Pellet Grill questions please

[Crispy Bacon]

Hi. I am new to the forum. I am in search of a Pellet grill. I have narrowed my search down to MAK 2 star, Yoder YS640 and a Memphis elite.

From my research it seems all of these smoke pretty well. I need one that will grill really well too and these seem like the best 3 for grilling from what I've been reading. Anyone else can chime in. Hopefully you guys/gals can help me out!

MAK 2 Star. Looks great but seems a little small. Center fire pot so not sure about the center being hot or how even the pit is or how well it grills since the firepot is covered for grilling?? add-ons are expensive and the grill is a little expensive too

Memphis elite. Seems large enough for me but the second shelf has me worried about room for ribs or brisket. Center firepot too but looks like more flame for grilling. Don't know if that's bad or good and adds to the flavor or not. It is the most expensive but it's the nicest looking!!


YS640 on a competition cart looks very nice and seems like the best value for the money?? Firebox is to the side and has open flame grilling with a removable diffuser plate. Not sure how well this grills or if its hard to grill on with the firepot to the left?? The main complaint I've read about is that they rust very easily and use a lot of pellets.

Any help on these pellet grills or if anyone thinks that there are any others that are better. I'm open to suggestions! Thanks for the help in advance!!

Crispy

 

[cfi1234]

Hi. I am new to the forum. I am in search of a Pellet grill. I have narrowed my search down to MAK 2 star, Yoder YS640 and a Memphis elite.

From my research it seems all of these smoke pretty well. I need one that will grill really well too and these seem like the best 3 for grilling from what I've been reading. Anyone else can chime in. Hopefully you guys/gals can help me out!

MAK 2 Star. Looks great but seems a little small. Center fire pot so not sure about the center being hot or how even the pit is or how well it grills since the firepot is covered for grilling?? add-ons are expensive and the grill is a little expensive too

Memphis elite. Seems large enough for me but the second shelf has me worried about room for ribs or brisket. Center firepot too but looks like more flame for grilling. Don't know if that's bad or good and adds to the flavor or not. It is the most expensive but it's the nicest looking!!


YS640 on a competition cart looks very nice and seems like the best value for the money?? Firebox is to the side and has open flame grilling with a removable diffuser plate. Not sure how well this grills or if its hard to grill on with the firepot to the left?? The main complaint I've read about is that they rust very easily and use a lot of pellets.

Any help on these pellet grills or if anyone thinks that there are any others that are better. I'm open to suggestions! Thanks for the help in advance!!

Crispy

I own a Mak 1 Star and I’ll share my research and experience so far. After countless months of research I went with the Mak over the Yoder for a few reasons. The build quality of the Mak is better, they don’t have rust and paint issues that the Yoder is susceptible too. The Flashfire ignition system on the Mak is rated to something like 100,000 hours...basically, they don’t burn out on you. I have read of people having to replace the Yoder ones fairly often. The pellet burn rate on the Mak is lower than the Yoder because the Yoder is such thick metal, that it takes a long time to heat up. The smoke is amazing on the Mak and their customer service is awesome. Also, and a big also, was that the Mak control unit is far more advanced than the Yoder. I have seen Yoder’s having major temperature fluctuations, whereas my Mak will hold within 10 degrees all of time. Plus, the ability to custom program the controller is a helpful feature.

As far as grilling, I have had no issue with the Mak with the flame zone kit. I do use grill grates with mine and it has no problem searing steaks and chicken. The heat is very even and cooks great. The capacity isn’t as bad as you would think as long as you get the full upper rack. I can cook 16 racks of ribs at one time using a couple of rib racks.

I know Memphis is also highly regarded, but I haven’t had the pleasure of using one. Hopes this helped.

 

[KevinJ]

Own a MAK 1 Star because I wanted a PG with a smaller foot print, yet still can cook a lot of food. I was also interested in the Memphis Advantage and Memphis Pro, the Elite was more than I wanted to spend on a PG and don't need something that size. Didn't consider the YS 640 because of the size but did look at a YS 480 that was being sold locally on CL it was 1.5 years old and a mess, I don't blame the Yoder I blame the owner but man it's hard to get that out of your head. The MAK and Memphis are more refined imo but I'm sure the Yoder puts out great BBQ too and has a strong following for a reason, very happy with the MAK, it has exceeded my expectations on quality and how it cooks.

I use the Flame Zone like on the MAK 2 Star and I don't have any hot spot, I also use Grillgrates over the flame zone and get fantastic results.

Hope to own it for a good 20 years.

 

[BKING!]

I love my Mak 1 star with the added flame zone. Puts great smoke on food and I’ve no issues with grilling on it. The entire grilling surface has very even heat with the flame zone covers on or off. It doesn’t have the searing power of a Yoder or Memphis but the gap is fixing to be closed with the update I hear they are going to do on the Mak. The update will allow the Mak to get to 600 deg instead of 500 deg.

 

[BKING!]

Here is some food I’ve grilled on the Mak with and without grill grates
1st pic is standard grates
2nd is flat surface of grill grates
3rd pic is ridged surface of grill grates.

 

[darita]

+1 on the MAK for all the above reasons. Quality smoker, quality folks.

 

[Joshw]

Three good choices, so I would just say pick the one, that you like the most. I personally went with the YS640, and love it. I've had it about a year and half, and have had very little rust issues. I do keep it under a roof, so it doesn't see much weather. The front under the door rusted within a couple of months. I think it is from the grease dripping down the front, when removing food. I read the pellet consumption complaints too, but I think those are from previous software, because I don't think mine is a pellet hog at all. Mine uses about 1.25 to 1.5 pounds an hour for smoking temps. I pay $9 for 20 lbs of pellets, so that is well under $1 an hour to run it.

As far as a dual purpose cooker, I think it would be very hard to beat. For indirect grilling, you can use the whole cooking space. If you want direct flame grilling, only about half the space is usable. It does a very good job at both, and makes things like reverse sear very quick and easy.

 

[Free Mr. Tony]

If you are after a grilling machine, I would at least look at the pg500. It's by far the easiest to grill on for a pellet grill. The smoker part is great too, but a tad small.

 

[drunkenmeatfist]

I would suggest that you get the MAK and the Memphis. I doubt you will be disappointed.

 

[rwalters]

As a long time happy MAK owner, just my 2 cents:

Memphis: They are moving their shipping overseas and will now be manufactured in China. For the $$ they cost, that’s a huge no-go for me.

Yoder: As bad as I wanted to buy one several years ago, I just could not bring myself to do it with the number of various complaints I was reading.

MAK: Started with a first gen 1 Star, eventually sold it and bought a new 2 Star back in 2017. Love my MAK!

As far as grilling, the Yoder and Memphis will produce a MUCH hotter sear zone, but the MAK will produce much better all over direct heat with the design of the Flame Zone. Really depends on what you are after... a screaming hot searing machine or a fantastic everyday grill.

I could say quite a bit more, but will leave it at that (unless you wanna hear more...lol)

 

[dozer996]

I have a Memphis Elite, my neighbor has the Yoder 640 Comp Cart, and my friend has the Mak2.
I would say The Memphis is a better grill and does a great job as a smoker too. Mak2 is probably slightly better as a smoker than grilling machine, and the Yoder will rust and have different temp swings in the cooking chamber but looks darn good!!!
I’m splitting hairs here, at the end of the day they will all perform for you. They all can create a repeatable cooking environment that will allow you to be a consistent home cook.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[gtsum]

What dozer said above^^^

I had a yoder 640 and now have a Memphis Elite. If I was buying now, I’d look at the twin eagle pellet grill as Memphis moving to China would not be an option for me (not at $4k anyways)


Memphis Elite





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[Crispy Bacon]

Thanks So Much

Thank you to everyone that commented. I'm really leaning towards the 2 Star. I like the Memphis but it is a lot more money. I've seen the Twin Eagles. It looks bad ass but there's not too much information about them. I only see a few videos and the only user video I saw was some guy who said his wouldn't work. I think they are run by the guy who use to own Lynx grills. So they know how to make grills. Just don't know about them making a pellet grill. I hate to buy a first gen that has a lot of problems. I like the rotisserie and the ability to hang meat in it too. They did some little upgrades that I wish other manufactures would think about. I wish MAK and Memphis had a competition cart like the Yoder. I don't see why they don't offer that. Or I wish Yoder would make some upgrades with their controller and go stainless for the rust issues. I guess I should've taken a welding class back in the day and learned how to make my own! LOL!

Again. Thanks for the time everyone put their time into the responding!!

 

[Crispy Bacon]

On your Memphis Elite. On your larger shelf. Can you fit a couple slabs of ribs on there or is it too small limiting you to using the main cooking area? I wasn't sure how much room the second shelf gives you. I know the top shelf looks really small.

Thanks!

 

[rwalters]

On your Memphis Elite. On your larger shelf. Can you fit a couple slabs of ribs on there or is it too small limiting you to using the main cooking area? I wasn't sure how much room the second shelf gives you. I know the top shelf looks really small.

Thanks!

I have seen pics of the Memphis Elite loaded down with ribs on all 3 levels. Didn’t appear to be a problem at all. Seems I saw 12 slabs of St Louis ribs laying flat with no issue. It’s a big cooker! Are you in “need” of that much cooking real estate?

 

[bkwentz]

I am generally a fan of Yoder. They are first rate smokers, and have top tier searing especially if you add the grill grates.

They do rust. They are not the most advanced or efficient pellet system on the market.

 

[Crispy Bacon]

Probably not. LOL. I have a gasser right now that's cooking area is the same depth but about 12" wider than the MAK. So, I'm not sure if I want to give up that space. But...with the shelves MAK offers, I would probably be ok. I just don't know how reaching underneath those racks while cooking is? With the main cooking rack being 2 pieces, will they combine to be 1 full upper rack in the shelving system or does the full upper rack have to be 1 piece and not 2? If that's the case, I could buy a griddle down low and the searing grates and use the 2 pieces for an upper full rack or just a half rack?? Does that make sense?

 

[Crispy Bacon]

Does that make sense on the racks? Will that work?