Why did You buy a Traeger?

[BigDog]

There are a big number of pellet grills on the market today so why did you buy a Traeger?

Thanks

 

[RayClem]

Yes, there are plenty of competitors in various price ranges. If your budget will allow purchasing one of the premium stainless grills, then do that. You really need to decide what you want your grill to do and then purchase whatever brand or model that best meets those needs.

If you read the threads here, you will find that almost everyone has more than one grill. No single outdoor appliance will do everything well. In my case, I have the Ironwood 885 and an older gas grill. The gas grill gets hotter than the Traeger, so it is better for cooking hotdogs, burgers, and searing steaks. I also have a Sous Vide circulator in the kitchen. Sometimes I cook steaks on the Traeger and then reverse sear them in a carbon steel pan on my gas stove.

Other have offset smokers, Kamado type charcoal grills, etc. People will use which ever cooking method is most appropriate for the task at hand. Most disappointments with Traeger grills come when people purchase one assuming that it will replace every other cooking method; it simply cannot do that. If you think of it as a wood pellet fired convection oven, then you will not be mislead.

 

[CMTiger]

Mine was a gift so I don’t know if I had started the shopping process myself I’d have landed on Traeger, but I’m happy with it.

 

[ctufieldops]

Yes, there are plenty of competitors in various price ranges. If your budget will allow purchasing one of the premium stainless grills, then do that. You really need to decide what you want your grill to do and then purchase whatever brand or model that best meets those needs.

If you read the threads here, you will find that almost everyone has more than one grill. No single outdoor appliance will do everything well. In my case, I have the Ironwood 885 and an older gas grill. The gas grill gets hotter than the Traeger, so it is better for cooking hotdogs, burgers, and searing steaks. I also have a Sous Vide circulator in the kitchen. Sometimes I cook steaks on the Traeger and then reverse sear them in a carbon steel pan on my gas stove.

Other have offset smokers, Kamado type charcoal grills, etc. People will use which ever cooking method is most appropriate for the task at hand. Most disappointments with Traeger grills come when people purchase one assuming that it will replace every other cooking method; it simply cannot do that. If you think of it as a wood pellet fired convection oven, then you will not be mislead.

Absolutely true here, I purchased mine thinking it was combo smoker and grill. It falls short of a "grill" in that it cannot easily create a crust (maillard reaction to proteins).

 

[Murphy's Law]

Mine was a gift so I don’t know if I had started the shopping process myself I’d have landed on Traeger, but I’m happy with it.

Exact same answer here.

 

[Timmy]

I started smoking in 2014 on a chargrill offset I put together. Overnight cooks sucked because the fire needed attended over night. In 2019 I saw an older Traeger in action, I was around do most of the cook. It was awesome didn’t have to tend the fire. “Just set it and forget it” was way cool. And the food tasted pretty damn good. The wife even liked it. So I got one for fathers day 2020. It didn’t work like the one I saw previously at all. Temps all over the place, it took 4 hrs to cook chicken drumsticks on the 4th of July that year. So I called Traeger cs. They sent a new rtd, a month later it came, and I installed it. Grill still didn’t work correctly. So I called again, did a video chat and they said it needed a new controller. Wtf really? So the sent a new one, 3 weeks late it came I installed it. It worked 100percent better but the actual grill temp was lower than the set temp by almost 20 degrees. So I called Traeger, they said it’s within parameters. I said BS. They wouldn’t do anymore. It took 9 hrs of phone calls and 3 to 4 months to get to this point. So I googled it, found this forum, found some awesome ppl and advice. I bought a fireboard2 and now I can say without hesitation I love my Traeger, and I can cook the shit out of anything on it.

 

[Torstenlaw]

As stated before, most of us have more than 1 grill, so the Traeger is a great tool. Yes, the smoke flavor is lacking if you're coming from a charcoal grill, but there is a way to compensate for that. Yes, you need a 3rd party temp gauge, but it does work very well when I'm sleeping! I still love my traeger.

 

[BigDog]

I am in line with RayClem I currently use a Weber propane grill for high heat items. I am looking for a pellet grill for low and slow cooks including pork ribs, pork butt, chicken, turkey and eventually whole brisket when I get the nerve.

 

[Slimpicker]

so why did you buy a Traeger?

Because Jesus told me to...

 

[Timmy]

I started smoking in 2014 on a chargrill offset I put together. Overnight cooks sucked because the fire needed attended over night. In 2019 I saw an older Traeger in action, I was around do most of the cook. It was awesome didn’t have to tend the fire. “Just set it and forget it” was way cool. And the food tasted pretty damn good. The wife even liked it. So I got one for fathers day 2020. It didn’t work like the one I saw previously at all. Temps all over the place, it took 4 hrs to cook chicken drumsticks on the 4th of July that year. So I called Traeger cs. They sent a new rtd, a month later it came, and I installed it. Grill still didn’t work correctly. So I called again, did a video chat and they said it needed a new controller. Wtf really? So the sent a new one, 3 weeks late it came I installed it. It worked 100percent better but the actual grill temp was lower than the set temp by almost 20 degrees. So I called Traeger, they said it’s within parameters. I said BS. They wouldn’t do anymore. It took 9 hrs of phone calls and 3 to 4 months to get to this point. So I googled it, found this forum, found some awesome ppl and advice. I bought a fireboard2 and now I can say without hesitation I love my Traeger, and I can cook the shit out of anything on it.

I forgot to add I have a 28” Blackstone, a Chargriller gas grill and an reverse flow offset and a portable Weber kettle.

 

[Shedd]

Thank goodness I was given my Pro 780 because knowing what I know now, I will never buy a pellet grill of any kind. My egg will out smoke it and definitely outlast it, my Webber gas grill out grills it, then my 36” Blackstone griddle and the oven in my house is convection and air fryer. I’m still going to continue to experiment more but those dang pellets are expensive compared to a bag of lump or lp gas. But I’ve made a commitment to my good friend that gave me mine and wants me to see what I think after giving it a good chance. Everyone is different and different strokes for different folks! I respect everyone and appreciate the way folks contribute to this forum.

 

[YYCRed]

I used to use a cheap electric (Masterbuilt) smoker that my wife bought me as a gift to see if we would actually use and like smoking. It lasted for several years before things started to not work, so I started looking for a replacement. I wanted something that would be better at maintaining temperature and had more cooking area (hard to do an 18-pound brisket in that little box I had).

I had friends that had Traegers and others that had Bradleys, and they were all happy with theirs so that's where I focused. The Bradley was still a fairly small box, so my preference was Traeger at this point. Once I decided on the style, I looked at others, including Yoder of course, but there was one small thing that was the final straw for me going with the Timberline: the hidden grease bucket. My dog was far too comfortable with pulling out the trap on my old smoker that I knew I couldn't go with an exposed bucket. That might sound like a weak excuse but cleaning up after my dog ingested that much grease wasn't fun.

Does it do everything I wanted? Nope. I have had to keep my gas grill as even with grill grates, I don't really like the way the Traeger cooks steaks/burgers. Does it provide enough smoke flavor? Nope, but a cheap smoke tube helps with that. And I can now cook in virtually any temperature - I did a couple briskets a few weeks ago when it was -25C (13 below F) with no issues. Used a bit more pellets than on a warm day, but it worked out really well.

That's just my story. I won't tell you which smoker/grill is best for you, but good luck if you are looking for one.

 

[MidwestSmoker]

I have used Weber grills for many years and really loved how long they lasted. I also liked the fact that because they were so common, parts are accessories were widely available. When looking for a pellet grill, I was looking for the equivalent of a Weber and I think Traegers come closest to fitting the bill.

In that sense my Pro 575 is ideal. It is robustly built and parts and accessories are widely available (I just replaced my firepot with a third party stainless steel one and it fit perfectly). Once I got my FireBoard probes and smoke tubes, the cooks excellent and predictable. My only regret is not having bought the larger Pro 780.

 

[BobbyQ]

I had a generic bullet smoker that bit the dust when a tree branch fell on it. I started looking for a replacement by doing an internet search and came up on a list of pellet grills including Traeger and Weber. The Ace salesman said Weber was having problems (first generation) so I went with Traeger.

 

[HHI6818]

i was looking at Traeger but held off because of the cost. I received and email from work 2 years ago congratulating me on my 40’th work anniversary and a link to chose something. Shock to see Traeger Ironwood 650 smoker. Pain in the rear to get it connected to wifi and then Trager blew them up when they pushed software update to it. Its an okay smoker