Traeger Grills... Love 'em?

[WAYNO]

I do very much appreciate my Traeger Grill, when it works. But I don't appreciate how fragile they are.
From one use to the next I cross my fingers and hope it works.
Came home from vacation Sunday and my Traeger would not light. Troubleshooting the best I can, my next step will be to replace the hot rod. Sounds simple, but it's still nearly a 2 hour job taking everything apart to expose the wiring. Plus I must wait for delivery after purchase. Their warranty is such, you send in a defective part, they analyze it, and if they determine the part failed, they will send a new one. Not a very good warranty in spite of them flaunting their wonderful warranty. So I just purchased the part from them. Hopefully that will save me a week or two.

Is it because they outsourced their products to
China? Was the original Mt. Angel manufactured product more durable?

Just prior to me buying my Traeger, 1-1/2 years ago, I was at a party where the host was cooking a roast on his Traeger. Part way thru the cook, the Traeger stopped working. Apparently we just can't count on these things. If I need to purchase another pellet grill, I will look elsewhere.




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[rugeraficiando]

I never jumped on the pellet grill bandwagon. Friends have had them and it seemed the grills took far longer to cook the meat you were trying to enjoy than a barbecue grill?

 

[WAYNO]

I never jumped on the pellet grill bandwagon. Friends have had them and it seemed the grills took far longer to cook the meat you were trying to enjoy than a barbecue grill?

I get that. I have learned how to balance heating and cooking time with the actual meat choice I am preparing. Cooking a steak? Not an efficient choice. Cooking ribs or a roast? Very well worth all the time it takes.
I keep my old propane grill operational, next to my pellet grill. And sometimes, even that propane grill is a better choice. And I'm glad I have it for a backup when my Traeger is being contrary.
I have found there is no best choice to cover all the scenarios.

But I have also discovered, I use my pellet grill, nearly every day, far more than any other grill I've ever owned.

 

[WAYNO]

I received the hot rod and installed it yesterday. Took longer than expected. 3 hours.
I should be getting better but this process was different. I was not able to pull the rod out of the fire pot. After a lot of grinding of the offensive end of the rod with no joy, I finally just cut the hot rod in two and pushed it in to remove it. Then there are so many wires that have to be tied out of the way. Tying them with the case removed, then there's little room for manipulation of the case. With the case installed, the wires cannot be tied. With some creativity, I figured out a way to split the processes effectively enough to keep the wires away from the cooling fan. Hope I'm done with repairs for awhile.

 

[MisterEd]

I 'made the move' on a pellet grill a little over 2 years ago and LOVE it! However I did NOT buy a Traeger but a Z-grill from Bi Mart.

After comparing the Z- Grill to a similar size Traeger it was obvious the Z-Grill was made better, heavier materials and a much nicer two hinge arrangement for the lid as opposed to the one only on the Traeger AND the best part - $299 !

I liked the way the 'internals' were designed over the Traeger as well, and easier to remove to clean.

I'll admit there was a 'learning curve' to a pellet grill and I overcooked my first two meats on it but now I have it down to a science and get great results with nearly everything now!

Oh, and not a problem with it in over the two years I have had it!

Ribs - before and after!

 

[MisterEd]

I have found there is no best choice to cover all the scenarios.

Ditto this!

If more people understood this there would be far fewer complaints about pellet grills but in reality most of the complaints I hear are from those who didn't take the time to learn about the pellet grills 'idiosyncrasies' and understand it's not even CLOSE to an LP or charcoal grill.