Camp Chef Pellet Grill vs Traeger Grill
Having a grill in addition to your kitchenware is great. It allows you to cook a lot of food that you and your family or guests can enjoy.
The Camp Chef Pellet Grills and Traeger Grills are made with quality materials and they are equipped with many features that we think you are going to love.
Traeger is one of the pioneers of making grills with Smart technology that allows users to control the grills digitally for ease of use and access.
Camp Chef has specialized in outdoor cooking. They have figured that most of their users love cooking outside their homes and so they made lots of products that you can use for camping and overall outdoor cooking.
Both of these grills have digital features to give you accurate readings of the temperature and timer that are very easy to control.
There are also a lot of other features that we are going to tackle in this post. Technological advancement is all around us and through the daily appliances or devices that we use.
Combining cooking and technology is always great. You see, cooking can help us get close to our family and it is a very enjoyable task to do.
These two companies make amazing grills that provide more time for us to spend with our family while their grills are cooking the food that we all love.
Here, we will compare the best features of these two amazing grills and you can see for yourself which one is better for you and your family.
Setting up the Grills
Setting up these grills might be a little hard if you are alone. The heavy grills are definitely a two-man job so you can set it up properly.
Both the manuals of the Traeger Grills and Camp Chef Pellet Grills are easy and pretty straightforward so if you have enough help, the set up will only take a few minutes.
The Traeger Grills might be a little lighter since the main body is made out of durable stainless steel that protects the grill itself from outdoor elements.
The Camp Chef Grills are a little heavier since they are made out of heavy-duty metal even on the lid and the side panels. This gives more weight to the grill and can be impossible to lift when you are alone.
You should also take note that most models of Traeger require electricity. The same goes for some Camp Chef like their DLX series that need electricity to work.
The special features of the Traeger Grills and the Camp Chef Grills include WiFi connection in order for you to control the grill from afar.
So depending on the model that you buy, you will need to set the grills upon an area where the WiFi connection reaches for peak performance.
Design
These two grills are almost identical to each other. They have a black coating for the most part that adds to their function and elegance.
See, the black colors of the grills are not only for the beauty part. It also helps in creating a less-dirty-looking grill by absorbing soot without a noticeable track.
Both of the pellet hoppers on the grill are placed on the side of the body. This might seem like an unbalanced design but the feet are made to endure the weight including the sides.
WiFi Feature
The Traeger Grills are famous for their WiFi feature. It allows users to control the grill from afar with their mobile app.
Models such as the Camp Chef Woodwind have this feature as well. Although other models do not have a WiFi connection and only have digital features.
This Traeger Mobile App has recipes in it that you can use. It is also pretty easy, all you need is to select the recipe and the grill will automatically set the timer and the temperature of the grill.
When connecting the WiFi to your grill, it might take some time for the initial connection but once the grill has been connected, it will automatically connect the next time it is turned on.
Smart Grill Technology
This comes along with the WiFi feature of the grills. This is what makes the automatic features of the grills work.
The Traeger Grills and the Camp Chef Grills have digital displays that allow you to see the temperature of the grill inside as well as meat probes to let you know what your steak looks like without actually looking.
The Camp Chef Grills such as the Woodwind and the DLX models have a digital display as well as buttons and a dial for accurate temperature control.
The digital temperature control of the Camp Chef Grills is a little inaccurate sometimes off by 20 degrees Fahrenheit so setting the grill up analogically in temperature is better.
The Sear Box
Some models of Camp Chef Grills have an attached sear box that packs a lot of power. Other models need a separate purchase so do not expect this on all Camp Chef Grill Models.
The Sear Box is a propane-powered accessory so that adds another job to the setup. This is a very powerful box that leaves perfect grill marks on the meat.
It is placed beside the grill opposite of the pellet hopper but it only makes a small difference in the weight for balancing.
The hose goes directly down from the sear box to the propane tank. It is compatible with large propane gas tanks only because of the power that it needs when searing.
The Auger Mechanism
The Traeger Grills have a pellet hopper that feeds the grill with the fuel that it needs. In order to do this, the grills have some sort of feeder to pass the grills from the pellet hopper to the burner.
This mechanism is an auger screw that slowly transfers the wood pellets evenly. Some Traeger models have an automatic feeder to adjust the temperature that you have set.
The same models of grills have a feature that notifies you if the pellet hopper is running low of fuel. From there, you can easily refill the pellet hopper with another bag.
Powering the Grills
Well, as we have been mentioning before, these grills are fueled with wood pellets. It is a great source of heat and it can also be adjusted easily.
Both of these grills can reach a maximum temperature of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. They can also come down to as low as 160 degrees Fahrenheit for slow cooking.
Wood pellets are great because aside from the fact that they produce a more consistent heat than wood and charcoal, they can also create a smoky flavor for your food.
Cooking in the Grills
The Traeger Grills and the Camp Chef Grills have large capacities. The largest models of the Traeger Grills and Camp Chef Grills have over 800 square inches of total cooking area.
This capacity can handle over 8 chickens, 30 burgers, and 10 steaks at once. They both have two-tiered racks that allow for more cooking space.
But you can get different models with different capacities so you can easily see that on the official site of the website before purchasing.
This also means that the racks have different temperatures because of their height. So you can cook different recipes at the same time.
The Traeger grill and the camp chef grill both cook pretty similar with a very slight difference in the taste but when it comes to which one is better than the other, I have to say that the competition is very close.
But if I had to pick one it has to be the Camp Chef grills. You can tell the difference clearly, the meat cooked inside the Camp chef grill is juicier and well cooked in comparison to the meat cooked inside the Traeger.
Cooking with them is more detailed in the video below so make sure to check it out!
D2 Drive
Speaking of smoky flavor, the Traeger Grills have a D2 Drive which is essentially a fan that controls how much smoke is released by the wood pellets.
When the pellets are fired up, the fan of the Traeger Grills is rotated at a certain speed to create smoke inside the grill.
With some models, they have a chimney to make the smoke go out faster. The D2 Drive is more effective on grills without a chimney so that the food soaks in more of the smoky flavor.
The D2 Drive allows you to control the fan and turn the speed up or down. The speed of the fan ranges from 0 to 100 rotations per minute.
Pellet Hoppers
The Pellet Hoppers on the Traeger Grills and the Camp Chef Grills are large enough for a whole day of slow cooking or smoking.
The largest pellet hopper on the Traeger Grill series can carry a full load of wood pellets weighing 24 pounds while the Camp Chef Grills have a maximum capacity of 22 pounds.
Slide and Grill
Some of the newer models of the Camp Chef Grills have a Slide and Grill feature. This feature allows you to reposition the heat deflector while the grill is heated up.
The heat deflector easily slides away from the firepot, therefore, heating up the upper vents more and giving more heat to your food.
Notifications
Some models from Traeger have notifications. This means that when the grill is ready, you are notified by the grill itself or through the phone.
This can also be a notification for when the grill has something wrong or when some parts are not working or are damaged.
You can crank up the sound of the grill so that you can hear the notification even if you are far from the grill itself. This is handy to prevent further damages and accidents from happening.
Temperature Control
When you are cooking and you want to change the temperature, you can do it accurately on the dial of the Camp Chef Grills.
If you are far from the grill, you can also control the temperature using the mobile app from both the grills. This allows you to take as much time away from the scorching heat from the grills.
The analog temperature control on the Camp Chef Grills is more accurate than the digital. You will also have to wait for about 10 minutes in order for the grills to adjust to the set temperature.
Conclusion
The Traeger Grills have a lot of features that help the users in making their jobs easier. You can spend some time with your family while your food is cooking with the mobile app.
This goes as well with some Camp Chef Grill Models. The amazing thing about these grills is that they were really designed outdoors so no matter what the weather is, they can still function properly.
Both the Grills are almost the same when it comes to cooking with them but if you really want to get a straight answer then the Camp Chef cooks a little better.
You can check out both the grills and consider all the other features before making your purchase since Traeger is not bad as well.
Practically, you should not regularly open the lid so that the heat would not escape especially if it is windy outside.
These grills are a little bit pricey but they can last a lifetime if you take care of them. Maintenance is not that big of a deal so this would not be hard for you.
Investing in a grill is great since you can cook a lot of food and enjoy your free time with your family. Check out these products and see which one fits you best!
If you like the post then do not forget to share it on social media!
