Trager Grill Upgrade

[Smokin Don]

Didn't know where to put this so stuck it here. If any one is interested Traeger has upgraded their controller and call the new grills Pro Series. They claim it is a digital controller. It looks to me like their 180 controller with a digital display; you still have to dial in the temp but they claim a gaurateed +- 15 deg. from set point at ambient temp of 72 deg. and no wind. If it does hold that I would say it is a good upgrade. Don

[teesquare]

While it is a good upgrade....It it still lags behind many controllers on the market in other brands. + - 5 degrees F is not uncommon now. I often wonder why Traeger - who invented pellet grilling - allowed themselves to fall so far behind in product innovation?

I suppose that they have been coasting on their initial reputation for all of these years, still I would like to see them re-engage and make truly competitively featured products like other manufacturers.

Don, do you have the Savannah Stoker on yours?

[muebe]

Well nice to see Traeger trying to improve their controllers now.

But most lay-people who walk into a store and buy one are not going to know the real difference between the old and newer controllers anyways. I don't think Traeger has been forced to update their controller because most customers did not know it could be better.

They were about the only pellet grill around for a long time. Now that many other models have sprouted up so they have decided to make improvements or lose market share IMHO.

[TMB]

Well nice to see Traeger trying to improve their controllers now.

But most lay-people who walk into a store and buy one are not going to know the real difference between the old and newer controllers anyways. I don't think Traeger has been forced to update their controller because most customers did not know it could be better.

They were about the only pellet grill around for a long time. Now that many other models have sprouted up so they have decided to make improvements or lose market share IMHO.

Sad to think companies "think" that they can keep doing the same old thing year after year and have the issues they have and not care

I'm sure Rec-Tec, MAK, GMG just to name a few jumped in and took a lot of their sales  because of issues they didn't seem worried about.

Not knocking the build quality just say'n

[teesquare]

But...at the end of all our observations...any old Treager ( or new one) will still get the job done . AND I think that in an unintended way - Treager  has created "2nd time pellet grill buyers" - because after a person gets to a certain point in experience - they tend to want to do more, or do some things differently/additionally to what they have been.
Then the "gadget bug" bites them in the wallet - and a new cooker comes home. This is not true just of pellet grills of course.