Opinions on Pellet grills.

Pellet grills are a lazy option. . . and it is absolutely worth the money. 

I love eating brisket and smoked meats. I absolutely hated fighting the horizontal smoker every 30 minutes to keep it at the right temp. Unless you're going to be entering a competition, I'd argue that a pellet smoker is the way to go over all other methods. I can throw a brisket on and go to work and come home to a cooked brisket. Ribs are super easy. Whole chicken turns out great. 

The only con that I hear people complain about is the smoke flavor is mildly less intense on a pellet vs a stick burner. I haven't noticed this. Takes about 15-20 min to get up to 250.

When it comes to steak, you need a way to seer the steak. If you try to cook the steak at 250 until it's "done", the inside will be the way you want it, and the outside will be floppy and weird textured. I cook my ribeyes until they're about 90-95 on the inside, then seer them a minute on each side and they're a perfect rare to medium rare. You can crank pellet grills up to grilling temps, but you better be careful. If you have any fat buildup in the smoker, it will light the fat on fire and you'll have beef jerky for dinner. I rarely go above 275 on my pellet smoker. If I do, I take the heat deflector plate and pressure wash the previous cooking juices off of it. 

I have the Camp Chef Woodwind 36" with the Sidekick. If this is in your budget, I highly recommend it. 

I love my Recteq pellet grill. High quality, very consistent temps, overnight smokes no problem. They only sell direct, but much better than Traeger IMO. 

As much as I love my pellet grill, I would never get rid of my Weber gas grill. Gas grill for steaks, burgers, pork chops, etc. Smoker for big fatty chuncks of meat that require low and slow. 

It's not really a direct replacement for a standard grill. Pellet grills are designed for low and slow cooking. Not steaks and burgers. You can but it's not worth the hassle really.

I have both and mostly use the regular grill. The smoker is for brisket, ribs, tri tip, whole chicken and larger thicker cuts.

With the smoker you can buy the cheaper cuts and they come out tender and tasty.

I'd like one but it seems with having 2 kids the free time isn't there right now

I still prefer cooking steaks on a high heat grill, but for everything else I use the pellet grill.  I have a Pit Boss vertical smoker which has a lot of cooking surface but with a smaller footprint to fit in our outdoor kitchen area. 

I don’t want to grill shame you folks but after my divorce George took pretty good care of me.

I have a Weber gas grill and a Traeger...I use the Traeger way more, and for almost everything.  I'll crank that thing to 450 and put steaks and burgers on it...or low and slow for a tritip or a brisket...I even cooked our turkey on it for Thanksgiving this year (it was awesome!).

I absolutely love the pellet grill...

I prefer a real smoker for a brisket, but for a meal in the middle of the week, you can’t beat a pellet grill. Buy a little nicer one, had an inexpensive unit and it was junk.

put me in the "i don't want my meat to taste like smoke all the time" category.  i've been to my friend's houses where they smoke everything on their pellet grills and it's just not for me.

i'm a gas-burner all day. let me whip up some burgers and steaks in a hurry. 

i would still like to get a pellet-burner for when we have pool parties, but at the same time i like manning the grill with some beers.

I've been researching on building my own smoker.  It's actually pretty complex when you're looking to cook anything from a few hamburgers (if you've never slow smoked burgers...omg) all the way to hams and homemade sausage.

I'm usually pretty busy so being able to let the smoker do it's thing with very little attention vs a grill that can ruin things in a matter of minutes...is a big plus.

I'm a stick guy but I've seen a few VERY pricey pellet smokers that look real good.

Nothing cooks a steak or burger quite like my Weber gasser yet nothing makes ribs, pork shoulders or tri tip easier than my GMG pellet. IMO pellet grills don’t provide enough smoke flavor yet I don’t want the hassle of a stick burner so I find myself stuck with the pellet and usually light a couple of pellet tubes if I’m wanting extra flavor.

Nothing cooks a steak or burger quite like my Weber gasser yet nothing makes ribs, pork shoulders, meatloaf or tri tip easier than my GMG pellet. IMO pellet grills don’t provide enough smoke flavor yet I don’t want the hassle of a stick burner so I find myself stuck with the pellet and usually light a couple of pellet tubes if I’m wanting extra flavor.

I would like to try one of the pellet grills for smoking and other slow cooks. I prefer steaks cooked on a Weber charcoal grill with kingsford coals. I have a gas grill at the farm for quick fixes but rarely use it.  I use the charcoal grill atleast 3 days a week if not most days. 

 A little tip; use real lump charcoal instead of Kingsford briquettes. The taste difference is night and day. Only pro to briquettes is they're easier to light.

Personally, I would get an electric smoker that just has a bin for wood chips you refill every hour 

Pellet smokers are a pain in the ass. You have to clean them constantly. If the hopper thing gets clogged and caked together you have to chip it out and vacuum it out.

If you live in a humid area it’s an even bigger headache. If you don’t properly clean and maintain it you get a nasty white smoke.

Just my opinion. 

I have a couple of stick burners. One sits in front of my restaurant. Smoke and the wood stack out front draws the people in. However I will say there are some days I wish I had a big pellet smoker and be able to get some sleep. I was training a guy on how to cook on my smokers and then he realized how much work goes into it and left. 

Just got this one. Pretty impressed so far. 
 

I've definitely tried every type available around here and like lump but always go back to my favorite which i also grew up on as its what everyone in the family always used.  I have celiac and you would be surprised what kind of bonding agents are in a lot of charcoal even the "All natural." I definitely don't use anything with any accelerator in it either.