Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I will compare this unit to the Traeger Junior Elite because Traeger is the most popular brand of pellet grill and the Junior Elite is very close in size and price. I used to have a Traeger Junior Elite before this and the Davy Crockett is better in almost every way except two: Traeger has a 3 year warranty, the Davy Crockett has a 2 year warranty. They are both manufactured in China and have similar build quality AFAICT. The Traeger has a larger grill area (20-25% larger) than the Davy Crockett. Both will fit three racks of babyback ribs or two racks of spare ribs but I do miss the extra space on the Traeger. The Davy Crockett has better temperature control that allows me to program much more exact temperatures (one degree adjustments possible) using their app (the control panel allows me to adjust temperatures 5 degrees at a time). It uses a PID controller [...] controller to anticipate and fine micromanage the temperature by manipulating the auger speed and the fan speed. The Traeger just uses a thermostat set to 25 degree increments to control how much wood is fed into the fire and it has trouble keeping the temperature within 25 degrees of the set temperature. The Davy Crockett can be controlled manually with the control panel or via an app that allows you to monitor and control the grill. They will be coming out with a cloud based app so you can monitor the grill from anywhere you can get an internet connection so you can run errands or watch your kid play baseball while the meat is cooking. The App also allows you to program a series of instructions so that you can smoke for 5 hours and then cook for 3 hours and then lower the temperature so that it is still warm for you whenever you are ready to eat. This level of control and monitoring is important because the hopper does not always feed the pellets into the auger correctly and the fire in the firepot can go out. With the traeger, you have no idea unless you are constantly checking the grill while the Davy Crockett will tell you that the hopper is not feeding wood pellets and that the temperature is dropping. Another problem is that occasionally the pellets inside the auger will catch fire, this is usually not a problem because the wood pellets get spit out by the auger faster than the fire can works its way back into the hopper; but sometimes the fire does work its way back into the hopper (where it seems to die for lack of oxygen) and the temperature spikes. The Davy Crockett app will tell you something is wrong while the Traeger will produce ruined meat unless you are keeping a close eye on the grill (happened to me on a 12 hour smoke of brisket). Larger units can create enough separation between the fire and the auger to prevent this but smaller units don't seem to be large enough to create this much space. The Davy Crockett comes "tailgate ready" its legs can fold into a carry handle and it comes with the accessories you need to power it from your car battery or car electrical plug/cigarette lighter. Traeger charges $70 for an inverter to connect the Traeger to your car and another $80 for folding legs (but to be fair, the Traeger folding legs are sturdier and generally better than the legs that come with the Davy Crockett). The Traeger Junior Elite has vents in the hood that let in water if it rains. The Davy Crockett has a chimney with a cover. not a big deal but outside temperature affects the Traeger a lot more than the Davy Crockett because of the vented hood. If you are thinking about getting a wood pellet grill but don't really know if you want to spend $1000 or more. Then you can start with this one for $350 (on sale from your local dealer) and if you really like it, you can drop those $$$ for a larger grill (and you'll be much better informed about wood pellet grills by then). Personally I have a gas grill for grilling a gas smoker for smoking and this one is for tailgating, small cooks and extra capacity for grilling AND smoking.