Best Pellet Grills Under $500: The Ultimate Review 

When the garage opened with the smoker "smoking" that was epic sir

20 seconds in and I subscribed. I watch several cooking channels and for 292 subs, you are far beyond where other Chanel’s were during their beginning stages. Your content is on point. Your attention to detail is great and your quality is beyond a beginner you tuber. Keep it up man. I done hit the sub button and the notification bell. Bring on the content!!

Best grill comparison video I have seen. It includes criteria that others don't, like the types and sizes of wheels, which is important depending on the ground surfaces you are working with. Great job!

Really great video, tons of research and data went into this. You have a great demeanor and delivery. Well done!

I just got a Austin xl a month ago for $300 on clearance. I only bought it because my neighbor talked me into it. I'm really glad they did. It's awesome! I'd do it again.

The fact that you put do many hours into this alone deserves a like! Keep up the good work brother!

What a fantastic review and thorough review. I have been using a Traeger Texan (and the lil Texan) for 6 years. I won many KCBS bar b q competitions with them. I now only have the large Traeger and it is too big and i have too many problems with it, so I have been eyeing some of the smaller Pit Boss grills. Thanks for your wonderful information.

If you like to drink beer while you smoke then the Camp Chef is for you. Just remember that extra beer you'll get during the start up 🍻 CHEERS!!!!!!

Excellent reviews. Let’s get this channel noticed. No ads. No sponsors. Just pure honest opinions.

Really appreciate these reviews. I’m in the market for my first pellet grill and looks like Pit Boss.

Good to hear I got the "right" one. I got my Pit Boss Classic 700 on clearance at Walmart for $222 (reg $396) and I love it. Just made smoked brisket tacos for Cinco De Mayo.

Excellent review, I like how you got straight to the point at the beginning... It made me want to watch the rest of the video instead of wishing you would say what you wanted to say the whole time!! Excellent content.

Detailed and articulate review. Thanks for taking the time to do this, Good info.

Great video. High quality and extremely well done. I just ordered a Pit Boss 700 series. My first smoker. I'm excited to try it out.

One of the best pellet grill reviews I’ve watched.

I own a GMG grill and I can also attest that its fantastic. They are also without a doubt the finest company I've ever dealt with as far as customer service is concerned. They will go the extra mile to make and keep you happy as a customer. I couldn't recommend them enough.

Really appreciate this kind of reviews man!

Excellent review! I really appreciate you giving your conclusion up front.

This was incredibly useful. Thank you for putting so much effort into this. Much appreciated

Thanks for time you put into this!

I like that you did the research on pellet consumption

Great comparison. So great, that 2 years later this thing is now over $900.00. I will probably still get it based off of this man's video. I have been watching vids of pellet smokers for week. This is the best that I have seen.

Dude, thank you so much for this video! You put so much time, energy, thoughtfulness and money into this comparison it’s unbelievable. I just purchased the Austin XL and I watched this video afterwards. You confirmed that I made the right decision. I paid $397 on the Walmart app even though it was advertised for $447 at the store. SCORE!!

My Pitboss Austin Xl is coming on the 27th and just stumbled across your channel and I'm glad it's the winner 🏆 👍

Very in depth video. Thank you for doing this.

Thank you so much for saying what was the winner then going into why it was the winner. That made the video much easier to watch and helped me with my decision. You rock!

Great review. I’m adding a pellet grill to my gas and to my charcoal grill. A man can’t ever have too many grills. The same goes for coolers full of beer.

Awesome reviews. Thank you for doing the work!

Great video. Threw a subscribe down. Whats sad is that I put this in the search bar and it took me clicking on several other videos until I found THIS good review of under $500 pellet smokers. Keep it up.

Thanks for all the input after all the wonderful info you have swayed me to get a camp chef .

Green mountains looking real good 👌🏾 keep doing gods work

I would agree 100% the Austin XL is a beast. 1.5 years with no issues. Countless one and two hour smokes and about 8 Texas sized briskets. I bought mine on sale for 385 at Wal-Mart.

Thanks for the great video, I wasn't surprised. I've had a Pit Boss 820 for 6 years and it's still producing great food.

I have the tailgater and love it. I have an inverter to hook it up to the truck battery. I work on the road and we live in a 5th wheel most of the time it's great for storage in the camper.

Great job on the review(s). Almost got the Austin XL, but left with The Classic on sale for $300. It's a great grill and I'd buy Pit Boss again.

Amazing review!

I just found your channel. I'm a painter here in the Treasure Valley and I'd recognize that siding and landscape anywhere. You're the third youtuber I know from the valley. Also I bought the pit boss before I found this channel so yay!!

Excellent video. As others have said, you have a winsome personality and great communication skills.

Excellent review, answered all my questions and then some. I like the Z-Grill for my needs.

My first pellet grill was ZGrill, I just bought a Pitboss Pellet/Gas combo………will assemble this weekend and update. Very happy with Z grill 0 issues hope for the same with my Pitboss!

Very good review. There are so many pellet smokers out there now it is hard to decide which one to get. The only issue I see with the pit boss is no stainless grates.

Great video. Great pace to the video and good info. I think I’ll go pit boss.

I just bought the Zgrills 10002e for 499. Heard great things about it and its consistent temps. Also over 1000 sq inches of cooking space on 3 levels is what sold it for me. Looking forward to putting it together once it arrives and beginning my smoking.

Best review I've seen posted. I went with the Camp Chef. The feature of the ash cleaning system and the slide and grill feature was a big portion of my decision. The real deal maker was the side kick option the Camp Chef has. Turns the pellet grill into a complete cooking system .

I have that exact Z Grill you reviewed. It’s an absolute tank and for the $ you can’t beat it. However, I don’t get near the same smoke flavor or bark as I do on my Weber Smokey Mountain or BGE. But it sure is fun/easy to use.

Great review & thank you on doin this 👍

I did buy the larger Camp Chef and have always found it reaches desired temp in 10 mins or less and keeps it within about 5 degrees - better than our electric oven.

great review and enjoyed watching your video.

Thank you for sharing valuable information!

Great video, helping me a lot!

It seemed like the GMG scored really high in most areas. I think by yours criteria it should have won but that's just my observation as it was the most consistent in all categories.

I love that you told us your favorite ride up front that makes your video better and I'm not going to enjoy the rest of the video to learn how you came to that conclusion and if it agrees with what my needs are but nonetheless nice job

Enjoyed the video, thanks.

Camp chef all the way for me gives a great smoke flavor and never gave me a issue. I have had mine for 3 years and never had to replace anything or call customer service amazing product.

Great info brother. Thank you. I have three Stick Burners and I am looking to expand into the pellet world and see if I can make it taste as good so thank you.

I love my GMG...the temps always stay super consistent and ironically the only issues I've had was when I used a bag of Traeger pellets where I had a flare-up and wild temp swings...never using those shit pellets again. After getting some grill grates I have been doing reverse searing and it works great. After the low and slow smoke stage, I take the meat off and crank it to 450 or 500 and the grill grates give a searing surface that reaches 600 to 650 to lock in a great finishing sear...highly recommend the interlocking cast aluminum Grill Grates. I'm also getting some smoke tubes to crank up some heavy smoking....such a great time to own a pellet grill.

Watched the entire video; like/ comment. Thank you so much for providing the winner at the beginning. Good reviews

Great review. I have a rectec, but over time I have come to realize that Pit Boss and Z Grills make a great product. Also, wifi connectivity and built in thermometers are over rated. After a few years I guarantee your onboard meat thermometers will go bad. I use a Thermapen Smoke for accurate temps and it's all I use now. Bottom line? Go get a knob dial pellet grill and don't waste extra money on brand names or fancy digital readouts. Plus, as long as your grill is keeping within 10-15 degrees throughout a long cook, you will have no issues with the final product. That said, if $ is no object, go buy a Yoder YS640 and don't look back.

Awesome review !!!

I have a Pit Boss Classic and have been using it pretty consistently (3 or 4 times a week) since July 2020 and I absolutely have to say it is the best grill I have ever used in my life. I have used gas and charcoal but I don't think I could ever go back to it. The one thing I have noticed about this grill and I would imagine, all pellet grills is you NEED TO KEEP IT CLEAN. Clean out the ash pot, clean out the drum, scrape out the drum, clean and scrape your heat deflector and of course your grill grates. It's a small investment, and if you want consistency, you need to seriously take the time to clean it at LEAST every 3 cooks unless you have a longer cook, do it EVERY time. I had 2 flame outs and both were my fault. The first one, I left the pellets in the hopper for a few days which is a no no and there was some moisture in the air which I am guessing caused the issue and the next example was when I let it go too many cooks before cleaning the ash / burn pot. I have not had an issue since but a suggestion for those reading this is, get a blue tooth thermometer and put one probe in the meat and the other in the grill so you can monitor the grill for a flame out.

This video helped a lot in my decision making process. I've pulled about 100lbs+ of bbq off of it so far and have zero complaints. One thing I think you missed on the review is the slide-away plate on the Austin XL that exposes the fire pot for searing. You don't have to wait on it to come to temp for steaks, just slide the plate and grill away

Excellent review!

If I wanted to buy a pellet smoker grill and my budget was around $400-500, which grills would you suggest? I'd like to be able to smoke briskets, chicken, pork shoulders and butts, etc. I like the idea of the PID, but it isn't a deal breaker - because I've heard that they can have temperature swings as well. Meat probes are nice, but not necessary. I could always buy after-market ones. WiFi is also nice, but prob out of my price range. I've been on the fence for awhile now and I can't decide. I did narrow it down to a ZGrills and a Camp Chef. But I'm open to new suggestions .... Please help!!! Thanks.

I have the Pitboss 700fb it’s a workhorse. I had to replace the burn pot igniter and temperature sensor. Customer service reliability makes it a fantastic smoker

After 20 + years of using stick burners I now love my pellet smokers best guess I am getting lazy lol sad to say both of my Austin xl smokers were destroyed in the Dec tornado in In and KY NOW TRYING TO REBUILD great video

*Dude, Great testing my man* Thanks for the effort and sharing.. While I disagree with your choice, I appreciate the fact that you went so scientific on it.. Great info.. I personally got rid of my Austin XL (as my second pellet grill) because it was a pain in winter and way to big for smaller cooks. Used sooo many pellets and I was not happy with the smoke results of it.. I cleaned it nicely and gave it to my Brother in Law for his Birthday.. He has had nothing but problems with it since, replacing part after part and still had issues yesterday again trying to smoke some pork loin low n slow.. I now hate that grill because of it lol Well it just sucks giving someone a present and then have it break down like that all the time.. So, as someone who is an avid smoker on pellets, I generally don’t look as much at the price as I do at features and practicality.. weirdly enough, my daily is a Traeger Tailgater, but severely modified after years and years of using it.. But I’d never buy a new one for full price.. I picked mine up used for super cheap a long time ago.. and that’s the thing, the Tailgater is probably the oldest of this bunch and they’ve been making them for many many years now with same specs and everything.. Only now in 2021 they came out with an updated model. But the original Tailgater has no business in this class of grills imo, as it’s a portable one and way overpriced and an underspec’d grill that rides off of its name. That being said, I love mine! It’s super super quick to heat up, smoke in 2 mins or less, maintains temp good enough and gosh does it create a beautiful savoury flavour, especially compared to both my Traeger Pro 34 and definitely compared to my Austin XL.. I have yet to get that flavour out of any of my other grills, yes, I had 5, including a Pitboss Vertical.. Can’t have enough grills, like everrr haha.. I built a giant frame, ideas off of Pinterest, took the Tailgaters legs off and built it into the frame onto a cabinet and it is now a dream machine, lacking only wifi/BT. I still use my Traeger Pro34 occasionally but that one is the least impressive in my line up, similar to the Austin XL, and it’ll probably be sold soon as it’s already an older unit as well and the new Ironwood series and Timberlines look very nice.. *Oh wait, how can I not talk about my Coleman Cookout??? Sigh* That’s literally my favorite right now! Smoked two beautiful Turkeys today, and it had the fam drooling over it. Think about it, 1000sq inches(advertised), tall cooking chamber like the GMG DB, but unlike any grill in this line up, the Cookout has an actual insulated cooking chamber, mostly found on really expensive grills.. Their dual wall cooking chamber with exhaust is absolute money! Great electronics too, only missing Wifi/BT but added a Timer with Alarm, which I really appreciate.. Fit and finish on the Coleman is on par with the better brands, unlike my Pitboss which was thinner steel material, bent and not fitting properly when assembling.. By far better quality on the Coleman (surprise).. Now, of course the Coleman isn’t perfect, but at this time, other than my custom daily Tailgater, I’ll take it over anything else that’s out there under 700-800 (where I live).. It has some impressive features for its price range.. Thanks again for this very informative video.. Appreciate the effort and may those pellets Rest In Peace! It was all *In the name of science* lol Stay healthy everyone and remember: *GO SMOKE SOMETHING*

Nice review👍

Camp Chef owner here and love mine. I do appreciate the in depth and non bias review though. A few small tweaks to any of theses smokers goes a long way to cure some of there pit falls. Nomex tape/seal around the lid will help seal in the heat and reduce the loss of smoke and heat through the lid. The temp probes are all junk. Replace with a good blue tooth type and your much better off. The last recommendation is using a thermal blanket when it’s cold. It takes less time to heat up, recovers quicker and it will use fewer pellets. Warranty/customer service is what sold me on the Camp Chef and they are a local company to me here in Utah. Great review!

Great video man! If you produce content like this for even a short time, you'll take off.

Sheeshh this review was awesome. Respect

Love that you guys did this! I am so used to your other channel I didn’t even know it was Backfire at first as it wasn’t Gun related. What did you all end up doing with the smokers?

After 20 + years of using stick burners I now love my pellet smokers best guess I am getting lazy lol great video

I was looking into the Z Grill. Looks like it was in the top half of all the tests, so I may try it out.

Great Review, Great Information, Great Job! New Subscriber!

Love my Masterbuilt smoke hollow 24" pellet grill/smoker. Just did a pork butt the other day and it was amazing

Excellent intro getting right to it!

I wonder if a thermal blanket would help with the camp chefs heating issue? I love the idea of easy cleaning for the ashes and the pellets.

I'd be curious to hear the same evaluation for a Grilla Grills Primate as well for more grills that are 500+! Great content!

Curious to see different results with the new camp chef gen 2 controller.

What’s the best over $500? Just curious if your thoughts change or just buy the larger grill within that brand?

Thank you for the great review of all of these grills. I recently purchased the Green Mountain for reasons other than you have specified in your blog. It seems the biggest negative from your review is the relatively small hopper capacity of this model. I do understand that accessories are beyond your scope, but I bought the daniel boon for the accessory pizza oven that adds another 130.00 to the price. A huge advantage to the pizza oven is that you can use it to sear up to 700+ degrees(not to mention the awesome pizzas that you can make). I replaced the pizza stone with a 1/2" piece of plate steel I have seasoned like you would a cast-iron skillet. by turning the temperature up to the highest setting I can get around 900 degrees f on my metal plate. that will indeed sear a heck of a good steak!

might I ask how you put the tin foil down on your pit boss's heat shield? or do you have a video on that?

Great video sir!

Thank you. Great video and found it helpful for me

Thank you so much. . Great job

If you can get a zgrill for $200, would you reccomend it?

measurement in peeps... LOVE IT!

ok. this is a legit comparison. my dude did the peep test. nice! also, for reference, i own an ausitn XL

I would like to see a comparison like this , of the Yoder ys640 and other high end pellet grills. Would there be major differences to warrant the huge price. Nice video presentation.

Picked up the Austin XL for $250 at Walmart, love it

Thank you I’m getting the pit boss

Just bought a pit boss Austin xl and obviously it’s 2 years since this video but it was on sale at Walmart for $397 i couldn’t pass it up and I can’t wait to try it out

Love my treater tailgater. Just the right size for me

You secured your thumbs up with the peeps measurement.

Found it Ricky!! well done!

What about the Cabela's pellet grill? I've usually had good luck with things that have their name on it. But I can't find very much info on them

Great review

I'd never hear of a pellet grill before tbh! Looks interesting. Really good video.

Have a pit boss 700- never had an issue! Key with all pellets- clean, clean, clean otherwise you will have flames, clogged augers, problems

So which two grills reached searing temperatures in a reasonable time frame?