Pellet smoker

[Bigbux58]

Hi all,
Year again I asked all your help in building an ugly drum smoker. Now I think it’s time for an upgrade. I have my eye on a couple pellet smokers. (Lone star, camp chef woodwind pro.) The one that I like may take some convincing from the wife. But you all know how that goes. lol. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Headgear]

Hi all,
Year again I asked all your help in building an ugly drum smoker. Now I think it’s time for an upgrade. I have my eye on a couple pellet smokers. (Lone star, camp chef woodwind pro.) The one that I like may take some convincing from the wife. But you all know how that goes. lol. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I am in the same boat. I have a MAC One Star and I have no complaints about the amount of smoke it produces, which is saying a lot for most other pellet smokers. But you need to empty the firebox after every cook to get that level of smoke flavor and that means taking everything out to get to the box. The WiFi connection can be finicky too, so I am looking for an upgrade.

I have a thread running now about the best pellet smoker regardless of cost. There are quite a lot of helpful comments there. You may want to check it out. So far I am stuck between the FEC100 (costly and does not have many other capabilities) and the LoneStar 20"x42" (Lots of capabilities and options but a little more involved to clean). I am leaning towards the LSG. The offroad wheels would give me the ability to get it off of my patio while cleaning both the grill and the patio is a huge plus for me.

All of the others had one or more things that I was not happy about. Ease of emptying the fire pot was one, I like to cook on an upper grate with a drip pan below to minimize the need and frequency to clean, stainless vs rust issues, mobility, good WiFi and Bluetooth, warranty, and my partialness of "Made in America". And then there is the cost, and the wife thing. :-D

IMO, you have to do a lot of research. For example, I really did like a lot about one of the seemingly best competition smokers until I started hearing quite a few people complaining about bad rust issues. They lost me as a possible customer with that possibility. There were not too many complaints but with the cost, I am not going to risk it. If there is going to be any threat of rust, I would prefer it to be on a unit having high-temperature paint that I can deal with myself. Some manufacturers do not have the best website when it comes to details, specs, options, etc either. Videos helped me a great deal in that regard.

Anyway, I hope this helps and I hope you end up with the best possible unit that fits your needs. Good luck.

 

[Bigbux58]

Cool, thank you for your help.
Yes I did see your post. Very helpful. Thanks again

 

[SmittyJonz]

Lsg.

 

[Pulmah Finger]

I just got the LSG 20x42 in November. I love it. The clean up is a little wonky as you do have to get down on your hands and knees if you put it in a corner because of the shelf, if you have access to the back side it isnt an issue. This is totally a function of where i am storing this for use vs a design issue. I have burned 60 lbs of pellets at this point, cold smoke (i use this a lot for bacon and sausage, doing salmon tomorrow) is a neat function, low and slow and even done high heat grilling as well. I wanted the versatility of the cold smoke and high temp sear. I am sure others do it but LSG seemed like it did it better. The cost is upthere vs like a reqtec or higher end Traeger but its also built like a tank.

Personally i was suprised with the quality of smoke flavor. Its stronger than i anticipated but definitely where you want it to be. It will not produce offset level of smoke flavor, but i enjoy my sleep way too much to run an offset every weekend.

 

[Headgear]

I just got the LSG 20x42 in November. I love it. The clean up is a little wonky as you do have to get down on your hands and knees if you put it in a corner because of the shelf, if you have access to the back side it isnt an issue. This is totally a function of where i am storing this for use vs a design issue. I have burned 60 lbs of pellets at this point, cold smoke (i use this a lot for bacon and sausage, doing salmon tomorrow) is a neat function, low and slow and even done high heat grilling as well. I wanted the versatility of the cold smoke and high temp sear. I am sure others do it but LSG seemed like it did it better. The cost is upthere vs like a reqtec or higher end Traeger but its also built like a tank.

Personally i was suprised with the quality of smoke flavor. Its stronger than i anticipated but definitely where you want it to be. It will not produce offset level of smoke flavor, but i enjoy my sleep way too much to run an offset every weekend.

Mike, have you tried the 50/50 split of pellets and wood chips yet? I am going to order one and would like to hear your thoughts on that if you have tried it.