Treager verses Mak?

Well, I sold my 2017 2 Star to a fellow Brethren when I bought a 2019 2 Star (call me crazy... lol). He had a Timberline 1300 at the time. I have shared this several times in the past, but if you haven’t seen it, here is what I posted shortly after selling...

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So, as some of you know, a couple of months ago I decided to order the 2019 version of the MAK 2 Star. As part of "the plan" I put my 2017 2 Star up for sale. Not being out to gouge anyone, I attracted a buyer from 9 hours away. We set a day/time... he made a hotel reservation... he and his wife drove from SoCal to NorCal on a Friday... stayed overnight... picked up the MAK early Saturday morning... spent the day putzing around in the Sacramento area... and returned home Saturday night. What some guys/gals will do for a good deal... lol.

We spent probably close to an hour chit-chatting the morning he came over to pick up his new 2 Star. During our coversation, I discovered a few things:

1) His acquisition of my MAK put him at a total of 11 backyard cookers. From a pellet grill, to a stick burner, to a Santa Maria style grill, to a you-name-it... he already had ALL of his bases covered.

2) Although he's heard plenty of positive talk regarding MAK Grills, he's never seen one, nor has he ever had food from one.

3) He is not new to pellet grills, and currently owns a Traeger Timberline 1300 which he really likes!

4) He doesn't want 2 pellet grills sitting in his backyard.

5) He told me that the only reason he had decided to make the 18ish hour roundtrip to buy the MAK was to satisfy his curiousity. His plan was to return home and begin doing a series of side-by-side comparisons... MAK 2 Star vs Traeger Timberline. The winner stays, the loser is put up for sale. His plan was to put them head-to-head over this upcoming summer and then list the loser.

At the end of our conversation, I helped him load the MAK into his truck and watched him drive away.

Since that day, he has done 2 side-by-sides:

1) Chicken thighs, done indirect at 375. The results were a tie with no discernable difference. Both cookers produced a fantastic end result. That said, he put the MAK as the winner because of the shorter pre-heat time. MAK was cruising at 375 within 18 minutes. The Timberline 1300 took 42 minutes.

2) Not a side-by-side, but he also wanted to see what the grilling power of the 2 Star was like. With the sale of the MAK, I included 2 of MAK's sear grates. He used the sear grates to grill burgers and reported back that he was very impressed!

3) After his chicken thigh experience, his next side-by-side was a low-n-slow St. Louis rib cook. One slab of ribs on each smoker... and each slab prepared the same. At the conclusion of the experiment, these were his words. "Both racks had the same basic flavor (same rub). Timberline smoke profile was subtle and clean. MAK smoke profile blew me away, very pronounced more so than my clean running stick burner. May even need to work on dialing it back some with different pellets and/or higher temps."

I saw pictures of both slabs of ribs, and I was actually surprised myself to see the difference in color alone. The MAK ribs looked like slow smoked ribs should whereas the Timberline ribs had more of a baked look to them.

So here we are in May, with this new MAK owners side-by-side comparisons just getting underway... and here is what he said last night. "I plan on a butt maybe next week, but no further testing is required. My mind is made up! The MAK is a better cooker in every way minus capacity." We talked about the capacity comment and how the MAK is deceptively LARGE! He's gonna be fine [emoji846]

His final parting comment last night... "the Timberline to be listed soon!"

Boy, that did't take long

^^^He beat me to it, I had both for a while did some side by side testing MAK won out easily

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=271875

tom b said:

^^^He beat me to it, I had both for a while did some side by side testing MAK won out easily

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=271875

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lol! C’mon old man, keep up!

Look beyond what will sit on your patio and think big picture about this. What kind of a company is today's Traeger? What kind of a company is MAK or Yoder or Outlaw?

Do you want to buy your cooker from a Harvard Business School CEO who can't tell a rivet from a TIG weld and answers to a private equity firm (Trilantic Capital Partners) and its fat cat hedge fund tycoons, or do you want to buy your cooker from the man who designed and built your unit himself and answers to his wife and kids?

Half of the mess we're in today is the result of too many people buying products simply as products without thinking about how and by whom they are produced.

Dig a little into what Traeger is today and compare it with what Assassin, Cookshack, Smokin Brothers, Myron Mixon, Lone Star, etc., are as companies.

I currently have a Yoder and MAK. I’ve owned a Treager cooked on a Pit Boss. The MAK is my go to in terms of pellet grill. Yoder makes great food and is excellent in terms of quality. But it just can’t keep up to the smoking potential of the MAK. Now for some people, the barely discernible smoke is what they are looking for. But considering you’ve owned a Jambo, I’m guessing you like a little smoke. MAK beats every other pellet grill I’ve seen, used, and eaten from in terms of overall flavor and still tasting a nice smoke flavor. I’ve heard wonderful things about Pitts and Spitts, but haven’t had the pleasure of eating anything off of it, so can’t compare. As far as One Star and Two Star, I got the One with full second grate and never regretted it. I wouldn’t have ever used the extras on the 2, so it would have been a wast of money. I would have paid extra for more room though considering the 1 and 2 are the same size.

Mrfish,

I just saw that you live in Iowa. If I lived there I would head over to Beatrice, Nebraska, meet Mark, and take a look at his Blaz'n Grill Works line.

There are a lot of good cookers out there, but finding a manufacturer you can meet and do business with in person tips the scales as far as I'm concerned.

ttkt57 said:

Mrfish,

I just saw that you live in Iowa. If I lived there I would head over to Beatrice, Nebraska, meet Mark, and take a look at his Blaz'n Grill Works line.

There are a lot of good cookers out there, but finding a manufacturer you can meet and do business with in person tips the scales as far as I'm concerned.

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Heard great things about that company as well!

I recently received the MAK 1 Star and could not be happier. I knew that my wife would flip her lid if I went with the 2 Star due to the considerably higher price. But if the 2 Star is in your budget I would definitely go with it.

As far as performance goes the 1 and 2 Star are basically identical. The 2 Star adds the cold smoker/warmer, stainless steel parts and I believe a couple of other extras.

You can't go wrong with either one. Good luck.

IF I were going to buy a pellet pooper,which I am not,I would spring for the best model MAK I could afford.From what I have read and researched,they are the best.No experience whatsoever,just based on reading and research.

If you want a grill made similar to your old US made Traeger, take a look at Smoking Brothers. They are about as close as it gets. A little less expensive than Mak, Yoder and the like. US made, heavy material, insulated firebox area. Worth looking into.

The MAK is really hard to beat as a do everything grill. Enough people have claimed that the smoke profile it produces is the best around. It also works well as a grill, and made out of long lasting material. Hard to go wrong with a MAK.

Yoder and Pitts and Spitts are my personal preference. I just love the way they are made...heavy more traditional style pits. They also can grill, and will last forever if taken care of.

Your Rebel (same manufacturer as Assassin) manufacturer C&C manufacturing Inc. can also make a nice pellet grill. You can send them the controller of your choice and Jeff will mount it on a modified 36” or 48” grill body. They use to sell a complete pellet grill, but supply of their controller went south from Covid, so until they source a new controller they can work with one of your choosing.

There are other good ones out there and other mentioned in this thread such as Outlaw that are worth a look see.

Chester said:

There are other good ones out there and other mentioned in this thread such as Outlaw that are worth a look see.

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Nelson's website is out of date. Here's what his current smallest unit looks like. Advantages over Yoder include ash clean out door (I love this!), a way to use a water pan under the drip tray, and all-welded construction instead of spot welds and goo.

Steel is twice as thick as MAK but coated only in high temp paint not hot dipped and powder coated. Pros and cons to both approaches.

ttkt57 said:

Nelson's website is out of date. Here's what his current smallest unit looks like. Advantages over Yoder include ash clean out door (I love this!), a way to use a water pan under the drip tray, and all-welded construction instead of spot welds and goo.

Steel is twice as thick as MAK but coated only in high temp paint not hot dipped and powder coated. Pros and cons to both approaches.

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What a smoke ring!

Outlaw is the sister company to Sawtooth Pellet Grills