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EU based so not all of the americano options are available. Dog safety is a consideration. I've narrowed the field to Weber ex4, Louisiana lg800fl, Weber summit E6. Open to verticals too such as MB or PB but quality issues have me hesitant. Summit bc it supposedly holds temps very well and once going would be similar to a pellet for set and forget, plus real flame if needed.
Greetings, and welcome to the community from New Mexico, USA.
My vote would be for the Louisiana LG800FL over a Pit Boss any day.
Don't think I've heard anything bad about the company.
Don't know anything about the Weber's.
I bought my EX4 in July of '21 . I use it the most of all my other grills and smokers .
Does a fantastic job at smoking , grilling and baking .
It also has some great features and it's easy to clean . No shop vac needed .
Rib roast ,
Killer brisket ,
Makes an awesome grill . I have a Genesis 310 gas grill , and
more times than not I fire up the EX4 to grill something .
Strip steaks ,
I saw some of your ex4 posts before joining. I was back and forth on the ex4 for a while and put it high on the list recently after deciding you were correct and the firestarters were not.
PB is off the list.
Hopefully I can make a decision soonish on pellet vs kamado style, well summit is the only kamado I'm interested in.
Read the comments on the two vids that Thomas posted.
Its quite obvious the poster Thomas performs little to no maintenence,such as basic cleaning,on his thus causing problems.Also what gen model he has comes into question,many probems were resolved in the Gen2 model.He also states that Weber's customer service is ineffective,nothing could be further from the truth as I can personally attest they have some of the best in the biz.Thomas pretty much comes across as being bitter in his narrative.
Here's the second vid if you didn't see it.Read the comments afterward.
Yea I saw that video and it's just one data point for me. The grease fire thing is a non-issue for me.
Still interested in pellet bridging/not feeding and the auger design issue. I've seen other pics of the auger and it seems like even in the replacement they did not fix the auger design, just a new auger housing. I'm not sure how or if the housing fixes anything.
I watched the first video , and only laughed a couple times . Everyone's an expert .
Most things I've worked on that transmit power from a motor through a shaft will have a shear pin or " Dinky little bolt " as he calls it .
Like Norm says above , some of this is an issue with the Gen 1 . The Gen 2 should have these troubles addressed .
Thanks Norm , I did not see that one at first .
What a slob . I call grill abuse . If that wasn't bad enough , the deck is full of swill and he's walking in it with no shoes on .
I saw that they offered the insert . I think some of that is a response to the " never happy " users . I think Weber is trying to make an effort , and saw some merit in concerns of pellet feed .
I do not have it on mine , not sure if it changes anything or not . Mine has the ramp that was added to the Gen 2 . I watch all my cooks . I'll open the hopper and push the pellets over once or twice on long cooks .
It's the nature of the beast . If you pull from the bottom of a pile of anything , that area is going to fall in on itself . The sides will ramp . It's a non issue for me .
One feature these have is a Low Hopper alarm . Lets you know if the pellets are low .
I don't have anything to compare that to . I would say , in my opinion mine is not a pellet hog . Like anything though , cooking temp drives the consumption . I'm also not trying to save charcoal , wood or pellets . I'm using what it takes to turn out some good eats .
I will say that mine trickles pellets into the burn pot . As I think it should . Keeps a fresh source of fuel that transfers into good smoke profile on the food .
Something else . The second guy talks about burning off his grill , then putting it in smoke boost . That's not how it works , and the user guide that comes with it tells you so .
I keep mine clean , as I do all my grills and smokers . I use a drip pan if needed in my kettles and MES , and the Genesis has one built in .
Here's a look at the EX4 after a long smoke . Drip pan was used , and the smoker was ran about 7 hours .
This is what it looked like the next day when I broke it down to clean it .
This is what a maintained grill looks like after a long ( single ) smoke .
The ash falls into the tray below . The body I use an old pastry brush to move the rest into the tray . Pull the tray and dump it . If grilling , I do need to do some scraping .
Still interested in pellet bridging/not feeding and the auger design issue. I've seen other pics of the auger and it seems like even in the replacement they did not fix the auger design, just a new auger housing. I'm not sure how or if the housing fixes anything.
I wanted a drop auger design over the straight line feed . The thought of the burn back into the hopper is something I did not want to chance .
I honestly don't see this as something that needs " Fixed " . In 3 years I've put a ton of pellets through this thing , and only once has the pellets been an issue , and the low hopper alarm alerted me .
I don't do overnight or away from home cooks . If that something you're wanting to do , a full hopper should take care of an unsupervised grill for 7 hours or so .
I bought an EX4 based on seeing chopsaw
threads and bugging him with some DMs. VERY happy with mine. Can take any brand pellet I think. I have never run Weber pellets and run the oak blend from Home Depot. VERY much set and forget and also has a good strong smoke flavor. That being said, made KILLER grub with my MES + AMNPS. Still use it but it has become more of sausage smoker now where the EX4 is more of cook smoker. Good luck in your search.
I don't know of any pellet cooker that can't use any brand of pellet.
Traeger used to say it would void your warranty if you used others. Don't know if they still do.
I think the pellet thing was an effort to correct the trouble with auger jams on the Gen 1 .
They are smaller and more uniform . I have used them , and like them , but you don't have to use Weber brand pellets . Gen 2 has corrected the feed issue of the Gen 1 .
I use B&B comp pellets . I also buy different brands when on sale , or if it's all I can get .
I found some Pit Boss charcoal blend pellets on closeout and bought all they had .
I like the charcoal pellets mixed in with the B&B .
I also have some Bear mountain right now . In my experience the Baer mountain and Pit Boss have more dust , and leave more ash than the B&B .
The open design of the SmokeFire really gives a nice smoke profile on the food .
HHJB
I have no feedback on these cookers but what I will say is both chopsaw
and zwiller
are very accomplished with grilling, smoking and much more. Seems they really love that Weber.
chopsaw
threads and bugging him with some DMs. VERY happy with mine. Can take any brand pellet I think. I have never run Weber pellets and run the oak blend from Home Depot. VERY much set and forget and also has a good strong smoke flavor. That being said, made KILLER grub with my MES + AMNPS. Still use it but it has become more of sausage smoker now where the EX4 is more of cook smoker. Good luck in your search.
