Customer reviews from weber.com
Weber - SmokeFire EX4 (2nd Gen) Wood Fired Pellet Grill - Black
Average customer rating
4.1
(684 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 684 reviews
5 Stars
401
4 Stars
136
3 Stars
43
2 Stars
40
1 Star
64
81%of customers recommend this product.
(
486 out of
599)
Customer Reviews for Weber - SmokeFire EX4 (2nd Gen) Wood Fired Pellet Grill - Black
Customer Rating
1
EX4 stops heating mid cook
on July 23, 2022
Posted by: Imore
from Texas
Gender:Male
Bought the 2nd gen almost a year ago. Worked fine for the first few cooks. I’ve probably used it 15 times total since buying it. For the second time this month it has left me embarrassed with hungry guests staring in disappointment. I changed the glow plug and after one cook it stopped working midway through a smoking session. Auger kept filling burn pot to the point of pellets overflowing from the burn pot. I clean all my grills after EACH use, inside and out. Use the Weber brand pellets. In this case it’s the pit and not the pit master who keeps dropping the ball. Until issue is fixed this is a buy I highly regret. Great hunk of steel for the scrapyard though.
Response from weber.comBy Weber Grills, Consumer Care, July 24, 2022
Thank you for your feedback. We are dedicated to helping you achieve the consistently amazing results that your SmokeFire grill is capable of producing. We love this grill and we want you to love it, too!
Please look for an email follow-up from our Care team. We'll take care of any issue that is getting in the way of your total satisfaction! Thanks for your patience and for being a Weber fan.
Please look for an email follow-up from our Care team. We'll take care of any issue that is getting in the way of your total satisfaction! Thanks for your patience and for being a Weber fan.
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Posted by: Adam N
from Grand Island, Ne
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
I’ve had my EX4 (gen 2) for over a year now. It has done nothing but impress me after having had 2 previous pellet grills from another manufacturer. Does everything from low and slow to searing hot (600 degrees!!). I’ve had no issues to date and everything that comes off it is delicious. Did I mention there’s been no backburns into the feed auger??? No tearing down the pit to clean the burn pot before every cook for fear of having a back burn, thank you Weber!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Posted by: Teddy T
from Ontario, Canada
Gender:Male
Expertise:Intermediate
Verified Purchase:Yes
Bought this grill Christmas 2022 and its been about a month of cooking on it. I knew I would be doing a lot of smoking on my break so I decided to purchase it then. I cooked pork back ribs the first day and they were amazing. Very easy to use, the app is neat although I prefer to change temperatures at the grill, and the space is great. I was worried that it would be too small but I have not run into that issue yet. If I decided to save more and wait a few months I would have definitely bought the bigger ex6 but I don't regret my purchase seeing how much food I cooked in the first week. The size of the top rack in comparison to similar price range grills is a luxury that I fully appreciate. There is lots of space from the second rack to the top of the cook chamber, allowing easy access to whatever you are smoking. I have not fully tested out the sear potential on the pit (mainly because I do all my searing on my weber master touch kettle which I also highly recommend) but I have seen people do it and think it is possible to get that high heat. Build quality is super, and I don't worry about damaging the enamel coating. Lastly, the grill is very very easy to clean due to everything coming out with no screws or clips.
Ok, now its time for the negatives and, while I don't have anything major, here are some things to consider. If you will feed a 15 plus crowd on a fairly regular basis, purchase the larger ex6. You can get away with a big crowd every now and then on the ex4 but its not ideal. The front shelf does not come with the grill, making it a little annoying to take things on and off. Don't let this stop you from buying it, but be aware that more surfaces will be an extra 100 bucks. Also, the grill's "shut down" procedure requires it to burn off everything in the burn box and completely cool before asking you to switch the grill off. This is not a problem for me because once I'm done cooking I don't mind the grill doing its thing while I eat. Do bear in mind this process takes about 15 minutes which is ridiculous.
One Finally very important remark...
I was in the middle of a big cook for a lot of people and when I opened the app, it prompted me to do a firmware update. DO NOT DO THIS WHILE YOU ARE COOKING. I realized too late that when it was finished the update, the grill decided it needed to restart which is about a half hour ordeal that required the grill to COMPLETELY cool and then come back up to temperature. I did a little research and found out to bypass this very long shutting down and reheating process, kill the power to the grill at the switch and turn it back on. It wont harm any of the electronics and, although weber does not recommend it, it saved me a lot of time and I was able to get back to cooking a lot sooner.
I was in the middle of a big cook for a lot of people and when I opened the app, it prompted me to do a firmware update. DO NOT DO THIS WHILE YOU ARE COOKING. I realized too late that when it was finished the update, the grill decided it needed to restart which is about a half hour ordeal that required the grill to COMPLETELY cool and then come back up to temperature. I did a little research and found out to bypass this very long shutting down and reheating process, kill the power to the grill at the switch and turn it back on. It wont harm any of the electronics and, although weber does not recommend it, it saved me a lot of time and I was able to get back to cooking a lot sooner.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Posted by: Joeo
from Plainfield il
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
This unit has broken down 2 times already. Only had it for a month.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Response from weber.comBy Weber grills , Consumer care, April 14, 2023
Thank you for your feedback. We are so sorry to hear your grill has broken down twice. This is not experience we want our Weber fans to have. We are happy to help look into this further and help get this resolved quickly. Our Care team will be reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Posted by: N. California smoker
from Bethel Island, Ca
Gender:Male
Verified Purchase:Yes
The grill is unreliable at holding temperature. Today I’m smoking 3 racks of St. Louis style pork ribs. Temp. set to 230 degrees. After 2 hours, rotated slabs and immediately temps jumped up to 350 degrees burning ribs on right side. I had to remove ribs and wait 15 minutes for temp. To drop to 230. That sums up my experience with this smoker.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Response from weber.comBy Weber grills , Consumer care, April 17, 2023
Thank you for your feedback. We are so sorry to hear about the temperature spikes. We want to know more about your experience to help assist you further. Please look for an email outreach from us soon. Thank you!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Customer Rating
1
Wifi is great
on May 16, 2023
Posted by: OscarG
from California
Gender:Male
Expertise:Intermediate
Very unreliable grill , had to replace several components. Whenever you do long cooks it starts acting up .
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Response from weber.comBy Weber grills , Consumer care, May 18, 2023
We appreciate your feedback. We are so sorry to hear you are having trouble with long cooks on your grill. We are happy to help provide some suggestions.
We do recommend Weber brand pellets for optimal performance. It is important to use fresh, dry pellets. When broken in half, the pellets should make a “snap” noise. If fuel appears white, dusty, or breaks down easily without a “snap,” it should be replaced.
Proper pellet storage is very important. You want to avoid getting the pellets wet or exposed to condensation. All fuel will degrade with time or poor storage conditions. We recommend storing pellets in a watertight container, indoors in a low humidity environment
We recommend emptying the ash/grease drawer, cleaning the cookbox of grease, and cleaning the burn pot of ash and debris every 20 hours of cooking or 12 cooks, whichever comes first.
We recommend cleaning the cookbox of grease before transitioning from a low-and-slow cook to a high-heat sear. Additionally, for extended low and slow cooks we recommend using a water/drip pan between the cooking grates and Flavorizer bars to improve the moisture of the food and catch drippings which reduces flare ups and uneven heating.
Always run a full shutdown after each cook.
Deep clean the hopper and chute every 4 weeks or after 2 weeks without use by purging the hopper and pulling the auger. This occurrence should increase in high humidity environments.
Our Care team will reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
We do recommend Weber brand pellets for optimal performance. It is important to use fresh, dry pellets. When broken in half, the pellets should make a “snap” noise. If fuel appears white, dusty, or breaks down easily without a “snap,” it should be replaced.
Proper pellet storage is very important. You want to avoid getting the pellets wet or exposed to condensation. All fuel will degrade with time or poor storage conditions. We recommend storing pellets in a watertight container, indoors in a low humidity environment
We recommend emptying the ash/grease drawer, cleaning the cookbox of grease, and cleaning the burn pot of ash and debris every 20 hours of cooking or 12 cooks, whichever comes first.
We recommend cleaning the cookbox of grease before transitioning from a low-and-slow cook to a high-heat sear. Additionally, for extended low and slow cooks we recommend using a water/drip pan between the cooking grates and Flavorizer bars to improve the moisture of the food and catch drippings which reduces flare ups and uneven heating.
Always run a full shutdown after each cook.
Deep clean the hopper and chute every 4 weeks or after 2 weeks without use by purging the hopper and pulling the auger. This occurrence should increase in high humidity environments.
Our Care team will reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Posted by: Bear Grill This
Verified Purchase:Yes
Temp control is suspect as I did ribs with temp set at 250 for 4 hours but when I checked it 3 hours in It was up to 450 and the ribs were ruined from runaway heat. This has happened twice with temp suddenly ramping up despite being over the set temp. Temp probe is clean and grill only used 6 times total.
Response from weber.comBy Weber grills , Consumer care, May 23, 2023
Thank you for your feedback. We are so sorry to hear about your temperature over shooting. We are here to help provide some suggestions.
We do recommend Weber brand pellets for optimal performance. It is important to use fresh, dry pellets. When broken in half, the pellets should make a “snap” noise. If fuel appears white, dusty, or breaks down easily without a “snap,” it should be replaced.
Proper pellet storage is very important. You want to avoid getting the pellets wet or exposed to condensation. All fuel will degrade with time or poor storage conditions. We recommend storing pellets in a watertight container, indoors in a low humidity environment
Maintenance:
We recommend emptying the ash/grease drawer, cleaning the cookbox of grease, and cleaning the burn pot of ash and debris every 20 hours of cooking or 12 cooks, whichever comes first.
We recommend cleaning the cookbox of grease before transitioning from a low-and-slow cook to a high-heat sear. Additionally, for extended low and slow cooks we recommend using a water/drip pan between the cooking grates and Flavorizer bars to improve the moisture of the food and catch drippings which reduces flare ups and uneven heating.
Always run a full shutdown after each cook.
Deep clean the hopper and chute every 4 weeks or after 2 weeks without use by purging the hopper and pulling the auger. This occurrence should increase in high humidity environments.
Our Care team will be reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
We do recommend Weber brand pellets for optimal performance. It is important to use fresh, dry pellets. When broken in half, the pellets should make a “snap” noise. If fuel appears white, dusty, or breaks down easily without a “snap,” it should be replaced.
Proper pellet storage is very important. You want to avoid getting the pellets wet or exposed to condensation. All fuel will degrade with time or poor storage conditions. We recommend storing pellets in a watertight container, indoors in a low humidity environment
Maintenance:
We recommend emptying the ash/grease drawer, cleaning the cookbox of grease, and cleaning the burn pot of ash and debris every 20 hours of cooking or 12 cooks, whichever comes first.
We recommend cleaning the cookbox of grease before transitioning from a low-and-slow cook to a high-heat sear. Additionally, for extended low and slow cooks we recommend using a water/drip pan between the cooking grates and Flavorizer bars to improve the moisture of the food and catch drippings which reduces flare ups and uneven heating.
Always run a full shutdown after each cook.
Deep clean the hopper and chute every 4 weeks or after 2 weeks without use by purging the hopper and pulling the auger. This occurrence should increase in high humidity environments.
Our Care team will be reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com
Customer Rating
1
Parts rusting out
on June 3, 2023
Posted by: Bumpman
from Overland Park, KS
Gender:Male
I bought this grill less than 2 years ago and already parts are rusting. Further, the Weber warranty is worthless because they do not have the parts. I'm guessing they stopped building these grills because they're crap.
Thanks for standing behind your products Weber.
I will not buy anything made by you ever again!
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Response from weber.comBy Weber grills , Consumer care, June 4, 2023
We appreciate your feedback. We are very sorry to hear about the flavor bar brackets rusting out. We do see an order has been placed for these parts on your behalf. Our Care team will be reaching out to follow up. Please look for our outreach soon. Thank you!
Written by a customer while visiting weber.com