Z GRILLS ZPG-1000E Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker 8 in 1 BBQ Grill Auto Temperature Control 2020 Upgrade, 1060 sq in Silver

I'm so glad to have a smoker again. The great flavors the Competition blend provided to my Chicken and Tomahawk steak are amazing. It's also a great time to sit outside and manage the cooking while the wife thinks you are being productive ;-)

Been great so far. Not too much of a learning curve, but there is one if you’re upgrading from charcoal. Super convenient, good space, and a nice clean smoke flavor. Would get dirty smoke frequently with my Weber. Just bought the pellet smoker tube attachment because if you like to smoke hot ‘n’ fast (anything above 250), you might not get as much flavor as you’d like. That’s the only downside I can see, but that’s just pellet smokers in general. This one is tremendous quality and great design. Everything I’ve made so far has been great. Ribeye steaks, pork steaks, ribs, and a couple butts so far. All great flavors. Pellet options are great for mixing up flavors.

There was a delay in shipping so I didn't receive my grill for several weeks. It finally arrived thankfully with no damage from shipping. Assembly was pretty straightforward and took a little over an hour. The only issue I had was that none of the components were numbered, so you need to pay attention when assembling. Did the initial burn off and boy did it stink! I noticed that some of the paint burned off the auger box near the flame pot. I guess this is normal when the grill gets up to 450 degrees. Found the grill to hold the set temperature to +/- 4 or 5 degrees. Nice! First cook went well and cleaning the grill is easy. Looking forward to doing some long, slow cooks.

So far I've had a great experience with this grill. It can consistently hold a steady temperature for long, low and slow cooked recipes. The hopper holds enough pellets for me to smoke or cook at 185° for at least 24hrs, but I could probably push it to 48hrs judging by what was left in the hopper. However I don't know what I could even cook for that long. This grill is dollar for dollar a best buy compared to other brands like Traeger, which seem a bit over-priced. My only improves are to add a dual channel thermometer, one for the smoker temp and one for meat temp, and to reduce the amount of packaging included in the shipping of the item. Other than that, this grill is awesome.

My experience has been good, both in putting the grill together and using it. While it does take some time to put the grill together, it is designed very well from that standpoint and it was not challenging to do. It did take a long time to unpack the grill, but I'll take that because it was packed in an efficient and safe manner. I have used it a few times so far with not problems. I like the bigger hopper than my prior pellet grill and it starts very easily. While I have not had to do so yet, I am glad to have the easy ash removal mechanism and I like the larger grease catcher than my prior grill.