So I am no competition smoker by any means. Up until two weeks ago I have been smoking on my good old Weber 22.5" kettle grill. While smoking is fun, sometimes having to pay so much attention to the smoker takes the enjoyment out of it. So in my quest to get something easier, I bought a Traeger Texas grill with the digital controller. Here is my opinions on the pellet smoker in general.
It is definitely less upkeep while smoking on one, which is the huge huge benefit of these things. The downside is the same thing everyone says who doesn't want to convert to them, you can't get a deep heavy smoke flavor on them. Well the smoky flavor I get is perfect in my opinion. I use an elevated grill platform (the hovergrill for my kettle grill) to lift the meat off the normal grill plate. This allows more smoke underneath it and might possibly add to the smoke flavor.
I really enjoy having my pellet smoker for ease and convenience. I can literally sleep while I am smoking, something I would not do with my charcoal grill. Will I still smoke on my kettle grill, you betcha. But sometimes convenience is necessary, and I am completely satisfied with my pellet smoker in that sense.
Now, things specific to the Traeger. The door doesn't make a tight seal. Does this matter? I don't really think so, I do not intend to get any type of seal for the door. It feels constructed heavy enough to sit on my back deck, even with it being made in China as everyone makes fun of. I would not use this to travel around with, but I doubt people do that with this grill anyways. It is a deck queen. The temperature control works great on it, I still use my Maverick grill probe to measure the temperature at the point where I am cooking, which of course varies from the grill's built in temperature probe.
Overall I am quite satisfied with my purchase and it works as advertised.
It is definitely less upkeep while smoking on one, which is the huge huge benefit of these things. The downside is the same thing everyone says who doesn't want to convert to them, you can't get a deep heavy smoke flavor on them. Well the smoky flavor I get is perfect in my opinion. I use an elevated grill platform (the hovergrill for my kettle grill) to lift the meat off the normal grill plate. This allows more smoke underneath it and might possibly add to the smoke flavor.
I really enjoy having my pellet smoker for ease and convenience. I can literally sleep while I am smoking, something I would not do with my charcoal grill. Will I still smoke on my kettle grill, you betcha. But sometimes convenience is necessary, and I am completely satisfied with my pellet smoker in that sense.
Now, things specific to the Traeger. The door doesn't make a tight seal. Does this matter? I don't really think so, I do not intend to get any type of seal for the door. It feels constructed heavy enough to sit on my back deck, even with it being made in China as everyone makes fun of. I would not use this to travel around with, but I doubt people do that with this grill anyways. It is a deck queen. The temperature control works great on it, I still use my Maverick grill probe to measure the temperature at the point where I am cooking, which of course varies from the grill's built in temperature probe.
Overall I am quite satisfied with my purchase and it works as advertised.
