Let's Talk BBQ
Welcome Center => New Member Introductions => Topic started by: Smitty385 on March 20, 2018, 02:14:54 PM
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My name is Travis, I've been using a pellet smoker for coming up on 5 years. Most of what I cook is your typical steak, chicken, beer butt chicken, pork chops, prime rib. I've had my pit boss since I started smoking, I've burned through the deflector and now the drip tray. I've been using it and just staying away from the hot spots as best as possible until now my ignitor seems to have stopped. With the repairs needed, I'm in the market for a new smoker.
My wife and I recently purchased a bigger house in which we can entertain some in the spring and summer months. My current smoker has 820 sq in of cook space and can get up to 550+. I am looking at 3 different smokers and would like input/suggestions. Also, why you chose that item over the others as we all have different things we're looking to do. I've been looking at the Yoder 640 without the competition cart, my local dealer has them foraround $1700. 2nd is the Blaz'n Gridiron, I like the options of having Wifi and the simplicity of clean out. 3rd is the Mak 1 star, it seems like they are everyone's go to, but size seems to be a little smaller for price compared to the others. I know I said 3, but I've also heard about the Pitts & Spits smoker, but haven't found much info on them. I'm looking to stay around $1700. I look forward to talking with everyone, thanks for the invite!!
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Welcome to the forum. I own a RecTec RT680 and love it, but there are some here with Blazing works and Yoders so you will get back great info
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Thank you! I had looked into the Rec Tec with the stainless pit, their customer service has been praised all over the internet as well. I appreciate the feedback!!
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Thank you! I had looked into the Rec Tec sewing the stainless pit, their customer service has been praised all over the internet as well. I appreciate the feedback!!
Sending you a PM
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Welcome from Minnesota. Cry once and buy the Mak. With the full upper shelf you can cook 8 butts.
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So, this next purchase will be your only cooker... low n slow and hot n fast cooking?
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Welcome from South Alabama.
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Welcome from SE Georgia! I own a Blaz'n Grid Iron and have had it for almost 5 years. No major problems. A new igniter and replaced the controller as the hurricane took care of the old one.
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Greetings from Indiana.
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@rwalters I have a gas grill that I can use to sear if I want to crank up the heat.
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Greetings from North Texas.
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Welcome from Central Texas
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Welcome from North Carolina.
Art
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Welcome from Houston.
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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.
(https://i.imgur.com/3jdSadJ.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/vBNKasv.jpg?1)
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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.
(https://i.imgur.com/3jdSadJ.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/vBNKasv.jpg?1)
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?
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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.
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@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.
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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!!
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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.
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Welcome from N. Ontario Canada.
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Welcome from sw Washington.
I have a 1 star love it.
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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!
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Welcome from Washington State