Pit Boss Pro 850

[Eaglelox]

So I'm still in the window Where I can take my traeger back to home depot if i want. I see that the pit boss is the same price. I'm looking all over to see which one smokes better and more reliable. I cannot get Good information on that. If anybody has experience with both of these I would love to hear which one smokes better. Thanks in advance.

 

[CMTiger]

I think if you’ve used your Traeger and are happy with it you should keep your Traeger. But I’m certainly less inclined to take items back that function as intended just because I think I may want something different. That’s not a knock on you it’s just my personality. I don’t generally treat those windows as trial runs and testing periods. If it works I keep it

 

[Eaglelox]

Wife bought it for my birthday. I had little to no knowledge of pellet smokers. I saw the pit boss for same price. So I thought I would put it out there. Thanks all.

 

[caddz]

I've got a PitBoss and a Traeger. If you keep them clean and monitor temps with tools (outside what's provided from brand). They are both pretty much on par. BUT.... Traeger is a better build quality in my opinion w/higher gauge steel. yes / both mine peeled paint and needed some self-serve-maintenance, but the Traeger would be my choice (unless you had some sq ft decisions)

 

[RayClem]

Pit Boss grills have a feature which uses a sliding flame shield to make it easier to get the temperature hot enough for grilling/searing. That is one shortcoming of the Traeger; it is difficult to sear.

I purchased some GrillGrates to help with grilling on the Traeger, but ultimately, I moved the GrillGrates to my gas grill and use it for searing. Some guys use a propane torch/flame thrower for searing. You can also sear in a cast iron or carbon steel pan. I like my carbon steel pan as I can baste the protein in butter seasoned with garlic and rosemary or thyme.

 

[Eaglelox]

I did kind of like that on the pitboss being able to sear when you Want, just a push of a lever. I did worry however that there is only one Level of heat diffuser on the pitboss. Traeger having 2 heat diffusers I feel gives less hot spots.

 

[Lbeberdick]

So I'm still in the window Where I can take my traeger back to home depot if i want. I see that the pit boss is the same price. I'm looking all over to see which one smokes better and more reliable. I cannot get Good information on that. If anybody has experience with both of these I would love to hear which one smokes better. Thanks in advance.

If you have tried to clean your Traeger you know it is a pain to remove everything to vacuum out the fire pot. I have a Traeger, and wish I took it back and bought a Camp Chef, fire pot easy empty is worth the price to me.

 

[CMTiger]

If you have tried to clean your Traeger you know it is a pain to remove everything to vacuum out the fire pot. I have a Traeger, and wish I took it back and bought a Camp Chef, fire pot easy empty is worth the price to me.

I have a Pro575….and while I don’t have any other pellet grill to compare it to I find cleaning it to be easy and not time consuming at all

 

[RustyJake]

I can understand the comment about being able to empty the burn pot without taking the grill apart being a good feature. Taking the Traeger down to clean it isn't a difficult task, but when you have a grill where you are able to just dump the ash and continue with another cook, it's a nice change. I am sure that's why the new Traeger XL models have that feature, it's a nice convenience.
I know I love that feature on my Yoder. Pop open the access door, dump the pot into the box and put it back and start a new cook. No need to pull a bunch of stuff out to get to the task. On my IW I have to remove all the grates and both diffusers. Then I have to vacuum out the dust, it isn't difficult, it's just more steps that could be easier.

 

[CMTiger]

I can understand the comment about being able to empty the burn pot without taking the grill apart being a good feature. Taking the Traeger down to clean it isn't a difficult task, but when you have a grill where you are able to just dump the ash and continue with another cook, it's a nice change. I am sure that's why the new Traeger XL models have that feature, it's a nice convenience.
I know I love that feature on my Yoder. Pop open the access door, dump the pot into the box and put it back and start a new cook. No need to pull a bunch of stuff out to get to the task. On my IW I have to remove all the grates and both diffusers. Then I have to vacuum out the dust, it isn't difficult, it's just more steps that could be easier.

Maybe I just didn't fully understand the alternative with the other model lol. Content with my ignorance so to speak lol

 

[Eaglelox]

If you have tried to clean your Traeger you know it is a pain to remove everything to vacuum out the fire pot. I have a Traeger, and wish I took it back and bought a Camp Chef, fire pot easy empty is worth the price to me.

Yes I have cleaned it already. I have found it to be simple to clean out. It's only the grill, drip tray and a diffuser plate

 

[Murphy's Law]

If you have tried to clean your Traeger you know it is a pain to remove everything to vacuum out the fire pot. I have a Traeger, and wish I took it back and bought a Camp Chef, fire pot easy empty is worth the price to me.

Take out the grate, pull the drip tray (which you need to do in order to line with foil) and you’re vacuuming.

How is that hard? It takes me just a few mins to clean the grill.

 

[RayClem]

I find that vacuuming out the bottom of the grilling chamber is the most time consuming part. Removing the grates, drip pan, and flame shield takes about a minute. Vacuuming out the fire pot takes only a few seconds. The Camp Chef might allow you to empty the fire pot without dismantling the grill, but you still need to do so if you wish to clean out the ash from the grill chamber.

 

[tomhooper]

I think it takes me all of 5 minutes to clean and vacuum my Traeger. That really isn't a go/no go for me on which is best. I have a Traeger. I'm thinking about buying a 2nd pellet grill. I have been considering going with the Pit Boss just for variety.
Now the temperature probes and pit temp on the Traeger is terrible. Use 3rd party probes etc.
I have no idea if Pit Boss, Camp Chef, etc are any better. I'll stick with my 3rd party equipment no matter what pit I use.