Traeger Pellet Grills

Anyone own one? They are pricey and my Dad is chomping at the bit to buy one after seeing a friends. Just thought I would try and get some first hand opinions on them.

Traeger Pellet Grills - Taste the Difference!

I've had mine for about 8 months, but had a roomate for a year that owned one and can't think of a reason why I wouldn't want one.

For one, they're so versatile, you can use the smoke setting for BBQ, switch it to high for grilling, and just about anything in between.

One of our favorite things to do is to get a take and bake pizza, or make your own, and throw it on the Traeger like a normal oven and you've got wood fired pizza.

The grills have a fan in them to circulate the air/smoke so it works like a convection oven. Having said that, it means that the grills are damn near fool proof. You can put a steak in there on high and you really don't even need to flip it because of the convection action; it's really difficult to burn anything. The only reason to flip is for grill marks. Some say it may not get hot enough for grill marks, and may be the one con.

Smoking is pretty painless as well. And one more rave...it's the safest grill out there. No propane gas to worry about, no burning hot charcoal. For big briskets, I'll set it on there at midnight and am not afraid to let it go while I sleep the rest of the night.

I'm starting to sound like I'm Billy Mays for Trager grills, but they are, IMHO, worth the money spent.

Seems realllllllly expensive, and the fuel aint too cheap either.

I ended up just getting a weber.

I also have a Weber, I made the step back to an old run of the mill charcoal grill from a SS monster gas unit. I never could see why I would want to grill on gas over broiling in the oven. Charcoal / wood adds so much more flavor! At least these things use wood pellets so they should make things taste more exciting then a standard gas unit.

The chance of no grill marks would scare me away from it personally. Huge part of presentation when grilling. Plus it adds that extra "flavor".

Ya'll know I'm a fan of the Big Green Egg. It is pretty versatile from smoking, grilling, & even baking breads & pizzas.

Oh yeah, it gets hot enough for sear marks. Here's some T-Bones plopped on to sear each side for 60 seconds at 800 degrees.

The BGE is awesome, but also expensive.

I got a regular Weber grill and a WSM smoker for less than a BGE or Traeger.

Thanks Ed, that's one grilling tool that does make me jealous.

I also have a stand alone smoker, with that and the Weber I can do pretty much everything I want. I even grilled pizza on my Weber 2 nights ago.

One thing to remember is the BGE lifetime warranty. It will outlast several weber grills.

Your dad is looking at this one right?


She's So pretty!!

Traeger is the top of line grill. It is on another level compared to all other manufactured grills. It is worth every penny. Since I have had mine I have made the best chicken, brisket, ribs, hot wings that I have ever made in my life.....The fuel is a little spendy, but there are ways to get good deals on the Traeger pellets.

I'm looking to replace the ten-year old Patio Caddie that I bought when I got married. After some research, I think I'm going to end up with a char-griller from Lowe's. There's a model available with two grilling areas -- one's propane, the other is for charcoal/wood grilling. Even better, there's also a side firebox available for smoking.

The way I see it, with that unit, I can fire up the gas side for quickie dinner grilling and oven-like uses, use the charcoal side for steaks and chops when I have a little more time, or bbq away with the side firebox when I have even more time.

At ~$400 for the unit, the price is right, and there are a lot of decent reviews for the thing from the bbq intelligentsia.

Anybody want to talk me out of it? Sure, I'd love a BGE or Primo, but the $$$ are a problem for me.

jds said:

I'm looking to replace the ten-year old Patio Caddie that I bought when I got married. After some research, I think I'm going to end up with a char-griller from Lowe's. There's a model available with two grilling areas -- one's propane, the other is for charcoal/wood grilling. Even better, there's also a side firebox available for smoking.

The way I see it, with that unit, I can fire up the gas side for quickie dinner grilling and oven-like uses, use the charcoal side for steaks and chops when I have a little more time, or bbq away with the side firebox when I have even more time.

At ~$400 for the unit, the price is right, and there are a lot of decent reviews for the thing from the bbq intelligentsia.

Anybody want to talk me out of it? Sure, I'd love a BGE or Primo, but the $$$ are a problem for me.

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I had the Lowe's brand piece of crap SS grill. Bought it 3 or 4 years ago and Gave my son the old 10 year old Weber grill. After replacing the burners which seemed like every year and related gas valves and such I gave up . I used a charcoal grill until my son moved to an apartment and couldn't use the Weber .. I used it all last year then my wife bought me the Weber Summit 620 . The old Weber at 14 years old still works like the day I bought it.


To BBQ I have a Brinkman with a side wood box . BBQ can't be done correctly on gas

springer said:

I had the Lowe's brand piece of crap SS grill. Bought it 3 or 4 years ago and Gave my son the old 10 year old Weber grill...

To BBQ I have a Brinkman with a side wood box . BBQ can't be done correctly on gas

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I will not buy a stainless grill. We have stainless appliances, and they're a PITA to keep clean. The Lowe's-branded grills look pretty cheap to me too.

The Char-Griller unit seems pretty solidly built, for the price. I'm not sure if the duo grill (gas + charcoal) is available at Lowe's, or if I will have to go through Kroeger to get one. Char-griller doesn't sell the duo directly off their website.

Apologies for the threadjack, OP.

My dad has a Traeger. its nice..makes awesome steaks. he's done a few slower smokes on it too but I've only visited and had steaks with them.

too pricey for my blood though.

jds said:

I'm looking to replace the ten-year old Patio Caddie that I bought when I got married. After some research, I think I'm going to end up with a char-griller from Lowe's. There's a model available with two grilling areas -- one's propane, the other is for charcoal/wood grilling. Even better, there's also a side firebox available for smoking.

The way I see it, with that unit, I can fire up the gas side for quickie dinner grilling and oven-like uses, use the charcoal side for steaks and chops when I have a little more time, or bbq away with the side firebox when I have even more time.

At ~$400 for the unit, the price is right, and there are a lot of decent reviews for the thing from the bbq intelligentsia.

Anybody want to talk me out of it? Sure, I'd love a BGE or Primo, but the $$$ are a problem for me.

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When I got my Traeger it was a gift from my father so I already had a gas grill. I figured I would keep the gas grill and use it for burgers/dogs ...etc. But now I cant imagine a situation where I wouldn't use the Traeger. Its just better. My temps will get as high as 450 which is plenty hot to sear steak, seafood and chicken. You can cook pizzas in them; they are basically and outdoor oven. So, if you grill ALOT or spend a lot of time outdoors; you cant go wrong with a Traeger...for another $300 it is well worth it I guarantee it.

and by the way, you can find these grills for about $300 less than what they sell for on the web-site.

Bored at work and I just saw these so I figured I'd chime in. I got a Traeger for my birthday from my awsome GF and I love it. My favorite thing to do on it is pizza. Definatly worth the money in my book.

I would have to disagree.. i think the traeger is one of the biggest mistakes i ever made..
my old weber finally broke down, and i really wanted a traeger because of the reviews... i just wished people would have let me know of the things it cannot do like a regular charcoal grill..
brats suck
hotdogs, porksteaks etc are ok..
steaks are good though. same with anything smoked..

but for the bulk of the grilling/bbq-ing.. i will outcook this thing with a weber any day of the week for the simple reason you can't touch (kiss) the food with flames.
and brats is like eating shoe-soles.... tough as crap (and man, i love brats)

anyways.. for the price i could've bought a remaining life time of webers... and i'm only in my thirties..

and the papa murphy pizza is good yeah.. but not a reason for a $1000.- grill

I still dont understand why BGEs cost upwards of $1,000. Its just ceramic. Nothing exotic! Id buy one in a heartbeat at 400$ but not 1K.

If I had the money to spend or could find a good deal on a used one I would probably buy a Hasty Bake. Actually if I really had the money I would get a longhorn smoker with a vertical stack on the end. Chuckwagon smoker I guess they call it.



I'm sure the Treagers are great, but I have no desire to have to source out special fuel to run my grill/smoker. I'll stick with charcoal and wood.

MikeFlynn74 said:

I still dont understand why BGEs cost upwards of $1,000. Its just ceramic. Nothing exotic! Id buy one in a heartbeat at 400$ but not 1K.

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I saw one similar to the the BGE at Ace hardware that I could swear was made by Weber but I can't find it on their website and I can't remember the price for sure either. Maybe it had the tag from another grill on it that didn't belong.

welll...don't get me wrong.. the traeger is a nice piece of equipment. it's easy to light, does good at smoking, and i think the pellets cost about the same as charcoal, especially when used at lower temps.

but they are way overpriced i think.. and regular grilled/bbq'd food turns out better on a charcoal grill.

one reason i got it was for convenience.. just a flick of a switch and it's on..but better than gas. and then go inside to prep food while it's heating up.

dutch-brew said:

I would have to disagree.. i think the traeger is one of the biggest mistakes i ever made..
my old weber finally broke down, and i really wanted a traeger because of the reviews... i just wished people would have let me know of the things it cannot do like a regular charcoal grill..
brats suck
hotdogs, porksteaks etc are ok..
steaks are good though. same with anything smoked..

but for the bulk of the grilling/bbq-ing.. i will outcook this thing with a weber any day of the week for the simple reason you can't touch (kiss) the food with flames.
and brats is like eating shoe-soles.... tough as crap (and man, i love brats)

anyways.. for the price i could've bought a remaining life time of webers... and i'm only in my thirties..

and the papa murphy pizza is good yeah.. but not a reason for a $1000.- grill

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I cook brats all the time on my Traeger and they turn out great! Im not sure what you're doing wrong man, but everything is better in a traeger. I will say that the learning curve is very long...getting your temps right and prep down is definitely more difficult than a normal BBQ. I would suggest that you get the upgrade thermostat so that you can have more precise temperature control....I think the upgrade is about $170 (well worth considering what you have spent on the thing so far) Also, this is a very big help...If you like your brats a little charred, then cook them on the edges of the draining plate thingy It is much warmer in those areas....A lot of people claim that you should compliment your traeger with a normal grill so that you can char/sear your food if you like. But looking at my propane grill ....there is a plate that covers the flames....so, unless you have a fatty piece of meat like burgers or brats spewing oil all over then the flames never really "kiss" anyway. Plus, the traeger gets as hot if not hotter than a normal grill...my temp setting goes to 450...

yeah, i do that...put them on the edge but it just doesn't compare to regular charcoal with direct heat. hotdogs and polish sausage are the same problem.
and i poke the brats (peirce) with a fork like they say to keep the outside from getting tough.. but then the inside dries out.

i do also have the better controller. i would disagree with people having the second grill to "char" the food... that would be pointless wouldn't it? might jsut as well totally cook on it then

i hope it's a learning curve thing. but after almost a year i still can't see the end of the curve where did you learn the temps/times? i have a "cheat-sheet" from the place i bought it at, but that is not complete. any info would be appeciated

There is a traeger cook book that I got with my grill...I refer to that most times I cook

BobcatBrew said:

Plus, the traeger gets as hot if not hotter than a normal grill...my temp setting goes to 450...

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I have seen temps over 600° and climbing before shutting down some of the burners on my Webber s650. Rated at 60k BTU's with 6 burners ,nice smoker chamber that keeps the temp at 275° with some smoke all in all a great grill but I do BBQ on dedicated smoker.