Trarger Grills

[striper]

I talked with a Treager salesman at the Bakersfield Costco in January.  Told him how disappointed I am with the product.  He called me later and told me a couple of things to try when I got back home.  Tried them and I'm still running 350-360 on the readout with the control set as high as it will go.  Next thing will be to hang a temperature probe in the unit, turn it on high and see if there is a difference between actual temp and registered temp.  I keep the inside and the burn pot cleaned out also.

 

[coacher72]

Has anyone done a comparison between the Traeger and the Yoder pellet grills. Do the Yoder grills experience the same problems? The things I've seen and read about the Yoder have been pretty positive. Of course, as expensive as Traeger's are, it would be tough to get rid of one and buy a Yoder model or some other pellet grill because they are pretty pricey as well.

 

[jjsmoke]

Sorry to hear of all the problems, I have had a 75 for years and my temp has always been within 15 degrees using multiple thermometers, in fact I keep hoping it will go nuts so I can upgrade to the double hopper. I am usually using there pellets and I just screen the dust out, I do the same picking thru the lump I use on my offset. I would say keep calling them as they have been nothing but great to me. Good luck.

 

[striper]

Thanks, believe me I burned up the phone lines last fall.  To paraphrase the conversation it was "Go Away and leave us alone".  Local dealer has pretty much done all he can do, so most likely will put the 2 of them on CL this summer and go with something else. 

 

[striper]

Got bored yesterday afternoon, so I fired up the Little Tex and hung a temperature probe in it.  With it set at 225 degrees things were pretty accurate, so I decided to go for it.  Turned the dial to it's highest setting, after about 30 minutes the grill registered 418 degrees.  The temperature probe however was registering 490 degrees.  So for "Sh!ts and Grins" I turned it down to 300 and let it go for another 20 minutes or so, grill registered 325 but the temperature probe registered 370.  This weekend I'll re clean the grills probe and see if things get any better.  Right now doing Low and Slow it is hard to beat, but in trying to do something like a Steak not so good.

 

[smokinbrent]

INteresting.. I use mine on a daily basis w/temps as cold as the single digets.. always close.. I DID put bricks in mine to help maintain temps easier to tho.. high end??? It'll PEG the temp gauge easily.. wish I could help more.

 

[striper]

Thanks, guess I'll try adding some bricks to the bottom also.  I use mine 3-4 times a week.  Generally cook for multiple meals each time. Right now I'm leaning toward the problem being a faulty temperature sensor in the chamber.  What a chore it's gonna be to change that.

 

[striper]

Well more problems with the unit.  The Hot Rod went out, so had to start lighting it with a small torch.  Talk about SMOKE.

  However it seems the unit is still under warranty so Treager sent me a replacement part.  While it was a bit of a pain to change, got it done and things seem to be working good again.  I've started cleaning the Temperature Sensing Rod with denatured alcholol between uses and it seems to be working a bit better.  I can say that Treager was much more responsive to the problem this time than they have been in the past.

Now it on to getting some Cheese smoked up in the GOSM so it's ready for the Annual 4th of July Rib Fest at my place.

 

[nwdave]

Joe, you got mail (not on this sites message system).

 

[striper]

Thanks Dave,

Gotta say that the Smoked Cheese came out AWESOME.  No I didn't try it in the Treager.

  Did it in the GOSM using a bit of Secret Squirrel stuff and it came out AWESOME.  My first attempt ended up pretty much like the picture in the Cheese Smoking thread.

  I did a bunch of Mozzarella sticks and a chunk of Havarti............................THERE IS A LOT MORE OF THIS IN MY FUTURE.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

I have had my Lil'Tex for over 5 years with no problems at all. But thats when they were made in Oregon not china.

The dust comes from the bags being moved around on store racks or shipping. Dont really bother me.

If you have a digital controller you can set the P Setting on the controller. This is done by pushing a tooth pick or something into the front hole just above the display. P Setting can be found on line.

 

[striper]

I have had my Lil'Tex for over 5 years with no problems at all. But thats when they were made in Oregon not china.

The dust comes from the bags being moved around on store racks or shipping. Dont really bother me.

If you have a digital controller you can set the P Setting on the controller. This is done by pushing a tooth pick or something into the front hole just above the display. P Setting can be found on line.

Ya, that was my nistake when I bought the Treager, thought they were still made in America.  While it's cooked a boatload of food, it has had it's problems.  I've played with the P setting several times and think I might just have it finely set right.  As for the dust, I now just screen it out when I get to the bottom of the bag.

There will be another pellet grill in my future, but it wiil be one that is Made in America.
 

 

[striper]

Time for an update. My neighbor told me about a guy that was looking to buy a treager so I called him and last Sunday he showed up and bought my lil tex.  Got a real good price out of it.

  Then I pulled out the treager jr, loaded it up, fired it off and put a rack of ribs on to slow cook.  After about an hour and a half I turned up the temp a bit.  Then another hour and a half I turned the temp to 375 to finish things.  After about 45 minutes I went to check things and found it pouring smoke and stinking bad.  Got the ribs out, they were almost black, and finally figured out that the fan had died.  The auger was still working though so the unit had turned into a "smudge pot".  So I took it back to the local dealer, they decided that, "Yep the fan had died".  Since this unit had now had problems from day 1 they gave me a large portion of money back on it.  I walked out of the store feeling just like the proverbial boat owner on the second happiest day of his life.  I was now Treager Less.

On Monday I also talked with Yoder Grills and had already ordered the YS640.  That unit arrived today and in comparision it is built like a tank.  The delivery driver asked a lot of questions about it and finally said " I'm looking to buy a Pellet Grill, but I won't own a treager cause several of my friends have them and they spend more time broke down then they do cooking on them".

Bottom line is I cooked a lot of good food on the lil tex.  I had a lot of problems with both units.  Terager customer service was terrible one time and great the next.  So after my experience with them I can honestly say that I'll NEVER own another Treager product and I will also NEVER  recommend them to anyone.

 

[tjohnson]

Hey Joe!

Sooooo

Tell us about the New Yoder Pellet Smoker?????

Start a new thread....Please?

Todd

 

[striper]

Hey Joe!

Sooooo

Tell us about the New Yoder Pellet Smoker?????

Start a new thread....Please?

Todd

Hey Todd,

Will do. 

Joe

 

[michael ark]

you could of checked the probe with multi meter on resitance.

 

[nwdave]

you could of checked the probe with multi meter on resitance.

Joe's point of view is that for the bucks you pay for a Traeger, you shouldn't have to put up with the poor functioning of it.  Let's face it, a Traeger isn't cheap.  Perhaps we've been growing too accustomed to poor workmanship and quality control.  It's time to call a halt to that.  We deserve better.  We shouldn't have to check this and that to get something to work.  Especially when it's for a highly touted product that's just not cutting it. 

 

[striper]

you could of checked the probe with multi meter on resitance.

Michael,

Yes I could have done that IF I owned a multi meter AND I knew how to use it.  NWDave covered the rest of my response very well.  Having been a business owner for many years I also have a problem with a company that will send a Rep. into an area twice a year and UNDERCUT their regular distributors.  Treager does this all over the US.

 

[striper]

So I was just sitting around last night and decided to do a bit of a comparision of the Treager Lil Tex to the Yoder 480;

Treager Lil Tex is 418 sq inches of cooking area, and weighs in at 125 lbs. But it comes with a 3 position switch, so if you want the Digital control that's extra.  Then there are NO shelves on the outside of the unit, but you can buy ONE.  Also it's extra for the extra cooking shelf, which takes away a portion of your main shelf as it sits on the main shelf,and then generally they charge you for the cover.  Equiped that way with Tax here locally it costs $1,055.00.  And then you have to put the whole thing together, including installing the Digital Control.

The Yoder YS480 has 480 sq inches of cooking area and weigs in at 263 lbs. (Just a bit more than DOUBLE the Treager)  You can add a 2nd cooking shelf for $75.00 which has it's own mounts so you don't lose any of your main grill area.  It comes with a Digital control which is infinitely adjustable.  This unit delivered to my door came in at $ 1314.00.  It comes 95% assembled and the little assembly required doesn't need any tools.

Bottom line, for $258.00 difference you get a grill that is way heavier built, has a much better control unit, has cool down feature,  and is MADE IN AMERICA.

There are many more differences between the 2 units.  Way more versitility in cooking with the Yoder, etc.

 

[nwdave]

Uh, Joe, I think your number finger got excited and misplaced the decimal in your final figures.  Perhaps $1,321.40 might be more accurate? 

Now, you need to do one more thing and that is do a review, formally.  That's over on the right side of the page.  So, tell us what you think about your new smoker.  Can I borrow it?

Quote:

So I was just sitting around last night and decided to do a bit of a comparision og the Treager Lil Tex to the Yoder 480;

This unit delivered to my door come in at $ 13214.00.  It comes 95% assembled and the little assembly required doesn't need any tools.

Bottom line, for $258.00 difference you get a grill that is way heavier built and is also MADE IN AMERICA.

There are many more differences between the 2 units.  Way more versitility in cooking with the Yoder, etc.