Traeger Keeps Adding Lineups, and the Field Keeps Filling In Behind It

Traeger launched the Westwood series in April, an entirely new grill lineup aimed at cooks getting into wood-fired cooking rather than at people replacing a worn-out smoker. It sits alongside the Woodridge range the company built out for its fortieth year, which runs from a base model through Pro and Elite.

The Woodridge quietly gained a Pro Plus at the end of last year, slotting between the Pro and the Elite. Four hundred dollars over the standard Pro buys an enclosed storage cabinet in place of the open side shelf and four casters instead of two. That sounds like trim until you have chased a pellet bag around a deck in the wind.

What has actually changed in the category is the competition. A shopper looking at pellet grills this year is choosing between Traeger, Recteq, Yoder, Brisk It and Ninja, and the newer entrants are competing on features rather than on price alone. Several now ship with app-driven recipe assistance over wifi.

Our read on the smart features is that they are worth having and not worth paying a premium for. If you already know how you want to cook something, the value of a grill telling you is close to zero; the connectivity that matters is being able to check a temperature from inside the house at hour nine.