Pellet smokers, Pit Boss?

[FeelLikeAStranger]

I am thinking about getting a pellet smoker.

Was looking into the Pit Boss 820 competition series that is at Menards

Pit Boss® Competition Series 850 Wood Pellet Grill

Introducing the Competition Series from Pit Boss® Grills. Impress the judges with your next low and slow-smoked creation, whether those judges are professional barbeque chefs/critics or the critics in your backyard. Designed to be the ultimate upgrade for your outdoor kitchen, all Competition...

www.menards.com

Seems like the other 820’s had good reviews vs Traeger and the worst negatives was lack of connectivity, which has been added.

Anyone had any experience with Pit Boss? Comparable to Traeger? Anything better?

 

[CrabHusker]

I am thinking about getting a pellet smoker.

Was looking into the Pit Boss 820 competition series that is at Menards

Pit Boss® Competition Series 850 Wood Pellet Grill

Introducing the Competition Series from Pit Boss® Grills. Impress the judges with your next low and slow-smoked creation, whether those judges are professional barbeque chefs/critics or the critics in your backyard. Designed to be the ultimate upgrade for your outdoor kitchen, all Competition...

www.menards.com

Seems like the other 820’s had good reviews vs Traeger and the worst negatives was lack of connectivity, which has been added.

Anyone had any experience with Pit Boss? Comparable to Traeger? Anything better?

@Smoker just recently bought something similar to add to his arsenal. I can't remember if it's this smoker or another.

I'm sure he can weigh in.

 

[Smoker]

@FeelLikeAStranger .
I recently got a master built 1050.

It's charcoal driven, not pellet.

I'm not a fan of pellets.
And this has no auger, easy cleaning.

I use it about every other day, great machine,

 

[Husker USMC]

@FeelLikeAStranger .
I recently got a master built 1050.

It's charcoal driven, not pellet.

I'm not a fan of pellets.
And this has no auger, easy cleaning.

I use it about every other day, great machine,

View attachment 95719
View attachment 95720

I have the 560. I went from offset smoker to the 560. Love how much better it make everything from smoking to barbeque to grilling. Weather is finally turning warmer so it will get plenty of use

 

[Irish_Red]

@FeelLikeAStranger .
I recently got a master built 1050.

It's charcoal driven, not pellet.

I'm not a fan of pellets.
And this has no auger, easy cleaning.

I use it about every other day, great machine,

View attachment 95719
View attachment 95720

Not a fan of pellets either but if you're going to pay a grand on a smoker I would prefer to have something other than Lump charcoal as the main source, manually I use Lump but add chunks of wood on top, or use my Bradley which uses Compressed wood Pellets, not ideal but gets the job done with little effort, Does the 1050 it use actual wood at all in the process? The Grill looks and sounds awesome, but I need more info, so your input would help greatly.

 

[Smoker]

Not a fan of pellets either but if you're going to pay a grand on a smoker I would prefer to have something other than Lump charcoal as the main source, manually I use Lump but add chunks of wood on top, or use my Bradley which uses Compressed wood Pellets, not ideal but gets the job done with little effort, Does the 1050 it use actual wood at all in the process? The Grill looks and sounds awesome, but I need more info, so your input would help greatly.

I use half charcoal, half wood chucks in the hopper blended.

It works good, but not as good as my big commercial log burner.
Which I use all the time for pork butts, beef flats, larger cuts of meat.

I use the 1050 mainly for ribs and appetizer,
I can program it and walk away

 

[Irish_Red]

I use half charcoal, half wood chucks in the hopper blended.

It works good, but not as good as my big commercial log burner.
Which I use all the time for pork butts, beef flats, larger cuts of meat.

I use the 1050 mainly for ribs and appetizer,
I can program it and walk away

Thanks, Yeah I smoke a liitle of everything, like I mentioned earlier I have both a Feeder type and a manual, looking for a Jack of all trades type, that you can also use possibly have temperature low enough to do some cold smoking as well

 

[Smoker]

Thanks, Yeah I smoke a liitle of everything, like I mentioned earlier I have both a Feeder type and a manual, looking for a Jack of all trades type, that you can also use possibly have temperature low enough to do some cold smoking as well

The 1050 will go to 700 degrees, for searing.
But it has to be absolutely clean,

I use it strictly for smoking, 225 degrees

 

[Smoker]

Thanks, Yeah I smoke a liitle of everything, like I mentioned earlier I have both a Feeder type and a manual, looking for a Jack of all trades type, that you can also use possibly have temperature low enough to do some cold smoking as well

The only reason I got the 1050 was it uses charcoal, wood, no pellets and it programmable.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I am thinking about getting a pellet smoker.

Was looking into the Pit Boss 820 competition series that is at Menards

Pit Boss® Competition Series 850 Wood Pellet Grill

Introducing the Competition Series from Pit Boss® Grills. Impress the judges with your next low and slow-smoked creation, whether those judges are professional barbeque chefs/critics or the critics in your backyard. Designed to be the ultimate upgrade for your outdoor kitchen, all Competition...

www.menards.com

Seems like the other 820’s had good reviews vs Traeger and the worst negatives was lack of connectivity, which has been added.

Anyone had any experience with Pit Boss? Comparable to Traeger? Anything better?

One of guys I work with does a huge amount of smoking and grilling (He's pretty serious about it). I says Traeger is better than Pit Boss. He likes Recteq which factory direct and a good buy.

 

[RedStones]

I am thinking about getting a pellet smoker.

Was looking into the Pit Boss 820 competition series that is at Menards

Pit Boss® Competition Series 850 Wood Pellet Grill

Introducing the Competition Series from Pit Boss® Grills. Impress the judges with your next low and slow-smoked creation, whether those judges are professional barbeque chefs/critics or the critics in your backyard. Designed to be the ultimate upgrade for your outdoor kitchen, all Competition...

www.menards.com

Seems like the other 820’s had good reviews vs Traeger and the worst negatives was lack of connectivity, which has been added.

Anyone had any experience with Pit Boss? Comparable to Traeger? Anything better?

I have an older Traeger and I hate it. Constantly flames out at low temp cooks and has huge temp swings. 50 degrees (sometimes more) plus or minus.

They've been redesigned since my model so maybe they've fixed the problems but I probably won't get another one.

 

[Muskrat]

I have the Pit Boss combo grill. It is the first smoker I have owned so I can't give you any accurate comparison. I do enjoy mine and have not had any issues with it. Learned/Learning to smoke on it, so take my amateur opinion for what it's worth.

 

[Smoker]

Thanks, Yeah I smoke a liitle of everything, like I mentioned earlier I have both a Feeder type and a manual, looking for a Jack of all trades type, that you can also use possibly have temperature low enough to do some cold smoking as well

there is a good thread on different kinds of smokers/grills in HT forum,
I started, maybe you aren't in that,

 

[Irish_Red]

there is a good thread on different kinds of smokers/grills in HT forum,
I started, maybe you aren't in that,

No this is the only forum I am in, but I do Love to Smoke some nice Brisket , Salmon, Ribs, Tri Tip, Pork Loin, beer but chicken, Turkey, Sausage. Ok I am starting to Drool my apologies. Now I am hungry

 

[FredsRedAxe]

I am thinking about getting a pellet smoker.

Was looking into the Pit Boss 820 competition series that is at Menards

Pit Boss® Competition Series 850 Wood Pellet Grill

Introducing the Competition Series from Pit Boss® Grills. Impress the judges with your next low and slow-smoked creation, whether those judges are professional barbeque chefs/critics or the critics in your backyard. Designed to be the ultimate upgrade for your outdoor kitchen, all Competition...

www.menards.com

Seems like the other 820’s had good reviews vs Traeger and the worst negatives was lack of connectivity, which has been added.

Anyone had any experience with Pit Boss? Comparable to Traeger? Anything better?

They both will turn out decent bbq so if we assume they are equal in that regard, a couple of other things to consider are warranty, grill space, and connectivity.

Pit Boss has a 5 year warranty compared to Traeger's 3. Parts do fail from time to time on these pellet grills. We have a Camp Chef pellet smoker at work with a control screen that went out after about 15 months.

Grill space comes with a higher price tag with Traeger. A model with a grilling area comparable to that of the Pit Boss you linked to is probably a few hundred dollars more.

Pit Boss Series 820.... 849 sq in of cooking surface $489
Traeger pro 780.... 780 sq in of cooking surface $999
Even the lower tiered Traeger pro 34 with 884 sq in of cooking surface is $699.

If you like to use Wifi features, the Traeger App appears to gets really good reviews from customers compared to the Pit Boss App. I have used neither, just took a quick look in the App store. I tend to favor companies that put some effort into their App development as it makes the end user experience much more enjoyable. Based solely on reviews I'd say Traeger has the edge there.