WOW! Sounds like a lot of fidgeting me.

WOW! Sounds like a lot of fidgeting me.

My controller doesn't have the presets so I've not taken advantage of that feature but I think it takes longer to explain it than it does to use it and the explanation appears more complex than it really is.

WOW! Sounds like a lot of fidgeting me.

Nah, once you get it set the way you like it, you don't need to change it really...   Other then I do change it a bit as the seasons change, you don't have to, but for me, the ability to tweak these settings, is one of the key reasons I bought a PG500, it's not the only reason, but if it had a standard controller, or a PID controller, I am not sure I would have taken the plunge of buying it.  After having it, I really would never want a grill with less ability to tweak things to my own personal desires.

It appears there's been a change somewhere along the line as there are now 4 ranges that can be set:

170°-300°F, HHt default is 050
305°-400°F, HHt default is 080
405°-500°F, HHt default is 100
505°-600°F, HHt default is 130

For my PG1000, I found that a HHt of 050 was too much when cooking at 200°.  030 worked much better with a swing of only ±7°, pretty dang awesome in my book.  I've left LHt alone as it works fine.

Does the new 4 range controller allow it to save the HHt you set?  The reason I ask is that I was reading a manual written for the new controller, and I "thought" it said that it would not save changes.  Seemed to be odd when I read it, given the prior version with 3 ranges allowed you to save changes to settings.

Yep, it absolutely does save the settings.  I read the manual and had a similar impression.  My manufacture date is 19-Apr-18.

Nice, then having a 4th range is perhaps a bit more flexibility to have it perform like you want over more distinct ranges.

FWIW..I just bought a PG500 (built in June 2018) a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that the controller does indeed save the HHT setting from your last cook. I was not expecting that but nice to have.

Interesting that they changed it again.    I'm not sure I'd get much , with the forth temperature range.      For me, there are basically typically three ways I use my PG500... one is cooking somewhere between 170 and 280F, with 225F to 265F being the most commonly used sub set of that.

 I almost never use my grill set above 500F.   I find that if I set the grill to 500F, the direct searing area will be 800F easily.  This with a HHT of just 60.    Anymore, I never run my grill above HHT 75...  except maybe if I was trying to direct grill in the winter. 

  So, the other range I uses is about 350F... oh, that's not a range.   Well when I cook chicken, I do it with the grill set to around 285F, that will get my upper shelf area about 330F, which is the temperature I like for chicken.   

  If I make a pizza, I might run the grill set to 500F, have HHT set to 55, the upper shelf will easily hit 650F on a nice day when set like this.


  Anyway, it is interesting they added a fourth temperature range.