Need A Large Pellet Grill At A Reasonable Price? The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 Does The Job

Feed the whole crew at a reasonable price with the Pit Boss Navigator 1300 pellet grill.

What matters:

• Porcelain coated grates
• Roll top lid
• Powder coated steel body
• Digital touchscreen control panel
• Push button ignition
• 30-pound pellet hopper
• Flame Broiler for grilling and searing
• Low-temperature smoking with ease
• P Setting regulates the speed of the pellet feed
• Cold weather may be an issue while smoking
• Temperature probe may be less accurate in cold ambient temperatures
• Grease collection is suboptimal
• Assembly is straightforward
• 5-year warranty

Pit Boss offers their Navigator line in five models: 3-Series and 6-Series Vertical Smokers, and 850, 1300 and 1600 Horizontal Smokers. I tested the 1300 horizontal version.

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 is a large, multi-shelved, pellet smoker with WiFi connectivity. It’s constructed predominantly of powder coated steel. The overall dimensions are 59”L x 32” W x 49” H and the unit weighs 188 pounds.

Grates

The Pit boss Navigator 1300 has three porcelain coated steel cooking grates. The primary cooking grate has a cooking capacity of 559 square inches, while the two removable secondary grates that slide in above the main cook surface provide an additional capacity of 770 square inches for a total of 1,329 square inches.

Those 3 racks accommodate a large amount of food. I was able to pack 15 pounds of pork shoulder and some pork belly into the cooking chamber without issue. You can easily fit 6 racks of ribs with room to spare on the top shelf. That is great capacity!

The grates also have a nice lip and peg feature to keep them from sliding out when you are adding or removing food. I love this feature and wish more companies would integrate it in their designs.

Roll top lid

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300’s “roll-top” lid design is so well balanced you can almost open and close it with the flick of a finger. A stainless-steel, braided gasket provides an effective seal.

Body

The grill rests on 4 legs with 4 casters. Two are locking casters. A solid lower storage shelf attaches to tapered steel legs, providing a stable and ergonomic stance for most users.

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 comes with a folding side table that includes a removable cutting board. The cutting board has magnets on the underside so it won’t fall off when the shelf is folded down, but it can be removed easily. There are 3 tool hooks and fixtures to hold paper towels and a garbage bag.

The fold down front shelf is nice, but it could be a little deeper. At 8.5 inches, it was not quite adequate to hold a cutting board or serving tray with confidence.

Pegs on the back of the grill hold grates when they are not in use. This is a nice feature to keep things tidy, and the other hooks, shelves, and fixtures come in handy as well.

Control panel

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 is controlled by the company’s latest touchscreen digital controller and app. The app is available for Android or Apple cell phones. You can make a wireless connection with either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Connecting an app to a pellet smoker is often difficult, but I had no problem with Navigator. The weather resistant control system uses a temperature probe inside the cooking chamber to monitor your actual cooking temperature. The controller adjusts the speed of your fan and wood pellet fuel feed to reach your set temp and maintain it. Temperature range is 180° to 500°F set in 5°F increments with a dial on the control panel or the app. The control panel dial can be difficult to use, often making larger than 5 degree jumps. I found it easier to set precise temps on the app.

Two meat probes are included that plug in right below the digital screen.

Ignition

Lighting the Pit Boss Navigator 1300 is quick and easy. Just hold down the large power button on the control panel and wait for the screen to turn on, then set your desired temp via the dial or app. In ideal temperatures above 40°F the grill heated up quickly and without issue.

Pellet hopper

The pellet hopper features a viewing window that shows your fuel level without the necessity of opening the lid. The hopper has a 30-pound capacity, which is more than enough to cover a long smoking session, even in colder weather. There is also a handle on the hopper to help move the grill around your patio or deck.

A sliding Hopper Cleanout door makes emptying or switching pellets easy. This photo shows the underside of the hopper, where the pellets drop when the slide is opened. I used a 5 gallon bucket to catch the falling pellets.

Like all pellet smokers, the Pit Boss Navigator 1300 needs electricity. The power cord plugs into an outlet on the back of the hopper. A convenient auxiliary outlet is included to power any additional devices drawing up to 5 amps.

The hopper lid has overlapping flanges that keep out light rain and snow. When not in use, it’s a good idea to protect your Navigator with a fitted cover.

Grilling

There is a “Flame Broiler” function on this model that helps with searing. Despite being called “pellet grills,” most do not excel at high-heat grilling. Set to Navigator’s high temperature range, the heat at the primary cook surface was uneven, concentrating in the middle over the firepot and dropping off around the perimeter. Even so, the hot center wasn’t all that hot and didn’t come close to producing a good sear.

But Pit Boss Navigator 1300 takes advantage of the intense heat over the firepot by incorporating a Flame Broiler Lever that pulls away a section of metal over the drip tray center that has slotted openings.

The openings expose foods to the direct flame of the burning wood pellets below. I found this worked really well for achieving high, searing temperatures for direct grilling. Although the overall sear space was limited, my burgers, steaks and chops had a decent sear and slightly smokey flavor that was loved by all.

Smoking

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 performed well smoking a variety of meats in moderate and hot weather. Set at low to mid cooking temps, the heat evened out and the hot center became less pronounced. I was able to achieve some really good results smoking ribs, beef chuck roast and pork belly. The meat had a very nice smoke flavor that was light and tasty. I was impressed with the food I was able to make when conditions were ideal. This was a gorgeous sight every time I opened that lid!

P-Setting

The Navigator control panel has a button to adjust the P-setting, which regulates the pellet feed duration. The default P-setting is P-4. At P-4, the grill will feed pellets for 18 seconds and pause for 115 seconds. In most instances, you will want to keep the P-setting on the default.

Raising the P-setting to P-5, P-6, or P-7 increases the pause time of the pellet feed and creates more smoke since the pellets will smolder longer before another batch of fuel is fed to the firepot and the fire reignites. Lowering the P-setting to P-3, P-2, P-1, or P-0 will decrease the pause time for the auger and minimize temperature swings when smoking low and slow.

Cold weather issues while smoking

Pit Boss Navigator 1300 presented numerous challenges when smoking food in cold weather. When ambient temperatures exceeded 35°F, the Navigator performed satisfactorily. However, at temperatures below 35°F, the unit encountered significant difficulty in maintaining or even achieving the desired set temperature. Even after pre-loading the firepot with pellets and adjusting the “P-setting” to 0 for the maximum pellet cycle frequency, temperature regulation remained an issue, even prior to introducing food into the smoking chamber. Following the addition of cold meat, the smoker was often unable to recover temperature. This is a substantial drawback. Pit Boss claims “Pit Boss grills are built for year-round performance, with heavy-duty construction and precise temp control that laughs in the face of winter. The key is to give your grill a little extra time to heat up and let it work its magic.” I did not find this to be the case, at least not in Minnesota’s winter weather. I performed the manufacturer’s suggested solution of setting the controller above my desired temp to overshoot my target, then dropping it back down to my desired set point. However, as soon as I dialed back to my desired temp, the temperature kept falling and never recovered.

I contacted Pit Boss customer service and the individual I spoke with eventually told me that she would “not recommend smoking in temperatures under 50°F.” This was pretty disappointing to hear, especially given their claims about operating the unit in winter. I know what you are thinking, “Isn’t there an insulating blanket for this model?” Unfortunately not, but I don’t let the cold Minnesota winters come between me and my meat. I have a couple of welding blankets that work great for insulating grills and smokers and placed two of them on Navigator’s hood. I made sure not to block the airflow out the back as I have done in the past with other units during cold weather testing. Even this did not help the situation. I contacted Pit Boss customer service again. They thought the problem was a bad control system temperature probe and sent me a new one at no charge. That didn’t help, and the problem persisted.

I haven’t had this issue with other pellet smokers, including the Pit Boss 5-Series Wood Pellet Vertical Smoker I tested several years ago.

Temperature probe

I had issues with the Pit Boss Navigator 1300’s control system temperature probe when compared with my trusty FireBoard thermometer. Even though both probes were right next to each other, the Pit Boss thermometer was reading almost 30°F above what my FireBoard was reading. We don’t expect temperature readings from two different thermometers to be exactly the same, but 30°F was a bit more than expected.

For each test I performed, I smoked all the food at a set temperature of 275°F and found my Fireboard thermometer displayed 240° to 250°F. When the outside temperature was a favorable 60°F+, the 2 probe readings were closer together. I am not sure how to account for this, but it is worth noting.

Grease collection

The grease collection system’s performance is suboptimal. Grease is intended to flow down the tilted drip tray and into a channel located at the end of the cooking chamber, subsequently draining into the grease catch beneath the grill. This mechanism is generally effective, but despite my diligent cleaning after each cook, the channel frequently became obstructed by a mixture of ash and grease, impeding the proper flow of gunk into the grease cup. Consequently, grease can accumulate in the channel and sometimes leak from the bottom of the grill, running down the leg and onto the ground.

The grease cup under the smoker is easy to remove, but the cooking chamber must be kept pretty clean for it to function properly.

Packaging and assembly

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 ships on a pallet with Styrofoam and bubble wrap to keep it secure during shipment. The grill is heavy but easy to remove from the packaging. The assembly was easy and straightforward. The directions are simple to follow and the parts fit together well.

Conclusion

The Pit Boss Navigator 1300 works well in most conditions. I found start-up to be straightforward. The unit produced some really tasty food that I was happy to share with guests. I really liked this unit when the weather was nice. However, in freezing cold weather it did not perform well. Pit Boss claims it works great all year round. I did not find that to be the case.

Most of the time people cook outside in good weather and most Navigator owners report being happy with their purchase. But I’m not the only one who had trouble during cold winter months. And I was struck by the Pit Boss customer service rep who recommended not using Navigator when ambient temps drop below 50°F. Based on my tests, I have to advise those who live in cold climates that Navigator may not be the pellet smoker for you.

That said, this is a quality unit that performs well when not faced with adverse, cold conditions. Plus the Pit Boss Navigator 1300 is priced competitively at $999.99 for such a large model. I give it our AmazingRibs.com Best Value Silver Medal.

Warranty

5 year warranty against defects and workmanship on all parts.