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[rdsbucks]

My first pit was the little Traeger Junior Elite...like the Tailgater but without the tailgater legs. It was a gateway drug to the world of pellet smoking for me. I have a PG500 now. But I am curious with all these new pits--some even more affordable than my first little Traeger--are pits getting better or worse? Competition should make them better. What do you think?

[glitchy]

My opinion after playing with some of these is yea. Unless my financial situation were to drastically change, I would not take a Pit Boss for free. However, I know first hand Camp Chef makes decent affordable pits. Seeing others, I think Reqtec and Grilla are putting out decent products. I’m not sure if the Weber is a base grill by your definition, but with the updates it’s almost there. It’s my primary cooker by choice now and I’m strongly considering selling the Woodwind.

[Canadian John]

 I would say better. That is based on price. More included options or improvements for the same or a better price.. To keep up, a manufacturer has to either lower or match the price with a comparable product.

To get ahead, they must do one better in one or all of the following areas: Quality, Features, Price, Support, and to some degree, Dealers. 

[Bar-B-Lew]

I would say both.  There also seems to be a fair amount of pits out there now that are not very well built so I can't imagine how many shortcuts may have been taken on the electronics.  There are also a fair amount of "name" brands entering the game that are bringing out respectable grills in line with others that have been in their price point for 5-10 years.

I believe it was easier to buy a pellet grill 5-10 years ago if you were not experienced with cooking on one because there were not many to chose from.  I also believe that if you have experience in the last 3+ years using one or more pellet grills that now is a great time to be a buyer because there are many more brands, models, and options available than there ever was.

[02ebz06]

With more and more entering the market, my thought is they are getting worse.
They all do the same thing, so they have to be cheaper than the competitors if they want to sell their product.
That means, make them as cheap as you can.
I have a CampChef PGXL-Pro vertical smoker.
There is not one continuous weld bead in the entire smoker. The entire unit is just tack welded to hold it together.

Even upper end units are going down hill.
My Memphis Elite built-in was made in China and all have been since late 2019.
Quality isn't anywhere near as good as the Elite-built-in I had that was USA made.
Had I known they moved production to China before I ordered, I would have had to think long and hard before buying it.
Especially knowing it would be inferior and costing same price as the USA made one did.
Arrived DOA - Bad RTD.
The EMI filter in the control panel was installed backwards. 
Controller is flakey at times. This is 2nd one, still flakey. Old design (pre-wifi) was rock solid.
Only plus for the new controller is wi-fi, which I could take it or leave it. Use it because I have it, but wouldn't miss it...
Pellet ramp design was changed.
Now when pellets slide down, they have an air gap to jump to get to the other part of the ramp attached to the burn pot. Save metal I guess.
This lets many pellets fall into the ash tray.  1/2 cup or more for a 10-12 hr cook.
That's a lot of wasted pellets per bag, and per year unless you want to dig them out of the ash tray.
Also, there are slots in the ramp by the burn pot.
Have no idea why they are there. They just lets ash fall through and build up.
You have to partially disassemble ash pot to remove them.
A lot of the metal in the unit is lighter gauge.
I imaging the life expectancy won't be near the USA made one.

[MMike]

I often see 10 to 20 percent negative reviews for units made in China.I would buy American if I could afford it.

[dk117]

The woodwind I ate off of a month or two ago was higher quality than I expected.  and at 1/4 the cost of my Gator ... call me impressed.

The units I see at Home Depot, I agree with glitchy I wouldn't use them even if free. 

[02ebz06]

I often see 10 to 20 percent negative reviews for units made in China.I would buy American if I could afford it.

I'm with you on buy American if you can. Rather my money go to Americans.
Being cheap is the big attraction for Chinese made stuff.
Granted, affordability is an issue in many cases, but sometimes it is better to bite the bullet and buy the item rather that buying the inferior item over and over.
Drill bits comes to mind.  I got tired of buying them over and over ( a set is about $30) so I found a set of American made bits for $140  (I think).
Couldn't be happier.
In my experience, some products fine, but most are not.
Being cheap made me think of an article years ago the said Nike was paying Michael Jordan $80 million a year to advertise for them, while the women in Indonesia were making $1.79 (or so) a DAY to make the $100 shoes.
Something is just morally wrong there.

[SmokinHandyman]

My opinion after playing with some of these is yea. Unless my financial situation were to drastically change, I would not take a Pit Boss for free. However, I know first hand Camp Chef makes decent affordable pits. Seeing others, I think Reqtec and Grilla are putting out decent products. I’m not sure if the Weber is a base grill by your definition, but with the updates it’s almost there. It’s my primary cooker by choice now and I’m strongly considering selling the Woodwind.

You would not take a Pit Boss for free? It is made by Dansons.
How about the origin Danson made Louisiana?

[Conumdrum]

Yoder.  You know you want one. 

[glitchy]

My opinion after playing with some of these is yea. Unless my financial situation were to drastically change, I would not take a Pit Boss for free. However, I know first hand Camp Chef makes decent affordable pits. Seeing others, I think Reqtec and Grilla are putting out decent products. I’m not sure if the Weber is a base grill by your definition, but with the updates it’s almost there. It’s my primary cooker by choice now and I’m strongly considering selling the Woodwind.

You would not take a Pit Boss for free? It is made by Dansons.
How about the origin Danson made Louisiana?

Every time I’ve seen Pit Boss stuff in a store, I’ve been less than impressed. Broken display units, cheap appearance, etc. My brother bought one a few months ago, then started calling me to complain about it. He couldn’t get it to cook less than like 275 degrees and had multiple hot spots. Only Louisiana Grills I have seen were Costco. They did look better, but I’d buy a lot of others first once in those prices.

I know many people are using them and making great food, I’m just personally not impressed versus the competition.

[glitchy]

Yoder.  You know you want one.

I’ve still never seen a Yoder pellet grill in the flesh. If it’s built anything like their stick or charcoal smokers it would be a tank and I see why that appeals to people. I don’t know if it fits the OP’s target of base grill though. I’d call them a premium line.

[02ebz06]

Yoder and Blazin' "were" American Made.
I say "were" as it has been a few years since I looked at them, so no telling if they are now.
Both of my sons have had the Blazin' Grid-Iron's for about 9 years now and they are still truckin' along.
I think they have each replace the hot rod (igniter) and one replaced the controller, that is it.

[ylr]

I would say that since many Chinese companies are getting into the pellet smoker business. In order to be competitive, they have to cut a lot of corners, so I would say a new Pit Boss may not be built as well as my PB820 from almost six years ago. Having said that, there would be no way I would have gotten into pellet grilling if it wasn't for the cheap brands being available. I do think cheap pellet grills today are getting to be like the gassers of 10 years ago(and still the same today), where you could flex the lid with your hands!

[MMike]

The biggest concern I would have is buying a defective unit and not getting good customer service.