Hi,
My name is Wendell, I have a great wife and twin daughters. I am lucky to live in the Willamette Valley . I am only miles away from where Pellet Grilling started Mt Angle, OR.
I am by no means an expert smoker/griller but, I do have fun learning from others and doing my own twists on what I have learned.
I bought my first pellet stove from the Traeger Factory which was an old barn. I have had my Executive Traeger since the late 90's. I used it so much that I had the factory refresh the unit before they sold. What a great service --they sandblasted the old Traeger and went through it to make sure everything was working properly and it still works today.---- Great Customer Service.
A few years ago I was looking for an updated unit. I had only one requirement; I wanted an pellet stove that was made in the USA. Lucky for me I found MAC Grills and just like Traeger it was located only a few miles away from my home in Dallas OR where I grew up.
The MAC 2 Star General is a little bit of a sticker shocker, when you consider that you can buy 3 other less expensive units for the same price. When you look at the quality you immediately see that it is worth the money. I spent a lot of time at the factory kicking the tires. I had a lot of questions for Bruce and he satisfied every one of them. Immediately you can tell that the 2 star will last a long time. My biggest concern was that it would become outdated quickly. They said that they made the unit so that it could take future updates and I was sold. I became the proud owner of a 2 Star General Serial number 1805.
As I noted above I was sold by the fact that the unit can be updated easily...They kept to their word....this winter I updated the unit to a Flashfire starter and Flame zone. I have loved my 2 Star since I bought it. But I can tell you that these 2 updates made it even better and were worth the costs. The start up is faster and with the flame zone it does a better job heating up and keeping the heat and smoke in the cooking area. The other plus is that I now have a number of grid options since you get new grids that go the width of the cooking area with the Flame zone. Bonus the other grids still fit so you do not need to buy the accessories all over again unless you want them. The only bummer is you can't put on the upper tracks for a 2 grid system like the new versions because of where the vents are on the older units. I can handle that. It is great that they make a product that is made to last a long time and that you can update.
I am looking forward to learning from everyone on the forum.
