SmokeFire issues on YouTube.


 
Bruno

Bruno

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The videos that people are putting up are pretty disapointing. One guy is in contact with Weber to return his, be curious to see what their response is.

We got guys ruining food left and right.

At this point I‘d say I’m highly concerned and considering all options.
 
Enter Tony NGO Smokefire in YouTube and look at what this poor guy is dealing with.
 
To be real honest about Tony NGO , the first cook on any new smoker should not be an $80 brisket. And instead of wasting time on the SmokeFire, I would go fire up my other smoker and finish my cook. I feel sorry for him a bit, but he should've proceeded with caution.

As to the SmokeFire ........ even Baby Back Maniac has had trouble with his ......... seems to be common.
 
I just watched a bunch of the videos. He said he did ribs first, then burgers, both without incident. It started going haywire on the brisket.

He's definitely not a happy camper. I can't say I blame him at all.
 
Jason in CA said:
I just watched a bunch of the videos. He said he did ribs first, then burgers, both without incident. It started going haywire on the brisket.

He's definitely not a happy camper. I can't say I blame him at all.
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Well, that makes more sense.
 
Bruno, I'm not sure I follow the title of this posting, why "DO NOT WATCH"? Shouldn't we want to watch them all, no matter how bad, to learn from others experiences?
 
Wish it wasn't true both for the new owners and Weber.
I'm on my maiden first long cook with my Camp Chef doing an eight pound pork shoulder, into hour two and so far so good.
 
Bob Swaskoski said:
Bruno, I'm not sure I follow the title of this posting, why "DO NOT WATCH"? Shouldn't we want to watch them all, no matter how bad, to learn from others experiences?
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I was trying to be funny and referring to me, I’m nervous as hell about my EX6 showing up tomorrow. I might not even open the box at this point.
i‘m actually going to reach out to Amazon regarding returns. Can I roll in a dirty built smoker to Kohl’s and be done with it? Weber asked a guy on YouTube who may want to return his if he had used it and they haven’t gotten back to him.
 
Bruno said:
I was trying to be funny and referring to me, I’m nervous as hell about my EX6 showing up tomorrow. I might not even open the box at this point.
i‘m actually going to reach out to Amazon regarding returns. Can I roll in a dirty built smoker to Kohl’s and be done with it? Weber asked a guy on YouTube who may want to return his if he had used it and they haven’t gotten back to him.
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Ok, I misunderstood. Yeah, I watched the videos from "Matt PPC" as well and can appreciate his frustrations and return questions. The repeated startup failures alone would push me to the edge too let alone the other issues.
"Matt PPC"
 
Baby back Maniac doesn't have the Smoke Fire. I've been looking forward to his reviews on it. Has he made a video with another youtouber o haven't seen?

As for the videos I've found, I'm seeing Way too many problems at this point I'd be canceling an order if I had one on the way. We were all hopeing and expecting Weber to nail it. But that doesn't seem to be the case at this point.
 
So that’s my concern, are the guys on YouTube rushing to be the guy with the videos and making silly mistakes or are there bigger issues.
is the cold causing these problem?
I can afford another brand, I really want a rock solid easy to clean smoker.
 
Jason in CA said:
As for the videos I've found, I'm seeing Way too many problems at this point I'd be canceling an order if I had one on the way. We were all hopeing and expecting Weber to nail it. But that doesn't seem to be tied the case at this point.
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I wouldn’t either. I wish I would have waited to see what guys like BBM and Amazing Ribs have to say.
 
I've gone through the comments on some of the videos and there may be mistakes by the users but it's not clear. If nothing else it seems the Smoke Fire is finicky as hell.
 
Jason in CA said:
As for the videos I've found, I'm seeing Way too many problems at this point I'd be canceling an order if I had one on the way. We were all hopeing and expecting Weber to nail it. But that doesn't seem to be the case at this point.
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Agree! Negative news in general gets more attention than positive but it seems like there is almost nothing good to report so far. I've been in tech for almost 30 years and can tell you that the majority of these initial issues are software related and can be corrected in time. Version 1.0 of ANY new software is rarely as good as expected no how much it is tested internally. I'm holding my gift cards and waiting patiently for what I hope is a timely and aggressive response by Weber to instill much needed confidence back into the market.
 
A long video. I skipped some of it. One thing I've noticed in everything I have seen is the fan noise. It's flipping loud. Is that a Smoke Fire thing or are all pellet grills that loud?? I think it would bug me if I was hanging out near the smoker having to hear that.

 
My Camp Chef's fan at normal operation isn't very loud but when it ramps up it is very noticeable, but that's only for a minute or so.
 
I read and watch others' experiences with products with a sense of skepticism. When I'm interested in a product I go to that vendor's site and download the manual. Then I read it methodically and highlight the pertinent detail and utilize it as a checklist while using the given product. I know enough to know there are some folks who operate devices without fully reading a product manual. And removing smoker components while in use is not an action I'd be inclined to perform.
 
I have not watched the videos but I'll outline the issues I've had. Now I want to preface it by saying I have owned and do own more cooking equipment than most people. Not many folks have a $20k Southern Pride 1,000lb capacity smoker in their arsenal on a trailer with smoke extractor. lol. I'm also a tech guy and quite handy. If you've read my thread then hopefully those things come across.

  • There are controller issues. My controller has frozen up 3-4 times at random times. Sometimes during startup, other times during a cook, or when trying to change the temp during a cook. I can't seem to see a pattern.
  • I've experienced a couple startup issues where the unit failed to light. The first was the initial burn in run where it started to smoke and died out. The second was yesterday when it failed to ignite again. And I could count a third when it was coming up to temp and the controller froze before it reached the initial set point. Whether this is hardware or firmware, I don't know.
  • Temperature control isn't extremely good, yet. Rock solid temperature control would likely reduce smoldering and smoke, so some variation is ok. I'd just like it to cook at or near the set point and then vary from that temp by 10-15 degrees. Mine will sometimes run near the set point and other times it will run 25 degrees below. This is measuring with a different device near the OEM thermocouple.
  • The chamber is not sealed well as delivered. The door fit pretty poorly, so i sealed it with nomex, adjusted the hinges a bit and reformed some of the sheet metal to get a tighter fit.
  • The app is as basic as it can possibly be. It's a simple monitoring app, but likely the main purpose at this point is to allow for firmware updates, since that was the first process I had to go through during setup.
  • I didn't receive any hardware with my EX6, so I had to acquire/fabricate my own. Weber has been able to send me the parts at this point.

The best the customer base can do is provide valid feedback to Weber's support team and hope those concerns and hope those issues are largely pattern based. I would not trust this cooker to do a 12-18 hour cook at this point based upon the issues I've had. The biggest risk is the controller IMO since it freezing up is not good.
 
Jason in CA said:
Baby back Maniac doesn't have the Smoke Fire. I've been looking forward to his reviews on it. Has he made a video with another youtouber o haven't seen?
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Baby Back Maniac does have the SmokeFire EX6, he bought one at Lowe's. He's posting about his experience on Instagram, not on YouTube.

In case it gets deleted:

****update- @kevin_kolman Got a hold of me and showed me what the problem was. A void of pellets formed in the hopper In front of the auger which prevented it from loading up with pellets properly. Hopefully we are back in business.**** OK, I’ve spent about four hours playing with this and this cooker is not working.
Ran great for about two hours then flamed out. Put it in shutdown mode tried again, won’t start. Went through shut down mode again and tried again and the auger isn’t even feeding pellets into the fire pot.

Definitely not happy...at least not yet. Will call customer service tomorrow and see if I can get it going. #webersmokefiregrill
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