Customer reviews from Z GRILLS
Z GRILLS - Backyard Warrior 697 sq. in. Pellet Grill and Smoker with PID V3.0 Technology, LCD Screen, Meat Probes and Rain Cover - Bronze
Average customer rating
4.7
(145 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 145 reviews
5 Stars
121
4 Stars
14
3 Stars
3
2 Stars
3
1 Star
4
Customer Reviews for Z GRILLS - Backyard Warrior 697 sq. in. Pellet Grill and Smoker with PID V3.0 Technology, LCD Screen, Meat Probes and Rain Cover - Bronze
Customer Rating
5
Incredible smoker. Go to their YouTube channel!
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: Mark
I had never smoked anything in my life. I literally watched the ZGrill YouTube channel and did the tutorial for setting it up. Good thing I did, because you need to do an initial burn to get any paint fumes burned off. It was very easy. Then I watched some videos on smoking ribs on YouTube & proceeded to make the best ribs I have ever had. Everything I've made has turned out amazing. I was initially a little scared because I was expecting a lot of smoke, but it burns so clean you hardly see any smoke at all.
I'm going to be purchasing the snap on cooktop they showed on one of their videos to cook steak and other stuff. I bought this for father's day and my husband loved it. You can cook anything on it; burgers, hot dogs, steak, ribs, chicken, beef. This Thanksgiving I'm going to do the smoked turkey I saw on the meat church bbq YouTube. This thing is extremely heavy duty. Don't blow money on some overpriced brand. This company will probably put half of them out of business in the next 15 years.
I'm going to be purchasing the snap on cooktop they showed on one of their videos to cook steak and other stuff. I bought this for father's day and my husband loved it. You can cook anything on it; burgers, hot dogs, steak, ribs, chicken, beef. This Thanksgiving I'm going to do the smoked turkey I saw on the meat church bbq YouTube. This thing is extremely heavy duty. Don't blow money on some overpriced brand. This company will probably put half of them out of business in the next 15 years.
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Huge hit for my son in law
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: MichelleY
I bought this for my 20 year old son in law. He smokes anything and everything! A little small if you want to cook large amounts of meat on it. 2 racks of ribs barely fit 😬 They also don't need a huge cooking area unless they want to entertain, so this smoker is perfect for their little family! He brags that he has the best smoker on the block 😂 It would be nice if there were more options as far as controlling the heat settings, but it's good enough for their 1st smoker.
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Awesome smoker
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: ElisabethK
Used it a lot since we bought it! Everything comes out perfect
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Give yourself and a friend about an hour and a half to assemble
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: EugeneD
Assembly is a bit complicated but we managed to get it it right, as for easy of use 5 star, definitely cover the drip tray in foil for easier clean up, over all a great product
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Great budget Pellet Grill
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: J.S
I got this to replace my gas grill that finally died. I have never owned a pellet grill so this was my budget entry into one. After cooking my first steaks, all I can say is WOW. The flavor difference between this and the gas grill is night and day. Yes I cooked it much slower to let the smoke do it's job and then reverse seared it when it came to temp. I have sense been cooking everything I can get my hands on in this grill. It really adds a nice smokey flavor to things and cooks evenly. My only real complaint is that it does not have any access to the open flame to get a good reverse sear. I know this is available on more expensive models, but for the price this is hard to beat.
Pros
-Easy to use. Throw in pellets, set temp, and enjoy
-Really good flavor
-Cooks evenly
-Easy to clean
-Grill Cover is very nice and the wheels for this thing are so much better than to crappy plastic ones.
Cons
-Takes a little while to assemble
-No access to direct flame to sear like in other models
-Temp only goes to 450 so reverse sear is not easy
Pros
-Easy to use. Throw in pellets, set temp, and enjoy
-Really good flavor
-Cooks evenly
-Easy to clean
-Grill Cover is very nice and the wheels for this thing are so much better than to crappy plastic ones.
Cons
-Takes a little while to assemble
-No access to direct flame to sear like in other models
-Temp only goes to 450 so reverse sear is not easy
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Great for the money, worth every penny!
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: Poly
I saw some negative reviews for the new PID controller concerning temperature fluctuations, but I went ahead and rolled the dice on this grill, and I’m glad I did. Assemble wasn’t the best (quality control was slightly lacking, but assembly was straight forward and for the money I can’t complain too much) temp control has been consistent for a PID, they all swing, they all hunt and surge, and this one is no difference, but in the initial 3 cooks the temp holds within 10 degrees +/- which is more than acceptable for a long cook, the smoke setting is a little finicky, and I believe that’s due to the hot rod being constantly on, and the fan pulsing, I used smoke for a short period (30 mins or so) and then switched to the 180 degree settings and it stabilized giving off some plumes of smoke every so often (I believe when the auger would dump more pellets into the fire pot) but it was a decent smoke, not too white or sooty. The key to temp control is set it and LEAVE IT ALONE if you’re opening the lid every 15 mins your temps will be all over the place. For the money you really can’t beat this grill with the new PID controller, are there nicer pellet smokers/grills out there? I’m sure, but you’ll being paying triple the price for 150% quality, and to me that’s a losing proposition, it’s a great grill, with a few very minor draw backs, if you’re a weekend warrior looking to dip your toes in the pellet smoker/grill pool this is a great place to start.
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
Great smoker, for a great price.
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: Mike
To the point: I've had this Z grill smoker 7002F for about a year now. So far it has worked great! No complaints or disappointments. Highly recommend. You MUST follow the smoking instructions, and be PATIENT with the temp, and you will have a great smoker.
Details: I did some research about Z Grills before I bought mine and I found out that Treager and Z Grill are made by the same people who decided to open separate companies. They use the same basic design and features. It's kind of like a GMC compared to a Chevy 🤷. I assembled it by myself. It would have been easier with two people (recommend in the manual). Took me about 30 minutes. The instructions are pretty straight forward. They also have a video on YouTube to help you out. Once you put it all together, you have to burn the oils out before you smoke anything in it. This is very important! It gives you instructions on how to do this. There is also a video on YouTube of a guy who does this step by step. I would recommend burning the oils at least a day or two before using it to cook. When you are finally ready to smoke, there is a "pre smoke" setting you need to use before setting your temperature. Takes about 10 minutes or less to go through the smoke process. Make sure you leave the lid OPEN or else the smoker can catch fire. Once that is over you can set your desired temp and close the lid. Be patient! It will take a while for the smoker to hit the temp you want. And it won't always stay at the perfect temp. It will go over or be under a few degrees. Don't panic. Let it do its thing. I seen some comments saying that it doesn't hold it's temp. Most smokers will not hold temp perfectly during the whole process. Give it time and be patient. Keep in mind that the weather can mess with your temp as well. I've had mine for a year now and I haven't had any problems. If you follow the instructions carefully, it should work great. You can also use this as a grill. Turn the dial to the "high" setting, let it get up to temp and when it's ready you can use it just like a grill. I noticed the manual says they recommend to only use Z Grill brand pellets, cause they work the best with this grill. I decided to get some treager pellets and they work just fine with it. Over all it's a great smoker for a great price compared to it's competition. I would highly recommend buying one.
Details: I did some research about Z Grills before I bought mine and I found out that Treager and Z Grill are made by the same people who decided to open separate companies. They use the same basic design and features. It's kind of like a GMC compared to a Chevy 🤷. I assembled it by myself. It would have been easier with two people (recommend in the manual). Took me about 30 minutes. The instructions are pretty straight forward. They also have a video on YouTube to help you out. Once you put it all together, you have to burn the oils out before you smoke anything in it. This is very important! It gives you instructions on how to do this. There is also a video on YouTube of a guy who does this step by step. I would recommend burning the oils at least a day or two before using it to cook. When you are finally ready to smoke, there is a "pre smoke" setting you need to use before setting your temperature. Takes about 10 minutes or less to go through the smoke process. Make sure you leave the lid OPEN or else the smoker can catch fire. Once that is over you can set your desired temp and close the lid. Be patient! It will take a while for the smoker to hit the temp you want. And it won't always stay at the perfect temp. It will go over or be under a few degrees. Don't panic. Let it do its thing. I seen some comments saying that it doesn't hold it's temp. Most smokers will not hold temp perfectly during the whole process. Give it time and be patient. Keep in mind that the weather can mess with your temp as well. I've had mine for a year now and I haven't had any problems. If you follow the instructions carefully, it should work great. You can also use this as a grill. Turn the dial to the "high" setting, let it get up to temp and when it's ready you can use it just like a grill. I noticed the manual says they recommend to only use Z Grill brand pellets, cause they work the best with this grill. I decided to get some treager pellets and they work just fine with it. Over all it's a great smoker for a great price compared to it's competition. I would highly recommend buying one.
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS
Customer Rating
5
So great
on September 11, 2022
Posted by: Cory
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!
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!
Written by a customer while visiting Z GRILLS