EX6 - Not loving it


 
J

Jacob

New member
I have a Smokey Joe, 18” kettle, 22” Performer, Genesis, and WSM. Love them all. Bought a Camp Chef smoker for the in-laws lake house and it was great, so I found the EX6 a year or two back for the price of a EX4, so I had to make the purchase.

I gotta say, though, I don’t love it. It’s fine. Everything I’ve cooked with it turns out good. Lots of space. Don’t really use the sear feature much, but that’s okay. So why don’t I love it? I don’t know. First of all, the temperature fluctuates way more than I thought. That drives me nuts. I always throw an ambient probe in there just to check and it’s all over the place up and down. Maybe I just never realized that the pellet smokers tend to do that, but my WSM was basically set and forget for me, once I stabilized the temp. It also uses a ton of fuel, but I should have counted on that. The glow plug was bad out of the box, which really pissed me off, and my last smoke it went out, but luckily I had a spare from last time Weber sent me one when it went out, so I replaced it quickly and my party was not ruined.

So, yea, I can’t really complain about it. It does a good job. I just don’t love it. And I’ve loved every other Weber grill I’ve ever owned. So I’m thinking of getting into the Summit Kamado game, if I can find a deal somewhere. The wife would flip if I spent 2k on one.
 
Sounds very reasonable.
I gave up my pellet pooper and it took about a year but I replaced it with the WSK.............it's a dream machine, if you think that WSM works good then this will make that smile even wider. Not sure about deals though...
 
Darryl - swazies said:
Sounds very reasonable.
I gave up my pellet pooper and it took about a year but I replaced it with the WSK.............it's a dream machine, if you think that WSM works good then this will make that smile even wider. Not sure about deals though...
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Yeah, finding the deal is the hard part. I thought I found one on Facebook marketplace, but that didn't work out. There's another website out there that I have bought stuff from in the past where you kind of make an offer and see if someone will take it, so I'm trying that right now. But now that I'm looking, basically that means I'm getting one, it's just a matter of time.
 
Maybe the SF is just a bit "quirky" in operation for you. Because I gotta say (other than my slight "issue") yesterday. I am absolutely loving my two. COuld not see being without them. FWIW the Member's Mark did not suffer the temp issues when I ran the temp up.
Actually the only "issue" of that type I see sometimes, is if I want to bring temps up closer to 500 on it. It gets there (even with cold), but when I go in to flip over what I am cooking, recovery is slow. So, I work within it's limitations. In colder and windier temps, rocovery when running over 425 is a little tough. Because at higher temps doing a protien like steak or such. You need to go in more often.
 
Thats why I haven't bought a SmokeFire, I'm 75 years old and I just don't want the hassles that a lot of people have with them. I have seven Weber's and love them all, they are totally problem free. I also have a Camp Chef pellet grill and after a couple hundred error free cooks my non PID controller stared to act weird with huge temperature swings. So, I elected to upgrade it to a non-Wi-Fi PID controller as I monitor the grill with my Smoke.
I do agree that the SmokeFire does produce excellent cooks.
 
You are definitely not the first to be disappointed. I'm tickled with mine. I ask new Smokefire/pellet grill owners a lot of questions Is it a Gen1 or Gen2? I'm admin on a FB Smokefire group and try to help some of our 10K members troubleshoot problems so I hope I don't offend you. Thousands of good Smokefire glow plugs have been thrown in the trash. Did you confirm that the glow plug was bad with a meter? I ask because a lot of times the problem is a bad ground contact. Pic below works on a Gen1 or Gen2 and ensures a good contact. As far as temp
fluctuations go, all PID controlled grills fluctuate within a range. My RecTec and Camp Chef did. The PID controller shows set temp as long as the thermocouple is reading a temp within the range. Once you adjust to that, it's no big deal. The food still tastes great.

Glow plug Clamp.jpg
 
I love, LOVE, my Smokefire. Gen II EX6, owned about 2 years. I have, last count about 24 Webers, consisting of four, no five gassers, the Smokefire, and the rest are charcoal.

Bought the Smokefire fully expecting it to be an occasional use unit to experiment with and experience. It has become by far my most used grill, it’s not even close.

Temp fluctuations?🤣 This is going to sound harsh (and trust me, I have thick skin), but that’s a complaint when one doesn’t actually have any complaint but wants a complaint to complain about.

Nature of the beast; a pellet grill BY DESIGN has fluctuations in temperature. It’s what they are supposed to do. Temp raises, fan doesn’t run as much and pellets don’t feed, temp decreases and…wait for it…pellets go in more and fan ramps up. This is literally the only way a pellet grill works. And that’s ok. If that annoys someone, well that’s not a problem with the grill, that’s a problem with the “cook”. All these aftermarket temp controllers, and gravity charcoal grills, hell even the thermostat in your house works exactly the same.

Kinda silly.

As for the Kamado. You’ll…well I was going to say you’ll love it but the lid will be too heavy, the grill itself be too big and awkward , the dual level charcoal grate will be difficult to figure out, it will retain too much heat and if you overshoot your desired temp you’re going to have hell bringing them down.
 
Brett-EDH said:
100% not accurate for the WSK.
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I agree, as a WSK owner the lid is not heavy at all, it's not ceramic so if you overshoot the temp is very easy/quick to dial it back down, and the dual grate height allows so much flexibility. I own a SF too and it's fine, but I would choose the WSK all day/everyday over the SF if I had to choose one.

You can get a WSK E6 and a separate side table for less than a SF.
 
Brett-EDH said:
100% not accurate for the WSK.
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You clearly missed the sarcasm…

And those are actually all 100% accurate, because they are all concerns I’ve seen and heard raised about the Summit and Kamado over the years. Feel free to search all the way back to 2016 when the Summit launched; the lid is heavy, that’s why it’s got the hinge it does, they are big and bulky compared to a kettle, this very forum continues to have question about the charcoal grate, and yes if you overshoot target temp they aren’t easy to bring down.

For the record, in case anyone doesn’t know, mine is a 2016 that I’ve owned since 2019 (brand new from dealer, their floor model). It’s hands down the best cooker I own.
 
TimA said:
You clearly missed the sarcasm…

And those are actually all 100% accurate, because they are all concerns I’ve seen and heard raised about the Summit and Kamado over the years. Feel free to search all the way back to 2016 when the Summit launched; the lid is heavy, that’s why it’s got the hinge it does, they are big and bulky compared to a kettle, this very forum continues to have question about the charcoal grate, and yes if you overshoot target temp they aren’t easy to bring down.

For the record, in case anyone doesn’t know, mine is a 2016 that I’ve owned since 2019 (brand new from dealer, their floor model). It’s hands down the best cooker I own.
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I am not sure which pat of your post(s) are sarcasm and which are not.....
The lid is hinged....I have the second generation....it's a breeze to lift.
It's not massive in size, fits 2 briskets or shoulders with a breeze.
They are bigger than a kettle for sure, but they can do so much work.........
Grates are simple.....
The temps can be lowered with ease it just takes longer but that goes without saying as it is the same with the insulation with holding temps....
I am under the weather today and my head feels like it isn't on straight......trying to make sense here.......
Basically the E6 is simple, like any other tool in this world you just have to understand it.
 
With what’s in the stable right now, I’m certainly not buying anything but, if I were, I’d probably go the WSK road, seems like it’s versatility is pretty well documented here! But, as previously mentioned, in another thread, my wife thinks the car is supposed to be in the garage.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
With what’s in the stable right now, I’m certainly not buying anything but, if I were, I’d probably go the WSK road, seems like it’s versatility is pretty well documented here! But, as previously mentioned, in another thread, my wife thinks the car is supposed to be in the garage.
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I would ask her if the car or the bbq should be out back on the deck/patio......
She what she says..........hahahaha.....
This will put you in the bad books for the if you do probably...
 
As I get older the words "simple to use" become key in my selection process. All my grills are non-remote monitored, that's what my Smoke is for. Easy to use and accurate and no upgrades in the middle of something.
Call me old, slow and full of fleas, but that's the way I like things now.
Talk about wild swings, my non PID controller on the Camp Chef was swinging +- 45-55 degrees when set at 225! The alarms on the Smoke picked it up. Picked up a new Camp Chef PID Gen 2 controller for $50.00 on Amazon a month ago during their big sale. A $100 less that Camp Chef sells it for.:)
 
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Frankly I was really surprised when Weber started making a pellet smoker. Traeger, Camp Chef, and Rectec already had decent products out there... I think Yoder had their high end pellet smoker out there before Weber too. Not surprised to hear that there were issues with Weber's first gen, and that many of the bugs were eventually worked out... I gotta wonder if Weber hit any of their commercial goals on that product launch? OR was the commercial launch really about selling Weber brand pellets?

I never say never but I'm unlikely to switch to a pellet smoker. I don't like the fan noise. I like the peaceful sounds my WSM and WSK make while I'm sipping beer, playing with my dogs, slow-smoking meat and not worried about electronics and moving parts.
 
Rich Dahl said:
As I get older the words "simple to use" become key in my selection process. All my grills are non-remote monitored, that's what my Smoke is for. Easy to use and accurate and no upgrades in the middle of something.
Call me old, slow and full of fleas, but that's the way I like things now.
Talk about wild swings, my non PID controller on the Camp Chef was swinging +- 45-55 degrees when set at 225! The alarms on the Smoke picked it up.
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Rich - I think we are cut from the same cloth!
 
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