Z GRILLS ZPG-7002B Pellet Smoker Grill with PID Control, Rain Cover, 700 sq. in Cooking Area for Outdoor BBQ, Black

REVIEW UPDATE 2/28/23: The grill lost the ability to hold the 225 & 450 degree settings. All other temperature settings were spot on. I contacted customer service & explained the issue. They kept in contact with suggestions from their tech people. Sadly, none of the suggestions worked. They then notified me that they were sending me the latest upgrade control board. It works as good or better than it did when new. I keep the grill clean & it is on a covered porch. I can honestly say that it looks as good as new & I feel it will last a good long time. Great grill......GREAT company to deal wiith !!! This has to be the BEST packed item I have ever purchased. Assembly was fairly easy & the instructions were somewhat easy to comprehend & execute. I followed all the initial burn in instructions & proceeded to make a rack of ribs the following day, (today). The temperature, while being somewhat close to the dial setting, would fluctuate almost 40 degrees up & down. Some reviewers have criticized the ability to contact customer service. I have had absolutely NO problems both times I called them. They were extremely helpful & emailed some troubleshooting steps to take to remedy the problem. They said that if these steps do not stabilize the temperature fluctuations that they will send me a new control board or whatever parts I may need to rectify the problem. The grill is VERY substantial. Well built with heavy duty materials. I will try the steps they emailed me to remedy the problem & update this review then. Here is the update. The troubleshooting instructions did not work. They had a problem with the circuit boards & admitted that to me. They also were upfront about the fact that the boards were back ordered. Instead of making me wait for a new shipment of boards, they sent a new hopper assembly. This had the circuit board included. I received it & installed the new unit. Not a big job. It now works fantastically. Holds temp within 10 degrees either way. I now would NOT hesitate to recommend this to my friends & family. I see people saying that customer service is not good. Personally, I must say that they were responsive & quick. They always answered the phone & there was never a run around about why this or that could not be done. They made SURE the problem was solved & to my satisfaction. A solid product & solid customer Service. Mel was fantastic. A credit to her company. I could not ask for more. It's now 5/18/20. The grill is still working great. One thing I discovered, and this made a difference in holding the temperature steadier, was the wire from the heat probe to the controller should hang loose outside the grill box, not bundled up out of sight between the hopper & grill box. I would still highly recommend this grill. The grill developed a problem. The temperature was almost spot on on all settings except high, where the temp should reach 450 degrees. I contacted the company for advise on how to fix the problem. They went over & above, again, to solve the problem. I cannot say enough about Angie & Gloria in the CS department. A great grill & a great company to do business with !!!! If & when this grill reaches the end of it's serviceable life, I will NOT hesitate to purchase another.

I just finished my first run on this smoker and so far I am impressed with the quality and performance of this product. I have literally cooked thousands of pounds of BBQ on various kinds of smokers and this has been one of the easiest cooks that I have ever done. For its maiden voyage, I smoked about 80 lbs of Boston Butts over three rounds with a continuous cook time of about 32 hours at 225 Degrees. I went through about 45 lbs of pellets, which I feel like is reasonable for the cooler night temperatures during the cook. The smoker maintained temperature very well and I experienced about a 10 degree variance from the set temperature during the entire run. If you are considering buying this smoker I do have some tips. 1) Read and Follow ALL of the initial start up instructions. It takes over an hour to do this correctly but not doing so could result in you looking like an idiot. I read multiple reviews on error messages and inconsistent cook temperatures which were a direct result of someone not setting up their grill correctly. If you follow the instructions, your grill will work properly! 2) The instructions also state that placement of your grill is important. Set up your grill under a covered porch and out of the wind. This helps reduce the temperature fluctuations. 3) Aluminum Foil. Use it on the grease drip pan. Replace it frequently. Clean up is a breeze if you do this. This was also a handy tip I found by reading the instructions. 4) Use a meat probe thermometer. Find a good one and spend the money on it. Nobody who does decent BBQ cooks without one anymore. This is the best way to consistently turn out perfect BBQ. 5) Consider purchasing a gasket to go around the door. You can buy these for less than $20. This will also help maintain a consistent cook temperature. 6) Shop Vac. I went ahead and cleaned my Smoker after the first use since I did such a long run. I probably could have done one or two more cooks, but I literally spent less than 5 minutes to clean up the entire smoker after 80 lbs of meat just went through it. I will likely update again after some minor modifications in the very near future.

Packaging: 10/10 Instructions/setup: 9/10 Initial firing: 10/10 (read carefully and execute) Temp stability: 10/10. Hits target temps on presets in 10-15 minutes if startup and holds in a 15° +/- range. Smoke flavor: 8-10/10 - you’re not going to get wood box smoker flavor, but it’s solid. Not too much, not to little. Some serious smoke heads may desire a little more but it’s perfect for me. Construction/structural integrity: 9/10. Solid frame, barrel/door and handles. High quality materials for all parts except: door panels (slightly bent and gap is a tiny bit <2mm> off), magnet bracket for doors (they sometimes slide out with the door - nothing some electrical tape couldn’t correct). I’ll come back and update how the paint holds up after a few hot cooks Update: I’ve had this thing for a month. It holds accurate temps and is stable, and cooks food brilliantly. I’ve cooked 2 18lb Texas style briskets, and about 30lbs of chicken breast, 20lbs of thighs, and many homeade pizzas. The heat is pretty equally spread across the grilling area and does not have any major hot spot. Here are some tips to get the most out of it: -keep it in the shade. The sun can affect the temp (20+ degrees hotter than call temp) -keep it out of the direct wind (I have it against the side of the house shaded from the sun) -apply a car wax to the outside - the heat will dull the paint a little, I read this as a tip and it works well to keep things looking prestine -keep it covered when not in use.

After three months with this grill, I can say I'm very pleased with it. It's easy to use, and really excells at smoking. The only issue I have is that you cannot grill with this. It's advertised as a catchall grilling/smoking device, but it just isn't accurate. It's fantastic and easy to use for smoking, but falls short when it comes to grilling. I've cooked ribs, pork shoulder, pork tenderloin, and it really excells at that. If you want to do burgers, sausages or steaks, you're going to want charcoal or gas. This just doesn't perform as well as they do. If you're looking for the char that charcoal grills or gas grills will give you when you grill, you're not going to get that from this. The grilling surface simply doesn't get hot enough to provide that good char that you're looking for. However, it provides amazing flavor and ease of use when you're cooking anything that you want to cook for long periods of time. Burgers actually also turn out great on this, I really love the smokey flavor. Tl/Dr If you're looking for an easy to use smoker that can cook ribs or pulled pork, this is your go-to. If you're looking for an all-in-one device that can smoke and grill, you're not going to get that.

I had great hopes for this grill. It was a bit of a challenge to put together, but overall not too bad. It worked decently the first 1.5 times I used it. Hair way through the second time I heard the fan shut off in the middle of the cook and it didn't come back on. I tried shutting it all off and starting it up again, but still no fan. After a week of back and forth exchanges with no real guidance or direction from Zgrills support (they don't appear to have a service manual) they agreed to send me a new control board and fan. After 3 weeks they finally arrived and today I finally had the chance to install them. Being nieve I thought the parts might come with some instructions ... WRONG. Resigned to figuring this out on my phone, I figured out how to take the bottom of the hopper off which gave me limited access to the blower. It's really difficult to access because of the short length of the power cord they supply. Anyway after spinning the blade a couple of times I noticed there was a piece of packing styrofoam on one of the blades. I'm not sure how it could have gotten there since that whole assembly is pretty well closed up. Once I removed the styrofoam and plugged it back in it started spinning., But after a few minutes I noticed the auger was no longer spinning. Since i had a spare one I replaced it and once it was swapped (not an easy task because of the way they route the wiring harnesses) the auger and the fan both worked. To sum it up, I bought the grill, assembled it, used it once, and then it was broken for 5 weeks. As for how it works, it works fine for low and slow cooks, but doesn't really get hot enough for searing. Overall I wish I'd spent just a little more and got a Weber.

Awesome smoker, I've run 100lbs of pellets through this and so far this has been perfect. Temp is extremely stable, smoke flavor is perfect, and the food coming off of this thing has been amazing. I have friends with Traeger and I would this up against a Traeger all day. For the money you can't get any better in my opinion. UPDATE 3/24/22 On the contrary to my previous review I'm now on my second controller and this thing has almost burnt my house down 5 times. It will randomly take off uncontrollably and go full temp without shutting down. That lights any grease and food in the smoker on fire and it becomes a raging inferno! I've written ZGrills now for a third time requesting a new PID controller as I see the replacement controller they sent out to replace the first batch of controller controllers is now failing as well. I'm also reading reviews of their PID controller having problems too so I dont have much hope. Overall the unit is holding up structurally, but the electronic control is so dangerous I feel they should recall them before someone gets seriously injured or killed. Considering my next step might be at the attorneys office, well see what they come back with. Steer clear of Zgrills, for the money the Pit Boss has been a great unit! Pit Boss holds temp like a rock and does a great job of smoking.

Well built and very solid materials for the money....Operates nicely and smooth.

Absolutely great value. I have had this grill for 3 weeks and cooked a 12lb Boston butt and a 20lb beef brisket the brisket took 22 hours and this grill held the temperature all night long even with temps dropping down into the 20s. This is my first pellet grill and I was shocked at how efficient it is. Even on the 22 hour smoke it used only about 10 pounds of pellets out of the full 18lb hopper. I would fully reccomend this grill to anyone just getting into pellet grills. Just set it and leave it. Paired with a meater meat probe this is a great purchase

Los pellets le rinden mucho, está muy espacioso. Es difícil de limpiar y los saltos de temperatura los muy grandes.