Weber's Pellet Grill Future


 
Lew Newby

Lew Newby

R.I.P. 1/26/2024
Since I bought my Smokefire I've seen the release of the Gen 2 and now the Stealth. My background is military and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program. Understanding the production of Nuclear Weapons certainly doesn't qualify me to assess the manufacture of a consumer product so I would like to hear other opinions. Many people insist that a radical design is in mill but I just don't see Weber deviating too far from the current design. I belong to a Smokefire Facebook group and we have grown steadily and now we're seeing growth of 300 people a month. It was higher than that last summer. We have members from all over Europe, the UK, North and Central America, and Australia. Am I the only one that thinks that the Smokefire business model is the same as the Weber gas grill business model and isn't each new gas grill just an incremental change from the previous model. A lot of owners know that the Smokefire needs tweaking but don't see a conventional pellet grill design in the future.
 
You raise an excellent question, Lew. I feel ridiculous speculating since I don't know the minds of the folks at Weber and what is happening behind closed doors but here is one thought that I have: assuming the Stealth has a very similar design as G1 and G2, it would seem to me the Weber folks have data and courage to believe it is a solid performer. Honestly, that makes me feel good about my SF.

I don't necessarily follow all of the pellet manufacturers but for the little knowledge I have it seems the SF is already unique enough to distinguish it from others (I'm not implying it is better, just different enough to offer a little separation from the typical pellet cooker).
 
I believe that they will continue to make small changes, some quietly, to improve the current line up. I don't see them doing a major redesign for quite sometime. They seem to have put the rollout problems behind them and have moved on with a very good product. I would think that it would behoove them to keep them as similar to the gas grill line up as possible, for duplication of parts in bulk manufacturing. Just my unqualified 2¢.
 
I agree. I don’t expect any major shifts. And that’s fine. I’ve always dug the different approach Weber took, it’s what drew me in initially when they first showed it.

I’ve grumbled about mine a couple times, but the food it’s turned out has been flawless. As long as I can get through the cook, which majority I have.

I’m ok with incremental
 
I too am happy with incremental because I want to be able to keep my SmokeFire up and running for as long as possible.
If I was ordering one today I’d go with the stealth, I like it.
Reminds me of mine with the black table.3B851A35-C0CA-4404-B550-85F520D79549.png
 
Was hoping this announcement of a new design would mean the current gen would go on sale, but it looks like the stealth is going to occupy a 3rd higher price point. None of my local Lowes had the 1/2 off smokefires... in fact none of them seem to carry the Smokefire in store at all?
 
I posted this in the "Buy Sell" section, but it really belongs here, so sorry for the repetition:

I think Lowe's owes a lot of us some kind of apology for a ridiculous bait and switch. I love Lowe's when I was in Florida, but this and the similar nonsense on the SmokeFire has really hurt my impression of them. It probably was some kind of error, but it was presented as an offer, and they got acceptances. That's a contract according to my business law class from years ago.

On the SmokeFire, I am not surprised to hear the surmising that Lowe's won't be carrying it next season. It seemed clear to me that they were clearing out everything that has to do with it - very sadly. Lowe's was the only major retailer giving the SmokeFire display space. I have to believe this is a very tough blow for the SmokeFIre's future. To sell in abundance, people need to be able to see it and be able to buy on impulse when they are in the store.

I don't see "black-out" window dressing changing this. That is why when Weber did that teaser picture, I wondered if Weber could already be ready with a whole new pellet grill model. That wasn't realistic and another rush job is the LAST thing Weber needs to do. I think they will have to lick their wounds for a couple years and try again with a convincingly better machine that they can get the big box stores and even Ace to actually put on the floor. It won't be easy.

All this is very sad, because while it seems the SmokeFire is still a little temperamental, I think the major issues have been resolved and in direct competition the SmokeFire beats out pellet grills costing way more when it comes to cooking results. If Weber does create a whole new pellet grill, I hope that some of the innovative ideas will survive in a more well worked out design.
 
When Weber moved away from "Made in the USA" they altered their time-line continuum. As to what market will they carve out for themselves in the future is anybody's guess but I really think that being made in china is going to come back an bite them.

I do believe that Pellet Grills will move to the top of the food chain, however I also think that "woke" is going to go after the BBQ market once it focus' on the ever evil BBQ. After all the deadliest sins (that can be discussed on this forum) is the sin of eating meat and the sin of creating carbon monoxide in doing so

I would like to see Weber get back to "Made in the USA" much like Memphis Grills. The Beal Street Cart is superior to the SmokeFire, and it only costs a bit more. The ITC3 Pro Cart is an awesome BBQ, but it clears the $5K hurdle in cost to the consumer. The ITC3 Elite Cart is as good as it get (imho) and will be my retirement gift to myself

I hope to get many more miles out of my 22" Kettle, but when it's day comes, the PK360 looks real attractive and it and a ITC3 Elite would make for an awesome outdoor kitchen (imho)
 
ChuckO, I also like the new PK 300. While smaller, it has some advances over its bigger 360 sister grill. I think a new 360 will be out soon with similar vents and other improvements like the 300 has. Still, the price savings on the PK300 is a pretty decent deal - with all the improvements NOW.
 
I feel alot like Jon in that for them to have made a major design change at this stage would have been admitting it was a failure so make some slight improvements see if that makes a difference in sales this season not sure its going to make that big a difference and you also have a higher price point now that the sale in November ended.

To me the Lowes deal is a loss but certainly saw that coming when here in ATL a large grill market there were only 2 stores after the first year that were carrying them in stock and when Weber did that Smokefire Roadshow last year they stopped at both those stores. One was in Augusta which is not anywhere near Metro Atlanta and the other was in Marietta which is in a pretty central area.

The continuing issues with the Software is a mystery to me coming up with updates that have problems again not properly testing it no other explanation. I do look at that other forum and there were people with the latest update a week ago having serious issues with the temps going beserk. Lew is a member of a much large forum so he probably knows more about this or can weigh in maybe its fixed who knows.

No denying that some of the cooks here more or less prove it cooks great food but does a Traeger or RecTec cook good food with less headaches my guess is yes not as much smoke which again is personal preference. I think this year needs to be a big one for the Smokefire and as Jon said not being in Lowes or Ace is a problem. It kind of reminds me of the Kamado you have to be people like us to even know it exists so its relegated to being a niche product with most likely limited sales.
 
ChuckO said:
...
I would like to see Weber get back to "Made in the USA" much like Memphis Grills. The Beal Street Cart is superior to the SmokeFire, and it only costs a bit more. The ITC3 Pro Cart is an awesome BBQ, but it clears the $5K hurdle in cost to the consumer. The ITC3 Elite Cart is as good as it get (imho) and will be my retirement gift to myself
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When did Memphis Grills move their manufacture back to the USA? Their website says manufactured in Asia.
 
Lew you would be correct:
Your Memphis grill is still designed, engineered and tested in the USA (Bloomington, MN); however, due to continued growth and the need for greater production capacity, the manufacturing process has been moved to Asia.

Translation we can't afford to build them in the US.
 
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Lew Newby said:
When did Memphis Grills move their manufacture back to the USA? Their website says manufactured in Asia.
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I stand corrected

"We are proud to say that every Memphis Wood Fire Grill
was designed, engineered, and tested in our state of the art
135,000 square foot facility in Bloomington, Minnesota."

Designed, Engineered and Tested in the USA – Memphis Wood Fire Grills

memphisgrills.com memphisgrills.com

I was trying to find the YouTube Video where they said they were made in the USA, it either was old or taken down. I can't find it anymore
 
ChuckO said:
I stand corrected

"We are proud to say that every Memphis Wood Fire Grill
was designed, engineered, and tested in our state of the art
135,000 square foot facility in Bloomington, Minnesota."

Designed, Engineered and Tested in the USA – Memphis Wood Fire Grills

memphisgrills.com memphisgrills.com

I was trying to find the YouTube Video where they said they were made in the USA, it either was old or taken down. I can't find it anymore
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Wherever it's made it is still a damn fine grill.
 
Lew Newby said:
Wherever it's made it is still a damn fine grill.
Click to expand...
A lot of owners of the Chinese constructed ones would disagree. There have been lots of people complaining in other places about all the issues since they shipped manufacturing overseas.

I had an American made one and wasn’t overly fond of it. It was gorgeous to look at, but had limited cooking space and was very prone to grease fires. I couldn’t even raise the temp smoking a couple chuckies from 225 to 300 without a big grease fire starting. There’s no way I’d pay their prices for Chinese made, especially since they’re much higher now than when they made them here.
 
As far as the SmokeFire needing an overhaul? Why?

Unless a lot has changed in the year since I gave up on it (and I've been keeping an eye on it), almost all of the SmokeFire problems are Weber's inexperience with firmware/software. There were no hardware issues that I couldn't deal with running many hundreds of pounds of pellets through mine over 8-9 months. However, I couldn't overcome all of the issues and unpredictability of the firmware. From reading here, for most of the time since I gave up, they've updated it and it's been a lot better, right?

They could make it a better grill with just some very minor tweaks and it sounds like they already have with this new version. The new casters, glow plug assembly, and beefed up internal parts are definite improvements. The only other thing it really needs is a new hopper. Weber needs to widen it out to cover the entire back of the grill or make it deeper front to back. Then they can increase the angle of slope. If they make it go the entire way across the grill, they would also then be able to have the auger centered at the very bottom of the ramps which would pull from above rather than a side. They should also flip the lid direction so when you spill it doesn't pour pellets between the grill body and hopper. They might need a couple good magnets or a latch if they do flip it. After all of that, if lawyers still want a finger guard, they can put it up towards the top of the hopper instead of the bottom and we won't have to ask every SmokeFire noob if they've removed it when they have flameouts.

As a Weber fan despite giving up on the SmokeFire for now, I really hope they don't make a lot of changes to how they've designed the interior of the grill. Everyone thinks the flavorizer bars are an out of place joke in a pellet grill, but that coupled with a rear exhaust are really what makes the grill special. None of your cookie cutter pellet grills with a solid drip pan and side stack are ever going to produce the same smoke profile, nor are they going to sear a steak without other aids.

Now the greed aspect of things is a different story. Why would Weber ever use diesel glow plugs to begin with? Only to sell you parts. Almost everyone else has moved to ignitors that should last a decade or more. What's great at all about the gourmet bbq system or the new crafted crap? I don't see anything special. Most of it has very limited capacity and just pretty decent quality. If Weber wants to sell accessories, they should just make accessories people want to buy. Does any of the gourmet/crafted stuff actually work better than good quality equivalent just sitting on top of the grates or on the side burner (except for maybe a sear grate). Instead they try to make a special slot to confuse people into thinking that's the only thing they can use.

Anyway, I am really anxious to see the new Stealth SmokeFire in the wild to see if they've done anything to the hopper at all to improve probably the biggest outstanding hardware weakness.
 
Spoke with a guy at the only Ace Hardware near that showed the EX6 in stock, about 40 miles away. He said that the in stock unit was an incomplete customer return and advised me to look at other companies. Obviously only 1 person's perspective, but was pretty surprised to hear him unsolicited say that the Smokefire was a big disappointment for his store and that they had nothing but issues from their customers. They ended up putting Traegers out instead.
 
JohnS FL said:
Spoke with a guy at the only Ace Hardware near that showed the EX6 in stock, about 40 miles away. He said that the in stock unit was an incomplete customer return and advised me to look at other companies. Obviously only 1 person's perspective, but was pretty surprised to hear him unsolicited say that the Smokefire was a big disappointment for his store and that they had nothing but issues from their customers. They ended up putting Traegers out instead.
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Guy in the BBQ area at Lowes used a few choice 4 letter words when saying they were all finally gone from his store.lol
 
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