The pellet smoker is a must for those people who just love their food cooked with an essence of a smoked taste about it.
But which one is going to do the job for you?
Let’s have a look into some, shall we…
Don’t Buy a Pellet Smoker Grill Without Asking These Questions
I can crank this to 450 outside and since there’s convection taking place from hot air moving from here to here it’s kind of like a giant air fryer.
And the wi-fi enabled pellet smoker is the first and only value proposition to finally break me.
The first couple of questions you’ve got to ask are obvious first what’s your budget?
These are expensive machines but more and more budget options keep popping into the market.
This pellet smoker may be flimsy less durable and made overseas but I don’t think it does you any good for me to talk about my preference for build quality and longevity as if nobody out there wants to prioritize price over everything.
Also include the cost of a grill cover in your budget these machines are full of electronic components and they should not be subjected to the elements the way that an offset smoker made out of an oil tank can be.
Does One Size Fit All?
You should consider the cover non-negotiable next to what size you really need as you might assume that bigger is always better.
Since you can cook more food on a bigger pellet grill but that also means that it’s going to take longer to heat up.
And… you will use more fuel.
Then you might need to choose a size that’s small enough to fit on your deck patio or balcony and large enough to hold whatever your biggest cook will be.
Whether that’s a 14-pound brisket or two dozen burger patties this one never gets talked about.
The Camp Chef came in a standard box with assembly instructions.
You will need basic tools and several spare hours to put it together.
The assembly process is mostly straightforward with a couple of painfully fiddly parts that can drive you crazy for 15 minutes at a time.
The pits and spits came 90 per cent assembled inside of a box that box had big text on it that said high-value items inside.
So, how much will you be moving your grill around?
You’re never going to load any of these up into a pickup truck and take it to a different location.
But… will you be moving it around your yard.
You can store yours under the patio and then wheel it out into the open before startup the Yoder has big beefy wheels on it.
But they are hard to steer and it can be hard to get a grip good enough to navigate accurately.
The camp chef has wheels and a built-in handle but can attach the handles yourself during assembly, so the two little wimpy bolts with which it’s attached do not inspire much confidence.
You feel like it might pop off while handling it…
When it comes to manoeuvrability, the pits and spits are unmatched with their robust grippy handles.
If space is at a premium though you might not like these rods affecting your grill’s footprint I don’t even know why these are called pellet grills.
Especially when smoking seems to be their primary function but you need to ask yourself if you plan on smoking food and grilling it.
All of the brands even the cheap ones can smoke food at relatively low temperatures like 275 but grilling demands temperatures far beyond that.
And not all of them can do it the camp chef gets around to this limitation by offering an optional propane-powered burner on the side.
You can buy little attachments to turn this into a grill a griddle or a regular stove it’s easy to dunk on a cheeky workaround design choice.
The Yoder and the pits and spits both offer these diffuser plates with little trap doors in them.
Once you open that up the flame can lift all the way up onto the grates for grilling instead of evenly diffusing over the metal for smoking.
You can crank these up to the max if you like.
Kind of expected to be a little underwhelmed by their grilling potential but the heat that comes out of them is downright scary at times… so 10 out of 10.
You should ask yourself how much effort are you willing to exert to maintain your grill…
Now be realistic here…
Because it’s important both the pits and spits and the Yoder are made with heavy unmoving parts think about just the diffuser plate.
The job is to evenly distribute the heat from below so the heavier the better that does, however, mean that to clean the ash.
And you will need to let everything cool, take off the grates remove the diffuser plate and then shop vac all the ashes out.
Do you even have a shop vac?
If not, add that to your budget or prepare to bust out a little hand groom every once in a while.
You won’t have to empty the ash very often but it is something to keep in mind the camshaft is made out of cheap lightweight parts.
So they’re able to offer this little lever that scrapes the ash out you just grip it and slide it over and all the ash falls out into a collection cup.
Very convenient also if you care about the appearance of your grill.
Prepare to clean the exterior often for these two stainless steel options that are pretty easy but this super cool matte black powder-coated look is not as easy to keep spotless.
There can also be an optional stainless steel piece at the mouth where most of the grease strips are.
All the more reason to set your budget first before you become familiar with all of the optional upgrades.
A couple of less important rapid-fire questions to round us out…
Do you care about how bright and detailed the LCD screen is?
Do you need to be able to adjust the smoke levels and the temperature levels independently from each other?
Or do you just want to set the temp like an oven and be done with it?
Will you take pride in knowing that your pellet smoker purchase is handmade and supports American craftspeople?
Do you live in a place where it’s cold enough to determine whether you need 14 gauge steel or the extra beefy 12 gauge variety?
I ask all of these questions because I found that these are the questions that matter the most.
I know what it’s like to purchase a new camera.
You don’t wish that experience on my enemies you try to find the so-called best one, but there’s always a model with a superior viewfinder or shutter speed or low light performance.
And… by the time you learn about whether or not that even matters to you.
You conclude that any of the paralyzingly plentiful choices will be lacking in some facet that last week did not even matter to you in the slightest
No one of these products is objectively the best the way I see it.
The camp chef is like a non-stick pan not made to last but quite nimble and cheap enough to get light users into the hobby the fancy screen and dial are totally intuitive and the grilling capabilities are.
While not for everyone, are technically there.
The Smoker Brands
The Yoder is like a high-end cast iron pan.
It’s heavy it’s solid and it’s got a commanding aesthetic that fits a certain lifestyle a pride of ownership that makes the effort of upkeep worth it.
They are a reputable brand that offers so many options and add-ons that you’d be guaranteed to be in good company as an owner.
With the barbecue dream boat, Chef Tom the pits and spits smoker is like a carbon steel pan made to last a little easier to maintain and sure to get you nods of respect from people who are in the know about a niche product.
The design of the pellet smoker lid means that it opens with more ease than you would expect and everything is fully welded so you are never going to lose a screw while messing with it.
Well…
We have gone through a few hits coming to the Pellet Smoker. They all have their good points and bad.
You need to prioritise what is best, or you could say most suited to you really.