was fun while it lasted

[OU812]

Good morning Men...Dont do a whole lot of posting but I did want to say my say on what has happend to me.Not here to bash PB grills but I do wish my experience was better. Bought mine in May of'22..Out of box bad controller. As time goes on my list of installed parts got bigger Control boards 3 in all , 2 RTD probes ,2 auger motors as the 1st one sent was DOA...3 igniters 1 fan motor. I have a 5 lb hopper on a 456-D3unit. In order to do igniters hopper has to be pulled. The same electronics stuffed into lets say a 20 or a 30 lb hopper are stuffed into a 5 lber. Ton of linguine in there. A little bit to sort out ...

Unit is impeccably maintained , thoroughly cleaned with in 2 hrs after shut down cycle. Love the PB brand good CS but parts in my situation werent up to snuff. My unit is kept in garage covered . I think Covid may have had a part in some grills from 2020-2022. Maybe some parts had to be used that were sorted out as "use in case of shortages " and they may have been 2nds.... IDK just seems strange that parts werent very enduring and would fail at the worst time in the process of cooks ....

All things mechanical are opt to fail at some time , it is what it is but I felt in 2 yrs time with not a lot of use (1-2x a week if lucky) it left a sour taste in my mouth. I have a friend with a very old PB unit and it is a beast never a issue and not very well maintained either ..LOL

I came from where some of us came from.... charcoal & wood or stick burners I have a Bronco drum with a IQ Pitmasters induction fan, 12 lbs of ch.coal @ 235 will go about 13-15 hrs providing it isnt too windy out.

But it isnt push button.Pellet is sweet on that point alone. I dont have to mind my pit on the drum, put lets face it at 4 am its nice to load up the cut and push a button select a heat range and walk away . With drum you must assemble your load and wood and then ignite manually not a big thing,if theres a fault ...its a bit time consuming ...........
( it isnt instant gratification like pushing that button) But drum is bullet proof and just chugs along nicely. Great flavor but pellet was no slouch if yu manipulated it a bit with P settings and some smoke tubes.


Will miss it but the inconsistency and my particular situation has made me say adios to any brand pellet smoker / grill. Too many moving and electronic parts for this old timer. Glad I experienced the pellet grill but Its disheartening in a brisket cook or anything when your unit goes belly up.

I think theyre a great company and will try to help you along. 5 yrs is a good long time for them to throw parts at yu , thats very nice. But some of us may have recieved parts that may have not been up to snuff.

OK Men, glad some of you have rock solid & bullet proof units. I will be still enjoying the craft but will return to my roots...25 yrs on charcoal & wood smokers .......Now I have to unload some pellets to some buddies that have pellet grills... Keep that thin blue line a rolling..!!

 

[Ol' Smokey]

Very sorry you had that experience. If i were you, id feel the same way. My 700 has been perfect over the last 2 years. (knock wood)

You know of others that have no problems, so you know its not all grills. You definetly got a lemon and that sucks, but hopefully you might give it a try again. Watch for sales at walmart or amazon. Bought mine on amazon for $260. The price was what made me give it a try and im happy with it. I still use my charcoal weber and a gas grill, but i enjoy useing the pellet grill. It makes things so simple.

Happy smoking/grilling in your future....

 

[OU812]

Very sorry you had that experience. If i were you, id feel the same way. My 700 has been perfect over the last 2 years. (knock wood)

You know of others that have no problems, so you know its not all grills. You definetly got a lemon and that sucks, but hopefully you might give it a try again. Watch for sales at walmart or amazon. Bought mine on amazon for $260. The price was what made me give it a try and im happy with it. I still use my charcoal weber and a gas grill, but i enjoy useing the pellet grill. It makes things so simple.

Happy smoking/grilling in your future....

Oh I do enjoy them but the problem is too many times left hanging with inferior parts. Company is good. No one offers a 5 yr warranty and I never had a problem with cust.svce and it also helps if yu have good communication skills as you will always catch more bee's with honey than vinegar. PB has always been good to me.

All good ...I have always enjoyed charcoal & wood chunks as my go to method of smoking. Drums produce a flavor that you either love or hate and I have found a few that do not care for the more robust flavor from coal & wood. I love it and also the pellet smoke too.


I use to be able to produce great bark on butts & briskets with my pellet rig that friends with pellets were always amused at it and wonder what they were doing wrong LOL

I get a malfunction once in a blue moon but when it starts becoming more of a thing than reliability then you have to step back and say ....your either going to keep wrenching and replacing or your going back to what always finishes with out a hitch .

Pellet is awesome as it is really instant gratification . Really isn't anything to it ..load the hopper up ...throw on cuts of meat, push a button basically. You cant beat that if you've been running pits for a while. !!


But that gratification for my situation came at a price with reliability issues....Nothing more frustrating as to having it break at hour 7 on a 14 hour brisket cook. Hard shifting gears into a charcoal set up and finishing. It is said that smoke only permeates the 1st 4 hours. That may be true...otherwise aluminum pan foiled over and into the home oven. But its the remaining hours that build bark.

Higher end units have issues as well.I have friend with Recteq 590 in the first 6 mos, he needed auger motor and fan motor. So Its not just PB but all of them as they come out of CN . That I bet can happen to ones built in USA as well as mechanical stuff is apt to to fail.

If these units had QC control and were tested that would be great but you wouldnt be buying them for as inexpensive as they are. Some great deals on PB rigs I see all the time.

Unit is built well, powder coating is thick, barrel a decent thickness for the price point. Its just some of the electronics are the Achilles heel .

I got to enjoy the experince with it and like I said it was fun until it began to not be. I got spoiled by the EZ operation but I was also spoiled by the charcol rig as it never once was unreliable.

You Men hold the fort down and keep posting those food porn pics as they all look great ....I'll still lurk and once in a while pop in and see whats smoking !! ...

 

[dagodago1]

Good morning Men...Dont do a whole lot of posting but I did want to say my say on what has happend to me.Not here to bash PB grills but I do wish my experience was better. Bought mine in May of'22..Out of box bad controller. As time goes on my list of installed parts got bigger Control boards 3 in all , 2 RTD probes ,2 auger motors as the 1st one sent was DOA...3 igniters 1 fan motor. I have a 5 lb hopper on a 456-D3unit. In order to do igniters hopper has to be pulled. The same electronics stuffed into lets say a 20 or a 30 lb hopper are stuffed into a 5 lber. Ton of linguine in there. A little bit to sort out ...

Unit is impeccably maintained , thoroughly cleaned with in 2 hrs after shut down cycle. Love the PB brand good CS but parts in my situation werent up to snuff. My unit is kept in garage covered . I think Covid may have had a part in some grills from 2020-2022. Maybe some parts had to be used that were sorted out as "use in case of shortages " and they may have been 2nds.... IDK just seems strange that parts werent very enduring and would fail at the worst time in the process of cooks ....

All things mechanical are opt to fail at some time , it is what it is but I felt in 2 yrs time with not a lot of use (1-2x a week if lucky) it left a sour taste in my mouth. I have a friend with a very old PB unit and it is a beast never a issue and not very well maintained either ..LOL

I came from where some of us came from.... charcoal & wood or stick burners I have a Bronco drum with a IQ Pitmasters induction fan, 12 lbs of ch.coal @ 235 will go about 13-15 hrs providing it isnt too windy out.

But it isnt push button.Pellet is sweet on that point alone. I dont have to mind my pit on the drum, put lets face it at 4 am its nice to load up the cut and push a button select a heat range and walk away . With drum you must assemble your load and wood and then ignite manually not a big thing,if theres a fault ...its a bit time consuming ...........
( it isnt instant gratification like pushing that button) But drum is bullet proof and just chugs along nicely. Great flavor but pellet was no slouch if yu manipulated it a bit with P settings and some smoke tubes.


Will miss it but the inconsistency and my particular situation has made me say adios to any brand pellet smoker / grill. Too many moving and electronic parts for this old timer. Glad I experienced the pellet grill but Its disheartening in a brisket cook or anything when your unit goes belly up.

I think theyre a great company and will try to help you along. 5 yrs is a good long time for them to throw parts at yu , thats very nice. But some of us may have recieved parts that may have not been up to snuff.

OK Men, glad some of you have rock solid & bullet proof units. I will be still enjoying the craft but will return to my roots...25 yrs on charcoal & wood smokers .......Now I have to unload some pellets to some buddies that have pellet grills... Keep that thin blue line a rolling..!!

Sorry to hear of your issues. I have the 850 PRO SERIES 2 and its been bulletproof for the three yesrs ive owned it and i smoke once a week. I think the series 3 has some issues with the controller and what not. They definately did not do an endurance test on the new model.

 

[OU812]

Sorry to hear of your issues. I have the 850 PRO SERIES 2 and its been bulletproof for the three yesrs ive owned it and i smoke once a week. I think the series 3 has some issues with the controller and what not. They definately did not do an endurance test on the new model.

I'm sure Dansons bids on vendors producing everything from labor to parts suppliers. Maybe the bid that won was a lower priced bid and possibly the part allotment may have a % of defective parts. Some parts vendors may have better parts w/lower %'s of defective parts, but the price may cut too deep into profit margins.

Just the way anything works today when your aiming at producing a middle of the road product that the masses can afford. I'm sure Dansons is aware of the situation and are more than likely growing rapidly and hopefully will eventually find a parts supplier that has a higher % of non defective parts.

Like I say physical build is excellent but the electronics of a good number of units have had some poor performances.

Until then I guess there are going to be some issues with some units and I too feel bad when I see a guy buying one of their top tier units and it having nothing but issue after issue.


That hurts and nothing is more disheartening when a mans hobby is plagued with issues that keep him from enjoying his hobby. And especially a hobby where FOOD is involved

That's what happened to me. I only know one way where you do get to the finish line 10 out of 10 times ...Wood N Coal cookers. But man those pellet pits are very cool just in my case unreliable too many times.

I know of an 80 yr old who contracted a wrench to fix his unit and 50 bucks an hour 3 hrs in 150 bucks he was happy but said to me first & last time. Back he went to his stick burner. He said sitting & sipping and tending the pit are easier to do than paying some one to fix his pellet rig.

I think if they do find an allotment of better parts, there may be an increase in price but it will be worth it.The company isnt going under and will continue to grow and are doing great. I do miss the push button pit... one of the coolest innovations in my time !!

 

[sparkyv]

nothing is more disheartening when a mans hobby is plagued with issues that keep him from enjoying his hobby. And especially a hobby where FOOD is involved

...or gunpowder.

 

[OU812]

...or gunpowder.

Absolutely !! LOL I haven't had as many issues with G.P. as I have had with the pellet grill. Both are a PITA when they decide to be dysfunctional .......I'm good as I no longer have the dysfunctional pellet grill and my rifles & pistols have all been good tools and have behaved well doing what they are expected to do .....for now