I'm thinking about picking one of these up. I have a cheaper offset at home and thought this would be a nice addition plus I can bring it to the cottage.
What are people's experiences with these. I'm getting it for $200cdn. I've seen the pit boss version for another $100 more. Thoughts?
by tltd_mike
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One thing I’ll mention. I picked up one of these with the idea of bringing it on camping trips. At this point, almost a year later, it is complete unused still. It’s super heavy and awkward, plus you need to bring pellets, and the actual cooking area is so small that there’s not a ton you can put on it.
I wouldn’t do it, I’d give mine away unused at this point.
I have a traeger ranger, and I love it.
I have the Pit Boss tabletop that is almost identical to this one and it’s perfect for me. It’s big enough for 2-4 people, depending one what you are smoking. The meat comes out flavorful and smoky. We don’t have a lot of space on our deck so it’s great being able to store this in the garage when not in use.
I have basically the same unit but branded by Z-Grills. It’s not bad, but as noted in other comments, it’s technically portable but it is fairly heavy and awkward to move. Not a ton of cooking space.
Probably the biggest flaw, at least in my experience, is that the cook chamber is small and the burnpot is directly below the grill grate, so even with the metal shield in place, you get pretty intense hotspot right below whatever you’re smoking. I’ve had several cooks that came out pretty good overall but had a very dried out spot from the direct heat. Despite the convenience of using pellets and the more consistent smoke production, I’ve generally switched back to my Masterbuilt electric smoker for most cooks.
I’ve got the Pit Boss version. My FIL loved it and got a less expensive variant of it. While it seems identical in most ways, his has had two fires going up the auger; and I’ve never had one. He has used his about 4 times, while I’ve used mine about 20 times with very long smokes.
With that being said, it could be that his particular brand of pellets might be a factor. I also noticed this his produces far more smoke during regular operation.
I got a chance to put ours side by side one time while smoking chicken, and his was smoking much more on identical settings.
Not sure exactly what’s going on, but it’s worth noting.
Depends on what you need it to do and how many you’re trying to cook for.
I have mine away to someone who would use it more. They are also about 50# and awkward. I bought a Grilla Chimp. I would recommend any of the tailgater style over these. They are heavier, but can fit a couple large hunks of meat on them, which you can’t do with these table top ones. Traeger, Grilla, and GMG all have good ones. I love my Chimp.
I had it for 4 years .still occasionally use it for smaller cooks when i dont want to use the large smoker. Been a great little smoker. Just make sure you clean it well after a long cook and remove grease accumulation.
I have the old variant of ASmoke which is identical to this just a different controller.
I use it all the time camping. Those saying it’s very heavy must have back issues or something. It’s not light, but you aren’t backpacking with it.
I usually just fill the hopper before I leave camping and that’s enough for a couple cooks of several hours.
Only ever had to refill it once for a pork but that was going slow.
I have done two tri-tips at once, brats in a pan of beer, whole chickens, racks of rips are a tight squeeze but possible.
Temps run a little wild compared to my Camp Chef with PID but definitely good enough for camping.
One thing I’ve learned is it really overshoots the temp on startup. It settles back in so I just wait til it overshoots and then open the lid and dilly-dally while I’m putting the food on.
I run it on my trailer inverter and it doesn’t put much of a dent in my batteries even for all day cooks
I have one of these that travels in the camper with us.
Yes, it’s a bit heavy and unwieldy.
Yes, it’s a bit on the loud side.
Yes, the grilling area is slightly over half of the size (due to internal pellet hopper).
However, it is a great little smoker/grill for us and our needs – family of 4 that sometimes camps with 2 other couples and their kids (11 people total).