Weber's Pellet Grill Future


 
I'd think of some choice words if someone took mine from me, lol. I use a variety of outdoor cookers for the fun of it, so I don't use the SF every week, but it has served me well thus far and it will be fired-up tomorrow or Sunday to do some burnt ends from a couple chuck roasts :)
 
Seeing the quality of folks working at most Ace and Lowe’s stores, if someone walked in and bought a Smokefire already assembled....I could guarantee issues and a return for the end user.
 
Not sure about Lowes but the folks working at my family owned Ace are very knowledgeable and I have no doubt they are capable of putting a grill together correctly.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
Not sure about Lowes but the folks working at my family owned Ace are very knowledgeable and I have no doubt they are capable of putting a grill together correctly.
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That's my experience too - its usually more expensive at Ace, but I know that if I have any questions, I can usually get a helpful answer from one of the staff there.
 
TimA said:
Seeing the quality of folks working at most Ace and Lowe’s stores, if someone walked in and bought a Smokefire already assembled....I could guarantee issues and a return for the end user.
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When I went to buy my Smokefire last year, I went to the Ace right up the street, but the only one they had was the floor model, and I wanted one boxed that I could put together myself. The guy tried to assure me that this one was put together correctly, until I showed him a couple of missing bolts and that the handle was about to fall off.
 
Well, Recteq sells all their grills online, shipping them directly to customers. They also advertise pretty healthily - at least to grill nuts like me whose browsing history probably draws their ads (not to mention what my phone overhears :oops: ). I suppose if Weber works hard at it, they can make the SmokeFire a go even without any retail floor space. It still has to hurt them to lose Lowe's and to have never really made it at Ace.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Well, Recteq sells all their grills online, shipping them directly to customers. They also advertise pretty healthily - at least to grill nuts like me whose browsing history probably draws their ads (not to mention what my phone overhears :oops: ). I suppose if Weber works hard at it, they can make the SmokeFire a go even without any retail floor space. It still has to hurt them to lose Lowe's and to have never really made it at Ace.
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Yes it hurts you will never get the volume online I get Recteq or Mak or whatever but those are towards the higher end maybe I am mistaken about Recteq but I think you know what I mean. Its an enthusiast IMO who did the research and buys those grills, for the first time pellet griller they are most likely gonna buy a cheap Pit Boss or whatever gotta a little more cash I think even a novice knows the Traeger name so you start with that you can get it at HD, Ace and Costco so you can actually see one. Then you get into pellet grilling again if you have the cash you move up cause you already know you like pellet grilling and want more than a Traeger or maybe not.

Traeger still rules whether anyone likes it or not. If I had to guess Traeger most likely has volume deals with Costco and HD maybe Ace where you agree to sell x amount of units when you hit that a volume discount kicks in whether its a check at the end of the year or whatever.

I was a client rep for Big Blue years ago had a Bank as a customer they used our AS400's which a lot of banks do but they also had a ton of Intel Servers and I mean a ton. So I tried to pitch our Intel Servers and this guy was sharp who ran IT he actually liked our Servers but he basically told me it made no sense to buy some of them because he had a volume discount with the H company and there was no way they were going to jeopardize that trying someone else's stuff they were happy with what they had.

Not saying at all that Weber can't sell a number of the Smokefires just dont see them catching Traeger with basically a zero retail presence and Jon I think you said it well you lose the impulse buyer who walks into the store during grill selling season which starts next month here wants to try a pellet grill so they go home with one.
 
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Part of Traeger's allure to a lot of folks, I think, is buying into the brand, meaning all of the Traeger branded accessories and add ons that they have to offer, much like Big Green Egg and Blackstone. Plus a huge retail presence and availability certainly helps.
 
I recently joined a FB SmokeFire group. This post was the lead one just now:

About done with this thing. 1:25 approx. Freshly cleaned, fresh pellets. Missing my gas grill for grilling. No complaints for low and slow.

The post was actually a little odd since it showed a phone app with the grill hitting 600. If I ever can get a SmokeFire EX4, it isn't the high heat grilling that I will be after. I have enough gas and charcoal grills for that. I just want a second pellet grill and to see for myself how the low and slow bbq results compare to my Recteq.
 
Jon Tofte said:
I recently joined a FB SmokeFire group. This post was the lead one just now:

About done with this thing. 1:25 approx. Freshly cleaned, fresh pellets. Missing my gas grill for grilling. No complaints for low and slow.

The post was actually a little odd since it showed a phone app with the grill hitting 600. If I ever can get a SmokeFire EX4, it isn't the high heat grilling that I will be after. I have enough gas and charcoal grills for that. I just want a second pellet grill and to see for myself how the low and slow bbq results compare to my Recteq.
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Yeah, that one has me scratching my head.
 
I don't think that Weber is going to radically change the SmokeFire and I do not believe that they are going to get out of the pellet business. I think they will sell direct to consumers instead of using retail partners. It wouldn't shock me if they promoted their online shop more than they do now.

But back to the SmokeFire, I think they will continue to do annual upgrades to the point that in 2-3 years original adopters will be tempted to upgrade.
 
Tell him to try pellets...
Wow 85 minutes. Well I do not need to get that high, but clearly something wrong. Should be fixable. Wonder if it got to 500 in quick time but could not hold higher. Or if it is just a mess all over. Again there should be a way to determine and fix
 
Today I did 0-210 degrees and it took 17m. Ran at 210 for a while and then up to 600 from 210 which took another 17m. I’ve had it vary sometimes and even hover at 550 never getting higher after 30m so I just cook there. Today it was clean. I don’t clean it everytime I use it so I think maybe debris in the fire pit or something could be to blame??? 550 still works for searing especially if you dip your steaks in garlic butter first!
 
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