Traeger Grills TFT18KLD Ranger, Portable Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker – Electric Tabletop Pellet Smoker with Digital Arc Controller, Cast Iron Griddle, For Tailgating and Outdoor Cooking

Bought for my motorhome, but may have to keep at the house now. Perfect for around 4 people, maybe 6. First cook. 5 lb rib roast. 2 hrs @ 250. 2nd. 1 1/2 thick NY steak. 1 hr @ 225. Remove and crank the heat to 450 (10 ish min). Sear for @ 5-7 min. 3rd. Pair of pork tenderloins. Heat to 375 and cooked for 30 min (start to finish, 45 min). Rave reviews from wife and family. Great recipes with cook times on Traeger web site.Customer LIVE person phone support is phenomenal and open until 10pm mountain. My meat probe would not work on the controller. First call, they said probe was bad and sent me a new on, arriving in 4 business days. Following the instructions in manual, it still would not register temperature. 2nd call. The rep told me the manual is wrong on how to access the meat temp. Manual says “press center button”. You actually do a quick double tap on the button for meat temp and a quick single tap for the timer. Both of these worked. He told me he has put in a request for an update to the manual.I may now be ordering a second for the motorhome to replace the gas grill, charcoal grill, LPG tanks and hoses and bag of charcoal. Cooks both slow and can make a fast meal. Have not tried the included cast iron griddle yet.

I've had this for a month now, and have cooked burgers, dogs, steaks and chicken breasts. I have also done two long smokes using the temperature probe, a corned beef brisket and a pork shoulder. The convenience of this unit is excellent, and the flavor is unsurpassed! I'm using Bear Mountain hickory pellets, which add a great smoked flavor. I chose Bear Mountain because I wanted 100% hardwood without added flavors. For burgers and dogs, this unit wins over my natural gas grill for convenience and flavor. It's more forgiving, as well. It's not going to char anything if you forget it for a few minutes. For chicken breast, the Ranger does fine, but it can't produce the hard sear of a natural gas grill which can attain much higher temperatures. This wasn't an issue for me with steak, but was for chicken. I tried searing on the gas grill and finishing on the Ranger, which worked well but was less convenient. Other minor downsides: It's extremely heavy. It's OK for transferring to a vehicle, but you're not going to be carrying it a long distance. You don't get to play with fire as much as with conventional grills. My fire lust is satiated by my pizza oven, though. Finally, I did not have the electronics problem that several other reviews mention, but I did notice that it takes an extremely short press to move from function to function. If there is even a tiny delay between press and release the display will not change to the next function. This was frustrating until I figured it out, because it seemed like it was working inconsistently. Overall the Ranger is a great performer. It's complex technology crammed into a small space and subjected to extreme temperatures, but performs flawlessly and seems engineered to last. I will be testing it thoroughly!

First weekend actually cooking on this, I was happy except you have to make sure it is level and on a sturdy table. I had it on a plastics folding table and it worked however the plastic got warm and the grill sunk a little making uneven and had a couple of fires in the bottom when using griddle cooking bacon. I removed griddle and used grate and no issues. It worked great! Friends that went with us now want to purchase one as they liked it and we used every meal for 3 days. Only used 1.5 hoppers of pellets entire time.

I really love this grill. I used to have a full size Traeger, and I found that even with the cover, it was hard to keep it dry enough to not run into issues. And since I don't have space in my garage for a larger one, I set my sights on the portable Ranger. It has not disappointed me, and I've lost about 10 pounds in the month since I got it. i love using it so much, that I regularly grill chicken, shrimp, elk, bison, etc. No more frozen pizzas and sandwiches for dinner.It is pretty heavy, but I don't mind carrying it in and out of the garage. I run an extension cord out into my driveway, which also has convenient doors right from the kitchen, so it works well. It's the perfect grill for any situation where you're going to be out and about. Camping, tailgating...as long as you have the right power source setup, this thing will get the job done.I find that it's extremely simple to use this grill. You could not engineer a more simple electronic grilling device. It is easy to clean, the pellets burn at a reasonably slow rate, and the flavors are just epic. I highly recommend pairing this grill with the traeger brand seasonings. I love them. I also recommend the drip pan liners, as they are a lot easier to clean up than aluminum foil, which tends to burn at high temperatures in this grill.I haven't had any issues whatsoever, and I find keeping it stored in the garage, and carrying outside when needed is a really convenient arrangement for me. I would not recommend keeping it inside your house, unless you want the house to smell like barbecue all the time. Just remember to let the grill to go through its cool down cycle before powering down, and always give yourself plenty of time to let the grill cool off before you pick it up and carry it.

OVER ALL THIS IS A DECENT SMOKER FOR 1-2 PEOPLE. IV'E COOKED ON IT MANY TIMES OVER THE LAST 6 WEEKS. BURGERS, CHICKEN, STEAK,,ETC.. THE 2 THINGS, THE HOT SPOTS ARE HOT, AND THE TEMPERATURE CONTROL SEEMS TO RUN 5-10 DEGREES HOTTER THAN THE DIAL....BUT, THE FLAVOR! omg