Warning long review in 2 parts. Assembly and then cooking results. Hope you enjoy it and learn from it.
Last month a tragedy happened at my house. My old pit boss pellet smoker that has provided many mouth watering meals to the neighborhood croaked. Several ppl found out and we ended up giving it a Viking funeral complete with fire chips in the pellet feeder and pit blazing away. Of course after the beer bottles were put away the question was asked ‘what are you going to do now?’ Frankly I had no idea!
The answer turned out to be read a lot of reviews, visit several stores, ponder over the wisdom of Wi-Fi and smoking. Finally I settled on this smoker. I love manual controls and the two temp probes are a must. My old smoker was sadly inaccurate temp wise and caused me to have to make many on the fly decisions based on backup temp gauges and such. Thus was the art of smoking and I adjusted and got very good at it.
My goal with this smoker was accurate temp control wise and a large enough pellet feeder to get some sleep when cooking all night briskets for new years. This year I plan to be awake for the game not sleeping in a chair lol. On Friday this big old box was delivered and Saturday a team of friends came to help assemble this monster. Since I’d been injured in an accident the help was quite required as it’s a bit unwieldy to assemble. We laughed and giggled our way through construction till we reached the pellet box assembly. Here our previously simple instructions let use down a bit. While attaching the top box section a nut slipped and fell into the screw housing and refused to come out. After disassembling the control panel and box top we reached and extracted the nut covered the hole with a tissue and tried to reassemble. (After assembly we burned out the tissue) The control panel would not reattach however due to the tap screws widening the hole.
During this fix I noticed the control panel cover was not attached fully in a way that could allow moisture into the control electronics. This is bad in a humid place like Florida. After locating the correct size bolts and nuts in my workshop i attached the control panel again and the used all weather caulking to seal it in place. The rest of assembly went off without a hitch. The installation instructions are the best I’ve ever used for a smoker and the whole job took a leisurely 3 hours.
Once wheeled into position in the yard I ran through all the priming tests and break in heating so far everything is proceeding as planed the temp is right on and it does in fact reach 450 degree though after testing I’ll never do it again lol. It produces wonderful amounts on smoke on the smoke setting as ran about 160 degrees while smoking. I’m letting the caulk cure before fully filling the large pellet box and cooking pulled pork this weekend and a couple of racks of ribs. Will update the experience soon.
Some great hidden features I found were the simple access to the fire box for cleaning. The old smoker was very hard and messy. This one has plenty of clearance for everything you need to remove, grills drip tray and burner cover all remove quick and easy. I certain I could even do it with oven mits on in an emergency.
The drip tray is nicely designed to hold a18 inch shell of aluminum foil for easy clean up too. These simple improvements would have made several previous smokes much easier. Can’t wait to put it to the real test this Friday
Part 2 weather 80 to 64 degree 0 to 5mph wind during 12 hours cook
After a few days of letting the caulk dry I dumped 20lbs of applewood pellets in the smoker ran through the startup process placed a old pork shoulder I found at the bottom of my meat freezer into the smoker. I freely admit struggling with pull pork smokes in the past. Largely cause it’s not my kinda meal and previous smokers temp control was to inaccurate to predict finish times. I started this with the idea this 5lbs hunk of meat would largely go to the dogs as is our tradition with first smokes for the last 5 smokers. That said I learned several useful thing during the cook.
1 the temp is rock solid. I set it at 225 and walked away with the fan blowing hard. After a while it slows down and maintains very good control measured with external Bluetooth probe and the cookers probe for the entire cook both consistently agreed it was within 5 degrees
2 the fan adjusts quickly when you open the hood to keep the temp. Really like this feature as I like to spray briskets and such. If only opened for a minute or so it held the temp within 5 degrees of target.
3 there is a pass through for probes that allows the wires to enter the grill without allowing cracks to let in air and affect airflow over the meat. Nice feature.
4 minimal excess smoke. This surprised me and made me believe my flavors would be affected. Only gentle puffs of smoke were emitted every five minutes or so.
Results. I was stunned by how good the cook came off. The meat was moist and throughly cooked, smoke rings extended almost a full centimeter into the meat giving the crust an excellent flavor. Hell I ate the missing section from the photo lol. Despite being an old frozen cut of meat this smoker made it be all I believe it could be. While the dogs got the traditional first piece. We ate the rest!
Clean up: here is where this smoker shined the most. The next morning I came out with my handheld vacuum to clean it. After 12 full hours of smoking I had about 5lbs of pellets left in the feeder. No refills were required. In 5 minutes I had it grills drip tray and burner cover off and cleaned. Vacuumed out the burner can and replaced all the parts. Almost no grease on my hands and nothing on my clothes.
Cook 3 cold weather 50 to 58 degrees 10 mph wind misting off and on.
I cooked a pair of baby back rib racks and baked potatoes for a thanksgiving eve meal in challenging weather. The smoker did very well for the conditions especially since I needed to open it several times to wrap and rotate foods. The temp did struggle a bit on 225 with the real temp about 15 degrees lower than the smoker suggested it was. Mostly I suspect due to wind, I had to turn the smoker to 250 for the last two hours to get the meal finished right. FYI I was told by the families who got the food it was perfect and they can be hard graders. I continue to love this purchase.
In short this is the best smoker I’ve ever bought and I’ve had two electric uprights, 1 wood offset, and 2 pellet grills. 5 stars. I hope this helps you all.
Puppy dog story if you care: on my very first ever smoke I tried to do a similar sized pork shoulder on a cheap little smoker I found at a garage sale. I finish a night of sitting up and filling the wood box and worked really hard. That morning I came out with tin foil pan pulled the meat and promptly dropped it on the ground where it burst into serval large police’s in the dirt. The dogs got the whole thing. As I got new smokers we decided to keep the tradition going kinda like the angels share of a whiskey barrel. We always get surprises anyway on that first cook and it sorta became a thing.
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From the brand
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Z GRILLS is a professional grill manufacturer with over 30 years of experience. US-based brand and has quickly become one of the most popular brands.
We utilize vast grill manufacturing experience to ensure delicious wood-fired results. Our goal is to make high-quality pellet grills accessible to all. Reach more and more people to enable them to enjoy a truly unique grilling experience and incredible wood-fired taste at a highly affordable price.
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Videos
Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1
Videos for this product
2:39
Click to play video
IMPORTANT Initial Firing Instructions For Your New Grill
Jason Minor
Videos for this product
1:40
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Is it just as good as the other brands?
Sarah Jonsgaard
Videos for this product
2:32
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Traeger vs Z Grills: Why These Are the Two I Love!
David
Videos for this product
1:53
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My Initial Reaction To The Z Wave Pellet Grill
Jason Minor
Videos for this product
2:47
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Z Grills Cruiser 200 Portable Pellet Grill Capacity Test
David
Product Description
Cooking Space: 552 sq.in.
Hopper Capacity: 10 lbs
Temp Range: 180-450ºF
Package Dimension: 44"L x 18"W x 23"H
Package Included: 1× 550C, 1×User Manual，1× Grease Bucket
Compare with similar items
This Item  Z GRILLS Wood Pellet Grill Smoker with 552 Cooking Area & Front Shelf for Outdoor BBQ, Smoke, Bake and Roast, 550C |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | $659.00 | -15% $382.49 List: $449.99 | -25% $599.95 List: $799.99 | -22% $389.00 List: $499.95 | -19% $323.20 List: $399.00 |
| Delivery | — | Get it May 21 - 22 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 22 | — | — | Get it as soon as Friday, May 24 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Temperature Control | ||||||
| Easy to assemble | ||||||
| Flavor | ||||||
| Value for money | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Z GRILLS Direct | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| size | Extra Large | Large | 440 Series | 575 square inches | Extra large | Extra Large |
| fuel type | Wood Pellet | Wood Pellet | Wood | Wood Pellet | Wood Pellet | Electric |
| power source | Corded Electric | Corded Electric | Wood Pellet | Electric | Corded Electric | Wood Pellet |
| material | Stainless Steel | — | Stainless Steel | Metal | Metal | Steel |
| model name | ZPG-550C | ZPG-700D6 | PB440D2 | Pro Series 575 | Pro Series 22 (Bronze) | ZPG-550B2 |
| weight | 85 pounds | 144 pounds | 96 pounds | 149.03 pounds | 125.44 pounds | 77 pounds |
Reviews with images
Great so far
Warning long review in 2 parts. Assembly and then cooking results. Hope you enjoy it and learn from it.Last month a tragedy happened at my house. My old pit boss pellet smoker that has provided many mouth watering meals to the neighborhood croaked. Several ppl found out and we ended up giving it a Viking funeral complete with fire chips in the pellet feeder and pit blazing away. Of course after the beer bottles were put away the question was asked ‘what are you going to do now?’ Frankly I had no idea!The answer turned out to be read a lot of reviews, visit several stores, ponder over the wisdom of Wi-Fi and smoking. Finally I settled on this smoker. I love manual controls and the two temp probes are a must. My old smoker was sadly inaccurate temp wise and caused me to have to make many on the fly decisions based on backup temp gauges and such. Thus was the art of smoking and I adjusted and got very good at it.My goal with this smoker was accurate temp control wise and a large enough pellet feeder to get some sleep when cooking all night briskets for new years. This year I plan to be awake for the game not sleeping in a chair lol. On Friday this big old box was delivered and Saturday a team of friends came to help assemble this monster. Since I’d been injured in an accident the help was quite required as it’s a bit unwieldy to assemble. We laughed and giggled our way through construction till we reached the pellet box assembly. Here our previously simple instructions let use down a bit. While attaching the top box section a nut slipped and fell into the screw housing and refused to come out. After disassembling the control panel and box top we reached and extracted the nut covered the hole with a tissue and tried to reassemble. (After assembly we burned out the tissue) The control panel would not reattach however due to the tap screws widening the hole.During this fix I noticed the control panel cover was not attached fully in a way that could allow moisture into the control electronics. This is bad in a humid place like Florida. After locating the correct size bolts and nuts in my workshop i attached the control panel again and the used all weather caulking to seal it in place. The rest of assembly went off without a hitch. The installation instructions are the best I’ve ever used for a smoker and the whole job took a leisurely 3 hours.Once wheeled into position in the yard I ran through all the priming tests and break in heating so far everything is proceeding as planed the temp is right on and it does in fact reach 450 degree though after testing I’ll never do it again lol. It produces wonderful amounts on smoke on the smoke setting as ran about 160 degrees while smoking. I’m letting the caulk cure before fully filling the large pellet box and cooking pulled pork this weekend and a couple of racks of ribs. Will update the experience soon.Some great hidden features I found were the simple access to the fire box for cleaning. The old smoker was very hard and messy. This one has plenty of clearance for everything you need to remove, grills drip tray and burner cover all remove quick and easy. I certain I could even do it with oven mits on in an emergency.The drip tray is nicely designed to hold a18 inch shell of aluminum foil for easy clean up too. These simple improvements would have made several previous smokes much easier. Can’t wait to put it to the real test this FridayPart 2 weather 80 to 64 degree 0 to 5mph wind during 12 hours cook After a few days of letting the caulk dry I dumped 20lbs of applewood pellets in the smoker ran through the startup process placed a old pork shoulder I found at the bottom of my meat freezer into the smoker. I freely admit struggling with pull pork smokes in the past. Largely cause it’s not my kinda meal and previous smokers temp control was to inaccurate to predict finish times. I started this with the idea this 5lbs hunk of meat would largely go to the dogs as is our tradition with first smokes for the last 5 smokers. That said I learned several useful thing during the cook.1 the temp is rock solid. I set it at 225 and walked away with the fan blowing hard. After a while it slows down and maintains very good control measured with external Bluetooth probe and the cookers probe for the entire cook both consistently agreed it was within 5 degrees2 the fan adjusts quickly when you open the hood to keep the temp. Really like this feature as I like to spray briskets and such. If only opened for a minute or so it held the temp within 5 degrees of target.3 there is a pass through for probes that allows the wires to enter the grill without allowing cracks to let in air and affect airflow over the meat. Nice feature.4 minimal excess smoke. This surprised me and made me believe my flavors would be affected. Only gentle puffs of smoke were emitted every five minutes or so.Results. I was stunned by how good the cook came off. The meat was moist and throughly cooked, smoke rings extended almost a full centimeter into the meat giving the crust an excellent flavor. Hell I ate the missing section from the photo lol. Despite being an old frozen cut of meat this smoker made it be all I believe it could be. While the dogs got the traditional first piece. We ate the rest!Clean up: here is where this smoker shined the most. The next morning I came out with my handheld vacuum to clean it. After 12 full hours of smoking I had about 5lbs of pellets left in the feeder. No refills were required. In 5 minutes I had it grills drip tray and burner cover off and cleaned. Vacuumed out the burner can and replaced all the parts. Almost no grease on my hands and nothing on my clothes.Cook 3 cold weather 50 to 58 degrees 10 mph wind misting off and on.I cooked a pair of baby back rib racks and baked potatoes for a thanksgiving eve meal in challenging weather. The smoker did very well for the conditions especially since I needed to open it several times to wrap and rotate foods. The temp did struggle a bit on 225 with the real temp about 15 degrees lower than the smoker suggested it was. Mostly I suspect due to wind, I had to turn the smoker to 250 for the last two hours to get the meal finished right. FYI I was told by the families who got the food it was perfect and they can be hard graders. I continue to love this purchase.In short this is the best smoker I’ve ever bought and I’ve had two electric uprights, 1 wood offset, and 2 pellet grills. 5 stars. I hope this helps you all.Puppy dog story if you care: on my very first ever smoke I tried to do a similar sized pork shoulder on a cheap little smoker I found at a garage sale. I finish a night of sitting up and filling the wood box and worked really hard. That morning I came out with tin foil pan pulled the meat and promptly dropped it on the ground where it burst into serval large police’s in the dirt. The dogs got the whole thing. As I got new smokers we decided to keep the tradition going kinda like the angels share of a whiskey barrel. We always get surprises anyway on that first cook and it sorta became a thing.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2023
Style: ZPG-7002CVerified Purchase
Warning long review in 2 parts. Assembly and then cooking results. Hope you enjoy it and learn from it.
Last month a tragedy happened at my house. My old pit boss pellet smoker that has provided many mouth watering meals to the neighborhood croaked. Several ppl found out and we ended up giving it a Viking funeral complete with fire chips in the pellet feeder and pit blazing away. Of course after the beer bottles were put away the question was asked ‘what are you going to do now?’ Frankly I had no idea!
The answer turned out to be read a lot of reviews, visit several stores, ponder over the wisdom of Wi-Fi and smoking. Finally I settled on this smoker. I love manual controls and the two temp probes are a must. My old smoker was sadly inaccurate temp wise and caused me to have to make many on the fly decisions based on backup temp gauges and such. Thus was the art of smoking and I adjusted and got very good at it.
My goal with this smoker was accurate temp control wise and a large enough pellet feeder to get some sleep when cooking all night briskets for new years. This year I plan to be awake for the game not sleeping in a chair lol. On Friday this big old box was delivered and Saturday a team of friends came to help assemble this monster. Since I’d been injured in an accident the help was quite required as it’s a bit unwieldy to assemble. We laughed and giggled our way through construction till we reached the pellet box assembly. Here our previously simple instructions let use down a bit. While attaching the top box section a nut slipped and fell into the screw housing and refused to come out. After disassembling the control panel and box top we reached and extracted the nut covered the hole with a tissue and tried to reassemble. (After assembly we burned out the tissue) The control panel would not reattach however due to the tap screws widening the hole.
During this fix I noticed the control panel cover was not attached fully in a way that could allow moisture into the control electronics. This is bad in a humid place like Florida. After locating the correct size bolts and nuts in my workshop i attached the control panel again and the used all weather caulking to seal it in place. The rest of assembly went off without a hitch. The installation instructions are the best I’ve ever used for a smoker and the whole job took a leisurely 3 hours.
Once wheeled into position in the yard I ran through all the priming tests and break in heating so far everything is proceeding as planed the temp is right on and it does in fact reach 450 degree though after testing I’ll never do it again lol. It produces wonderful amounts on smoke on the smoke setting as ran about 160 degrees while smoking. I’m letting the caulk cure before fully filling the large pellet box and cooking pulled pork this weekend and a couple of racks of ribs. Will update the experience soon.
Some great hidden features I found were the simple access to the fire box for cleaning. The old smoker was very hard and messy. This one has plenty of clearance for everything you need to remove, grills drip tray and burner cover all remove quick and easy. I certain I could even do it with oven mits on in an emergency.
The drip tray is nicely designed to hold a18 inch shell of aluminum foil for easy clean up too. These simple improvements would have made several previous smokes much easier. Can’t wait to put it to the real test this Friday
Part 2 weather 80 to 64 degree 0 to 5mph wind during 12 hours cook
After a few days of letting the caulk dry I dumped 20lbs of applewood pellets in the smoker ran through the startup process placed a old pork shoulder I found at the bottom of my meat freezer into the smoker. I freely admit struggling with pull pork smokes in the past. Largely cause it’s not my kinda meal and previous smokers temp control was to inaccurate to predict finish times. I started this with the idea this 5lbs hunk of meat would largely go to the dogs as is our tradition with first smokes for the last 5 smokers. That said I learned several useful thing during the cook.
1 the temp is rock solid. I set it at 225 and walked away with the fan blowing hard. After a while it slows down and maintains very good control measured with external Bluetooth probe and the cookers probe for the entire cook both consistently agreed it was within 5 degrees
2 the fan adjusts quickly when you open the hood to keep the temp. Really like this feature as I like to spray briskets and such. If only opened for a minute or so it held the temp within 5 degrees of target.
3 there is a pass through for probes that allows the wires to enter the grill without allowing cracks to let in air and affect airflow over the meat. Nice feature.
4 minimal excess smoke. This surprised me and made me believe my flavors would be affected. Only gentle puffs of smoke were emitted every five minutes or so.
Results. I was stunned by how good the cook came off. The meat was moist and throughly cooked, smoke rings extended almost a full centimeter into the meat giving the crust an excellent flavor. Hell I ate the missing section from the photo lol. Despite being an old frozen cut of meat this smoker made it be all I believe it could be. While the dogs got the traditional first piece. We ate the rest!
Clean up: here is where this smoker shined the most. The next morning I came out with my handheld vacuum to clean it. After 12 full hours of smoking I had about 5lbs of pellets left in the feeder. No refills were required. In 5 minutes I had it grills drip tray and burner cover off and cleaned. Vacuumed out the burner can and replaced all the parts. Almost no grease on my hands and nothing on my clothes.
Cook 3 cold weather 50 to 58 degrees 10 mph wind misting off and on.
I cooked a pair of baby back rib racks and baked potatoes for a thanksgiving eve meal in challenging weather. The smoker did very well for the conditions especially since I needed to open it several times to wrap and rotate foods. The temp did struggle a bit on 225 with the real temp about 15 degrees lower than the smoker suggested it was. Mostly I suspect due to wind, I had to turn the smoker to 250 for the last two hours to get the meal finished right. FYI I was told by the families who got the food it was perfect and they can be hard graders. I continue to love this purchase.
In short this is the best smoker I’ve ever bought and I’ve had two electric uprights, 1 wood offset, and 2 pellet grills. 5 stars. I hope this helps you all.
Puppy dog story if you care: on my very first ever smoke I tried to do a similar sized pork shoulder on a cheap little smoker I found at a garage sale. I finish a night of sitting up and filling the wood box and worked really hard. That morning I came out with tin foil pan pulled the meat and promptly dropped it on the ground where it burst into serval large police’s in the dirt. The dogs got the whole thing. As I got new smokers we decided to keep the tradition going kinda like the angels share of a whiskey barrel. We always get surprises anyway on that first cook and it sorta became a thing.
Last month a tragedy happened at my house. My old pit boss pellet smoker that has provided many mouth watering meals to the neighborhood croaked. Several ppl found out and we ended up giving it a Viking funeral complete with fire chips in the pellet feeder and pit blazing away. Of course after the beer bottles were put away the question was asked ‘what are you going to do now?’ Frankly I had no idea!
The answer turned out to be read a lot of reviews, visit several stores, ponder over the wisdom of Wi-Fi and smoking. Finally I settled on this smoker. I love manual controls and the two temp probes are a must. My old smoker was sadly inaccurate temp wise and caused me to have to make many on the fly decisions based on backup temp gauges and such. Thus was the art of smoking and I adjusted and got very good at it.
My goal with this smoker was accurate temp control wise and a large enough pellet feeder to get some sleep when cooking all night briskets for new years. This year I plan to be awake for the game not sleeping in a chair lol. On Friday this big old box was delivered and Saturday a team of friends came to help assemble this monster. Since I’d been injured in an accident the help was quite required as it’s a bit unwieldy to assemble. We laughed and giggled our way through construction till we reached the pellet box assembly. Here our previously simple instructions let use down a bit. While attaching the top box section a nut slipped and fell into the screw housing and refused to come out. After disassembling the control panel and box top we reached and extracted the nut covered the hole with a tissue and tried to reassemble. (After assembly we burned out the tissue) The control panel would not reattach however due to the tap screws widening the hole.
During this fix I noticed the control panel cover was not attached fully in a way that could allow moisture into the control electronics. This is bad in a humid place like Florida. After locating the correct size bolts and nuts in my workshop i attached the control panel again and the used all weather caulking to seal it in place. The rest of assembly went off without a hitch. The installation instructions are the best I’ve ever used for a smoker and the whole job took a leisurely 3 hours.
Once wheeled into position in the yard I ran through all the priming tests and break in heating so far everything is proceeding as planed the temp is right on and it does in fact reach 450 degree though after testing I’ll never do it again lol. It produces wonderful amounts on smoke on the smoke setting as ran about 160 degrees while smoking. I’m letting the caulk cure before fully filling the large pellet box and cooking pulled pork this weekend and a couple of racks of ribs. Will update the experience soon.
Some great hidden features I found were the simple access to the fire box for cleaning. The old smoker was very hard and messy. This one has plenty of clearance for everything you need to remove, grills drip tray and burner cover all remove quick and easy. I certain I could even do it with oven mits on in an emergency.
The drip tray is nicely designed to hold a18 inch shell of aluminum foil for easy clean up too. These simple improvements would have made several previous smokes much easier. Can’t wait to put it to the real test this Friday
Part 2 weather 80 to 64 degree 0 to 5mph wind during 12 hours cook
After a few days of letting the caulk dry I dumped 20lbs of applewood pellets in the smoker ran through the startup process placed a old pork shoulder I found at the bottom of my meat freezer into the smoker. I freely admit struggling with pull pork smokes in the past. Largely cause it’s not my kinda meal and previous smokers temp control was to inaccurate to predict finish times. I started this with the idea this 5lbs hunk of meat would largely go to the dogs as is our tradition with first smokes for the last 5 smokers. That said I learned several useful thing during the cook.
1 the temp is rock solid. I set it at 225 and walked away with the fan blowing hard. After a while it slows down and maintains very good control measured with external Bluetooth probe and the cookers probe for the entire cook both consistently agreed it was within 5 degrees
2 the fan adjusts quickly when you open the hood to keep the temp. Really like this feature as I like to spray briskets and such. If only opened for a minute or so it held the temp within 5 degrees of target.
3 there is a pass through for probes that allows the wires to enter the grill without allowing cracks to let in air and affect airflow over the meat. Nice feature.
4 minimal excess smoke. This surprised me and made me believe my flavors would be affected. Only gentle puffs of smoke were emitted every five minutes or so.
Results. I was stunned by how good the cook came off. The meat was moist and throughly cooked, smoke rings extended almost a full centimeter into the meat giving the crust an excellent flavor. Hell I ate the missing section from the photo lol. Despite being an old frozen cut of meat this smoker made it be all I believe it could be. While the dogs got the traditional first piece. We ate the rest!
Clean up: here is where this smoker shined the most. The next morning I came out with my handheld vacuum to clean it. After 12 full hours of smoking I had about 5lbs of pellets left in the feeder. No refills were required. In 5 minutes I had it grills drip tray and burner cover off and cleaned. Vacuumed out the burner can and replaced all the parts. Almost no grease on my hands and nothing on my clothes.
Cook 3 cold weather 50 to 58 degrees 10 mph wind misting off and on.
I cooked a pair of baby back rib racks and baked potatoes for a thanksgiving eve meal in challenging weather. The smoker did very well for the conditions especially since I needed to open it several times to wrap and rotate foods. The temp did struggle a bit on 225 with the real temp about 15 degrees lower than the smoker suggested it was. Mostly I suspect due to wind, I had to turn the smoker to 250 for the last two hours to get the meal finished right. FYI I was told by the families who got the food it was perfect and they can be hard graders. I continue to love this purchase.
In short this is the best smoker I’ve ever bought and I’ve had two electric uprights, 1 wood offset, and 2 pellet grills. 5 stars. I hope this helps you all.
Puppy dog story if you care: on my very first ever smoke I tried to do a similar sized pork shoulder on a cheap little smoker I found at a garage sale. I finish a night of sitting up and filling the wood box and worked really hard. That morning I came out with tin foil pan pulled the meat and promptly dropped it on the ground where it burst into serval large police’s in the dirt. The dogs got the whole thing. As I got new smokers we decided to keep the tradition going kinda like the angels share of a whiskey barrel. We always get surprises anyway on that first cook and it sorta became a thing.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2022
Style: ZPG-7002CVerified Purchase
This is my third smoker. The first two were vertical electric smokers. Personally, I liked them and they had small footprints on my deck but ultimately, they failed. I've always been intrigued by pellet smokers after examining one that was being raffled by local BBQ joint.
After a lot of videos and reading I went with the Z. Mainly because I'm not an avid smoker who smokes food every week. I also have a ceramic Kamado grill for high temp grilling and I'd never even consider using this as a replacement for that.
First things first: Before even using the Z Grills 7002, I'm very impressed with it's build quality and overall weight. But, the delivery experience is a different matter. Nothing major but it is something that annoys me. First, they ship directly using FedEx and the last couple of years, that company has underperformed (putting it mildly). I received a text with my tracking info and a delivery date of Saturday. Based on recent experience with FedEx, I knew it probably would not arrive on time. However, I received a text at 9:11pm announcing that the Z had been delivered to my front door at 9:05pm. I looked out the front door and there was nothing. I went to the back door and garage...nothing. I got into the car and drove around to inspect neighbor's doors...nothing. I contacted FedEx and Z. I got the typical response that maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places for a large heavy box another annoyance. I also got an automated response telling me that the seller would be in touch by Monday evening. The next day, around 3pm, I heard noise outside the front door. I spot the large box and a man walking away to get into a white unmarked van. he drives away and that was that. So Monday rolls around and I get follow-up from both FedEx and Z which was nice. Both indicated that they see my grill was delivered on time and signed for by ME. This is untrue and this is what annoys me most. First, FedEx did not deliver this grill. It was delivered the next day by a man in an unmarked van. He did not ring the doorbell and I was not asked to sign anything. Now the records show this and it makes it appear that the delivery was perfect. I'm setting that record straight here where it counts.
This box is heavy. I was sure something would be damaged. But everything was in good condition. I assembled it on Monday afternoon and it was pretty easy. There is a quick assembly sheet which you should just ignore. Locate the hardware blister pack and the manual. That's where the real instructions are found.
I've assembled lots of stuff and I'm pretty good at it. This is pretty easy but some parts are awkward. I did it all by myself but if you have someone who can hold parts it can't hurt. Sometimes I ask my wife to help but even after a lot of years of marriage, she still reminds me that she can't read my mind. So I just proceed by myself.
I do have a couple of suggestions to make assembly easier: First, when assembling the leg side braces, I recommend laying the assembly on it's side and not upside down as in the drawing. These legs are saw horse style legs that are angled outward for stability. The side braces can easily be screwed in the wrong direction. If you start by laying the leg assembly on its side, you'll avoid that mistake!.
Second, the instructions didn't mention installing the casters but they're a simple thing and just screw in.
Third, the digital controller is located inside the hopper. The instruction say to screw it to the hopper assembly with self tapping screws. However, it fails to mention that you need to place the control panel on the outside of the hopper. Turned the right way, it will slide through the slot and you can then attach it. It is made of a clear plastic-like material so don't overtighten the screws or you could crack it. It has a heat gasket on the backside so it is easy to figure out how it should be oriented.
Fourth, this is a big one for your sanity! tape a piece of cardboard over the bottom opening in the hopper just above the auger. I guarantee that you'll drop a screw in the auger assembly if you don't. I did it twice! You'll have to carefully roll the hopper assembly over and hope the screw falls out.
Fifth, when installing the hopper assembly, you'll need to locate the temperature probe wires from the smoker and the control panel. You need to attach them before you screw in the hopper to the smoker body. I had to do that part over.
Sixth, the heat baffle, it's a nice well-made piece with cross bracing so it won't warp when heated. Apparently that is a problem with other brands. It's easy to install and so well made that I just had to mention it.
Seventh, the grease drain pan is covered in machine oil. Go ahead and wipe it with a paper towel. If you have stainless steel cleaner for kitchen appliances, give it a final cleaning with that stuff. The grill seasoning/burn-off phase take care of the rest.
I plan to use this later this week and I'll add my impressions. As long as everything heats up and maintains temp, I think I'll be happy.
December 10, 2022 Edit:
I got a chance to smoke a rack of St Louis ribs. First, the smoker did great and it is so nice to not have to constantly babysit the cook. The temperature held within 5f which I confirmed with a separate thermoprobe. When you raise temperature, it will spike above the set temperature. But the PID will get it under control and you'll hear the blower fan start to change speed. Before I started, I wrapped the drip pan in foil so it is not so difficult to clean.
For the cook I did a modified of 3-2-1 method. I added my rub and smoked the ribs on the smoke setting for about 45 minutes. Next, I raised the temp to 180 for the remainder of the first 3 hours. Then the ribs were removed and the temp was set to 225. I wrapped the ribs in foil Johnny Trigg style and smoked them another 2hrs at 225. The foil was removed and a generous amount of sauce was brushed on. After about 45 min, I removed the ribs and have attached a photo of them. They came out very nice. I used Ttraeger pellets which are not the best and I won't buy those again. I have since ordered a bag of Camp Chef Competition Blend and Z Grills Cherry wood pellets. I chose these because they are 100% hardwood pellets. The Traeger pellets have lots of binders added.
OK, one more update. I have now smoked three turkey breasts, two racks of St Louis ribs and a 7lb prime rib (see pics). Super simple and reliable. It is sturdy and the bigger wheels make it so easy to move around. The round steel legs provide lots of strength and I see some more expensive brands with angled steel legs that if braced properly would also be very strong. But I think the round tubular steel legs just look really nice.
I've built up a nice smoke coating inside and I see very little smoke exiting from the lid. I bought a gasket but have not used it.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I decided to see if I could exceed 400f and it actually exceeded 450f. But this is still indirect heat so you can’t sear.
After a lot of videos and reading I went with the Z. Mainly because I'm not an avid smoker who smokes food every week. I also have a ceramic Kamado grill for high temp grilling and I'd never even consider using this as a replacement for that.
First things first: Before even using the Z Grills 7002, I'm very impressed with it's build quality and overall weight. But, the delivery experience is a different matter. Nothing major but it is something that annoys me. First, they ship directly using FedEx and the last couple of years, that company has underperformed (putting it mildly). I received a text with my tracking info and a delivery date of Saturday. Based on recent experience with FedEx, I knew it probably would not arrive on time. However, I received a text at 9:11pm announcing that the Z had been delivered to my front door at 9:05pm. I looked out the front door and there was nothing. I went to the back door and garage...nothing. I got into the car and drove around to inspect neighbor's doors...nothing. I contacted FedEx and Z. I got the typical response that maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places for a large heavy box another annoyance. I also got an automated response telling me that the seller would be in touch by Monday evening. The next day, around 3pm, I heard noise outside the front door. I spot the large box and a man walking away to get into a white unmarked van. he drives away and that was that. So Monday rolls around and I get follow-up from both FedEx and Z which was nice. Both indicated that they see my grill was delivered on time and signed for by ME. This is untrue and this is what annoys me most. First, FedEx did not deliver this grill. It was delivered the next day by a man in an unmarked van. He did not ring the doorbell and I was not asked to sign anything. Now the records show this and it makes it appear that the delivery was perfect. I'm setting that record straight here where it counts.
This box is heavy. I was sure something would be damaged. But everything was in good condition. I assembled it on Monday afternoon and it was pretty easy. There is a quick assembly sheet which you should just ignore. Locate the hardware blister pack and the manual. That's where the real instructions are found.
I've assembled lots of stuff and I'm pretty good at it. This is pretty easy but some parts are awkward. I did it all by myself but if you have someone who can hold parts it can't hurt. Sometimes I ask my wife to help but even after a lot of years of marriage, she still reminds me that she can't read my mind. So I just proceed by myself.
I do have a couple of suggestions to make assembly easier: First, when assembling the leg side braces, I recommend laying the assembly on it's side and not upside down as in the drawing. These legs are saw horse style legs that are angled outward for stability. The side braces can easily be screwed in the wrong direction. If you start by laying the leg assembly on its side, you'll avoid that mistake!.
Second, the instructions didn't mention installing the casters but they're a simple thing and just screw in.
Third, the digital controller is located inside the hopper. The instruction say to screw it to the hopper assembly with self tapping screws. However, it fails to mention that you need to place the control panel on the outside of the hopper. Turned the right way, it will slide through the slot and you can then attach it. It is made of a clear plastic-like material so don't overtighten the screws or you could crack it. It has a heat gasket on the backside so it is easy to figure out how it should be oriented.
Fourth, this is a big one for your sanity! tape a piece of cardboard over the bottom opening in the hopper just above the auger. I guarantee that you'll drop a screw in the auger assembly if you don't. I did it twice! You'll have to carefully roll the hopper assembly over and hope the screw falls out.
Fifth, when installing the hopper assembly, you'll need to locate the temperature probe wires from the smoker and the control panel. You need to attach them before you screw in the hopper to the smoker body. I had to do that part over.
Sixth, the heat baffle, it's a nice well-made piece with cross bracing so it won't warp when heated. Apparently that is a problem with other brands. It's easy to install and so well made that I just had to mention it.
Seventh, the grease drain pan is covered in machine oil. Go ahead and wipe it with a paper towel. If you have stainless steel cleaner for kitchen appliances, give it a final cleaning with that stuff. The grill seasoning/burn-off phase take care of the rest.
I plan to use this later this week and I'll add my impressions. As long as everything heats up and maintains temp, I think I'll be happy.
December 10, 2022 Edit:
I got a chance to smoke a rack of St Louis ribs. First, the smoker did great and it is so nice to not have to constantly babysit the cook. The temperature held within 5f which I confirmed with a separate thermoprobe. When you raise temperature, it will spike above the set temperature. But the PID will get it under control and you'll hear the blower fan start to change speed. Before I started, I wrapped the drip pan in foil so it is not so difficult to clean.
For the cook I did a modified of 3-2-1 method. I added my rub and smoked the ribs on the smoke setting for about 45 minutes. Next, I raised the temp to 180 for the remainder of the first 3 hours. Then the ribs were removed and the temp was set to 225. I wrapped the ribs in foil Johnny Trigg style and smoked them another 2hrs at 225. The foil was removed and a generous amount of sauce was brushed on. After about 45 min, I removed the ribs and have attached a photo of them. They came out very nice. I used Ttraeger pellets which are not the best and I won't buy those again. I have since ordered a bag of Camp Chef Competition Blend and Z Grills Cherry wood pellets. I chose these because they are 100% hardwood pellets. The Traeger pellets have lots of binders added.
OK, one more update. I have now smoked three turkey breasts, two racks of St Louis ribs and a 7lb prime rib (see pics). Super simple and reliable. It is sturdy and the bigger wheels make it so easy to move around. The round steel legs provide lots of strength and I see some more expensive brands with angled steel legs that if braced properly would also be very strong. But I think the round tubular steel legs just look really nice.
I've built up a nice smoke coating inside and I see very little smoke exiting from the lid. I bought a gasket but have not used it.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I decided to see if I could exceed 400f and it actually exceeded 450f. But this is still indirect heat so you can’t sear.
Images in this review
