If you own and use a Traeger Grill...

[Blackdog765]

Traeger has been on my radar for about a year, but I would like to hear FIRST HAND experiences with your Traeger Grill. The pros and cons, what you like and don't like about using it.

I'm not looking to turn this thread into a debate on Eggs, Webers, and other brands. If you OWN or OWNED a Traeger, what is(was) your experience?

Last year Costco did a demo of them in early June, and I'm thinking of purchasing one this year. I'm an inexperienced smoker that likes the "set it and forget it" aspect of the Traeger, with the added ability to grill or bake.

 

[gregkl]

Don't own one but I did stay in a Holiday.....

Have several friends that own them and they swear by them. Food is more flavorable, heat easy to control and ability to truly smoke with it.

I would get one, but I'm too lazy.

 

[giovani]

Our boss bought us a traeger electric smoker to use at work.

I have not personaly used it , but the guy that does most of the cooking with it is talking about getting one for at home.

The prime rib and beer butt chicken he made on it was excelent.

 

[forgop]

I bought a used one off of Craigslist almost 2 years ago. It's the BBQ075 model made in the US, not the newer Chinese version or whatever it was. Set me back $300 and it hadn't been used very much. I spent another $75 or so and upgraded to the Ortech digital controller.

The grill works great. It is a "set it and forget it" in theory smoker for maintaining your temp. It just takes some getting used to because you're adjusting the smoke settings on the digital controller because it controls the auger feed rate.

The other consideration is cost of pellets. A 20# bag of the Traeger pellets runs $20/bag. It's enough to fire for 20 hours or so anyway. That said, I'm going to buy an entire pallet of pellets from another retailer for half the price delivered.

 

[jetmechG550]

I'm an BGE guy but have friends with a traeger. It's a nice grill but one thing they have said is you need the digi controller as the dial can be a little inaccurate. The other thing is pellet availability. Before I bought my first egg I looked at the traeger as well and that's the one thing that turned me off was the cost and being able to find pellets. I'm a year round griller and finding lump in the middle of winter is not an issue let alone the cost. The other thing with the traeger is how hot you can get it for doing high temp searing or pizza's. if you intend to primarily smoke with it though, you may save out with it and upgrading to the digi controller as opposed to getting another type of smoker and a put controller like the Stoker or DigiQ