I still wonder if you put a finer mesh screen in the fire pot if that would keep larger embers from falling through a maybe slow down the start of a grease fire.

Baby Back Maniac is returning his to Lowe’s, he hates it.  Grease fire, pellet hopper issues, heat distribution stinks, sounds like mine will not even get out of the box.  Should have waited a week to order.

First time using Amazon return policy, so far pretty easy.

Note to self, remember to remove $90 stainless grates before returning grill!

A few things bother me about this grill/smoker. 

 1..The hopper is in the back which is OK Rec Tec's are as well yet no problems with their's and folks are talking using some sort of lube?  Why should you need to add lube to a hopper?   The slant is not enough to get the pellets to slide that's an easy fix.

 2.. The grease has no where to go but down into ash an with all the ash I have been seeing left behind it's a wonder no one's house has been burned to the ground. 

..Simple fix is to place a grease tray so it drians the grease into the pan not hard to do I have a few ideas on that (which I assure you they won't take to heart)

 3.. Get rid of the flame tamers design they have and go with an update flater design that's tilted to remove the grease towards the grease tray and not the ashes (what we're they thinking?)

 4..  Go with a removeable center grate that can be set in for searing (many pellet grills have them) and are inexpensive to make but again not their idea so out the door i'm sure that goes

 5..  Go with or find a better controller, seems the one they are using is falty or does not understand the inputs your asking for whem dialing up the temps

I could go on but it would be redundant of me to say     Get me a unit I'll fix it!!!!     

Harry Soo had better luck.  He cooks hotter and finishes the brisket and butt in the oven.  Still not exactly a ringing endorsement, and he tap dances around any outright criticism which makes me question his objectivity, but perhaps you can get good results safely if you are willing to adjust your methods.  Personally, I don't think I could ever fully trust it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALNnTwN2Kak

I think Weber is one of, Harry's sponsors, might be a little cautious to criticize.

Harry Soo had better luck.  He cooks hotter and finishes the brisket and butt in the oven.

That's to be expected.  I don't see any grease fire videos when grilling at high temperatures unless there's been a grease build-up from a previous low/slow cook.

It appears to work just okay as a wood-fired grill with short-duration cooks (there's the uneven heat, but uneven heat is fairly common on gas, charcoal and pellet grills).  It won't be an acceptable smoker until the grease management and pellet bridging problems are resolved.

IMO after limited experience, this SmokeFire works exceptionally well for a pellet grill as a higher heat grill. It also cooks well Low and Slow if you can avoid the fires. I've been struggling to make up my mind all week on how to proceed and have decided that I'm going to return it all weekend. The main reason is the hopper feed issues. I've had several grills that I really couldn't go much more than 8-10 hours, but the cavity issues combined with the feeding issues seem to allow this to happen at any time and interval no matter how full or empty the hopper is. When I combine that with the grease fire risk, xxxxxx mobile app and functionality, and challenge it is to clean, it's not the right grill for me.

My disclaimer is, if Weber fixes the feed issues (or maybe just removes the screen and lubes the ramp), this could be a pretty good cooker when grease pans are used on low and slow. The smoke output seems pretty amazing on higher heat especially. Grillers vs low and slower are going to love the SmokeFire.

My disclaimer is, if Weber fixes the feed issues (or maybe just removes the screen and lubes the ramp), this could be a pretty good cooker when grease pans are used on low and slow. The smoke output seems pretty amazing on higher heat especially. Grillers vs low and slower are going to love the SmokeFire.

Should be relatively easy for them to resolve the hopper issue with a minor redesign. 

I did notice in Harry's video that ash might be an issue too. 

I was at Lowes Sunday and found they had one sitting on the floor so I looked it over (To the dismay of my better half  )  Anyway it was not the quality I expected 

The lid felt weak and flimsy which I did not expect.  Not solid like a RecTec or a MAK but felt cheap and the flame tamers (why in a pellet grill?) did not seem to be all that great of metal either

I reall wonder what Weber was thinking when they designed it

I was at Lowes Sunday and found they had one sitting on the floor so I looked it over (To the dismay of my better half  )  Anyway it was not the quality I expected 

The lid felt weak and flimsy which I did not expect.  Not solid like a RecTec or a MAK but felt cheap and the flame tamers (why in a pellet grill?) did not seem to be all that great of metal either

I reall wonder what Weber was thinking when they designed it

I just returned from Lowe's They have both models in stock.  I examined the 24 in. and found is to be structurally OK.  The lid is not heavy gauge, but is well supported by the metal struts that are anchored to it inside. It is apparent to me that the hopper needs to be re-engineered.  the long side is not steep enough as was observed. Also, I would get rid of the flavor bars and put a drip pan inside with a container in one end.  Could be a bucket, or drawer-I would prefer the bucket as it is easier to deal with. (Ball jar with lid inside). Main thing is to get the grease to flow away from the fire pit area.  I think the slotted bottom fire pit is ok, but I would make the ash pan a sealed in area so that embers could not escape. I would center the hopper across the back with equally steep sides (like RT 700), and  make it wider enough to hold the desired amount of pellets (20+ lbs). Also put the auger assembly smack dab in the middle of the bottom (of the hopper) with no offset. I see no need for the "seeing eye" to let you know about low pellets.  It is easy enough to keep an eye on the pellet level IMO. I always try to make sure that there are enough pellets on board to do the whole cook I am planning.I have no comments on the wifi or controls since they were not able to be evaluated in the store. But after Glitchy's report, I would not purchase this pit until those changes (or others) were made.   

The thing that gets me about running out of pellets is that most grills consume about a pound of pellets per hour running at 250°-275°.  Most grills have 20# hoppers.  Who leaves their grill unattended for a 20 hour cook?  I am in agreement that the pellet alarm is a wasteful feature and unnecessary.  Now, all that being said, your pellet grill needs to be designed to ensure that the pellets continue to flow from the hopper to the auger without any funnels or whatever else you want to call that phenomenon when they do not.

Supposedly, Weber already has a couple fixes in the works and/or going out. Lots of people are talking about a revision F auger assembly, that supposedly has something to do with uneven temps and maybe some of the feed issues. They also claim to have a hopper insert shipping soon to change the ramp angle and keep pellets flowing better.

It will be interesting to see if anything is developed to help the grease and ash accumulation in the bottom.

I do still think the SmokeFire produces amazing results food wise, but for me the hassle of the cleaning is not a fair trade off for that effort. Feels like you are going to be scraping the whole thing down every time or two that you use it. I want a pellet grill for the convenience and much prefer to change a piece of foil and vacuum up the ash versus scraping and scraping.

I'm still following the SmokeFire some and things seem to be calming down. I'm guessing the hopper inserts are fixing a lot of the feed problems. I also think Amazon is selling more aluminum foil pans than ever before

I'm strongly considering getting another one to replace my gas grill. I don't like the cleaning of it, but thinking if I use it almost solely as a high temp grill I might really like it. It cooks a pretty good steak and bakes pizzas pretty effortlessly. Running only at high temps would probably make cleaning less frequent and easier too.