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[Hank D Thoreau]

I have a wifi enabled GMG Daniel Boone and am very happy with it. I especially like the wifi controls that make it easy to cook during the day while I work. I can pretty much set it and forget it.

The Daniel Boone is a fairly low cost grill manufactured in China. I would consider it feature rich, especially for the price.

There are some grills that are very expensive, in the thousands of dollars.

My question is, what do you get in feature, function and performance, with higher price grills?

How do the feature, function and performance changes translate into ease of cooking and final product quality?

I imagine if I had a higher end grill that rather than reverse sear on my Weber Q2100, I could do it on the same grill.

Knowing that, I can decide whether that is important to me based on the cost.

Temperature control may be better but how does that materially impact the quality of the food?

[glitchy]

I had the same though process as you about a year ago and ended up trying what you suggested. While you can reverse sear on a Memphis, the risk of a big grease fire is very big unless you catch any drippings in a pan (which can limit your cooking capacity). If you just let the drippings flow as normal, a good amount of fat, grease sits on the drip tray and side walls at smoking temps, then liquifies when you raise the temp suddenly spreading 'fuel' all through the grill en mass.

I would say the more expensive grills are like comparing an everyday day with a luxury car. They are built better, have a few extra features, and look much nicer. A lot of them will last 2-3 times as long because they are stainless and/or heavier gauge steel. A lot will run hotter and recover quicker for better 'grilling'. With the double wall insulation I can cook a brisket overnight in an Iowa winter and only use about 20 lbs of pellets. If it's clean, I can grill steaks, burgers, chops instead of just smoking food. The design of the Memphis in particular, really keeps more ash away from the food and cooks much cleaner than my old Traegers and GMG ever did. However, better grilling is about the only function it does that creates end results that didn't taste the same as food from my old Traegers or GMG.

At this point though, I ended up buying another Traeger to have with the Memphis so I can best use the limitations of both when cooking and have had both going at the same time several times already. I might suggest that if you decide to get a higher end grill and can afford it, keep the GMG until you're certain you won't use it as well.

[Canadian John]

 Durable, long lasting and in some cases, higher temperatures . My Memphis Pro is by far the easiest grill to clean I have encountered..Heats to 650º quickly... Double walled to preserve heat. Uses fewer pellets. Maintains temperature in the cold and recovers fast. Auto restart. Auto shut down (not timed). I can go on....It took me a lot to convince myself too buy the Pro..Would I do it again? Absolutely. I'll have it for many more years with far less maintaining than brand"x"..In the end it's less expensive and more enjoyable..To each their own.   

[Hank D Thoreau]

I am very happy with my Daniel Boone and am not interested in replacing it at this time, though at some point I may outgrow it or have to replace it.

What brought the question to mind is that I am a competition archer and it is recognized that the gear can out perform the archer.

You can't buy more points but you can certainly spend a lot more money.

I was wondering whether it was similar with grills.

Living in Southern California probably makes my requirements more easy to meet since I do not have to deal with very cold temperatures.

Also, I have no problem using my Weber Q2100 gas or my two Weber kettles to do the grilling. I just need something that I can smoke with or use as a convection oven.

My Daniel Boone is mostly for low and slow cooking or something that I want a smoke flavor in.

Doing a brisket on a Weber kettle is what convinced me to get a smoker. I needed something more suitable for the job. The brisket was fine but it took a lot of work.

[triplebq]

I have a "higher price" smoker, Cookshack FEC-120. To me what makes it worth the money is:

1. It is stainless steel so no rusting
2. It is insulated so I can cook no matter what the weather is
3. The size of the unit. I do large cooks so having a unit where I can cook 4-6 briskets is a must
4. The unit is built for commercial use so I don't think I can wear it out (well I haven't yet)
5. The unit has an offset fire box with a fan that pushes the air over the meat where it exits from the bottom of the pit. I tend to get some pretty even temps
5. Simple to use and simple to clean
6. I like the product that it produces

My only complaint. It isn't a rotisserie unit. I don't need a rotisserie but I want one 

[rdsbucks]

I have a PG 500. More expensive but still under $2K. Stainless steel so it lasts...but SS also shows every stain. I still think its a check on the more expensive side. The incredible design of the PG 500/1000 means grilling is never a problem as well as smoking. I have never come close to having a grease fire. In fact, I have given up my gasser as the grill side is enough for me to make 12 burgers at once or about 4-6 steaks. And the smoker works so well. Temp change is minimal. Firepot is easy to access for clean up. The thing that is the most different is the quality of the build. Everything is rock solid. Doors, drawers close perfectly and evenly. The unit doesn't flex or ever feel cheap like my old Traeger did. I have had the Traeger, a Pit Barrel Cooker and now the Cookshack. I love it and could not be happier. It's the only outdoor cooking unit I have.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I have 5 different ones and I can say you couldn't taste the difference of what comes off of any of them.  And, I'm too tired to repeat my story of why I have all of them.  I am sure it is on here somewhere.

[Bentley]

Many new units out there in the last 5 years that I have not kept abreast of, but I believe your 1st statement to be very true.

You would get higher temperature & less temperature fluctuation on something like the Memphis, you would get outstanding wood fire grilling experience in say a PG 1000/500...

Not sure they offer a higher ease...

I dont care for the reverse sear so I don't use the technique, but set at 500°, I never had an issue searing meat on my DB...

The Daniel Boone is a fairly low cost grill manufactured in China. I would consider it feature rich, especially for the price.

My question is, what do you get in feature, function and performance, with higher price grills?

How do the feature, function and performance changes translate into ease of cooking and final product quality?

I imagine if I had a higher end grill that rather than reverse sear on my Weber Q2100, I could do it on the same grill.

[Trooper]

Well as the little lady says -

You get what you pay for
   and
      you pay for what you get.


I have learned this.  A better quality grill (from a manufacturing standpoint) will cost you more dough
but it won't necessarily make you a better cook.

[pmillen]

I have learned this.  A better quality grill (from a manufacturing standpoint) will cost you more dough but it won't necessarily make you a better cook.

So true.  Giving me a world class calculator won't make me a mathematician and TaylorMade® golf clubs won't get me onto the PGA Tour.

(But I'm still thinking that a $147K Holland & Holland shotgun will improve my shooting.)   

[LowSlowJoe]

I can really only speak for the PG-500

You don't get easier to use...  You don't get extremely close temperature control ( although you can get it within about +/-7F if you want ). 

Close temperature control ( better than +/- 25F ) is really not going to actually make your food any better IMHO...   anyone insisting that you need +/- 2 or 3 F to cook good food has never actually measured what their home oven swings are. ( Not likely any better than +/- 25F ).

 
What you get with the PG-500  .   Very well built stainless steel grill , with a patented design that really truly cooks like no other pellet grill  that doesn't use this design.   You get a reasonably customizable controller, for people like me who enjoy the ability to tweak it's parameters, it's really nice , ( but you also don't really need to tweak it yourself ).   You also get  probably the most versatile pellet grill on the market.  I've smoked bacon at 145F in the winter, by tweaking controller parameters and such... and I've measured the direct grilling surface at over 1100F.  I've cooked pizza at around 800F on the upper shelf...  I don't have time to tell you all the things I love about the PG-500, but I can tell you, out of 7 pellet grills I've owned, it's the ONLY one that I would buy a replacement for immediately if it ever got stolen or something like that.

[Yellow-03]

At this point I am an all Cookshack household.  I have an FEC-100 and a PG500, and use both regularly.  As others have said the PG500 is awesome for high heat grilling, plus at the same time you have several heating areas to choose from if you want cooler temps.  This makes it really easy to get quick grill marks on burgers and cook most of the way, then move off the high heat to wait for a couple more degrees in internal temps without worry of burning on the high heat, or to melt cheese while you grill the buns on the high heat.  It makes crazy good pizza.  I run it up to about 550F set temp, with a stone in the top right, so that area is generally closer to 600F.  I then use my standard neapolitan dough and just take a few more minutes to cook it than in my pizza oven (which runs at 900+F).  Has a different crust texture than when cooked full neapolitan, but is really good if you don't want the pressure of watching/rotating a pizza cooking in 90 secs in the pizza oven.  I tend to do all long smokes in the FEC-100, and shorter smokes or high heat grilling in the PG500.  For instance, I do salmon or trout or pork tenderloin or burgers/steaks in the PG500, but ribs, pork butt, brisket in the FEC-100.  Not that the PG-500 couldn't do all of these things, I just have the convenience and capacity of both units at this point.