Both are nice pellet cookers for sure! That said, you mentioned that grilling and smoking are both important to you. These are just my thoughts, so take them for what they are worth...
-Yoder is gonna be the better grilling experience, I have no doubt!
-Yoder has been telling people for several years now that they have improved their paint process, yet it remains by far the #1 complaint I see from Yoder owners.
-The PS 850 is not going to excel in the grilling dept as it’s really just not what it was designed to do. Can you come up with workarounds, third party tools, or use the small cut out they offer in the drip pan? Yes... but it’s still no Yoder.
-If grilling is really important, than I think the Yoder is the better option. That said, does the paint issue bother you?
-If smoking/roasting is the priority along with ‘some’ grilling, than I’d go with the PS.
Sooo, based on what you are saying, my suggestion would be to also put the MAK 1 Star in the mix. As of 5/1, the 1 Stars are gonna go up a bit in price, but they are going to now come standard with the Funnel Flame Zone. Am I biased? Yep! I have been cooking on MAK’s for years now, and it is by far my all time favorite grill and smoker to date... and I have had my fair share.
Not at all saying that there are not other nice, high quality pellet cookers... but I am saying that if grilling and smoking is important to you in a pellet grill, I think you are gonna be very hard pressed to beat a MAK.
Just my 2 cents