Traeger TEXAS ELITE 34, Black and Bronze

I had heard about Traeger from a friend who was at a conference where the catering was done on one of the commercial units. He had said the food the it made was mind blowing, and on a late night impulse buy I decided to purchase this from Amazon - as an open box/scratch and dent for about $800.There are some less expensive grills available, I have never owned them so I can't comment on them. i started to get a little buyers remorse with all the negative reviews this grill had received, but decided to give it a fair shot. It arrived quickly not by UPS but from trucking company. Despite being listed as damaged box/open box it was well packaged no damage. Assembly took 30 min by just me, assembly tools were included. Stood it up off the floor and filled the hopper with mesquite and followed break in procedure listed to cook off any manufacturing oil etc. Let it cool retired it once more to make sure it was seasoned let it cool again and was ready to go. I purchased an IGrill wireless thermometer to go with it which I would recommend also. I signed up to the Traeger recipe sight and they send a recipe every few days, and you can browse the website for some inspiration. Since I have owned this I have gone thru about 3 bags of pellets including alder mesquite and hickory. I have grilled Trout ( the smoked trout dip list on the website was amazing) as well as trout fillets, Salmon, Haddock, Ribs, Brisket, Pulled Pork x 3 and 2 prime ribs and 2 loafs of bread Jerkey ( smoking now) butternut squash etc etc . All the food I can only say is mind-blowing - enough so that 4 of my friends have purchased the smaller Traeger's for themselves. It has all been incredibly easy - just season, set the temp put the food on and the temp probes in and forget it- the wireless I grill continually upgrades my phone so I can keep working inside and not have to worry. It has never failed to light, caught on fire, overheated or preformed to anything other perfection for me. I can't speak for all the other negative reviews but I have had nothing but success with this, the Weber propane I own hasn't been touched is just taking up space it can't compare to this thing. Its a big purchase at close to 1k but is incredibly versatile I can't speak about customer service response because I haven't needed them, but if you are concerned I would call the headquarters and see how hard it is to get someone on the phone. The Temp probe is off by a few degrees compared to my Igrill reading but the grill has no trouble maintaining a narrow temp window if you keep the lid closed and don't F%$k with it . Most important it has bought back some passion to cooking, and made me want to try new things which is priceless.

I bought the Texas Grill via Amazon about a month ago after seeing the Lil Texas at a friends house. Love the technology, love the wood pellet mechanism, clean up is pretty easy. Great way to go green while retaining the positive attributes of real wood BBQ. I have only 3 complaints, well, two complaints and one desire. On the desire side, I wish the grill had a higher max temp. Mine maxes out around 450 - 475. I'd like to see 550 for a more effective sear. On the complaint side, first the thermostatic temp control isn't accurate or consistent enough. The lowest real temp setting is 175, however, often times when I select "smoke", the temp below 175, the temperature exceeds 175. It takes a long time to stabilize. Second complaint, after one use, both the heat diffuser and the grease drip tray started to oxidize badly. It would appear that there's nothing that can be done about it. Makes handling the pieces during cleaning a pain in the butt. Traeger was very responsive during the pre purchase process, radio silent to emails post purchase. That's pretty disappointing. Hope I don't have an actual problem in the future.

Very easy to assemble and exceptional product for Smoking and grilling. Unit was dented on the right side out of the box and I do not have time to return it unfortunately. Find a local dealer if possible to avoid damage in shipping. These are worth the money for the serious BBQ chef.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this smoker. I research pellet smokers and decide to go with one of the originals as all have there good and bad qualities. The only negative I have for this grill is the thermostat for regulating temp. hopefully in the future a new temp control will come out that you can operate in 5 degree increments. Other than that this smoker has been a great addition to the backyard kitchen. We use it several times a month always with excellent food results. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Had a little trouble with the delivery. Since receiving the grill it has been amazing steaks and burgers turn out perfect. Four stars because the grill is great took one star off because of the delivery screw up

We love the Traeger! It works as it is supposed to, and we love the meat it cooks. We have used it several times even in the cold. It was damaged when delivered (the metal box housing the mechanics on the left end was bent) but everything worked so we didn't try to return it.

The smoker is great. It is hotter than advertised in the accompanying literature, so we had some burned ribs. We'll figure it out and look forward to a lot of great food.

Having owned Traeger grills for over 25 years I was and am ashamed of the quality that Traeger has become. Yes it still delivers a smoked piece of meat,pork.etc but you still feel the difference in how they are made. It's my understanding that Traeger is now made in China well it feels like it. Thethernrostat is not working temps are off several degrees legs wobble. If your looking to invest in a expensive BBQ on wood pellets look elsewhere.