PB440D2 Wood Pellet Grill, 440 SERIES, Black

Our old pellet grill finally bit the dust after many years of turning out great food. (It wasn't a Pit Boss) I've been shopping around for a replacement and this one gets a lot of good reviews so I thought I would give it a try. It's a beautiful grill. I will admit to feeling a little intimidated when I laid out all of those parts on the kitchen table (see photo). But with a little patience and just following the instructions step by step it went together rather well. I haven't cooked on it yet but I did run it through a break-in and test run. Everything worked perfectly, I started with the smoke mode and then ran it up through the temperature settings until I got it up to 450. It heated up well and fairly quickly considering that it was only about 45 degrees outside. It held temperature at least as well as my old grill, within about 10 degrees. I love the control panel, the Prime button, and the overall simplicity of use. The ability to slide a panel over to expose the burn pit is a nice feature for searing. You can easily empty the pellet bin to change pellets. (Yes, the bin is rather small but should be more than adequate for my use) There are two Jacks to plug in temperature probes into the meat and have the internal temp of whatever you're cooking displayed right on the panel. (The probes didn't come with it but when I saw that feature I immediately ordered some) And the grill is sharp-looking. I love the offset color of the lid. It really makes the grill look sharp. I'm looking forward to creating some great barbecue on this nice grill. Update: I finally cooked on the grill today. It sure wasn't fancy but it was a great test run. We had company over including 5 grandkids so I cooked up some burgers and bratwurst. Following the grill instructions I started it on the smoke (lowest) setting with the lid open and waited for the smoke. In just a few minutes there was billowing white smoke rolling out of the grill. I waited for the smoke to dissipate a little and then closed the lid and turned the heat up to 400. The grill heated up quickly considering it was about 40 degrees and windy. I decided to take out the upper grill to give me a little more room to flip the brats and burgers. During cooking, I found that the Prime button is very handy. What it does is boost the heat up by dumping extra pellets into the fire pot. It worked well by using it either right before or right after raising the lid to keep from losing too much heat. It also cranks up the smoke level for a few minutes which adds some great smoke flavor to the burgers and bratwurst. I found the grill to be very easy to use, and I can't wait to do something a little more serious on it such as ribs or brisket. I like the grill a lot.

Great beginner wood pellet smoker grill. Some initial frustrations first time I took it apart to clean, but then I took a deep breath and slowed down and had the cleaning done in 5 minutes. Take time to learn if you want to do it right. There are plenty of on-line videos. Lessons include how to start your grill, cleaning your grill, important cooking steps and of course all the amazing cooking videos. I’ve done chicken thighs, a brisket and pork shoulder. They all come out great but not perfect as I’m a smoking novice. For example I learned the cut of the brisket matters, not something I ever realized. Also make sure you get the right equipment: a small shop vac for cleaning, disposable rubber gloves for cleaning and prep, temp probes (cooking to temp is recommended by all the pros), an external temp probe just to verify what the mounted probes say, butchers paper, grease bucket liners and lots of patience. This unit is also nice because of the broiler plate slides open and cooks burgers or sears steaks with direct heat. I have found it is all easy if you just take your time and watch a couple videos. Like I said, for beginners this grill has made it a 5-STAR experience.

I couldn't possibly say enough positive things about this grill. Best purchase EVER

It's my first smoker so I didn't know what to expect. But I'm very pleased with it. Cons: - The hopper is on the smallish side. Needs to be refilled every 90 minutes or so. Pellets tend to cling to the sides leaving a void in the middle, and you can't really use your hand to even then out because of the screen on top. - The top rack is too short and too close to the top of the barrel to be useful. A baking sheet will fit there, but make sure the weight is more towards the back or it'll fall over when you open the lid. - Don't trust the thermometer in the lid. - The design of the flame shield makes it difficult to get on and off for cleaning. Good: - Easy startup, easy shutdown. - Probe temp reads a bit low, but it's consistent so easy to adjust for.