Is one pellet smoker better for taste?

First, I know this is MAK Country so I am not downplaying their cooking ability or any other grill for that matter.
Here is my question, how much difference does the grill make? I have a traeger lil tex that I love, but I will also say I have not been exposed to any other grills in my area. For some reason the pellet grill manufactures are not knocking down doors in western Kansas. 9 out of 10 around here have Traegers and the balance have GMG.
When you get right down to it the grill is a tool to burn pellets and make smoke / heat. Does a higher quality grill equal 5% better flavor....10, 20, how much? Obviously there are a lot of variables with pellets, quality of meat, taste preference, rubs, mops, bastes, etc.....
So lets start the voting, and please don't be partial to your grill just because you own one particular brand. I would guess the grill supplies 5% taste differential. I would be very interested to those of you that have eaten off of several different grills. Thanks

First off there are probably more Traeger Cookers here than any...Secondly I know from other forum experiences that people will have a hard time being objective if they are satisfied with their purpose.

Each unit has features that are more important to some than others. The quality of all pellet grills is superior in my mind. It comes down to our budget and which features you need want or just have to have.

I cooked fabulous food on a Traeger....Dealt with the temp swings and the inability to get quite hot enough for me. I loved it and would have no problem cooking on one anytime.
I think the MAK is great because it is so versitile..you can have a smoker with 429 inches of smoking, 634. or 858. You can sear, grill and even griddle. The warming box is a great cold smoker and plate warmer and a place to keep other courses warm while waiting for other food to be finished. I like the quick change pellet door and the pellet boss give you ultimate programability. Oh yeah there is a remote for it too! I believe that the MAK produces more smoke than the Memphis and the Traeger. NO scientific just from experience.

The Memphis is a beautiful unit with very nice grates. It has a point and shoot controller with an update around the corner borrowing MAK's idea (Whose Idea? haha)of a probe. It is point and shoot simple and has a heat range of 180 to 650 on the Pro. It has the ability to blen two different flavors of pellets while you are smoking. I comes standard with a great cabinet for storage.

I have no experience with Green Mountain but the people here seem to like them very much and they get hotter than the Traeger.

Some love the Fast Eddy. I dont and sold mine. The guy who I sold mine too loves it.

Hows that?

There are way more experienced folks here than me....but I think the pellet smoker is a tool. To say one model cooks x% better than another is oversimplification. The newer brands bring additional capability to the table. Whether this makes an appreciable difference in your cook will depend a lot on what you are trying to do. Having higher temps to sear or a special searing grate makes a difference if you need to sear. Having a warming compartment or the ability to cold smoke are nice but don't apply to all cooks. That said, I love my Lil Tex and without it's lower entry price I would still be on the sidelines dreaming of edible ribs.

In my opinion Traeger got way to comfortable in their own shoes. They were the first to corner the market and got complacent, I really like my traeger but I firmly believe there are better grills on the market. Traeger has failed to keep up, but what about the taste? As an example, since my traeger will only get to about 420 on a good day I absolutely will not make burgers or steaks on it. Do the grills obtaining 500 degrees turn out burgers comparable to charcoal burners?

It's because of Traeger that I even found out about pellet smokers, however when I started looking into purchasing one, it didn't take long for me to find out that there were more advanced ones out there, and they were American made. Saved my pennies a while longer to get the one I really wanted.

OK SMoking or grilling. First off I dont believe that any thing beats red hot lump charcoal for searing. Flavor I believe that all the cookers deliver great flavor on the low and slow.

I think it all boils down to the tools intended use, and the features you want, and the outcome you need.

I have cooked on Traegers (075 and a Smokehouse), an original GMG (before these current controllers), Xtreme (which are made in western KS by the way), Louisiana Grills (very similar to a memphis), several Country smokers, an FEC 1000, and an FEC100, 500, and 750, and MAK...

I can definitely tell you that the grill does make a difference - depending on the goal. All depends on what you are wanting to do.
For high heat grilling, I like the country smokers. They will run 600-650 and sear steaks off great! you get good infrared heat off of the deflector, and the higher heat burns the dripping fat off, creating flavor.

For general cooking, like chops, wings, etc, that you will do a two stage cook at moderate temps, I would venture to say your assessment is correct, most all cookers will do that in great fashion.

For low and slow, I have yet to find a cooker better than a Cookshack FEC100. It has the biggest "smoke" profile and color of all the cookers, but you could never grill in it at all...

The MAK seems to be the best swiss army knife... It can cook low, it can cook hot, the griddle makes for very interesting cooking, it has a hot spot that you can enable.

So setting aside that some cookers are better for specific tasks (more than a 5% variance) - lets look at the other differences:
1. Fuel use: If you want to use less fuel, a fully insulated cooker is key. The FEC and FE are both very miserly with fuel. The MAK also used less than say the Traeger or Country smoker would.
2. Sear: FE - has a direct sear station.
3. High Heat cooking: CS or MAK
4. Cold smoking: MAK - via warming drawer, or CS whole hog, with only one side lit.
5. Set it and forget it operation: FEC100 or MAK -- both of these have programmable cooking with multi-temp cooking programs, and probe based cooking.

As far as why to spend more on one... that goes to the options. Kinda like a mustang. A new V6 base model is a cut above the old ones. 306 HP, it is 56 more ponies than my old GT! so just like a pellet cooker, in general, it is a cut above a gasser for example.
But do you want the v6 or a v8-GT, with leather, moonroof, and remote start?

A traeger is a great grill, but it is the "bare bones" model. It works, but no moon roof... the MAK is the opposite end of the spectrum... it has options like remote management, multiple program modes, a dual speed fan, racks, griddles, etc. Both will cook a pork chop, veggies in a grill pan, etc.

... but only one of the two will smoke cheese and make crispy wings, without drying them out.

Build quality costs more, but I am the first one to show that a Country smoker can survive 8 months of competition travel, for several years and survive.

If I was buying a grill for my deck today... it would be the MAK, hands down. Just too many options to not get it. My second choice, would be the FE grill... I LOVE the way it cooks, the Top down cooking is like nothing else out there. It makes great looking and tasting food, and is also versitile, but not quite as much so as the MAK.

Country smoker would be 3rd, GMG 4th... Do I think the grill makes only 5%? I think depending on the meal it can be 25%.

Hopefully that helps... there are jsut so many variables... the engineer in me wants to build a matrix LOL

great comments Andy

wow, that was very informative. spoken from experience. thank you andy.

If you are just smoking food i would say no on flavor difference. I could not tell much of a difference in flavor on my treager 070, mak 2starr, memphis pro or FE1000. The difference is going to be like was stated above, whats your objective, some grills get hotter, some have cooler electronics, some are insulated, some have cold smokers/warming trays. it all depends on what you want. you really cant go wrong with any grill if your ojbective is to smoke. Just depends what options you want.

Jeremie Great response!

Andy your the best, great post, we are so lucky to have you as part of our forum.

i use an FEC500, it runs great and smokes everything perfect.....can't imagine useing something different......im a creature of habit, why try something different when what you have works perfect?,,.....my 2 cents

that 500 is a beauty and a beast!

HoDeDo.......thank you so much for your informative explanation, I do appreciate the time you put into your reply.
I had never heard of Xtreme smokers, so I had to look them up. As for as the rest of your reply and other posts on this site, I would have to say that MAK and I will have a dinner date in the future. Thanks again.

If you do a search on Scottsdale and MAK, I gave a full review after spending 3 days with BPS cooking everything imaginable on it. And when you see some of the breakfast pics, you'll know BP has covered everything imaginable. Was a great weekend cooking with BPS.

We cooked Pizzas on Thurs night, BP cooked the Strube Strip loins for Dinner, as well as the sides, The comp chicken scored GREAT for comp day, thanks to Jody and his Chicken process on the MAK... and my Pork came out killer. The breakfast tater skins were insanely good. Judges panned my pork somewhat... but it was as good as what I won the Jack with - so I was happy. Guys liked it too, so that is all that mattered to me.

Smoque Shack's statement about that 500, I have heard many times before... I know Todd likes the food off of his even better than his 100. I really like the food also, and I am a SUCKER for a rotisserie. They rock! But you cant grill a steak, hot cook veggies, or get a crispy chicken skin (if that is what you want).... I have cooked burgers in it before; like 400 at a time LOL and for smoking, in volume, you can't beat it. So it just goes back to the sentiment seen throughout the thread... determine what you will be doing with the tool, and if it has some specific needs that it must meet... and out of all the various options, the one you need will present itself.

And thanks for the kudos guys, no biggie - sharing is what it's all about!

Put me down for one Matrix by Andy.

OK, once I get one built, it will be yours. may be a little bit further down the list on "to-do"s but I will try to nail one for you