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[jdmessner]

My small Pit Boss died a while ago. Tomorrow I am looking at driving down to Holland and pulling the trigger on a Grilla Grill Chimp as a replacement. It seems to be very well built and a little more grilling space than the GMG Davy Crockett/Trek.

If you go to the showroom they have their scratch and dents for a few bucks less. Each comes with a two year warranty  They have two Chimps available now, one with wifi and a stainless steel shelf for $550; or one with no shelf and no wifi for $400. I know they are phasing out the grills without wifi. It isn't something that I ever really figured I needed, but you don't miss what you never had.

Just curious if there is a consensus on whether or not the upgrade is worth it. Thanks in advance for your help.

[02ebz06]

My small Pit Boss died a while ago. Tomorrow I am looking at driving down to Holland and pulling the trigger on a Grilla Grill Chimp as a replacement. It seems to be very well built and a little more grilling space than the GMG Davy Crockett/Trek.

If you go to the showroom they have their scratch and dents for a few bucks less. Each comes with a two year warranty  They have two Chimps available now, one with wifi and a stainless steel shelf for $550; or one with no shelf and no wifi for $400. I know they are phasing out the grills without wifi. It isn't something that I ever really figured I needed, but you don't miss what you never had.

Just curious if there is a consensus on whether or not the upgrade is worth it. Thanks in advance for your help.

I have no experience with either grill, but I do agree with you that "you don't miss what you never had".
I was perfectly happy with my Memphis built-in with no WIFI at previous house.
At this house my Memphis built-in has the WIFI.
It is nice to be able to adjust temp without going outside.
But the downside for me is this WIFI is a PITA. Works about half the time, maybe a little more.

Not saying you will have problems, especially since it a different company, but just letting you what I've had.
 

[Bar-B-Lew]

I had to replace my MAK controller a few years ago because the LED crystals had wore out and I couldn't see what the temp settings were, etc.  I upgraded to the wifi and wish I had not spent the money.  I can't tell you the last time that I used the feature.  I also have not cooked near as much on my pellet grills as I have in the past few years either.  Ultimately, I felt it was more of a hassle to connect the grill to wifi than it was to just set the grill temp manually.  I would put the $150 into buying more food, or a Thermoworks Signals or some other nice probe thermometer system.

[BigDave83]

My GMG DC, has wifi. I use it occasionally, mostly for checking temps if I use the probe, adjusting temps, and to turn it off if I had a higher temp cook. I will lower the temp and allow it to come down then just turn it off in the app if I am not close to it or are in the middle of something.

It is nice I guess, but that is the only cooker I have that has it. So I am used to just going to the grill to do what needs done. I would be more inclined to get more excited over a front shelf I think. Depending on the cost of their front shelf would tell me if I bought the WIFI model.

[urnmor]

I am not a fan of wifi for cooking as I prefer to be very close to the food I am cooking.  I am afraid if I had wifi I would venture out and run errands ect. 

[yorkdude]

Save your money. To us it has never been a big deal and the 2 we have with it really are a PITA to use. Lew got it, buy more eats.

[Bentley]

Never got into Wifi cooking on either DB.

[Hank D Thoreau]

I am all in on Wifi for both my smoker and my thermometers. I use the wifi to monitor and adjust temperatures during the cooking process.

I use ambient thermometers near the meat rather than relying on the thermometer in the smoker. There is a pretty sizable difference.

As an example, I have mentioned that my approach for cooking beef chucks is to take the meat to an IT of about 210 and hold there for 1 to 2 hours.

I have to diddle with the temperature setting of the smoker to find the sweat spot where each chuck gets to the correct temperature and I am able to hold.

It is more complicated since usually my two chucks are at least 10 degrees apart.

The other aspect to consider is that with proper instrumentation, you can cook without opening the lid, except, perhaps to wrap. I seldom spray any more.

I set temperature probes on my wifi Thermoworks Signals, and make adjustments to get the ambient temperature profile that I want using the wifi controls on the smoker.

It is much nicer when I can do that from inside my house while I am doing my daily guitar practice (which is usually a few hours a day).

[reubenray]

I have never used wifi on my smokers mainly because I have never had dependable wifi for it.  If or when I ever get Starlink maybe I will try it.

[Brushpopper]

When I got my GMG DB the controller was bad so I decided to go with the WiFi model replacement.  I didn't like it much and always thought I should have saved the money and got a regular one.  I always set the temp based on my Maverick thermometer and not the controller reading, which was always off by several degrees.

[pmillen]

I, too, have a minority opinion.  I have a couple of cookers with WiFi.  They work fine and give me a chance to monitor and adjust as needed from inside the house.

That said, I still look out the door every few minutes and often walk out there because I'm sensitive to the possibility of a fire.

[jgrayson]

I too am in the minority camp in favor of using WiFi on my smoker.  I am now on my second smoker with a WiFi controller.  The first one was a FireCraft unit.  When the original FireCraft controller failed (this became a theme in the FireCraft channel), I replaced it with a WiFi controller from RecTec.  My current smoker is a Yoder with the WiFi controller.

I found both WiFi controllers to be reliable.  Both were easy to setup and connect to my smartphone.  My smartphone is an older iPhone, so I don't know if people having trouble are on Android phones. 

I like the WiFi controllers because of the reliability.  I had used several remote thermometers (Maverick, iGrill, and another one I'm blanking on the manufacturer).  These other ones had trouble transmitting from my back yard to the kitchen counter.  I think the total distance was only 20 - 25 feet, but it had to go through the exterior wall of the house.  I don't have this problem with WiFi.  I use the app on the phone to monitor temperature, and I feel more mobile while cooking now, so I have done things like leave the house for an hour or two during cooks and felt ok being away because I could check temperatures, or set alarms for conditions.

[SmokinHandyman]

I have no need for wifi

[Hank D Thoreau]

I think that a key factor in whether you would find value in wifi is how you cook.

Some folks like to sit in the patio and drink a beer with their buddies while they bbq or smoke. The experience is part of the joy of smoking.

You don't really need wifi if being out with the smoker is part of your process.

In my case, I use it to cook. There is no experience involved. My backyard is my kitchen all year around and for a majority of my meals.

If you are just cooking then it is a matter of how it fits in with the rest of your life. Do you want to keep checking the smoker or do other things while just checking status and making adjustment on your phone?

This is why so many folks are happy with their choice. It matches their personal needs. There is no best answer that works for everyone.

For me, I think if I was sitting out with my smoker I would be more likely to use actual wood rather than pellets. That would give me something to do since I am not good at sitting.

[1MoreFord]

I'm in the Wifi camp.  What I wanted came with Wifi and I didn't know if I'd like it or not but after a rough start and installing a Wifi extender I've been very happy.  It's nice to be able to remotely monitor the cook temps and it's saved me from a flame out or two when trying to cook low for maximum smoke flavor.

ETA - I forgot to mention it's nice to be able to change temps once I do an hour or two at  low temps to get all the smoke flavor I can and then bump the temp to finish the cook without going out into the cold or heat.  Yeah, I like my comforts.