of the best cookers I've ever seen. To order one, click here.
Traeger popularized the pellet smoker and remains the best known brand. The consensus is that Traegers are well built, but. as with all pellet burners, they are better at smoking than grilling. A dealer I know says "Traegers don't get hot enough to sear steaks properly, but set on two pork butts and a few racks of ribs - oh baby! It eliminates flare ups or sudden temp changes. Set the temp, set your meat, go back inside and set the timer." He warns that there is a hot spot that you need to get used to.
Another experienced user says "You can set it to make as little or as much smoke as you want and it goes and goes. We use it as our main grill, and it works great for burgers, brats, chicken, pork tenderloins, and even steaks, although it really won't sear them. I can get it up to a touch over 400°F on a 70 to 80°F day with oak pellets. Super tasting, no turning, flare ups, or burning."
Lil' Tex (above right). There are three setting: High (450°F), medium (325°F), and smoke (200 to 250°F.). When the switch is on high, it burns about two pounds of pellets an hour. On medium it's one pound an hour, and on smoke, 1/2 pound an hour. During the first four minutes, while the ignitor rod is on, it draws 300 watts an hour, then drop down to 50 watts an hour for the duration of the cook session, less than a standard light bulb. The cooking surface is 16.5" deep x 22.5" wide (371 square inches). The entire unit weighs 135 pounds, and overall it measures 49" high x 40" wide x 20" deep. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and shakes. A thermostat is extra.
Texas Style. Similar to the Lil' Tex, the Texas Style has a bigger pellet hopper on the side and a larger cooking surface, 15" deep x 35" wide (525 square inches). It weighs 190 pounds and is 49" high x 59" wide x 22" deep. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings.
Professional. The Professional features a front-loading hopper sporting a stainless steel lid/work surface and a stand with four heavy duty locking wheels. The cooking surface is 16.5" deep x 22.5" wide (371 square inches). It weighs in at 195 pounds and measures 42.5" high x 24" wide x 30.5" deep. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings. A thermostat is extra.
Deluxe. The Deluxe has 525 square inches cooking surface (15" deep x 35" wide), weighs in at 250 pounds, and measures 44" high x 61.5" wide x 25" deep. The pellet hopper and storage boxes on the sides have stainless steel lids that double as work surfaces. The large pellet hopper holds approximately 20 pounds of pellets. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings. A thermostat is extra.
BBQ Executive. The BBQ Executive has 1008 square inches of cooking surfaces on two shelves: 36" x 19.75" and 36" x 8.25". It weighs 275 pounds and it is available in two configurations, with and without wheels. With wheels, it is 42.5" high x 36" wide x 30.5" deep. The Built-in Model, at right, needs a cabinet with an opening 36.5" wide x 31" deep x 10.5" high. Rather than a three-speed controller, this model comes with a variable thermostat with LED readout. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings.
Lil' Pig and Longhorn Steer. These novelty grills, one shaped like a pink pig and the other like a black steer, are a lot like the Lil' Tex. Other than the exterior, one difference is that they both have variable thermostats with LED readouts.
Tell Meathead what you think, or ask him a question
But please, please, please read this first:
1) Please use the sitemap or the search box, at the top of every page. There's a good chance the answer is already on this site.
2) Please read this article about thermometers.Chances are your thermometer is the problem! I cannot help you troubleshoot unless you tell me that you are using a digital oven thermometer at meat level (not in the lid), and/or a digital meat thermometer. You simply cannot believe your grill's built-in bi-metal dial thermometer. They are often off by as much as 50°F!
3) Please tell me everything I need to know to answer your question.
4) Please don't ask me "What grill (or smoker) should I buy?" Read my Buyer's Guides and follow the links. I've shared just about everything I know on those pages. I cannot pick the right cooker for you any more than you could pick the right car for me. But I've explained everything you need to know to make your decision.
AmazingRibs.com is all about the Zen of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and techniques: Barbecue baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, steak, burgers, chicken, smoked turkey, lamb, barbecue sauces, rubs, and side dishes, with the net's best buying guide to barbecue smokers and grills. It is written, photographed, illustrated, and coded solely by Meathead.
My philosophy about food is simple. First of all it must taste great. It must be easy to make and emphasize fresh seasonal products with a minimum of processed ingredients. I think that people need to know why as well as how, and that there are no rules in the bedroom or dining room.
About Product Reviews and Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards. Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards are highly recommended products that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
About links on this site. Other than clearly marked ads, links and recommendations on this site are all products, services, and websites I truly admire, and are never paid endorsements. Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like me to link to your website, click here to read my links policy first. Advertising policy. I do not accept ads from products that I review such as grills, charcoal, etc. Click here for more on my advertising policy.
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Disclaimer. The information on this website is for educational purposes only. All material within comes without warranties of any kind. I am human, and capable of mistakes, so I make no guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or safety of the information. Under no circumstances am I liable for any damages that result from use of the site (so you can't sue me if you burn your tongue on hot ribs, or get a tummy ache, OK?).
GrillGrates are the best new product I have tested in years and the best thing to happen to beef since salt and pepper. The base superheats, eliminates hot spots, smokes, and blocks flareups. This is the concept behind the expensive new infrared grills. Click here for more about GrillGrates.
The Smokenator:
A Necessity For Weber Kettles
If you have a Weber Kettle, you need the amazing Smokenator and Hovergrill. The Smokenator turns your grill into a first class smoker, and the Hovergrill can add capacity or be used to create steakhouse steaks. Click here to read more.
ThermoWorks Pocket Thermometer - No More Guessing
A good thermometer is why I never serve overcooked or undercooked food. No more guesswork. This one has a very thin tip with a tiny thermocouple so it gives an accurate reading in just six seconds. I cannot recommend it more highly. It will improve your cooking overnight. And it is inexpensive. Click here for more about thermometers.
This link takes you to Amazon.com and tags anything you buy with my affiliate code so I get a small referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. Low prices, fast delivery (often free), good refund policies, and often there is no sales tax, are the best reasons to buy from Amazon.com, but clicking on that link before you shop helps me devote more time and money to you. Thanks!
The award medallion at right is given to products that are highly recommended, that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.
is a great way to drop not so subtle hints about what you'd love to get for Christmas, Mother's Day, Dad's Day, your wedding, housewarming, graduation, birthday or other event.
The controller can even be programmed. You can put your Thanksgiving turkey on at 300°F, when the probe hits 165°F, it can drop the oven temp back to 170°F, let the meat rise to that temp, and hold the bird there until you're ready. Set the temp in 5°F increments, set a timer, set an alarm for a time or an internal temp of the meat, set a program so that the unit changes temp at a predetermined time or meat temp, spend some time with the family for a change. Truly a marvel.
The left shelf contains the 20 pound capacity pellet hopper. You dump pellets in it and its funnel shape gravity feeds them to an auger that moves them to a fire pot in the center of the grill. There you find a glowing element that lights the pellets and a blower controls oxygen supply. The beauty of pellets is that they have none of the additives and fillers in charcoal briquets, so they combust almost completely. There is very little ash, but MAK has designed ash removal and cleaning of the ignition pot well. On a 50°F day I got it up to 485°F, so on a hot summer day it should go well beyond 500°F. The problem with pellets is you can go through them in a hurry at high temp. Cooking ribs on a 68F day I went through about one pound an hour for a four hour cook including warmup and cooldown. Pellets cost about $1 per pound plus shipping, so that's a bit more than $1 per hour at low temps.
Traeger popularized the pellet smoker and remains the best known brand. The consensus is that Traegers are well built, but. as with all pellet burners, they are better at smoking than grilling. A dealer I know says "Traegers don't get hot enough to sear steaks properly, but set on two pork butts and a few racks of ribs - oh baby! It eliminates flare ups or sudden temp changes. Set the temp, set your meat, go back inside and set the timer." He warns that there is a hot spot that you need to get used to.
Professional. The Professional features a front-loading hopper sporting a stainless steel lid/work surface and a stand with four heavy duty locking wheels. The cooking surface is 16.5" deep x 22.5" wide (371 square inches). It weighs in at 195 pounds and measures 42.5" high x 24" wide x 30.5" deep. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings. A thermostat is extra.
BBQ Executive. The BBQ Executive has 1008 square inches of cooking surfaces on two shelves: 36" x 19.75" and 36" x 8.25". It weighs 275 pounds and it is available in two configurations, with and without wheels. With wheels, it is 42.5" high x 36" wide x 30.5" deep. The Built-in Model, at right, needs a cabinet with an opening 36.5" wide x 31" deep x 10.5" high. Rather than a three-speed controller, this model comes with a variable thermostat with LED readout. Included in each order: A cover, three ten pound bags of pellets, a cookbook, and 16 ounces of Traeger rubs and seasonings.
With a $25 donation you'll get a 100% cotton brushed twill adjustable low profile cap with the AmazingRibs patch sewn on. I'll even toss in a small bag of 
