Camp Chef 24 in. WIFI SmokePro SG Pellet Grill & Smoker - WIFI & Bluetooth Connectivity (Black)

Easily one of the best purchases I've made in years! Never even knew what I was missing by not owning a smoker. I saw some of these (pellet smoker) at a BBQ competition and I liked the idea of smoking with little user intervention. Literally just fill it up with pellets and let 'er rock and roll until the internal meat temperature is reached. Foolproof and as long as you don't overcook things, the food comes out excellent. I've learned to trust the temperature probe-- I've overcooked things by second guessing the temperature probe. If a recipe says 145, if I go by the temp probes, it comes out awesome every time.Unit is built well, plenty sturdy-- there's no mistaking it for a high end product, some of the metal used isn't as thick as I'd like, but what I got for the price I feel is just fine, and perhaps better than I expected. Had some shipping damage, the metal panel of the hopper was dented in courtesy of UPS. Camp Chef customer support resolved the issue. They do take a few days to respond, but I found them extremely helpful.The Wi-Fi features are simply amazing. At first I thought it would only work in my home (via Wi-Fi) but it's actually cloud based, and you can connect to the smoker anywhere you have internet. One of the first meals I cooked was a full brisket, and I was a little hesitant to leave it for my wife to cook while I was at work, but I didn't have to-- I could monitor the smoker and control it from 45 miles away, then pass along instructions to the wife :). I never have any trouble with the Wi-Fi or operating it remotely, it always works. If I had to find something to gripe about, it's that it's a tad slow to update when you first wake up your phone (like if you've turned your phone screen off and let it sit while), but within 30 seconds or so, it catches up.The Bluetooth is a little glitchy. Honestly I'm not really sure what the Bluetooth is for, because it works so well via Wi-Fi and I never have any trouble connecting to the app with or without Bluetooth. But obviously I set up both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as the unit has you do when you first set it up. But randomly I will get a Bluetooth connection error, and the help screen has me unpair the device from my phone and repair it. Not terribly troublesome and it will usually work fine for a week or so until the Bluetooth message pops up again. I'd just scrap the idea of using Bluetooth since it doesn't seem necessary, but that annoying message keeps popping up if I don't reconnect it. Really not worth taking a star off, hopefully it will get ironed out with a firmware update.Fit and finish of the smoker is great. It's nothing terribly fancy, but it's a solid unit and all the essentials are there; it looks and functions great. Actual function and bang for the buck is more important to me than a stainless lid or fancy cattle horn handles, and this unit delivers in spades. Temp control is spot on, will vary a few degrees high or low, but completely manageable and better than I expected. The smoke level control seems to work well, I can tell the difference. User interface is well thought out, and the unit overall is extremely easy to use and figure out.Only trouble I really have with it is that the burner cleanout slide seizes up, and you can't slide the ash tray to dump the ashes. It's been this way since day one. To dump the ashes I have to remove the grill grates, the grease tray, and tap on the metal rod with a hammer while I'm pulling the knob. Once you do that it will free up, and you can slide it back and forth. But once the unit goes through a heat cycle (like when you smoke something) that slide freezes up again. I've pulled plenty hard, and that sucker is stuck good unless you tap the metal rod each time. Completely defeats the purpose of the handy cleanout feature. Which after using it long enough, I've realized is a bit of a gimmick anyways, because there's usually far more ash in and around the bottom of the barrel than there ever is in the burner. So cleaning the ash would involve pulling the grill grates and grease tray anyways, unless you're doing short smokes, but after a short smoke there isn't enough ash in the burner to worry about.Another hair to split is that the bottom of the hopper doesn't taper enough toward the auger entrance. I assume they do this so they can claim it holds more pellets, but it causes a pound or two of pellets to sit in the bottom at the edges that the auger can't reach. If you want to use up all your pellets, you have to take a long screwdriver and push that last amount of pellets toward the middle, where the auger is. You can't get your hand down there because there's a metal baffle with holes in the way. This design also affects emptying the hopper (like when you are changing wood flavor/species); that last pound or two of pellets will sit at the bottom and not empty unless you take a screwdriver and push them toward the chute. Makes changing wood flavor a chore; sort of annoying but I deal with it. I feel like I should remove a star for this, but the rest of the unit is so good, and food tastes so great that I'll give it a pass.Lots of options for smokers out there and I don't regret buying this for a second. There's likely better/nicer smokers out there for sure, but I don't think you'll find the combination of features and quality this one has at a better price. Very pleased!

I’ve had the smoker a little less than one month but I’ve already got some really great results. I’ve done brisket, pork loin, chicken quarters, pizza, tri-tip steak, an, my favorite, smoked salmon.At first I was having troubles with the mobile app staying connected to my smoker and with the smoker staying connected to my Wi-Fi network. I ended up buying a Wi-Fi extender which I put inside the house, but close to the back deck where the smoker sits. This solved the problem with the smoker losing Wi-Fi connection. The other issues with the mobile app were solved by an update that Camp Chef put out about two weeks ago that seems to fix a lot of the weird Bluetooth pairing issues.I believe the Camp Chef only runs on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. If your 2.4 GHz signal is not strong where your smoker will be, I highly recommend getting a range extender for your Wi-Fi network.With those connection problems fixed, it’s so awesome to be able to run to the store or pop over to a friends house for a bit and still be able to keep an eye on my smoke from the mobile app. The mobile app has some new features as well. One of my favorite features is graphs of temperatures during your smoke so you can see how well the smoker maintained temperature and the overall temperature profile of your meats during your current and past smokes.I’ve been using it during some pretty cold temperatures here in one of the mountain states. Even during a very cold night (15F) the temperature inside the smoker was maintained very well for an overnight brisket smoke I tried.Clean up is relatively easy. I would highly recommend covering the heat spreader plate with heavy duty tinfoil as it makes cleaning up that part of the smoker much easier. Also, the very first time I used the smoker, the ash clean out handle did get stuck a little bit as other reviews have mentioned. I tapped the knob with the backside of a screwdriver a couple of times as well as the plate that sits above the ash cup and that freed it up. I believe the reason that it gets stuck initially is due to the manufacturing oils/residue left over on some of the parts during manufacturing. I have not had it stick at all since then.There was one time when the wood pellets I was using got stuck and stopped feeding into the auger. The app notified me that the temperature dropped unexpectedly and I was able to go out and quickly resolve the issue. Since that happened I will usually double check the pellets a couple of times throughout the smoke when I’m checking on the meat and make sure that they are feeding through the hopper and into the auger properly. My guess is that there were some extra long wood pellets that started backing it up because they wouldn’t feed down properly. It only happened once and I haven’t experienced that again.One thing I have enjoyed about the smoker over a traditional barbecue grill is that it’s now somewhat of a hobby for me. It’s fun to try new meats and try to get the best flavor, tenderness, and smokiness possible. I’m constantly looking for new tricks and recipes to improve my smokes.I highly recommend this smoker, especially for someone who is new to the craft and looking for a reliable and easy-to-use smoker to start with.

Not a bad smoker/grill I highly suggest getting a gasket kit though! The ash try absolutely does not work! I seen others commenting on this I can confirm that it absolutely will not come out. I personally clean mine with a shop vacuum afterwards. The other thing I'm not exactly pleased with is the amount of smoke even on max settings you still don't get enough smoke. Temps are very accurate for internal temps and meat temps. I do suggest to lower your cooking temps a little though. For instance instead of 225°F drop your temp to around 200°F approximately. Cleaning is a breaze with this! Everything comes out easy except for the ash try... Love the grease run off tray! Overall I'm very pleased with the build. Strong sturdy... Btw do not try and roll it around by holding onto the hopper you will damage it. I haven't tried the Wifi stuff. Me personally I watch my temps closely.