Weber SmokeFire on Amazon Prime for...


 
Buy! And hang on to the WSM just in case of a power outage./
I got two salmon fillets going on my EX6 second gen.
Probes are in, sitting in the ac and monitoring temps while having a beer.
Easy peasy, and I was a diehard charcoal only no ATC damnit or pellet pooper lol.
Don't get me wrong I still lOve my charcoal cookers but a pellet cooker has it's place especially at a great price.
 
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First of all, good call on keeping your kettle. If power goes out and you need to cook your meat before it goes bad, a pellet grill isn't going to help. I probably would keep my WSM as well for some versatility. Secondly, I wouldn't get a SmokeFire. I have been waiting on Weber to send me a new auger for over a month now because replacement parts are really hard to find. I would assume that problem is only going to get worse as time goes on. Also as Bruno points out, they made many improvements from the lessons they learned with the SmokeFire. It is a great deal in the short-term, but in the long-term the Searwood would be the better buy.
 
Bob Erdman said:
Like my SF, but I would pass. Searwood looks like the way to go if you want to stay with Weber.
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I have been impressed with the almost universal acceptance of the Searwood as a replacement for the SmokeFire. Seems like Weber did a great job in fixing many of the original issues while keeping as much of the desirable aspects of the SmokeFire as they could. I don't hear much about complaints from owners of the Searwood, either.

I hope, in time, Weber can get these back in the big box stores so more people can look at one in person. I haven't seen a Searwood myself, yet, not even at the large Ace near Indianapolis that carries a very large selection of Weber grills. I am afraid a lot of retailers are in the "Once burned, twice shy" mode. :(
 
Agree Searwoods seem to be hard to come by. When I was looking a local shop had one in the back and one out front
they were cooking on. Went by the Ace in the area and they had one in the showroom and a couple in the warehouse.

About 3 days later the local shop had none (not even the one they were using) and Ace had one left in the warehouse.
Grabbed it and really glad I did.
In researching I found the SmokeFire with lots of comments and a significant portion of them negative. On the other hand
the Searwood was hard to find anything wrong with it (148 reviews, average of 4.7).

Good Luck with whatever you decide.
 
I caught the price and bought one. It is a gen 2 - and they fixed most of the issues - I fully agree that its still suspect... For the price - I'll enter the pellet waters. Have a 22 WSM and 2 kamadjo Joes big Joe 3.. Need another to experiment with... Came with free assembly also....
 
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CDesanno said:
I caught the price and bought one. It is a gen 2 - and they fixed most of the issues - I fully agree that its still suspect... For the price - I'll enter the pellet waters. Have a 22 WSM and 2 kamadjo Joes big Joe 3.. Need another to experiment with... Came with free assembly also....
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Nice! SmokeFire’s had their issues but mine runs better than ever with the latest update.
Good luck! I firmly believe they put out a ton of smoke with the flavorizer design.
 
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Bruno said:
I love my smoke fire but I’d go with a Searwood. Too many lessons learned by Weber not to take advantage of.
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I bought it... my decision process was basically: I'm cheap (aka retired) and probably won't pull the trigger until the Searwood is discontinued, meaning I'd never get a pellet smoker.

I checked reviews, and it will have some issues, but updates should fix most of that.

Down side is it is going to take about a month to get it delivered. Guess the WSM's life at our house will be extended.
 
Bill T said:
I bought it... my decision process was basically: I'm cheap (aka retired) and probably won't pull the trigger until the Searwood is discontinued, meaning I'd never get a pellet smoker.

I checked reviews, and it will have some issues, but updates should fix most of that.

Down side is it is going to take about a month to get it delivered. Guess the WSM's life at our house will be extended.
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Not to rain on your parade. Let me tell you a little about weber and the possibility you will actually be able to get support and or parts for it. I went through much the same thing with a Summit 1st generation 450. While in warranty it had issues with a covered MAJOR portion of the grill vital to it's safe operation. Weber rep when I inquired about buying the part told me "good news" it's in warranty so the part would be free. But sadly they quit making or even stocking that and many other major vital parts even though it was in warranty. Now quite honestly I believe that kind of practice should be illegal but apparently it's not. But that has left me with an incredibly bad taste and severe distrust of them as a company.
Since nothing in the SmokeFire will ever be common to the new grill odds are they will leave you in the lurch as they did me. Perhaps even more likely. And, because of the tech in the SF, you cannot even sub in a generic part i.e. an igniter, an auger or fan motor, etc. All these parts have no commonality to anything else Weber is making now or any other company.
Now, would I be tempted to a SF? Sure but, quite honestly only if it was at least $100 less than what you saw on Amazon maybe even more. But, for me anyway $475-$500 is a steep gamble for me. YMMV
I TRULY hope you don't go through what I did with the Summit. But, just go in eyes wide open.
Hopefully you have a good relationship with it for a good long time
 
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