Traeger Grill Reviews (Should You Buy One Or Not?)

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Traeger Grill Reviews


Before I started on the Traeger grill reviews I have to be honest and tell you that I was not a big fan of pellet smokers. I thought they would take the joy of messing with charcoal and wood chunks out of grilling and smoking. After doing all the reading and researching I had to change my opinion.

Pellet grills are awesome and I can’t wait till I have decided on what pellet smoker brand I would like to have, but Traeger is one of the brands that are on my list.
We looked at the most popular models in this Traeger grill buyers guide.

In a hurry? you can see all Traeger Pellet grills here on their website.


Traeger junior elite

The Traeger junior elite is a very easy-to-use smoker/grill. Fill it with pellets, turn it one and watch the convection blower and auger do all the work for you.

Set it on smoke or the desired temperature and the Traeger digital controller will take over from there.

This is called a lazy man smoker. Easy to use and although I have done many reviews this Traeger has really impressed me.

I even think I am putting it on my wish list. Read my review and let me know if I have to add something to it from your experience as a user of the Traeger junior elite.

Read the rest of the Traeger Junior Elite review here:

==>Read my Traeger Junior Elite Review <==


Traeger Texas pellet grill

There is a lot to say about the Traeger Texas pellet grill. This was not an easy grill to review.
There are 2 kinds of reviews.

The ones that love it and would buy it over and over again and the ones that really did not like it at all.
But to be honest there are more people that like this pellet grill.

The most common pros we heard of was the ease of use of this grill. Fill it with pellets, set your temperature and the grill does the rest.
Recently this grill is made in China and many people regret that.

This grill is the kind of grill that you have to get used to. It seems it is a convection oven with a built-in smoker. Most of the reviews and comments we read on forums and websites say that the food tastes great and is perfect time after time, but there is a little learning curve.
Read the rest of the Traeger Texas pellet grill review here.


Traeger Lil Tex elite

The Traeger lil Tex Elite is what can be called a set-and-forget pellet grill.
I have heard someone call it a lazy mans grill.

How does it work?: Fill the hopper with your preferred pellet, start it, set your temperature, and put your meat on it.
That is all you have to do.

The results are pretty darned good, due to the thermostat that makes temperature stays constant and that is a big advantage over charcoal or propane gas.
With the use of 2 lbs/hr on high, 1 lb/hr on medium, and 1/2 lb/hr when smoking you can use the 20 lb pellets for a lot of cooking with this pellet smoker.
Read the full Traeger lil’ Tex Elite review


Traeger pro series Reviews

The Traeger Pro series is a nice featured grill that fits in between the lower-priced and the higher price pellet grills on the market.
I had a good look at them:

Traeger pro series 22

You can read my review of the Traeger pro series 22 here

Traeger pro series 34

You can read the review of the Traeger Pro series 34


Traeger Timberline.

This could be considered one of the top models for Traeger. The features they have added here are not found on most of the other models.

You can read my full and in-depth Traeger Timberline pellet grill review on its own page and have a look at all these series have to offer.

More Traeger Models

ModelGrill grate surface- Sq inches.How much meat?WiFi?
Timberline 8508509 chicken. 8 ribs or 6 pork buttsYes
Timberline 1300130012 chicken, 15 ribs or 12 pork buttsYes
Ironwood 6506508 chicken, 5 ribs, 6 pork butts.Yes
Ironwood 88588510 chicken, 7 ribs or 9 pork butts.Yea
Pro 57557514 burgers, 5 ribs or 4 chickenYes
Pro 78078034 burgers, 6 ribs or 6 chickenYea
Tailgater3002 chicken, 3 ribs or 12 burgers.No
Ranger1846 burgers, 1 rib or 10 hot dogsNo

Traeger Grill Reviews – My Opinion

After reading a ton of Traeger grill reviews and opinions about the Traeger pellet grills I am still not ready with forming an opinion.

I found that there are probably a few Chinese manufacturers that are making pellet grills for several brands.
It almost looks that the Z-grills I reviewed it is a perfect clone of the Traeger.

I read some great things about Traeger, and on another forum or consumer website, I read some very negative things. Being one of the oldest companies that started with these pellet grills in the 1980s does not automatically means that you are the best.

It seems that Traeger is trying hard to improve its product but there are still a lot of problems. I see a lot of people having problems with their customer service.

Traeger pellets are made in their own mills and I wrote a Traeger pellets chart and guide for you to find out more.

Old Traeger controller versus new controller

It seems to me that the older models had some pretty bad problems with the controllers and the augers. In the newer models, it seems that the Traeger company has solved most of the problems.

From what I understand the old controller had 3-speed settings and this is how the temperature was regulated without measuring the real temperature in the grill.

The new replacement Traeger controller measures the temper This is far more accurate and the outdoor temperature does not affect the grill temperature anymore like with the old controllers.
I guess this controller can be compared to the ones we talked about in the Rec Tec grill reviews we did.

For many Traeger models, you can do a Traeger controller replacement or upgrade and you can read more in that post about how easy that basically is,

Changing out pellets in some Traeger hoppers

One of the things people do not like is that you have to scoop out the pellets if you like to change to a different kind. Only the pro series has an easy cleaning-out option with a door.

We will be adding more Traeger grill reviews here. If you would like us to review a specific one let us know.
For more information, you can go to the Traeger website.

Traeger keeps adding more grills to their store and the quality is getting better and better in my opinion. We will be doing more Traeger smoker and grill reviews in the future and updating our old ones.


Our Treager video

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Grill cover problems with the Traeger grills

I got a response on this Traeger grill review page that you can read in the comment sections below.
Ben mentioned a problem that I had not heard of. But, and even better than that he offered a solution to that problem also.

It seems that the grill covers for the Traeger grill tend to be blown away by the wind and according to Ben they hang little sandbags at them so they don’t blow away. Jim himself added padded magnets to his grill cover and 2 0r 3 will do the trick.

Thanks for your help, Jim. I will see if I can get to find more solutions. I can imagine that Velcro might be an idea.

I have just finished an article on the Traeger thermal insulation blanket that is a perfect addition to your Traeger if you like to use it in the colder season.

Eddie van Aken

Eddie van Aken has years of experience in running his full-service restaurant and with this came working with using and dealing with all types of kitchen equipment. With his experience, he can find all the pros and cons of grills and add them to the grill reviews he is doing. You can read more on the about page for Eddie van Aken

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