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[Jstocks]

I'd like to have one unit. I'm used to grilling on indirect gas grill. I like the cookshack pg500, but I'm not opposed to yoder ys480 or ys640 or mak 1 star.

I want to be able to grill steaks, chicken, and wild game.
I'd like to learn to smoke ribs, pork, and brisket.

I'd like to have a made in the USA unit that is dependable and has good customer support.

I mainly cook for my family that consist of me, wife, 3 small children. Occasionally visited by parents.

Right now I'm leaning towards the pg500 because I think it fits my style for what I know how to cook and gives me the option to learn how to cook using a smoker.

Thoughts from some of you guys who had to start somewhere similar?

[Bobitis]

I'm not similar at this stage of life as it's just me. Being a condo dweller, deck space is at a premium as well.
Back in the day, knowing what I know now, I'd opt for the PG500. In the 5 years I've been pelleting, I don't recall ever hearing a bad review of the Pg units.

Most folks are brandaholics so you have a LOT of research to do. Seeing in person is always a good thing. Like any other electro mechanical device, stuff can and will happen. Customer service should be a focal point in your search as well.

Good Luck!

[GatorDave]

Well, as far as American made goes, there is Blaz'n Grill Works, Pitts and Spitts, Memphis Pellet Grills, MAK pellet grills, Gator Pits of Texas, Yoder, Cookshack, and Woodmaster.  I'm sure there are more, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

[Bentley]

My vote and a pretty good answer below!

Right now I'm leaning towards the pg500 because I think it fits my style for what I know how to cook and gives me the option to learn how to cook using a smoker.

[Bar-B-Lew]

My vote and a pretty good answer below!

Right now I'm leaning towards the pg500 because I think it fits my style for what I know how to cook and gives me the option to learn how to cook using a smoker.

I have never used a pg500 but it seems like a little harder to use controller than most of the simple set the temp controllers.  I could very well be wrong about that but that is my impression.  It would be interested to get user feedback on what really is different to learn about that controller than regular set the temp controllers.

[GatorDave]

I finally decided against the PG500 because that whole zone thing was confusing me.  I didn't want to have to figure out what temp each zone was for my cooking.  That's my preference.  People who are used to cooking different things at different temps at the same time love it.

[rdsbucks]

Well I don't think the zones are that confusing.  Most smokers, especially ones with multiple levels have "zones"...areas of greater or lesser heat. Just use zones 1 and 2 primarily and see zones 3 and 4 as cooler versions of the zone below them. Everyone that has one says it's not that hard. And with almost any pit you still have to learn the hot/cold spots.

[pmillen]

My PG-500 was delivered 1-4-13.  It's the only pellet unit I've cooked on.  I’ve eaten food from a Traeger twice.

Here are my opinions–
•  It's amazingly well-made.  It's high-quality stainless steel—a huge improvement over the flimsy low-quality stainless steel grills sold in big box stores.  It's heavy though—I could barely get it off of the pallet and needed help getting it up one step and over thresholds.  That makes it somewhat difficult for me to move.
•  It’s one of the few pits that allow users to control the amount of smoke produced at any given temperature setting.  This was especially important to me because a common complaint from pellet pit users is that the smoke taste isn’t strong enough.  (Many pellet pit owners use smoke tubes and such to add smoke flavor.) 
•  The controller instructions for adjusting smoke output are imposing.  It isn’t difficult and becomes second nature after a little experience.  It’s a small learning curve. 
•  There aren't many dealers, so potential buyers are limited in their ability to see or cook on one before buying.
•  The beautiful stainless steel has a downside.  It shows the inevitable drippings and stains.
•  The doors that open like cargo doors take a bit of getting used to.  When open they seem to hold heat in better than a roll-top.  They also hold smoke in so it's often hard to see into the pit.
•  The flat top blocks light, making it difficult, sometimes, to see inside.  I found a useful auxiliary light.  Some people wear a headlamp.
•  I think the optional front shelf is necessary but items may block the swinging doors.
•  I still, after five years, haven't perfected grilling over the flame zone.  The steaks, chops, burgers and the like are not bad, they just don't taste as well as items grilled over charcoal.  Other users say it produces "best ever" meat.  I suspect that I just prefer the charcoal flavor.
•  I think that quite a bit of pellet ash and unburned pellet dust blows around inside the pit.  I think this is true of many units.  Some users will say that the ash is captured when the interior seasons and becomes a bit sticky/greasy.  The seasoning in my pit has never been soft enough to capture fine particles—it’s hard and shiny, a bit like that on a cast iron frying pan.
•  There are definite temperature variances in the four pit zones (five zones if you count the useful warming drawer).  It's done on purpose and a number of users have become adept at using them to simultaneously cook foods at different temperatures.  I maintain temperature notes that I use for multiple-zone cooking.
•  On my unit the flame zone came with cast iron grates.  They rusted.  I believe that the extremely hot temperature there burned the seasoning off.  I opted for the $60 stainless steel grates.  Not everyone has a rust problem, so my rusty grates were obviously due to pilot error.
•  It doesn't have remote, WiFi or Bluetooth capability.
•  The flat top will be about the same temperature as the interior, so don’t put things up there unless you want to warm them.  I melted my power cord on it.
•  I don't read about many pit failures or other complaints.
•  I loved the pellet hopper emptying door until I (1) quit switching pellet flavors so often and (2) bought a Home Depot Buckethead vacuum that snaps onto their orange buckets.  Now I just store the pellets in the bucket they are vacuumed into.

[GatorDave]

My PG-500 was delivered 1-4-13.  It's the only pellet unit I've cooked on.  I’ve eaten food from a Traeger twice.

Here are my opinions–
•  It's amazingly well-made.  It's high-quality stainless steel—a huge improvement over the flimsy low-quality stainless steel grills sold in big box stores.  It's heavy though—I could barely get it off of the pallet and needed help getting it up one step and over thresholds.  That makes it somewhat difficult for me to move.

•  I still, after five years, haven't perfected grilling over the flame zone.  The steaks, chops, burgers and the like are not bad, they just don't taste as well as items grilled over charcoal.  Other users say it produces "best ever" meat.  I suspect that I just prefer the charcoal flavor.

I have seen this pit in person, and it is really pretty.  It is a fantastically built unit.  If I could have handled the different zone thing, I would have bought it long ago.  As it is, my destiny lies in a different direction.


Have you tried those Charblend pellets.  It's basically hardwood charcoal mixed into the pellet.  That might give you the flavor profile you are looking for.

[Bentley]

I found the HHT and LHT pretty quick to learn in the Performance Test!  The zones never bothered me. And I loved the doors, no disrespect ment to the 1000, but I like the 500 just for the doors!

Now for the $32 question, would you buy it again?

Here are my opinions–
•  It's amazingly well-made.
•  The controller instructions for adjusting smoke output are imposing.  It isn’t difficult and becomes second nature after a little experience.  It’s a small learning curve. 
•  The doors that open like cargo doors take a bit of getting used to.  When open they seem to hold heat in better than a roll-top.

[slaga]

Having never cooked on a PG500, it is exactly what I want. The controller is super simple to understand, at least to me. The user picks the minimum fuel rate and the maximum fuel rate and every 15 seconds the controller dumps fuel at one or the other, depending on whether it is above or below the set temp. One can dial in a minimal temp swing by making the LLT and HHT really close or create more temp swing, and arguably more smoke, by increasing the distance between the LLT and the HHT.  If you want a constant flame size for grilling, the user picks the maximum fuel rate he/she desires and picks a temp really high and the flame will be constant at the HHT setting.

You can cook to the very edge of the grates so the size of the grate is the space you can cook on, unlike most pellet grills where you have to stay a couple inches inside the the drip pan to cook fairly evenly.

[urnmor]

There are a lot of great Pellet grills out there.   A number of them are made in America and provide great customer service.  I have the MAX 2 Star General and have had it going on six years.  The build (I leave it on my uncovered back deck all year) is great as is their customer service. Also you want a grill that will last.
One thing you want to consider is size.  You are cooking for a fairly large family especially when you include friends. So be sure you buy one large enough to cook your BBQ. 

Learning to BBQ is not that difficult, especially with the controllers and temperature probes that are available.  Although there are many factors that are important when BBQing two of the most important are time an temp.  Always leave your self sufficient time as one pork butt or brisket may take longer then another.  As to temp I don't get to hung up on it but you want a fairly consistent temperature.  Once you learn the time and temps you want to cook at the grill will do the rest for you.  As to taste that depends IMO a lot on how you prep your food.

Good luck on your choice and happy BBQing

[LowSlowJoe]

To me, the PG500 continues to be, more or less the ideal pellet grill for my purposes.

Now, that doesn't stop me from collecting others.   I own 6 total now, once had a 7th.

  Only thing I wish I had on my PG500 is WiFi.  Well, if I were wishing, or doing the controller myself, I'd make it a little easier to adjust the LHT and HHT settings.

 The way the controller works, is pure genius if you ask me, if I ever do build my own controller, I will build in the same type of setup.  One of the reasons I don't like my other grills quite as much as I like my PG500, is they don't have any real ability to adjust the feed rate manually.  Now, I love to be able to tweak the LHT and HHT settings, to some degree I understand how others may find them confusing, but I think they are great , and once you understand the concept , it's actually pretty straight forward. 

  One thing about the PG500 that is often overlooked, is how easy it is to clean the firepot.  I can clean the firepot in about 1 minute... I remove the 10x18" direct cooking grate ( 10 seconds ), I remove the heat deflector ( 5 seconds), then either vacuum the firepot, or use a spoon to scoop out any excessive amount of ash... ( 30 seconds or less ), then reinstall those two parts I removed earlier.     

   On traditional pellet grills, the drip tray has to be removed to clean under it... and because it's main intention is to help grease flow out of the grill, it's always greasy and dirty, not to mention it's relatively large and sometimes awkward to get out and back in...  The one thing I dislike the most about traditional pellet grills,  removing the drip tray to clean...

  Anyway if I could only own one pellet grill, it absolutely would be the PG500.

  FYI - I love the way the doors open. Some people see it as disadvantage somehow, but in all honesty, it took like 5 minutes to get used to them , and now I see them as a major asset rather than any kind of negative.

[Jstocks]

I've pretty much decided on the pg500. As soon as I get moved to the new house I'll probably place the order. I didn't want to deliver it here and then have to move it.
Hopefully this place sells soon so I can get moved.