Weber SmokeFire vs. Traeger competition


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
OK, first let me say that I have NOT seen a Weber SmokeFire in person. That is obviously important to make a fair comparison. I have, however, seen in person the Traeger Ironwood and Timberline series grills that I mention. I post this only because of questions some have had about Weber's pricing. There are certainly cheaper competitors than Traeger - and I am sure some will do just fine. Even Traeger has entry-level lower priced models. Clearly, however, Weber needed to challenge the leader and leader's best stuff, not lower priced copycats.

The Ironwood has been stated to be the "target" that Weber was aiming at. What do you get? At $1199 for the smaller grill and $1399 for the larger one, you get the same basic grease bucket as other older pellet grills. Don't like those Weber nickel-chrome plated grates on the SmokeFire? I don't really either, but I also don't like the porcelain coated ones that come with the Traeger Ironwood grills.

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https://www.traegergrills.com/pelle...50-pellet-grill?icid=20191111|holiday|sale|cs

The Timberline series are Traeger's top-end grill. They DO look very nice and come with stainless grates (although I didn't magnet test them):

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I guess they should be pretty nice with prices set at $1,799 for the smaller Timberline and $1,999 for the larger one.

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https://www.traegergrills.com/pelle...50-pellet-grill?icid=20191111|holiday|sale|cs

The Timberline is a worthy competitor for the SmokeFire but costs A LOT MORE. Also, I don't think Traeger tries to claim the same high heat capability. The Timberline, I believe, tops out around 500 degrees. It does have some nice doodads and looks good overall.

I would submit that based on what we have seen and heard so far that you would come out way ahead of even Traeger's Timberline with a new SmokeFire upgraded with a decent set of middle of the road stainless grates such as Qlimetal, Hongso or if you want to spend a little more BBQParts.com or Midwest Hearth. And, of course, you could go all out and by Dave Santana/rcplanebuyer grates and STILL have a lot of $ left for stuff to smoke and grill on your new SmokeFire. It is my understanding that classic Genesis size grates will interchange on the SmokeFire - 2 for the smaller one and 3 grates for the large.

So, I think that Weber is very fairly priced in light of the offerings from their most serious competitor. I don't think the Ironwood is even really close, and the Timberline is priced much, much higher. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out for sure!
 
Traeger makes nice smokers, as they should, having invented pellet grills. I’ve had 3 over the past decade and kept ‘upgrading’ looking for something that grilled well too. I don’t have hands on with the Ironwood or Timberline, but the other Traegers struggle to get over 400 and to recover after you open the lid. Had Weber not announced the SmokeFire, I’d probably have a Ironwood right now.

Traeger also has the reputation and recognition to get a little better price than the others like Weber does. It’s hard to blindly spend $700-1000 over the Internet or phone for many when you can go down the street and get a Traeger for not all that much more and have someone to deal with if there’s a problem. RecTec and Grilla can’t be seen in a store to see that they may be built better.
 
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I may be wrong but I don't see the grates being that big a deal with oven like temperatures vs. blazing hot grilling temperatures. Even the SmokeFire with it's ability to grill steaks etc. isn't going to reach the temperatures of a kettle with a full load of charcoal at the grate level.
With Traeger having the biggest slice of the pellet market Weber is going to have one steep hill to climb and the do it all grill may end up being not the best at some of it.
I will admit Weber has done it's homework and they have addressed some of the inherent problems of the mainline pellet grills.
Also their limited availability only sold at a few retailers doesn't give them the exposure that some of the others have.
Going to be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
I don't think the grates are that big of a deal either, in my smoker I have had a Weber plated steel grate in it for 10 year and it still shows no rust. It's 24" from the heat source but that smoker is never really run above 325.

I wonder if Weber used those thin rods deliberately, yes it would have been nice if they were stainless but obviously adds to the price point. Here is an article from Amazing ribs on grates you can take it with a grain of salt, the gist of the article thin stainless rods not thick ones and the plain Weber plated steel allow the most radiant heat thru when cooking with charcoal and I assume the same is true of pellets. We can all debate spacing and sear marks but they are trying to offer a pellet grill that can sear as well as smoke maybe those thin grates allow the surface to get hotter and are the best solution.

I am sure others have seen this review but maybe not all and not saying it's the end all review on grates.

https://amazingribs.com/ratings-reviews/tools/grill-grates
 
Interesting article Brian, although I don't think it will change many minds about thick or thin being best.
 
I have a set of Weber stainless grates for my Spirit E-330 that I've since replaced with GrillGrates, I'm really hoping these are the right size for the SmokeFire. At high temps, the stainless grates do hold a lot of heat and leave serious lines more than and even all over sear, but the food still tastes good, looks pretty, and the grates last longer. If I need that all over sear, I'll use the cold grate technique over charcoal.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Interesting article Brian, although I don't think it will change many minds about thick or thin being best.
Click to expand...

No I know it won't change anyone's mind really was not trying to do that and I am a big sear guy so don't necessarily share his view. I was just really wondering if Weber's choice of those grates was intentional to increase the sear if that's really the case on the radiant heat thing.
 
I could have sworn I saw "ability to grill/sear at up to 500 degrees" on the Traegers I saw at Costco. But then I could be wrong. Honestly since the Maillard reaction takes place at 325 degrees seems like anything much over 400 is superfluous anyway
 
Have you ever tired to sear a steak at 400 degrees via indirect heat? 400 on a flat top, yep probably enough. 450-500 over charcoal with radiant heat, maybe. I still like 550-600+ better at dome temp. 400 on a typical pellet grill, been there and tried that numerous times and it sucks. Most people I know that are happy with searing on a pellet grill use cast iron pans or GrillGrates.

If I let my Junior or Texas Elite warm up an hour, it might hit 475-500 in the summer. However, as soon as I opened the lid and put food on it dropped to 300 and took 10 minutes to get back to just over 400, then it was time to flip things and start over again. The new D2 models might be a little better at recovery, but it’s still all indirect.
 
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My Rec Tec, which I enjoy greatly as a bbq machine, can barely hit 500 on a Florida day. You can cook burgers as I have shown before, but it is nothing like cooking on a hot gas grill. I wouldn’t even try to do steaks on it other than smoking them at a low temp for a while before switching them to a Genesis.

The videos we have seen of the SmokeFire suggest that it can do more than pellet grills currently on the market.
 
That's pretty interesting. I hope I get to see one soon. I think there is going to be a whirlwind of change and new things coming in the next year or two in Pellet Grills. Stay tuned!
 
Well Barb and I did our first cook last night on the Camp Chef, I will post that experience later today. Next up I'm going to sacrifice a strip steak. The grill has a searing option that I want to see how well it works. The Camp Chef will not be my grilling grill I have the performer and two gassers for that, but just curious to try it.
 
Look forward to seeing how it does, Rich.

CLARIFICATION ABOUT THIS THREAD:

I just want to add here, that I was in no way "bashing" Traeger. They make some very nice grills, the Timberline being especially nice. My main purpose in posting this thread was to show that Weber's SmokeFire price, rather than being high, is actually somewhat aggressive considering what you are getting.
 
Jim, I wonder how long it will be before the Timberline sells for the Ironwood price and the Ironwood is selling for less than SmokeFires? I would guess cost wise, the Timberline costs Traeger less than the SmokeFire costs Weber. I've eyeballed those Timberlines ever since they came out, but never could part with that kind of money for one. Will be interesting to see if Traeger starts adjusting prices when the Webers hit show room floors.
 
Larry, I might be mistaken pretty sure in another thread around here that Z Grill used to make them for Traeger now they have their own line. Sounds like you did the research so the Kenmore was just a re-branded Z grill.
 
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