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[Jakester]

I will be getting myself a pellet smoker in the near Guthrie, had it narrowed down to Rec Tex RT-700 or Yoder YS640 but came across a Louisiana LG1100 for $400 on Craigslist. I know it is no where near the Yoder but might be close to the Rec Tec?

[Free Mr. Tony]

I would say it's comparable to the original rec tec.  The new stainless rec tecs may be a step up. Some components of the rec tec are probably a bit nicer than the louisiana, but definitely comparable. 400 is a steal. There were some controller settings than turned people off to some of the LG units. Guessing if the original owner was having issues, they could be fixed with a few settings.

[silverbullet]

I bought a LG800 Elite about a month ago & have put it to some pretty good use. In the past I've owned a Traeger & a few GMG's. So far this is what I've found, The temps across the grate are very close, Its pretty rock solid on holding its set temps. Cook's evenly without having to rotate your food. I REALLY like the flame zone for cooking steaks, chops etc. Down side is the small hoppers, Louisiana does make an extension for the LG1000. Personally I wouldn't buy another pellet grill without a flame zone. Check to make sure the Rec Tec & Yoder have this feature. If your looking to by new & like the stainless. Check out Louisiana's LG 800 Elite.

https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=1760.0

[wyd]

I have had my LG900 for almost 2 years now and I really enjoy grilling on it.  I'm glad I went with it overall.  I like the short auger and fire box as I think that is a much better setup than grills with long augers and the fire box in the center of the grill.  I also liked the updated digital display setup on the LG better than some of the other pits I looked at.  Overall I think its been a very nice grill for the money.

[Ross77]

Do you need a hopper extension?  14lbs seems small for that size of smoker.

[Fire708]

I bought a hopper extension but only need it if I’m doing a brisket, whole. My last brisket I split and didn’t go through a full 14lbs. A bigger hopper would be nice but overall I like my CS.

[wyd]

I bought a hopper extension but only need it if I’m doing a brisket, whole. My last brisket I split and didn’t go through a full 14lbs. A bigger hopper would be nice but overall I like my CS.

I also have the hopper extension but like already mentioned I only use it for really long cooks like for brisket or Boston butts.  Normally most of my grilling is 6 hours or less at 225 to 275 so I don't use the extension much but it is a nice option to have if I do.

[TravlinMan]

I will be getting myself a pellet smoker in the near Guthrie, had it narrowed down to Rec Tex RT-700 or Yoder YS640 but came across a Louisiana LG1100 for $400 on Craigslist. I know it is no where near the Yoder but might be close to the Rec Tec?

Depends on the controller.  The newer ones have a blue display and a ‘G.2’ embossed on the bottom right of the controller.  This generation is the most recent that I am aware of, and is the most ‘tunable’ if needed.

Overall they are a solid unit..  and the 1100 is a big unit, and for 400..  if it works, a good price..

[RanrocSmoker]

I will be getting myself a pellet smoker in the near Guthrie, had it narrowed down to Rec Tex RT-700 or Yoder YS640 but came across a Louisiana LG1100 for $400 on Craigslist. I know it is no where near the Yoder but might be close to the Rec Tec?

Depends on the controller.  The newer ones have a blue display and a ‘G.2’ embossed on the bottom right of the controller.  This generation is the most recent that I am aware of, and is the most ‘tunable’ if needed.

Overall they are a solid unit..  and the 1100 is a big unit, and for 400..  if it works, a good price..

Does anyone know if the newer controllers are the Roanoke PIDs? Looks like it from the pics on the website.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TravlinMan]

The newer 'G.2' controllers seem to be most stable.

The earlier ones were not quite dialed in, but for those which had issues, they are able to be 'reprogrammed' on site, adjusting a few parameters to stabilize the units temperatures.

Overall, they are a very good unit..

[rdsbucks]

I am curious about the new Estate series...anyone know about these? The LG ESTATE 860BI is a built-in. The LG ESTATE 860C is a free standing grill. Both are stainless steel.

[ScottE]

I have a CS-450 with the previous generation smart controller and I haven't been very happy with it. It's a decent grill, but in my opinion a terrible smoker - I have to use a smoker tube to get any smoke output at all. I thought the powder coated metal would last, but it's already pretty rusty after 3 years (and it's even covered most of the time). I recently picked up a CampChef XT for less than 1/2 of what I paid for the CS-450 and I got back the smoke output that I expected. Granted, the CampChef doesn't grill like the CS/LG - but if I have to choose, I'll take low temp smoke output over high temps. Anyway, that's just my experience with the CS-450.

Note I've spent many hours trying different controller settings - I got some useful programming information documenting all the variables - I've managed to improve things over the factory settings, but a lot of effort and I still haven't ever been able to get the level of smoke output I expected - at least the kind of smoke I want, getting black acrid smoke is pretty easy.

Our 15 year old Traeger and the new CampChef have old-school controllers. The CS-450 uses a PID controller. I'm pretty convinced that PID is not the way to go for smokers and hinders smoke output by keeping the fire running super efficiently and consistently. I don't know how other PID controllers with a "smoke" setting work better - my experience with PID controlled pellet smokers/grills is limited to the CS-450 which does not have a "smoke" setting.

Anyway, sorry if this sounds negative, but that's just been my experience. And to be fair, I'm about to fire up the CS-450 for dinner right now because we're at the particular property that has that pellet grill. :-)

[Yellow-03]

Hi ScottE,

You indicate "I got some useful programming information documenting all the variables".  Can you post that info please?  I know a few variables, such as the (B) low temp, (C) high temp, and (J) initial target temp, but there are so many for which I don't know what they do.  There was a post on that other forum which listed all the variables and their purpose for a Roanoke controller, on which this one is based I think, but the variables clearly aren't the same.

Thanks!

[wyd]

An update on my LG900 that I have now had for 4 plus years now.  It has been working great with no real problems.  Only thing I have had is a little paint bubbling were my cover was worn out and letting water in.  For the bubbling paint I simply pealed off the bad area and then took my dremel tool with a small wire brush to take the little bit of loose paint and rust off.  I wiped it clean and then I simply used high temp grill paint and painted the area.  I looked so good I then painted most of the grill and it looks as good as new or actually better.  I didn't need to do the whole thing but I wanted it to all match because I'm just anal like that and the can of paint was less than $4 bucks so my grill looks like new for pennies.

I have since moved to a new place so now my grill are back to sitting on a covered porch and get very little rain and direct sun on them so the cover will last even longer and the LG will stay even nicer overall.  After 3 1/2 years I did buy a new grill cover from Louisiana Pellet so now it's good to go.  Overall I have a good LG900 with zero problems.  I will say at the time I bought mine it was at a small mom and pop dealer and not some box store like Costco as I personally think the quality wasn't as good on the box store ones even if they were suppose to be the same I think they're a little different. 

[okie smokie]

An update on my LG900 that I have now had for 4 plus years now.  It has been working great with no real problems.  Only thing I have had is a little paint bubbling were my cover was worn out and letting water in.  For the bubbling paint I simply pealed off the bad area and then took my dremel tool with a small wire brush to take the little bit of loose paint and rust off.  I wiped it clean and then I simply used high temp grill paint and painted the area.  I looked so good I then painted most of the grill and it looks as good as new or actually better.  I didn't need to do the whole thing but I wanted it to all match because I'm just anal like that and the can of paint was less than $4 bucks so my grill looks like new for pennies.

I have since moved to a new place so now my grill are back to sitting on a covered porch and get very little rain and direct sun on them so the cover will last even longer and the LG will stay even nicer overall.  After 3 1/2 years I did buy a new grill cover from Louisiana Pellet so now it's good to go.  Overall I have a good LG900 with zero problems.  I will say at the time I bought mine it was at a small mom and pop dealer and not some box store like Costco as I personally think the quality wasn't as good on the box store ones even if they were suppose to be the same I think they're a little different.

I looked carefully at the 900 at Costco. I thought it was well constructed and finished.  My main concern was that Danson has poor customer service according to owners, and there have been component failures reported. That does not mean that the units are not good, just means customer service leaves a lot to be desired by those who have tried to use it. I personally like the pellet drop and the direct grilling. You also get a lot for the money compared to Traeger, and others.  For me the 700 is the right size.