Traeger vs Weber’s SmokeFire: New Zealand Buyer’s Guide

Comparing any BBQ comes down to what you want from your cooking experience. Some kiwis prefer convenience of quickly grilling a few sausages while others are after the hard grind of smoking a brisket with manual heat and smoke management.

When it comes to comparing Traeger versus Weber they are both strong brands with quality products, well-known in the BBQ low and slow community. From my experience, choosing a brand can often come down to one key factor, convenience.

Here’s a quick summary of what both offer.

Traeger is a proven, pure wood-fired automatic pellet-fed smoker brand. Traeger’s offer consistent results and a solid user experience. Weber’s main draw are their charcoal kettle and little gas BBQ’s but they have recently launched their own pellet grill in New Zealand called the SmokeFire. If you’re after the convenience of a pellet grill, Traeger’s offer the better user experience, but why?

Traeger vs Weber Summary

Traeger 

Traeger specialises in pellet grills. It’s all they do. In fact, Joe Traeger invented pellet grilling back in 1985 and patented his system in 1986. Since then, other specialist pellet grill brands have entered the market such as Green Mountain Grills.

After 30 odd years of refinement, Traeger is considered by many to be the flagship brand of pellet grilling. Their designs are simple and well thought-out in my opinion. Traeger forgoes novel features for simple tried and tested functionality.

In terms of smoking, Traeger use a side-fed auger system to feed wood pellets through to a burn pot. Their classic design produces consistent results and the go to method for almost all other pellet grills.

Traeger’s can ‘kind of sear’, but really, you’re buying a pellet grill for smoking in my opinion. I recommend using a small gas grill for convenient searing or a simple wood-fired or charcoal direct heat grill.

However, applying some form of heat retention to your pellet grill, such as a cast iron pan or griddle, can help build up the heat required for searing, but be warned that your pellet grill will consume significantly more pellets to do this.

Traeger pellet grills are best when you stick to what they do best – creating a simple smoking experience with solid outcomes. I believe Traeger sells a access to an experience not just a product.

Weber SmokeFire Pellet Grill

Weber’s reputation is built on charcoal kettles and their now uber popular ‘Q’ gas range. However, they have also recently introduced their own pellet grill but it has been a rocky launch so far.

For better or worse, rather than simply rip off Traeger’s design, Weber have chosen to do things their own way. The SmokeFire is back-fed (not side-fed like Traeger) through a shorter auger. This is a design not seen before on the market in the 30 odd years of pellet grill smokers.

The SmokeFire uses ‘vapourisers’ (AKA flame tamers) instead of an one piece angled drip tray for grease/fat. The idea here is that in conjunction with the 315°C/600°F temperatures it can reach, you can sear on the SmokeFire.

A heat deflector sits in between the flame tamers and burn pot – heat deflectors are pretty standard in pellet grill smokers to diffuse heat/smoke.

In my opinion, a pellet grill is primarily a smoker – it doesn’t really suit searing. That’s because having open flames in the combustion area is typically a recipe for disaster. i.e. grease/fat dripping onto the flames will cause a grease fire…

SmokeFire Gen 1 was a failure and was pulled from the market very quickly for this very reason. For Gen2, they altered the design to literally stop the SmokeFire from catching fire.

Some reports state that the fires were often due to leftover smouldering pellets after a cook not being thoroughly cleared out of the auger and burn pot after each cook. Now let me be honest – Traeger and every other brand I have used do not have an issue with this, since they have a more indirect design between the grease/fat and the burn pot.

It’s best practice to clean out the burn pot after each session, however, in reality, most people don’t. Traeger has shutdown sequences, like most brands do, to clear the burn pot.

Sadly, there are many reports of Gen 1 issues still happening with Gen 2. Therefore, I believe Weber should go back to what they do best – the charcoal and gas basics the brand was built on (yes I’m sticking my stiff neck out on this one!)

Google some YouTube videos to see a little more info on the SmokeFire’s appropriate name. SmokeFire Gen 2 seems to have improved, however, the BBQ community hasn’t been too kind or receptive to it.

Weber Charcoal Smokers

Weber’s charcoal smokers are a different story. If you’re specifically after a Weber for smoking (and searing), I recommend their classic kettle and bullet-style smokers over the SmokeFire. Their charcoal smokers are a smaller investment, but like all charcoal smokers, require more effort to maintain long smoking sessions.

I’ve done the snake method of burning a half-moon row of domino charcoal chunks, whilst micro-adjusting airflow as I go. It’s fun, but you have to dedicate time and attention to keep an eye on it. You can also use dividers to create the indirect heat inside of a Weber for alternative roasting and cooking methods.

Weber Charcoal Smokers – Direct Heat Searing

The one advantage of Weber Kettles over a pellet grill is that they are capable of effective searing and steak-grilling – as long as you know how to build a fire for searing. i.e. wait for the embers to go white to get that heat humming!

Alternatively, you can get other great kettle grills like the Charbroil Kettleman for under $400 nowadays. Weber alternatives come in at about the same price as the original Weber Kettle which hasn’t changed much over the decades.

Pellet Grill vs Charcoal Smoker

If you want convenience, get a pellet grill (easy).

If you want to get hands on, get an offset, kettle or bullet smoker (hardcore).

Also worth considering is where you’ll be using it. Remember, pellet grills require a power source. GMG pellet grills are the most portable since they can be powered by your car’s 12v cigarette adapter or battery. Pellet grills are great for a pure wood, clean combustion to achieve a pure wood-fired smoking flavour.

Pellet Grills – Is Weber Better Then Traeger?

The Weber Kettle is definitely better if you want traditional BBQ searing AKA the old kiwi way. However, when it comes to smoking, I like the ease of dialling in a temp, walking away, and letting my pellet grill’s smartphone app notify me when my pork shoulder has hit the required internal temp. For this, I trust the Traeger to get the job done.

The more interesting question is, is a Traeger the best pellet grill for your money? Find out in my article, New Zealand’s Best Pellet Smoker.