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.

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 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!

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.

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

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.

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.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

PID is a better temperature controller, very stable.

PID is a better temperature controller, very stable.

Does it make for more smoke and/or better results?

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?