ZPG-450A Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker with PID V3.0 Controller, 459 Sq in Cook Area, Meat Probe, Foldable Shelf&Side Shelf, 8 in 1 BBQ Grill Outdoor Auto Temperature Control, Black

Disclaimer: I have not yet used the grill to actually cook anything. I am only really writing this review to comment on a few things that I experienced and observed during assembly and the first start-up, as I am a quality manager myself and would like to help out the Z-Grills team to better their product. I have no affiliation with Z-Grills and I have not been nor am I being compensated for this review in any way. The product was delivered safe and sound and in excellent condition, being delivered by the Amazon delivery team themselves, straight from SLC, Utah, to Logan, Utah. The box itself didn't have a scratch on it and was surprisingly clean all things considered. I wish all of my delivered items from Amazon were received in such a manner. Upon opening the packaging, I found that everything was neatly packed and nothing was loose that should not have been. There was nothing broken inside, and everything was very clean and organized. Reviewing the manual before starting assembly, I found that the "Simple Installation Instructions" were very difficult to understand, and, moving to the actual instruction manual, I found that they contradicted the actual instructions. Later, I realized that the "Simple Installation Instructions" included with the product was actually intended to rectify some instruction issues that were accidentally omitted in the assembly instructions in the manual as a customer notice (but it was not labeled as such, which was why I was confused). I found myself frustrated, having to go forward some pages, then backward, and finally just threw the manual away and put the product together using my best judgment and existing technical knowledge. Suggestion: Please improve the assembly instructions - all of your product literature is jumbled up inside of your lit pack and it is difficult to follow and even more difficult to use to put the product together. During assembly, I found that the included screwdriver and wrenches were insufficient. They will do the job, but they are extremely clumsy and will extend the length of a build unnecessarily. Power tools are a must here. That being said, when using an impact drill to assemble the product, both on the Philips head screws and the hex head bolts, I found that the metal used on the hardware is VERY brittle. I not only unintentionally stripped out the screws (actually SHATTERING the screws in several places), but found that there were several screws that were malformed and/or cracked through the heads. These broke when reaching adequate holding torque during assembly. Another major issue I found is that the wheel axle is MUCH too long - by about an inch or more (rough estimate as I did not have a tape or a set of calipers) - and causes a lot of slop and horizontal movement in the wheels, even after adding washers on either side of both wheels. The axle is likely used universally between other products and this one, however, so I can understand why it is so long. In this case, using bushings to eat up the slop and provide a tighter fit would be best, but it should otherwise be shortened up to fit the actual wheelbase. It is difficult to recommend a fix for this, as there could be many different variables affecting the hardness of the metal, as well as torsion, shear, etc. The first startup was somewhat of a learning process. I had thought that I broke the auger somehow, as the instructions for the first-time startup says it could take 1-2 minutes for the auger to spin up, but it took between 5 and 6 minutes for me. It did work, however, and seems to be able to easily keep up with the pellet load. The burner is also functional and seems to be working appropriately. Everything is heavily coated in rust preventative oil out of the box - but this is a GOOD thing. You simply will want to wipe it down gently (being careful to not actually remove all of the oil) before using it - especially inside of the fire bowl. One other observation on my first warm-up using pellets is that this thing HEMORRHAGES smoke, even with the lid closed - and not just from the chimney (which, by the way, does not have an adjustable closure). You may as well not even have a chimney on this thing, as the smoke leaks out of every gap on the thing except where the fiberglass gaskets between the main box and the chimney and the pellet hopper are located, which are great. But, adding a similar 1/8"-1/4" gasket around the lid as well as a tube of heat-proof silicone sealant for all of the holes (and perhaps some Loctite 242 for all of the screws) would be great additions to the product, and would help the quality of life and overall efficiency of this product immensely. Furthermore, lid locks on either side of the unit would also be extremely beneficial in the event that a heat-proof gasket is provided around the lid enclosure, and would help to keep the smoke inside of the box so it can do its job. All of these things are things that I plan to mod onto the product itself at a later time in order to improve its overall functionality and smoking effectiveness. With the above having been said, I was very impressed with the quality and gauge of the metal used for the actual grill, as well as the overall look, feel, and quality of the wheels, handles, feet, etc. The product seems to be surprisingly heavy-duty and well made. The hardware/assembly holes all aligned well enough and were clear of debris and thread damage (which is a HUGE plus on customer assembled products). So far, it seems like it will be a great product. I will update this review when I actually use it and if I can remember to do so.

Z Grills ZPG-450A 2019 Upgrade Model The main grill is approximately 15.5 by 21 inches. There is a secondary ‘warming’ grill that is about 6 by 21 inches (with my measurements). The warming grill is above the level of the exhaust, so cooking meat on it is probably not a good idea. You can put veggies up there and just wait until they are done. The warming grill sits in a stationary position in the back, about 4 inches above the main grill. If you are cooking a large roast, the warming grill might need to be removed. I have to give a -1 star for the evasive advertisement of the (450 sq. in.) cooking area. Other than that, I love this thing. I own a wood fired, offset grill, that cooks great with lots of attention. I wanted a smallish smoker that would not waste fuel on cooking just one roast. This grill/smoker cooks great without much attention at all. In my case, it is also much cheaper to burn pellets for 8 or 10 hours than to keep a charcoal fire going for that long. I have also owned a propane grill. Propane seemed good for chicken but other meats did not have much flavor. Your results may vary. The temperature control is a switch calibrated in temperature increments. The settings are ‘Shut Down’, ‘Smoke’, 180, then 225-375 degrees in 25 degree steps. The last selection is ‘High’, which I think is 450. I normally only do 225 degree smoking. The temperature appears to be controlled by a combination of fan and auger speed. The temperature sensor is about at grill level on the hotter end of the unit. I could set 225F and after a 30 minute warm up measured (without meat) 224 on the left, 224 at center and 233 on the right. For a wood fired grill that is close to perfect. Depending on the meats and local weather conditions, the temperature may vary. On a large pork roast I saw temperatures between 200 and 240 when set at 225 on a 60 degree windy day. Mostly it stays around what you have set. This thing is really heavy, over 85 pounds. The only plastic parts I could see are the wheels. More metal usually means better cooking for an oven. I have no complaints. I've done some pork ribs, pork loin, chicken, and beef tri tip. all with expected good results. This past weekend, I decided to try a pork butt, without using a Texas crutch. Eighteen hours later at 225F, I had some really good roast. It used about 20 pounds of pellets over the 18 hours, all at 225. I would never had attempted that with my charcoal smoker. Too much time and money evolved in keeping a charcoal fire going that long. These pellet smokers do not add an overpowering smoke flavor. If you like extra smokey meats, you can get a pellet fired smoke tube that will provide more than enough extra smoke for under $20. Updated 6SEP20: I've been using this grill almost daily for six months now and fell in love with it, I kicked my rating from 4, up to 5 stars. It is so darned easy to use and clean, keep foil on the drip tray thing and life is good. You will need to vacuum out the fire pot at about every 20-30 pounds of pellets (or sooner). I found I can get 40 pound bags of pellets at the local hardware store for around $15, not the super deluxe pellets, but good just the same. Way cheaper than using charcoal. The only thing I miss is the ability to sear over an open flame. This grill will heat up to over 420 degrees so it is possible to simulate that flame grilled finish.

What I like about this grill is that it’s a piece of cake to operate. Just fill with pellets and turn it on to the desired setting. I took a long look at the Treager grills before I bought this one and it looks and feels of about the same quality. I read a ton of reviews and felt like taking a chance on a non-name brand grill to save money. I have not been disappointed! The temperature settings work great, but one word of warning: if it’s cold and windy out, it will knock the temperature down a notch or two so you have to adjust the temperature setting up accordingly. Also, I bought a wireless meat thermometer so I could keep tabs on the meat without having to go outside and check. That really has nothing to do with the grill but I thought you would like to know it is awesome to check temperatures from inside the house on a cold day! The grill took about an hour and a half to assemble. Be sure to follow the startup procedures as there is a layer of oil on the grill and drip pan that needs to burn off. I’ve used the grill 4 times now and it’s worked flawlessly. Also, I'm new to smoking and if you are new to smoking too then there is something you need to know: it takes a long, long time to smoke anything. I smoked chicken wings for an hour and it was not enough time. Yes, you can turn up the heat and get them done quickly but you sacrifice the smoke flavor. Plan on at least two hours for anything that you want a good smoke flavor on. So for this last Thanksgiving I smoked 2 Turkeys (see pictures). We cut the backbone out of the turkeys so they would lay flat and we smoked them for about 4 hours. They got a nice pink smoke ring and tasted awesome! So, if you are a patient person and can wait for some great smoke flavor, then don't hesitate to buy this grill!

I am writing this review as a 2 way split. The first part for the grill itself, and the second for the company ZGrills. The grill seems to work well. I smoked a whole chicken as my first test, and after about 3 hours total, it came out very tasty. I thought the smoke flavor could have been a bit stronger, but I could have fixed that by running it on smoke mode an hour or so before I started the cook. The grill was reasonably easy to assemble, not hard to clean, and the operating instructions were very clear. All in all, I believe this machine will do a great job making my food for a long time. The company, ZGrills, however, was difficult to work with. My grill arrived with a large dent on the left front side of the core piece, and the lid had a flat space that left around a 1.5 inch gap between the bottom of the lid, and the front of the core. Immediately upon seeing this, I attempted to call the customer service number for the company. Nobody answered. It was within their operating hours, but only just barely, and on a Friday, so I chalked it up to everyone starting a slightly early weekend, and left a voicemail. I received a call back on Monday the next week (before their stated operating hours) with a nice lady who gave me instructions to send an email with pictures of what they needed to process the request. "Great!" I thought. We were on our way to getting it resolved. I send the email right away with all the pictures they requested, and listed out the issues I saw. My first response came only minutes after sending the email asking "Is the grill chamber damaged?" I mean, I just sent you the picture that it was, and listed it among the issues in my first email. So I try to call the customer service number again for clarification. Again, nobody answers. I try a couple more times, still no answer. Then I respond to the email stating yes, the core has issues, unless you don't consider that damage, and asked if I could get clarification. I get another email back, hours later this time (and once again outside their stated hours) stating they will send a replacement core and give me a tracking number once they have it. Okay, back in track. Two days later, I still haven't heard anything, so I email again asking if they've processed it yet? Them: Yes, here's your tracking number. Me: Great! And will the lid come with the same package (because I still haven't heard about it at this point) Them 3 hours later: According to the picture, the lid isn't damaged. (1.5 inches away from the face of the core isn't damaged apparently) Me: Sorry if I wasn't clear, but the lid is also damaged as it doesn't sit closed on the face. Here are additional pictures. *I try to call the phone again a few times, still no answer. Silence for 2 days. During this time, the replacement core arrives. I swap the lid over to the new core, still sits the same distance from the face. Me in another email: Please see these new pictures with the lid issue. As you can see, the lid obviously is damaged as well since it still sits 1.5 inches from the face. Them: We will arrange a new lid within 24 hours. *2 more days of silence* Me 11:00 am: Just checking, have you guys sent the lid? Them 8:30 pm: Here is your tracking number. Now, to their credit, I received the parts I needed, and now everything is working, but that entire process took two weeks from first phone call voicemail to last part needed received, with a lot of frustration besides. The last thing I will mention is the "damage" could not have happened during shipping. I can excuse someone not seeing the bend in the door, but I guarantee someone saw that big outward dent on the core, and packaged it up anyway. This is not thin metal, and would take more than a casual touch to cause it to bend so much, and in that place. Maybe I'm wrong. I attached the image below. You be the judge.

I got the 7002B version and am extremely happy with the overall value. Like others, I've eyed a traeger but couldn't figure out why they were so damn expensive. I went through a similar buying process with my Vision kamado grill - I could never justify a big green egg. Important to note, I do still own and will always own my Vision S series kamado, however it will soon be converted to propane. My experiences then with this Z-grill are tempered by my existing stellar Vision grill. For low and slow the Zgrill pellet system CRUSHES a charcoal kamado. Kamado's are great but if you want to do low and slow then the initial setup can be painful, if you over shoot your temp it takes awhile to bring it back down. Take yours eyes off it and over shoot during cooking ... well you get the idea. Zgrill, turn it on, set the temp, walk away. Keep an eye on the timer and you're set. Thus far I've done burgers twice at 450 and they turned out stellar. Beer can style chicken once at 450 and again, stellar result. Pork tenderloin twice, once a longer smoke at 225 and last night a quick run at 450 both turned out perfect. The really killer result though was doing 3-2-1 ribs ... 3 hours at smoke, 2 at 225, 1 hour at 450 which actually turned out to be about 25m for half the ribs (smaller baby backs) and about 40 minutes for the two larger/thicker racks. These were the best ribs i've ever done, i couldn't even cut them into individual ribs as the bones just fell out so the family descended upon these like savage animals. Some things to note: 1) compared to my thermoworks smoke thermometers the internal thermo is never quite in agreement but its close enough. I do use my thermoworks religiously for both meat and internal air temp monitoring. however after these 5 runs i know what to expect at various temps from the internal thermo so if i'm doing more than one piece of meat that needs monitoring, i have no issues relying on just the internal. again, it aint perfect, but its close enough. 2) I have modified the Zgrill. First, I added 6 firebricks to the bottom. After my first use (burgers at 450) i noticed some issues getting to and holding high temps along with the usual left to right temp discrepancy that pellet grills often have. The firebricks solved those. Second, added a seal for the door. Third, wrapped a bungie chord around the right front wheel and use this to hold the door tightly closed. cost for these 3 was like $40 and well worth it as IMO it is a much more stable grill now. Brisket is scheduled for the big game and i'm excited to do a real long low n slow cook. Over all, including the cost of the mods I did, it is really hard to beat the cost/performance of this Zgrill. Would highly recommend to anyone.

This is my first pellet grill. It is amazing at everything. I have cooked salmon, to perfection, and chicken, steaks, short ribs, brisket and more. It is so easy to attain perfection. Buy a competition blend or by apple/cherry and a hickory or mesquite and you are set.

The hopper is beyond pointless. It either jams due to the pellet weight in the hopper or it empties and turns off because you are forced to underfill it. Meat gets ruined constantly due to the heat turning off and I have spent more money on wasted meat than I did purchasing the unit. Below is the letter to the manufacturer after their very pitiful response. Please do not waste your money. First off, let me be clear, the temperature does not get too high, EVER. IT SHUTS OFF ENTIRELY when the pellets stop feeding either from becoming jammed or lack of pellets due to forced underfilling as your hopper design is UTTER CRAP. Let us just be clear on that in the first place. Second, I will NOT stand in front of the hopper AND STIR WITH A STICK. The entire purpose of my purchase of this grill was to be able to set the temp, fill the hopper, and WALK AWAY and check once every few hours. So NO thank you to that bit of advice. Finally, I will not make any attempt to procure, at my own expense, a weighted pan to fit the dimensions of your hopper. If your design does not work without a weight (and let me be frank, I don't think it will work at all) then you should have included that in the design to begin with. It is laughable that you even took the time to send that picture and expect me to reference as a design flaw fix. What kind of customer service representative are you? To be honest, I am surprised you didn't send me a picture of the stick with which you ever so kindly instructed me to use.... I expect you to replace this grill with one that WORKS PROPERLY when I turn on the device and with MINIMAL, I repeat MINIMAL interference from all humans in general. Barring a replacement, I expect a refund for which I will gladly send you this piece garbage which is cluttering my patio as it is not fit for use. Attached you will find the orginal receipt, which by the way, includes shipping address, name, etc. and you will find the serial number of this "grill" although the term is being used very loosely as at this point its only a sculpture on my back patio. I expect word from you shortly on your plans for replacement of the unit or refund of the unit. Their initial response below as well as the picture of the weight they want me to use: Hi, Don't worry. This is just an uncommon condition and may only happen when the temp reaches high. We can ship you a new updated hopper cover which can better improve this issue. While waiting, here are some suggestions if you meet this issue. You could have a try to remove the upper safety net in the hopper(it's ok to do that) and use a stick to stir up the pellets. Meanwhile, you can place something heavy in it to help. (see attached pic for reference) Sorry for the inconvenience to you.

I originally purchased my Z-Grill 7002 in 2021. I had always used charcoal smokers or propane grills. Needless to say the charcoal grill is barely used unless I want to grill a steak and need a higher temperature. This smoker has handled more meat then a Kardashian. I fire my smoker up a few times a week at least. I have done everything from Turkeys for holidays, beer can chickens, racks and racks of ribs, It holds 4 pork butts pretty comfortably as well as you can see. I have never once been asked where is the smoke ring at because the meat comes out perfect, smokey, and moist every time. It has made me take smoking meats to a whole new level it got me interested in making videos to help others with recipes or helping them pick out the perfect smoker, which several times have been Z -Grills. Not only that but I can't keep the neighbors away because every weekend they smell the sweet smell of smoked swine for 16 hours at a time. I had to install a privacy fence just to keep them from coming over every time they saw me carrying in all this glorious meat inside to feed the family. Poor Robert had to have a restraining order placed on him because he kept jumping the fence in the middle of the night while sleeping thru the smoke. That's the wonderful thing about a pellet smoker, no all night babysitting and checking to make sure the temperature stays right. But with all that said, that's not even my favorite thing about this smoker..... The real reason I am writing this review is..... THE CUSTOMER SERVICE is top notch. At one point early on the fan went out on the smoker. I contacted customer support and they replaced it. Fast Forward to today May 25 2023 I had an issue with the motherboard losing power. I contacted them and spoke with the wonderful Kiesha at Z Grills and let her know my issue. She was so quick to help resolve the issue and got a new Hopper assembly to make sure that it wasn't a motherboard issue but just to replace the other electronics to be safe. I love that you can call their 1800 number and get a real customer support agent that is not only knowledge in the products they carry but also going above and beyond the two times I have had issues. To the team at Z Grill thanks for everything you do and making such great quality products at a fraction of the competitions price.

Grill est arrivé à temps, facile à assembler et fonctionne parfaitement (garde bien sa température même à -15 C)

This grill has been amazing! only had it a week and have been using it almost daily. I love the smokiness to the food and the ease of cooking. It heats up quickly and accurately and the smells while it's in use are heavenly. I use Hickory pellets with it. Very happy with the purchase

It’s a really great smoker easy to use easy to assemble and easy to maneuver it keeps the temperature stable and it get to high temperature’s really fast (depending on the weather) the pellet consumption it not bad and overall a great smoker and I appreciate that it comes with a free cover

I have now had this grill/ smoker for two weeks. It was very easy to put together. The temp has been bang on compared to a thermometer to check it. So far I’m very impressed with it!

I wanted a pellet smoker to complement my gas grill. It works well and will do a family sized meal.