Louisiana Grills Vertical Pellet Smoker

“You are asking about Traeger and Zgrills here. The rectec and other fan boys have come out to promote their products but have not addressed your initial question. Very Fan Boy common on here. I have had a Zgrills 700 sq inch grill for 6 years. It was an Amazon deal for $349 with stainless lids and no wifi or other bells and whistles. I have used it very hard and have over 1,000 meals cooked on it to this point. That includes everything from 17 lb turkeys to smoked salmon, burgers, dogs, steak, chops, ribs, vegetables and skewers, Boston Butt, many versions of chicken, Tibetan Yak meat of any cut, you get the picture right ? This grill has never let me down. I live in Western Washington where it is wet and it got hit by a torrential downpour causing the auger to get jammed with swollen pellets so I did a complete tear down and replaced everything including the auger, bushing and all electronics system. Total cost $165. Two years later it is still cooking well. All my fault. This grill will get hot to just over 400 degrees but it does not sear meat. If a hard sear is important to you then this will not work. It does cook burgers and dogs well and crispy skin chicken. If you want remote bluetooth or wifi monitoring there are other aftermarket systems such as Meator that are probably more accurate and reliable than the manufacturer built in systems. The biggest complaints on this thread seem to be faulty wifi and temp monitoring with built in systems. In my opinion Zgrills is a good value for a pellet grill and will fill your needs. They have some solid, well built models that are budget friendly. You may also look at Pit Boss. I have had really good experience with my series 5 vertical smoker. They make grills a well As others have said here : Two thumbs DOWN on Traeger. overpriced, overhyped and shady business practices.”