Author Topic: Hello from Washington... State  (Read 1806 times)

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Offline Smitty385

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2018, 09:06:59 PM »
Welcome from Southeast Texas!  I own a Blaz'n Gridiron with Pro Shelves, Comp Cart, and WiFi and can't sing its praises enough.  I was down between the RecTec 680 and the Yoder YS640 w/ Comp Cart.  I had the chance to do multiple test cooks on them and came away with reservations on both.  The Blaz'n products were well rated but from a small sample size.  I spoke to several about them and took a leap of faith ... and am 100% satisfied with making that choice.  I've had a chance to see a Pitts & Spitts up close and personal at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo; it's definitely pretty (just like the Yoder on its comp cart) but I still think I made the right choice with my Gridiron.





Joe thanks for the feedback. This is very reassuring! I'm leaning towards the grid iron, my wife looked at them briefly online with me and liked the grid iron over the Mak as I'd have to go well above budget and get the 2 star for what she likes and the comparable size to what I have now. How do you like the Wifi?

Offline teesquare

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2018, 09:31:32 PM »
Just for information sake: The MAK 1 Star has the same cubic volume of usable space as the 2 Star. All you really give up with the 1 Star is the warming/smoking box. Very few folks take advantage of that....The powder coated aluminized steel body on the MAK 1 Star is almost as durable a the stainless. And both use the same controller.
Measure of "square inches of grilling surface" is not the whole story. You will find this to be especially true when you want to cook a lot of Boston Butts, or chicken or turkeys. Vertical space is equally important. So - the boxy design is with much thought....

I like the Blazin' Products as well. That is the only brand I have not owned on your list. I no longer own a Yoder or a Rec Tec.
BBQ is neither verb or noun. It is an experience.
Fine Swine and Bovine BBQ Team - Home of squeal and veal!
Beer, Butter and Bacon make everything better.
PBC
PBC Jr.
MAK 2 Star General #639
MAK 2 Star General #4401

Offline UWFSAE

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2018, 10:00:02 PM »
@Smitty385:  the WiFi is very useful, especially on early morning/overnight cooks.  I did some spareribs a few weeks ago and was able to load the smoker at 5:00am and then grab a couple more hours in the rack thanks to WiFi.  I let it run at 180° for two hours to pick up as much smoke as possible and then used the WiFi control to raise the temp to 235° for the remainder of the cook.  I do pair the Blaz’n WiFi with a Fireboard for food temp monitoring. 

High On Smoke and others can give you their perspectives; I did my due diligence and peppered many of the folks on here with all manner of questions.  There’s also a Blaz’n Grillworks Owners’ Group Facebook page that has a ton of stories with a fair representation of the many pros and handful of cons about these grills.

Also, those singing the praises of Mak products; they are superb machines, like the offerings from a Memphis.  For me, the biggest reason I went Blaz’n was the addition of Pro Shelves with the 2272” of cookspace; that much real estate is rivaled only by a handful (I can’t justify the cost of the Mak 3-Star General or YoderYS 1500) of machines, and I had some design reservations about the Pitts 2000.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2018, 09:39:55 AM by UWFSAE »
Joe from Crosby, TX
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Blaz'n Grill Works Grid Iron w/ Pro Shelves & Comp Cart
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Weber Genesis E-330

Offline Smitty385

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2018, 03:00:29 AM »
Just for information sake: The MAK 1 Star has the same cubic volume of usable space as the 2 Star. All you really give up with the 1 Star is the warming/smoking box. Very few folks take advantage of that....The powder coated aluminized steel body on the MAK 1 Star is almost as durable a the stainless. And both use the same controller.
Measure of "square inches of grilling surface" is not the whole story. You will find this to be especially true when you want to cook a lot of Boston Butts, or chicken or turkeys. Vertical space is equally important. So - the boxy design is with much thought....

I like the Blazin' Products as well. That is the only brand I have not owned on your list. I no longer own a Yoder or a Rec Tec.

Tee thank you for the clarification! I don't think I looked all that close at the 2 star from Mak once we pulled up the price. :) I actually might need to look into things a little bit closer as your comment got me thinking about the actual size of my current smoker... Looking at the numbers is just that, they're including the top shelf in the calculation, so I appreciate the feedback and I might look a little more into the Mak 1 star. Thanks again!!

Offline teesquare

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2018, 08:19:08 AM »
Smitty:
Always Welcome!

In truth there are no "bad choices" in your list of perspective grills to adopt ;D....

But, thru the years of owning a lot of different brands - I find that each brand pellet grills ( like many other products )  have design biases because humans have those biases/preferences based on their intended usage.
The trick is- to figure out from examining the information about each one - *IF* the design intent will meet YOUR needs best.
Examples of design bias in pellet grills:
Some are black painted metal, some are stainless. SO the bias in this aspect of engineering/design of the grill is either in favor of being able to spray paint when needed to "freshen up" the grills appearance, or to be able to clean the stainless, and make it look nice again. Neither is "THE" right answer for everyone. It depends on how YOU envision your use of the grill including cleaning and maintenance.
Another example -Carbon steel, cast iron, anodized aluminum or stainless cooking grates? Stainless is probably more permanent....but cast iron and anodized aluminum can REALLY sear fast and hot.

So I recommend that you start a list of features that you want in a grill. Think thru NOT just cooking only...but the long term ownership. Yes, warranties are important - but so is the actual customer support one should receive the manufacturer.
All of LTBBQ is here to assist you, but not tell you that you chose wrong once you buy a grill. Again, there are so many "good" choices...and one of them will be your "best" choice.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2018, 09:50:58 AM by teesquare »
BBQ is neither verb or noun. It is an experience.
Fine Swine and Bovine BBQ Team - Home of squeal and veal!
Beer, Butter and Bacon make everything better.
PBC
PBC Jr.
MAK 2 Star General #639
MAK 2 Star General #4401

Offline N. Ontario Smoker

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #19 on: March 21, 2018, 09:41:34 AM »
Welcome from N. Ontario Canada.
"Vegetarian" is an old Indian word for bad hunter.

                                Fred

Offline fishingbouchman

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #20 on: March 21, 2018, 01:25:31 PM »
Welcome from sw Washington. 
I have a 1 star love it. 
Mak 1 Star
Weber Kettle "Blue"

Offline Smitty385

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #21 on: March 29, 2018, 02:21:53 PM »
So I ended up buying a Mak 2 star. I was in my local store kicking around the Yoder option until I walked around the corner and found a display 2 star that they were looking to move. It's a 2015 model so it doesn't have the up to date software on the controller or the FlashFire igniter, but for the price I couldn't resist. They included what accessories they had in the store as well!

Offline Smokerjunky

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Re: Hello from Washington... State
« Reply #22 on: March 29, 2018, 02:44:24 PM »
Welcome from Washington State
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