Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => Traeger => Topic started by: dshaffes on October 16, 2017, 11:30:58 PM
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I became a pellet owner this year and have a Traeger Pro 22. I have a lot of experience using Kamado's (BGE), Kettles (Weber - all sizes), Stick Burners (Custom), Bullets (WSM), Cabinets (Humphrey's) and use them all frequently. My Traeger has done nothing but reliably cook really great tasting food. On average it holds consistent temps and puffs out sweet smelling smoke.
Maybe I'm the exception, but I love cooking on it. Let me know your thoughts.
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They were the only game in town for a long time, and also the Standard. For me it was not a matter of dislike, I won two Grand Championships with mine. They just got passed over in technology and performance. They are starting to close that gap somewhat!
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My neighbor has a Traeger & I have a Memphis Elite. I cannot taste the difference in the food.
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I have had a love/hate relationship with my Tailgater. I haven't figured out how to do low and slow on it, so I use my GMG DB for that. When I'm cooking beef or pork low and slow for the girls and I, I'll use the Traeger for a couple of chicken breasts for the wife. 275 for an hour and they are perfect. And I've never ruined anything on it, unlike my old abandoned stick burner. I'm beginning to love it the more I use it, but still prefer the GMG.
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My issue stemmed from the lack of temperature control early on. That has been solved. I have ate a lot of great food off a Traeger. My father-in-laws has always grilled food much better than anything I have had.
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I use a Traeger and the cooker does just fine with anything I've tried. My main issue is that I paid much more for the Traeger than I d1d for a GMG DB. The DB sports a PID while it cost me an extra $200 to equip the Traeger with a similar controller (I was unhappy with the stock controller and the wide temperature swings).
At the end, I paid $300 more for the Traeger than the DB, and although the Traeger is an older model, it just feels lesser in quality than the GMG - kind of like the difference between a Yugo and a Toyota.
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I have a 2008 USA made 075 Texas which I love. The only thing I did was put an Ortech 100 controller in and I’m 100% satisfied with its performance both at home and competitions. It all depends on what a person is looking for ie PID’s, WiFi , ash dumps, pellet dumps and other things they have come up with. You have to be your own judge.
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I have a 2008 USA made 075 Texas which I love. The only thing I did was put an Ortech 100 controller in and I’m 100% satisfied with its performance both at home and competitions. It all depends on what a person is looking for ie PID’s, WiFi , ash dumps, pellet dumps and other things they have come up with. You have to be your own judge.
2009 China Made 075 Texas that I love here. Added Ortech. The main reason I haven't upgraded is that I can (ambient temps do play a factor) hold 130 to 275. Those are the display temps on the Ortech, but lower than other pits I've seen and read about.
Still can't quite justify an upgrade. I too over paid for my Traeger pz, but that was 7 and a half years ago. The Texas has more than made up for that initial mistake on my part.
DK
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I think you're not seeing the issues others have had to live with, because you have the Pro 22. (I have the Pro 34.) I had an issue with an air leak when it was new earlier this year, but Traeger was great in helping me resolve it. However, that said, It's possible the Traegers now being made in China has allowed the quality to slip some compared to USA-made pits. My guess is that the pro series, not withstanding my experience, is better-inspected than the cheaper models in their line. They also make a point of the Pro series having a better controller. So, the comparison between the *average* Traeger and other USA-made pits is not as favorable as comparing the pro to those same pits.
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After 3 months of fighting with my Jr Elite (and Traeger), I was ready to toss it of the 2 story balcony. >:(
The factory finally relented and sent me a new controller. It was a 'bit' better (swings went from 120+ degrees to more like 80-90). After another 6 months, things really settled down.
Was it the controller? Me? Required a good deal of break in? I've no idea, but it works well enough for me now.
I have limited room for a pit, and the only other one close to its size is the GMG Davy Crocket. The DC is hung way to low for putting on a deck. That's a no go for me.
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Thanks for the replies! I picked up a pork butt today and going to cook it up on the Traeger tomorrow.
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I had a Traeger Lil Tex Elite for years and I loved it, but I finally got tired of peeling paint and powder coat so I bought a FireCraft Q450 stainless steel grill for less than I originally paid for the Traeger.
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I think that Traeger sells a lot more grills than the other manufacturers as well so there are alot more people out there with issues than other manufacturers. When I was looking for mine I made sure to do my research which is why I also have a Pro 22. That thing is awesome. I can start cooks and go to bed without worrying about it.
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It finally hit me last night. I watch Misfit Garage, Gas Monkey, xxxx'n Rides, FantomWorks. All the car restoration shows for those of us that don't know jack about cars. This whole anti Traeger thing. It's just like MOPAR vs Ford or any other make for that matter.
MOPAR = Traeger. Original, ubiquitous, inter-operable, accessible. One can easily find a better vehicle, another brand. But it's impossible to dismiss (or diss) Traeger all together. The rest of the conversation is just emotion.
DK
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I am not qualified to reply but, oh well. I don't even own a pellet grill but there is one in my near future. Having burned out more charcoal grills than I care to remember I decided to either go with a ceramic or a pellet grill. I have since narrowed it to pellets. My issue with Traeger is the controller and the lack of a stainless option. If that were to change before I purchase a Memphis or Cookshack I'd reconsider.
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My first pit was a 2008 Traeger Lil Tex. Had a wonderful love/hate relationship with it. loved everything that came off of it! When it worked. Took a while to get it working right. When it did it made awesome meals! I won't own another one simply because they can't get as hot as others for grilling. So many others have much better technology
Went to the meat market today on one side of the store they had Traegers & the other were GMG's. Traegers today (IMHO Only) looked cheap & even though the temp controller has a couple outlets for meat probes, Its the same old controller that goes to 375 then HIGH.
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Might be an interesting poll to compare Traeger to the rest of the mix. But most folks won't remember the early Chevy models ,Biscayne, Bel Air and Impala. My Traeger is the Biscayne, no frills, gets the job done.
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Might be an interesting poll to compare Traeger to the rest of the mix. But most folks won't remember the early Chevy models ,Biscayne, Bel Air and Impala. My Traeger is the Biscayne, no frills, gets the job done.
Might be a bit off topic but the point remains the same. I do remember the Belair, Back in the day my Parents had a 66 Chevy Belair station wagon with a 283 V8 that was Ok. Got you there if it could get out of its own way. Today I have a Ford Explorer with a 281 (4.6L) V8 that's quite the opposite. Plenty of get up & go & easily pulls my 4.000 lb camper as its rated to pull 7.200 lbs. Progress moving forward over the years.
Some Pellet grill manufacturers have done the same. Moving forward adding Flame Zones, Wifi ETC. While others just put a new face on the same old technology. There's a saying in the salesman world, "There's an xxx for every chair" Whatever works for ya......All is good!
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I have 3 pellet cookers, my primary one is a homemade cooker out of a 55 gallon barrel and a Pellet Pro hopper assembly. The other two are Traegers, one is on a long term loan from a friend of mine, I have had it almost 3 years now, and the other is one that I bought used for a price I couldn't turn down.
While I prefer to cook on my home made one, possibly only because I made it, I have been very happy with my Traegers. With that said, if I were buying brand now I would consider other, higher end, cookers, but I certainly wouldn't rule Traeger out.
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Hey Scott,
How's the Pellet Pro PID controller? Fan only mode? What's the lowest temp you can maintain, I'm also here in the PNW and my Ortech will keep the fire lit WAY under 150. Most people don't believe me when I say running at 110 for hours is possible on a dreary day. I'm interested in the Pellet Pro for the fan only setting for Lox and Cheese. Otherwise happy with the Ortech.
DK
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Hey Scott,
How's the Pellet Pro PID controller? Fan only mode? What's the lowest temp you can maintain, I'm also here in the PNW and my Ortech will keep the fire lit WAY under 150. Most people don't believe me when I say running at 110 for hours is possible on a dreary day. I'm interested in the Pellet Pro for the fan only setting for Lox and Cheese. Otherwise happy with the Ortech.
DK
Actually, mine isn't the PID version, it wasn't out when I built the cooker. Like you though, I regularly run all of my cookers in that 110 to 120 range for hours on end with no real issues. The only think that really kills me is cold wind gusts. It's really just a matter of staying on top of the P settings.
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Partly just because they are the big guys. Partly because of the perception that quality has gone down over the years. Partly because they moved production from the US to China. Partly because they never made an effort to improve the grills or add new features. Partly because long time dealers felt screwed when they were undercut by internet dealers and even more so when Traeger began selling through Costco.
When it comes right down to it though, Traeger invented pellet grilling and their grills give you a lot of bang for the buck. I was quite happy with my Traeger, I've just moved on to something better.
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We bought a Traeger Texas Elite from Costco a couple weeks ago and returned it to purchase a different smoker. Why? The one we ended up purchasing had a better controller, bottom shelf for stability, and is stainless steel. These were all things we would have to upgrade on the Traeger so why not just buy a different smoker that has them all? My BIL loves his Traeger. Our son has a Camp Chef and GMG. All of them are fine. Just depends on what you want.
BTW, my husband bought a 1965 Bel Air in 1987, a year before we met. We still own the car and our youngest son bought a 1965 Bel Air a couple years ago. They will be in the family forever.
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I had no complaints about my Traegers. I was even considering a Timberline and likely would have gone that route if they had gone with some direct grilling option. Now, having experienced a Memphis there’s definitely at least two leagues to this game, but two totally different price classes too. I never paid retail for a Traeger, so they were cheaper than most others as well and served their purpose well.
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They were the only game in town for a long time, and also the Standard. For me it was not a matter of dislike, I won two Grand Championships with mine. They just got passed over in technology and performance. They are starting to close that gap somewhat!
I think Bentley hit the nail on the head. I think when Traeger's patent ran its course, others were waiting to pounce on the market with there own products which had their own tweaks to put themselves over the Traeger standard. Some jumped in with better materials, others with better controls, while others come in with a similar product at a lower price point, or some combination of these. I think Traeger is adjusting to the competition now. I love(d) my Traeger and it produced some great food for years.
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Traeger also has better brand recognition and a marketing budget that is unmatched in the industry (Those infomercials are running 24x7 right now on DirecTV channel 225.)
I agree with the consensus here. Traeger hit a low spot 6 plus years ago when the market exploded with competition. They'll be just fine, they are slowly retooling their lineup.
Those good pelletfans here are considered aficionados. As such Traeger becomes almost an eye roller to their sophistication. I can see both sides, but I've had a good run with my Traeger.
DK
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Biggest gripe I have with traeger is the lack of a true PID.
They’ve been updating their product lines so I don’t know why they resist making the commitment to getting a top of the line PID.
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PID is a better temperature controller, very stable.
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PID is a better temperature controller, very stable.
Does it make for more smoke and/or better results?
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Does it make for more smoke and/or better results?
That's been my question for quite sometime now. It seems that most folks just want better control. I've sampled from Memphis, GMG and Rec-Tec and did not get blown away over what I do on my Traeger. The + or minus 5 degrees looks great on a graph, but what does it really bring to the cook?
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The guy that got me into pellet smokers has a traeger and he is one xxxx of a cook. My first was a gmg dc and that thing puts out awesome food. Build quality is considerably better than any traeger I’ve handled but some of that perception may be due to its small size.
My newest addition is a Yoder. I know I can get good food off a traeger but honestly they are pretty darned expensive and just don’t feel like quality. At $800 it needs to not only cook good it needs to look and feel good to use. I went Yoder and just looking at it makes me smile.
With the traeger it feels like $50 in stamped tin and a $20 dial controller set on top of a wobbly cart that couldn’t possibly have been made any less sturdy. The gap in build quality between an $800 traeger and a $1200 Yoder is waaaay more than $400.
In short the traegers look and feel wildly overpriced. Wait for gmg to do their Black Friday deals and get a nicer built smoker for a bit more than half the price of the traegers. Heck if gmg were in Home Depot I’d bet they would outsell traeger 10-1.
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Traegers, Why do many dislike them?
there are several reasons for this
first is the Traeger Owners.
with Traeger being the most popular pellet grill in existence (xxxx, they sell them in Costco), they have the most pellet grill owners (and many of them being new owners). This means you get the most "Rookie" mistakes/questions being constantly repeated in any social group, and some find this frustrating
another reason,
Build Quality
Traegers used to be built here in the US (Mt Angel, Oregon I believe) they were physically heavier then the current Chinese made ones
as well as with the total number of units they produce, you will see a lot of complaints (even if they are a small percentage of units)
many people believe that Traeger spent too much time living on their reputation (being the first and only brand of pellet grill widely available) and not staying innovative (this seems to be changing)
since Traeger made a unique product (10-20 years ago), they didn't have a lot of competition
now that there are many many pellet grill producers around, there is lots of competition for the consumer's hard earned money. this is encouraging pellet grill producers to come up with better and more innovative products (factory PID controllers, stainless steel parts, etc...)
lastly,
Hater's gonna Hate
they hate us because they ain't us
(https://goo.gl/images/cWEvFM)
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I own three Traegers. The first pellet grill I ever owned, bought new from Costco , a Traeger Junior. The second, a Traeger Texas ( Chinese made, 2010 vintage ), that I bought used at a reasonable price. The third is a PTG that I bought used for dirt cheap ( $50). The Junior has wild temperature swings, when trying to cook bellow 225F on a summer day, sometimes the fire will go out and then keep feeding pellets into a firepot with no flame ( flameout ). Even at 225F on up toward 250F, temperature swings are +/- 30F or worse. The Texas has similar issues, but does maintain 225F more consistently , still +/-25F is not uncommon. The PTG has auger tube fires on a regular basis, and is more or less too small too cook anything lager than a half a chicken on.
In short, while my Traeger grills have served me reasonably well, they are NOT very good grills for temperature control and at worse the flameout issues are darn near a good enough reason to just take them to the scrap yard. Unless I were to see some major design improvements and see real users clearly stating that the major temperature swings were gone, I will likely not ever buy another Traeger. I think they sat on the name recognition for far too long, and have been too slow in improving their product line. Other less expensive grills are available today that work as good or better than many of the outdated Traeger line up.
So, that's my love/hate relationship with my Traegers in a nutshell.
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So, that's my love/hate relationship with my Traegers in a nutshell.
Looks like I responded a few times at the onset of this thread in 2017. I finally did upgrade. It wasn't due to performance. I have similar performance now on the Gator, but I have double the capacity and ... every time I go to Home Depot and Costco I cannot help myself but to go look at the Traeger display, often times with the sales guy there to answer questions. The metal is so flimsy. Frankly I believe Traeger performance will be fine (I don't direct sear) but longevity of the Traeger is what finally did me in. I had replaced just about every part that can be replaced and was about to replace my lid when I realized I'd just about bought myself a new pit $$$. I still have my Texas and plan to keep it. Ultimately Traeger was the best purchase of my cooking life, but Traeger doesn't stand for high end or quality or longevity.
There it is a bunch of contradictory love/hate feelings.
DK
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Lil Tex was my initial pit. Worked well, but was a little flimsy in construction. Agree they started the whole thing but as stated above, they let the industry pass them up. There are several manufacturers that make similar units for a lot less money as well. I used mine for 2 years, passed it on to my son who used it two more. It never failed, but the temps were erratic because of the controller. They are in the process of building more advanced units but I feel their prices are not competitive.