{"id":37,"date":"2020-05-27T19:17:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T19:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ManScouts.com\/?p=37"},"modified":"2020-06-15T11:50:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T17:50:01","slug":"buying-a-traeger-grill-is-it-worth-paying-for-the-name-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ManScouts.com\/buying-a-traeger-grill-is-it-worth-paying-for-the-name-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying a Traeger Grill: Is it worth paying for the name brand?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When it comes to pellet grills, Traeger has been the big name for many years. But in recent times, we’ve seen the rise of some newcomers to the pellet grill game and they’re making some big waves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that begs the question, are Traeger pellet grills any better than the other brands on the market today? Are Traegers really worth their high price?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When compared to brands like Green Mountain Grills, Z Grills, Pit Boss, and Camp Chef, it’s hard to justify the high price of a Traeger pellet grill. Comparing features, temperature control, and even the cooking area, these brands all perform at least as well as a comparable Traeger, and usually at a substantial discount.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now let’s take each of these criteria for how Traeger pellet smokers compare to these other brands to help you decide which grill is the right choice for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Size<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to how much meat you can smoke on a pellet grill for the price, the Traeger doesn’t even come close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took 5 of the most popular brands of pellet grills, all of which I have owned and used a lot, and just ran some numbers. Based on most of the available models for each brand, the table below shows the average price you’re paying per square inch of cooking space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand<\/strong><\/td>Average Price per Square Inch<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Traeger<\/td>$1.48<\/td><\/tr>
Pit Boss<\/td>$0.53<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Grills<\/td>$1.27<\/td><\/tr>
Z Grills<\/td>$0.79<\/td><\/tr>
Camp Chef<\/td>$0.82<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
This includes total smoking area on all cooking grates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Are these numbers as shocking to you as they are to me? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we assume that all else is equal (not actually true, I know) then you’d be paying almost 3x as much for the same cooking space on a Traeger as you’d pay for a Pit Boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there’s no way that it can be that bad for all Traeger grills, right? Let’s look at each of these grills individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traeger Grill Lineup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Grill Name<\/strong><\/td>Total Cooking Space<\/strong><\/td>Price<\/strong><\/td>Price per
sq in<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Tailgater<\/td>300 sq in<\/td>$449.99<\/td>$1.50<\/td><\/tr>
Pro 22<\/td>572 sq in<\/td>$599.99<\/td>$1.05<\/td><\/tr>
Pro 34<\/td>884 sq in<\/td>$699.99<\/td>$0.79<\/td><\/tr>
Pro 575<\/td>572 sq in<\/td>$799.99<\/td>$1.40<\/td><\/tr>
Pro 780<\/td>780 sq in<\/td>$999.99<\/td>$1.28<\/td><\/tr>
Ironwood 650<\/td>650 sq in<\/td>$1199.99<\/td>$1.85<\/td><\/tr>
Ironwood 885<\/td>885 sq in<\/td>$1499.99<\/td>$1.69<\/td><\/tr>
Timberline 850<\/td>850 sq in<\/td>$1799.99<\/td>$2.12<\/td><\/tr>
Timberline 1300<\/td>1300 sq in<\/td>$1999.99<\/td>$1.54<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
For a detailed list of features and comparison of the Traeger Grill lineup, check out their 2020 Grill Comparison cheat sheet available here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wow, so it’s not the same for all Traeger grills! Some are much worse. And that’s not even accounting for the caveats in this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Timberline grills, that cooking surface is based on 3 tiers of racks. For comparison, the Austin XL has a total cooking surface area of about 1,000 square inches. But the main grill is 663 square inches as measured by me, whereas the main grilling surface of the Timberline 1300 is only about 433 square inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when you’re smoking something tall, like a turkey or a pork roast and have to take out the upper grills, even the largest Traeger grill can’t smoke as much meat as the $497 Pit Boss Austin XL or the $599 Green Mountain Grills Jim Bowie. That said, it can smoke more ribs so there is that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at how the other grills compare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grill Brand and Name<\/strong><\/td>Total Cooking Space<\/strong><\/td>Price<\/strong><\/td>Price per sq in<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Pit Boss Classic<\/td>700 sq in<\/td>$396<\/td>$0.57<\/td><\/tr>
Pit Boss Austin XL<\/td>1000 sq in<\/td>$497<\/td>$0.50<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Daniel Boone<\/td>458 sq in<\/td>$499<\/td>$1.09<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Jim Bowie<\/td>658 sq in<\/td>$599<\/td>$0.91<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Prime Davy Crockett<\/td>219 sq in<\/td>$329<\/td>$1.50<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Prime Daniel Boone<\/td>458 sq in<\/td>$749<\/td>$1.64<\/td><\/tr>
Green Mountain Prime Jim Bowie<\/td>658 sq in<\/td>$949<\/td>$1.44<\/td><\/tr>
Z Grills 10002E<\/td>1060 sq in<\/td>$759<\/td>$0.72<\/td><\/tr>
Z Grills 700D<\/td>700 sq in<\/td>$599<\/td>$0.86<\/td><\/tr>
Z Grills 450A<\/td>450 sq in<\/td>$369<\/td>$0.82<\/td><\/tr>
Z Grills L6002E<\/td>600 sq in<\/td>$479<\/td>$0.80<\/td><\/tr>
Camp Chef SmokePro DLX 24<\/td>570 sq in<\/td>$550<\/td>$0.96<\/td><\/tr>
Camp Chef SmokePro SGX 24 Wifi<\/td>811 sq in<\/td>$700<\/td>$0.86<\/td><\/tr>
Camp Chef SmokePro SGX 36 Wifi<\/td>1236 sq in<\/td>$900<\/td>$0.73<\/td><\/tr>
Camp Chef Woodwind Wifi 36<\/td>1236 sq in<\/td>$1000<\/td>$0.81<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Like the Traeger Timberline, many of these smokers achieve their large cooking surface area by adding multiple racks. The Pit Boss Austin XL, Camp Chef SmokePro SGX 36, and Woodwind Wifi 36 have the largest actual cooking footprint of these grills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The data is pretty clear. If what you want is to be able to smoke a lot of meat, Pit Boss comes out way on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For more on the size comparison between grills, make sure you watch the embedded video below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temperature Control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So if it’s not how much you can smoke that causes price of a Traeger to be so high, maybe it’s just that it controls temperature better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ran some tests on various grills and checked for how well each grill maintained its temperature, how long it took to get to the set temperature, and how closely the temperature on the grill readout matched the actual temperature inside the grill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I found is that all the grills I tested with the exception of the Camp Chef were able to reach 350\u00b0F within 15 minutes. Now, the Pro, Ironwood, and Timberline series of Traegers do have their Turbo Temp feature, which could speed that up. But really, at 15 minutes or less for all the others, how much value do we really get for that feature? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just start up my smoker and leave it while I get the meat ready. This is never an issue for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also found that most of the smokers maintained the temperature pretty well. Ironically, it was my Traeger that had the widest temperature swings. My friend has the same issue on his Traeger Pro. In fact, is was actually the Green Mountain Grills brand that did the best on that test, maintaining its temperature almost exactly the whole time. I had temperature swings up to 100\u00b0F over my set temperature on my Traeger. Not good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I will point out, Wifi control does give you tighter temperature control than manual control. On the Green Mountain Grills Prime Grills they boast 5\u00b0F increments whereas manual controls tend to have 25\u00b0F increments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about the testing I did and how the grills compared to each other, make sure you watch the video here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5f4hDUsrddk<\/a>