Webber vs Traeger

[drich]

I am considering buying a Webber pellet grill. I have had several Traeger’s for over 7 years so this is a difficult choice for me. I have nothing but praises for Traeger customer service. Over the past 2 years they have repaired or replaced my Pro 22 3 times. However I think that I should move up to a higher level of grill so I am considering the Pro 575 or Webber Smokefire E4 Gen 2. Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Dcgunman]

I am considering buying a Webber pellet grill. I have had several Traeger’s for over 7 years so this is a difficult choice for me. I have nothing but praises for Traeger customer service. Over the past 2 years they have repaired or replaced my Pro 22 3 times. However I think that I should move up to a higher level of grill so I am considering the Pro 575 or Webber Smokefire E4 Gen 2. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Before I bought my first T grill I did 2 smoke session‘s with pork shoulders on a cheap Brinkman. It was fun, but very long and time consuming. When I got the thumbs up for an upgrade to a smoker/grill I immediately looked at Weber smokers. Naturally I was using Weber gas grills for the last 25 years. Own 2. Before I was using Weber charcoal grills. When I was looking at reviews on them I found their gen1 smokers were a piece of crap. Lots of issues that they supposedly fixed in gen2. At the time they had both models $200 off. I then turned towards the Traeger grills as someone at work has one. It didn’t take me long to go Traeger. So I went for the Costco brand Silverton 575, which I immediately took back for the larger Century 885. The T grills are not perfect. There will be some issues as nothing is perfect. I’m 2 months new at this Smoking thing. I am very happy with my purchase.

 

[Slimpicker]

My Pro 575 is a complete step up from when I had the 22, day and night.
D2 controller and 3 times as stable temps, reliable. In other words, my 22 sucked compared to the 575

 

[CMTiger]

I'd buy a Traeger or something else other than the Weber. I love Weber in general and my Genesis and the Signature Series before have been fantastic grills, but they are new to the pellet game and I remember reading some not so great reviews.

Also - the low is 200 degrees. You can get 165ish out of a 575.

 

[Dan-H]

I've been researching my next smoker, and yes Gen 1 smokefires had issues from what I've read, and I have also read that most have been addressed.

I also read smokefire firmware was updated to handle 165.

https://consumer-care.weber.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043142612-What-temperature-is-SmokeBoost-

If you have room, I'd get the EX6 vs the 4.

All this said, I'm concerned about the electronics in any "smart grill". At some point they will fail so one of my shopping considerations is or will be how will I replace the factory controller with something else at some point in the future.

I'm not sure there is enough of a following for a semi-universal open source controller retrofit, but at some point all the pellet grills do pretty much the same thing which is to carefully push pellets into a burner.

 

[Jim G]

Last December Weber took back my EX4 after 10 months of issues. I bought an Ironwood 885 and couldn't be happier.

Granted I did have a Gen 1. But 2 design flaws still exist, in my opinion.

1) Grease mgmt system combines grease and ash which will cause fires unless you clean after each cook. Cleaning much more intense than 885. Many more components to take off and clean.
2) Angled auger allows dust to collect at the bottom of the auger tube and the reversing auger packs it tight.

 

[MidwestSmoker]

If you ask people on this forum you are of course going to get a preference for Traegers. You may want to consider asking in a Weber forum as well.

I evaluated the Weber smokers (Gen 2) at the beginning of the year when I was trying to decide which one to get. Gen 1 had numerous problems and they tried to fix many of them in Gen 2. I wasn't convinced that they had succeeded.

My biggest issue was that Weber seemed to have designed the grill for high temperatures and the 600 degree capability was heavily marketed. This is exactly what lead to their grease fire issues. In my view any grill that tries to do high temperature searing and low slow cooking has too many compromises. I already have a Weber gas grill for high temperature searing and wasn't interested in that. I believe Traegers are better designed for low slow cooking and thats what I wanted.

If you are trying to have only one grill, and can live with some of the compromises that entails, then the Weber Smokefires are worth considering. For me a Traeger with a D2 controller was a better choice.

 

[Dan-H]

If you ask people on this forum you are of course going to get a preference for Traegers. You may want to consider asking in a Weber forum as well.

I evaluated the Weber smokers (Gen 2) at the beginning of the year when I was trying to decide which one to get. Gen 1 had numerous problems and they tried to fix many of them in Gen 2. I wasn't convinced that they had succeeded.

My biggest issue was that Weber seemed to have designed the grill for high temperatures and the 600 degree capability was heavily marketed. This is exactly what lead to their grease fire issues. In my view any grill that tries to do high temperature searing and low slow cooking has too many compromises. I already have a Weber gas grill for high temperature searing and wasn't interested in that. I believe Traegers are better designed for low slow cooking and thats what I wanted.

If you are trying to have only one grill, and can live with some of the compromises that entails, then the Weber Smokefires are worth considering. For me a Traeger with a D2 controller was a better choice.

The weber forum is equally critical on the smokefire. Lots of us have more than one brand of outdoor grills and smokers and we've all had some good experiences and bad with different products.

The 100 day guarantee is pretty cool, but it won't ease any longevity concerns.

 

[Dcgunman]

While most of us own more than one brand of grills, does anyone own 2 Traeger grills and why?

 

[Slimpicker]

does anyone own 2 Traeger grills and why?

Timmy, GrillMeister, and YOU!!!!

 

[Dcgunman]

Timmy, GrillMeister, and YOU!!!!

Not anymore. They came yesterday to take it away.
2 months.

 

[drich]

Thanks to all for your feed back. I went to look at the Webber yesterday because I liked the 700 degree temps, the $200.00 discount and 100 day trial period. I learned that I would have to deal with Webber and not my hardware store if I did not like the Webber. My hardware store told me that Webber would not return their calls, that killed it for me. Also, like JimG said the grease and ash combining inside looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I also learned that Traeger can monitor, through the WiFi, the workings of my grill. That pushed me to the Pro 575.Get my Pro 575 delivered next week, can't wait.

 

[caddz]

+1 for the Pro 575 - it's a fantastic tool. PRO Tip. I got a 15' replacement cord for the power cable. It's a standard PC power cord cable and can be had for about 10 bucks (if you need it)

 

[Keeperovdeflame]

I think the main problem with the Smokefire issue is that they tried to combine the ability to sear with the ability to do low and slows and moderate heat cooks, and they can't seam to work out the conflicts between the two. Personally, I have three grills on my deck, a Weber Summit 4 burner with a sear station, a Traeger Timberline 850, and a large BGE. All of them are great grills and I love cooking on them all, but each of them has it's own main purpose. The grill I cook on is dependent on what I am going to cook. For example Grilled Steak in a hurry, goes to the Weber. Grilled Steak on a relaxed Sunday afternoon is always on the Egg as well as Pizza and braised lamb shanks. Brisket, Ribs, Pork Butt, pretty much always goes to the Traeger.

 

[Dan-H]

Thanks to all for your feed back. I went to look at the Webber yesterday because I liked the 700 degree temps, the $200.00 discount and 100 day trial period. I learned that I would have to deal with Webber and not my hardware store if I did not like the Webber. My hardware store told me that Webber would not return their calls, that killed it for me. Also, like JimG said the grease and ash combining inside looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I also learned that Traeger can monitor, through the WiFi, the workings of my grill. That pushed me to the Pro 575.Get my Pro 575 delivered next week, can't wait.

Weber was easy to work with when I had to. I had one warranty item to sort out and I only wished I had called them sooner.

I'm not saying you made a bad choice. I think the 575 looks like a great smoker, but maybe there is more to the story on why Weber would not return their calls.

The "return" within a 100 days is handled by weber and they will pickup at your house.