The Texas BBQ Forum

Hey fellas my local Costco is having a traeger event starting today. I use a stick burner right now but am considering a pellet grill. 2 questions:
1. How does the smoke flavor compare to stick burner?
2. Has anyone purchased a traeger at a Costco event?
Thanks for any info!


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I can tell you from personal experience do not attempt to be a smart arse (as I may or may not have done) with the guys that sell them. They have heard all the jokes and have replies at the ready!

:)

My wife thoroughly enjoyed it though…


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I have had Traeger(s) for 18 years and have had several stick burners during and before this period. Still have the Model "T" and a couple other pellet cookers.
The pellet cooker like most cookers will have a learning curve to get where you want to be.
The bark and smoke will be different because the pellet cooker always maintains a clean flame. Some think it better some think it worse.

How much do you like sleep?
How much do you enjoy the beer drinking time while babysitting the fire?

never bought anything from Cosco that smoked....

I believe there are better pellet cookers than Traeger out there but like most things you get what you pay for. (BTW I still have my 18 y.o. Traeger.)

Bought a Traeger for the wife because she kept telling me it was simple and she could cook on it. She never does, but is happy to get me to do it all the time...

The Tin Man as I call it has its place; I would class it as a utility player. You can certainly smoke on it but won't get nearly as much smoke as a stick burner, and the flavor's not nearly as big nor as intense. It is reasonable but far from perfect at maintaining temp with the thin metal shell as opposed to my plate steel dropped offset firebox (PSDOF) cooker Rosebud. In cold weather, you will have to boot it squarely in the butt. In hot weather, back off a bit. We do use it as a warmer or finisher for our competition or demo cooks where Rosebud has done all the heavy lifting. I have the best luck doing ribs on it and it would probably do a decent butt; birds are pretty good; but it doesn't have enough testosterone to make a great brisket. So much for the smoking side of things.

Now as a grill, it does a pretty decent job. It will reliably top out at 370-400 degrees going, so to speak, like an '70 Ford Truck going full tilt down hill with your foot to the floor and a load of watermelons and beer in the back (don't laugh, that's not an analogy, that's a history). You're gonna hit top end and there ain't no more, and my shop made Monty Python Weber clone would blow it's doors off like a SuperBird past a VW Beetle. BUT, the benefit of all that is you can slow sear some steaks very evenly, with no flare up or carbon of pretty much any kind. And the Tin Man is about 20 minutes from start up to ready to cook, so it's handy and good for that 6:15 request from the Wifee to have steaks by 7 while she "volunteers to open the wine for you". And you can cook 6-8 steaks on it, a bunch of wurst, or a couple briskets, so it can handle a smallish crowd for you. And you could probably do a very commendable grill top pizza on it.

Bottomline, it's a good lazy man's utility cooker that will reliably deliver quality chow for say up to 6-10 adults and/or rug crawlers, probably lasts a long time, is low maintenance and won't smoke up the bottom of your patio ceiling, but you won't win any comps with it nor attain the tile of King of Brisket for yer neighborhood.

I am Boots, and I approved this message.

The Traeger's being sold at the big box stores are bottom of the line from Traeger, and have about a 35% failure rate. Papa Tom's Traeger was from a time when they were American made, and were worth something. Now they are Chinese Crap. Everyone of the new ones I've cooked on have caught on fire. If you want a pellet cooker remember, you get what you pay for. Louisiana Grills, Cookshack, and Green Mountain to name a few, build much better units you can enjoy for a while. Everyone's mileage will vary, but Traeger is the bottom of the food chain.

one plus on what Jim says, the only thing I would add is you get what you pay for, I have an older traeger(1999), and a cookshack(2009), yes I paid a lot for them but "knock on wood" my problems have been very few and far inbetween, the only problem with the cookshack was the igniter, the traeger, well it has had a thermostat go so choose wisely and remember the sweetness of a good deal is soon forgotten with the agony of an inferior product.

spacetrucker wrote: remember the sweetness of a good deal is soon forgotten with the agony of an inferior product.

very well said

Thanks for all the good advice! I think I will do more research on all your suggestions before I decide which one to buy. For now I will stick to my stick burner.


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