jpeisen
Knows what a fatty is.
I've been promising this for a while, so here goes.
I've had my Assassin Pellet Grill Since June now, so it's time to give some impressions.
The build quality - good.
The build quality of the grill remains very good. I haven't had any physical issues with the grill. This thing is solid. it also has 4" (?) casters standard, which actually work really well.
The grill cover - bad.
The cover that I bought with the grill isn't the best. Specifically it isn't what you'd call.. waterproof. We had a wet summer here in Pittsburgh and the leaky cover caused me some real frustration. Twice during the summer I ended up having to disassemble the hopper assembly to clear the auger tube of hard-packed sawdust. i ended up Scotchgarding the cover, which improved things, and I started putting an on-edge 2x4 on top of the grill to eliminate that big flat top, which also helps to shed the water quickly. Finally I now clear out all the pellets after a cook just to be sure I'm never faced with having to clean that auger tube again.
So yeah - if you live in a wet place you'd be better off with a good tarp or just having a dry place to store the grill. If, like me, you bought this cover then you should do whatever you can to waterproof it.
The controller - it depends on what you expect.
When i wrote the first review, the controller was a mystery and I was concerned about how I was going to figure it out. As it turned out, the controller operates pretty much like the controller on a Pit Boss or a Traeger, with a "P" setting controlling the duration and gaps between the auger being active - from P0 (mostly active) to P7 (least active). By default it starts right in the middle at P4.
As near as I can tell, this controller runs the fan at full speed for the duration of a cook and only adjusts the auger. All that airflow means it uses a lot of fuel, so if you're concerned about pellet usage this is not the controller for you. On the flip side, when it adds fuel it generates a good amount of smoke, even at higher temps, so the end result is more smoke flavor on the food even when cooking at a set temp for the duration.
Temperature-wise it is pretty good. It is not a dead-on-the-money +-2F type of controller, but it also doesn't show a huge variance, being more like +-10F. The variance probably depends on the "P" setting, and after playing with it in some of my early cooks, I now tend just to use the default of "P4".
Running the fan all-out all the time also leads to there being more ash/sawdust in the unit after a cook. I would recommend cleaning this thing out after any long cooks. It's a matter of how much fuel is being used, and like I said above, this grill uses quite a bit.
Overall it is a question of what you want with a controller. If you are looking for dead-on temps and low fuel consumption, then this is not the controller for you. If you're not concerned about fuel consumption and you like the idea of smoke cycles at pretty much any normal cooking temp (avoiding the need for low-temp smoking before cooking), then this controller is a pretty good one.
The hopper - meh.
The hopper is fine, really, but IMO, given the fuel consumption of this grill it should be bigger. It is claimed to be a 20lb hopper, but I wasn't able to fit a 20lb bag of pellets into it. I'd guess it's more like 18lbs. The bottom of the pellet bin is pretty flat, so it doesn't do a great job of funneling the pellets into the auger. At least once I've had the auger run dry when the hopper was still holding a decent amount of pellets. I now check the pellets every few hours to ensure that doesn't happen again.
Now that I want to empty the pellets after every cook, I took out the hopper's safety screen (bad me!) so I could scoop out most of the remaining pellets. Needless to say, a pellet dump would absolutely be a welcome addition.
Overall - good
So, with the exception of the water frustrations, I've been happy with this grill. It produces good food with little fuss, which is what really matters to me. I've not had any water issues since I treated the cover and started emptying the pellets out after cooks.
The positives:
The negatives:
I've had my Assassin Pellet Grill Since June now, so it's time to give some impressions.
The build quality - good.
The build quality of the grill remains very good. I haven't had any physical issues with the grill. This thing is solid. it also has 4" (?) casters standard, which actually work really well.
The grill cover - bad.
The cover that I bought with the grill isn't the best. Specifically it isn't what you'd call.. waterproof. We had a wet summer here in Pittsburgh and the leaky cover caused me some real frustration. Twice during the summer I ended up having to disassemble the hopper assembly to clear the auger tube of hard-packed sawdust. i ended up Scotchgarding the cover, which improved things, and I started putting an on-edge 2x4 on top of the grill to eliminate that big flat top, which also helps to shed the water quickly. Finally I now clear out all the pellets after a cook just to be sure I'm never faced with having to clean that auger tube again.
So yeah - if you live in a wet place you'd be better off with a good tarp or just having a dry place to store the grill. If, like me, you bought this cover then you should do whatever you can to waterproof it.
The controller - it depends on what you expect.
When i wrote the first review, the controller was a mystery and I was concerned about how I was going to figure it out. As it turned out, the controller operates pretty much like the controller on a Pit Boss or a Traeger, with a "P" setting controlling the duration and gaps between the auger being active - from P0 (mostly active) to P7 (least active). By default it starts right in the middle at P4.
As near as I can tell, this controller runs the fan at full speed for the duration of a cook and only adjusts the auger. All that airflow means it uses a lot of fuel, so if you're concerned about pellet usage this is not the controller for you. On the flip side, when it adds fuel it generates a good amount of smoke, even at higher temps, so the end result is more smoke flavor on the food even when cooking at a set temp for the duration.
Temperature-wise it is pretty good. It is not a dead-on-the-money +-2F type of controller, but it also doesn't show a huge variance, being more like +-10F. The variance probably depends on the "P" setting, and after playing with it in some of my early cooks, I now tend just to use the default of "P4".
Running the fan all-out all the time also leads to there being more ash/sawdust in the unit after a cook. I would recommend cleaning this thing out after any long cooks. It's a matter of how much fuel is being used, and like I said above, this grill uses quite a bit.
Overall it is a question of what you want with a controller. If you are looking for dead-on temps and low fuel consumption, then this is not the controller for you. If you're not concerned about fuel consumption and you like the idea of smoke cycles at pretty much any normal cooking temp (avoiding the need for low-temp smoking before cooking), then this controller is a pretty good one.
The hopper - meh.
The hopper is fine, really, but IMO, given the fuel consumption of this grill it should be bigger. It is claimed to be a 20lb hopper, but I wasn't able to fit a 20lb bag of pellets into it. I'd guess it's more like 18lbs. The bottom of the pellet bin is pretty flat, so it doesn't do a great job of funneling the pellets into the auger. At least once I've had the auger run dry when the hopper was still holding a decent amount of pellets. I now check the pellets every few hours to ensure that doesn't happen again.
Now that I want to empty the pellets after every cook, I took out the hopper's safety screen (bad me!) so I could scoop out most of the remaining pellets. Needless to say, a pellet dump would absolutely be a welcome addition.
Overall - good
So, with the exception of the water frustrations, I've been happy with this grill. It produces good food with little fuss, which is what really matters to me. I've not had any water issues since I treated the cover and started emptying the pellets out after cooks.
The positives:
- Solid construction.
- Just a beautiful grill to look at.
- A small footprint with a good-sized cooking area.
- Both cooking shelves slide out for checking on/working with food.
- Decent-sized wheels come standard.
- (IMO) Good smoke flavor without the need to smoke on low first.
The negatives:
- The grill cover isn't waterproof, which can lead to pellet breakdown and a big mess to clean up.
- It uses a lot of fuel compared to some other pellet grills.
- It could use a larger hopper w/a pellet dump.
