Tell Me About Traeger
 

Surely there is someone around that has some experience with Traegers. Here's what I know about them:

• I'm not 100% sure how the heat is created, but it burns wood pellets to create flavor. It uses electricity and sounds like there is some air induction system.
  
• Some people say it is a "smoker".
  
• They are expensive. Holeeeeeeeee Shit.
  
• The prices are relatively frozen. There doesn't seem to be any variability.
  
• It must be easy as hell to become a "dealer". There are 3 in Scott City, and there it is an itty bitty town.
  
• Everyone I know that has one (probably 5 or 6 people that I've talked to) raves about them. I mean, it sounds like an unhealthy obsession.
  
• Buddy of mine got one and we broke it out yesterday:
  It cooks some mean bacon. We cooked some hamburgers and brats on it, and it definitely cooks different than fire. We overcooked everything because it cooked differently than fire and it was tough to tell when things were done. It also seemed to take an aweful long time. Maybe it wouldn't if we wouldn't have overcooked it.

I'd love to hear your guys' take on them. Anyone have one? Are they worth it? What do you guys think?

I'm not an expert by any means, but my stepdad gave me his "old" one -- he got a new one for his bday in April -- and my wife and I use it all the time. You can smoke anything and everything and, as far as grilling, it's the best I've ever used.

No, it doesn't cook as fast as gas or charcoal, obviously, but I can cook a few of the best steaks you've ever had in 20 minutes.

I use my dad's gas grill from time to time when I go home, and it's painful.

Can't tell you it's worth the money, because I got mine for free. But I'd put mine up against any grill out there, FWIW.

It's the most foolproof and expensive way to smoke meat. It does a fairly decent, and very consistent job of cooking. You can literally just set the temp, verify the temp, and walk away. My old man has one, and he's had very good success with it. Before this, his most adventurous grilling consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, and a chicken breast or two on a cheap gas grill. Now he's smoking all kinds of different meats with it. It comes with a cookbook that has lots of tips specific to Taeger grills, be sure to pick up the book.

There's a little pot about he size of a large coffee can that actually burns the pellets. Mounted in the middle of the grill. It's not as big of a heat source as I expected. But it just augers the little pellets into the smoke pot and maintains whatever temp you set it to. The temp gauge was external, so I'd recommend getting a decent cooking thermometer that you can run in and insert into the meat if you want exact temps.

The wood pellets are expensive, a little over a dollar a pound from most places. Buying in bulk lowers the cost. But you use a lot of pellets.

His food has tasted pretty damn good cooking on it. And if he can get those kinds of results, anybody can.

Only 2 guys on CP have ever used a traeger?
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I had one for a little over 3 years. I had the Lil Tex model. They are a good grill. Smoking meats is very simple as everything goes off a thermostat. Pellets are expensive, and you'll use a lot of them. I did not like any beef off of the grill though. My burgers and steaks shouldn't taste like wood, and they will off of a traeger. I sold mine early this spring, and bought a ceramic charcoal grill. Anything other than beef comes off the Traeger pretty tasty though.

Yeah - beef will absorb a lot of smoke from any source.

You don't do burgers and steaks on a Traeger. You want high heat for those. A Traeger is a smoker, not a grill.

Traegers are set it and forget it. Kind of the lazy man's smoker, but they turn out some awesome Q if you know what you're doing. I've been toying with the idea of buying one but the expense is hard to justify. I'll stick with my bullet and OLD New Braunfels vertical smoker until I get a wild hair.

We've had one for probably 15 years or longer, and it works GREAT! Getting ready to smoke a turkey on one this evening for tomorrows dinner.

Traeger is a smoker only. You can get oak stove pellets cheap, and other woods' pellets will be high dollar.

I have a friend who made his own pellet smoker. He converted an old airline serving fridge/heating oven into a smoker, and it works great. Has two fans, one for draft, one for circulation. Has great temp control, intermittent auger feed. This thing smokes everything, and does brisket very well. He used oak stove pellets, from Tractor Supply. (You can't win without hickory.) He had it for sale a few weeks ago, for $3500. If you're dying to smoke a couple hog sides, his can do it.