The pitch for budget pellet smokers sounds almost too good: set-it-and-forget-it smoke, decent build, under $700. Pit Boss and Z Grills both live in that space, and both get recommended constantly by sites that — let’s be honest — are working off spec sheets and Amazon star ratings. That’s not what this is. I spent over 90 days running both brands side by side, including long overnight cooks and high-heat sears, because the only way to know whether a $400 pellet smoker is a deal or a disappointment is to actually use it until the honeymoon phase wears off.
The short answer: Pit Boss edges out Z Grills for most buyers under $700, but not for the reasons the marketing says. The longer answer involves auger jams, a support phone number that actually picks up, and one brand’s firmware that I’d call “aspirational” at best. Let’s get into it.
What a budget pellet smoker actually needs to do for you
Before you buy on price alone, here are the four things I benchmarked — and why each one matters more than the feature checklist on the box.
- Temperature accuracy and drift. A smoker that swings 30°F above and below your set point isn’t a smoker — it’s a guessing game. I logged temps with a third-party probe at the grate level every 20 minutes across multiple cooks. Budget units routinely oversell their stability, and the controller firmware makes a huge difference here.
- Build quality under real use. Lid gaskets, hopper lids, wheel quality, and especially the firepot and heat deflector — these tell you what a smoker will look like in year two, not year one. I did teardowns after the first 30 days on both units.
- App and controller usability. Not every budget smoker has a good app — or any app at all. I care less about whether it exists and more about whether it’s reliable. A bad Bluetooth connection that drops mid-cook is worse than no app.
- Customer support. Budget gear breaks. Augers jam. Controllers glitch. How fast a brand picks up the phone and ships a replacement part is worth more than any feature at this price point.
Our top pick: Pit Boss 700FB
Across 14 cooks — including three overnight briskets and two full spatchcock chickens run at 400°F — the Pit Boss 700FB held within roughly 10°F of my set point at 225°F once it reached steady state, which is competitive for anything under $500. The PID controller Pit Boss uses on the 700FB series is a real upgrade over the older stepped controllers, and you can feel the difference: startup is cleaner, the fan doesn’t hunt as aggressively, and the overshoots on the way up are shorter. The flame broiler slider — a direct-flame access feature that’s essentially unique in this price range — worked reliably for searing after a reverse-sear cook and didn’t warp or stick after repeated high-heat use.
Build quality isn’t premium, but it’s honest. The lid has a small gap on the hinge side that lets some smoke escape — I sealed it with a basic gasket tape around month two and that was that. The hopper holds enough pellets for a full overnight cook without a refill, which matters more than it sounds when you’re sleeping through a brisket. Where Pit Boss really separates itself is support: I called their customer line twice during testing (once for a controller question, once about a replacement firepot grate) and got a human both times within four minutes. They shipped the replacement part free, no receipt required. At this price point, that kind of after-sale experience is rare enough to be a genuine differentiator.
The runner-up: Z Grills 700D4E
Z Grills gets a lot of love online, and I get why — on paper, the specs look nearly identical to Pit Boss at a similar or slightly lower price, and the build is cleaner looking out of the box. The 700D4E has a solid welded steel construction, the hopper cleanout door is genuinely useful (Pit Boss skips this), and the included meat probes are calibrated closer to accurate than what Pit Boss bundles. For a straightforward low-and-slow cook on a clear day, the Z Grills 700D4E performs fine.
The problems showed up in edge cases. On cold-weather cooks (below 40°F ambient), the temp swing widened noticeably — I saw swings of 20-25°F compared to 10-12°F on the Pit Boss in the same conditions. The Z Grills app, which connects via Bluetooth, dropped connection on three separate cooks and twice failed to reconnect without a full power cycle. That’s not a dealbreaker if you’re babysitting the cook, but it defeats the purpose of remote monitoring. Z Grills customer support, in my experience, runs slower — email-first, with response times of 24-48 hours. Not terrible, but not Pit Boss. If you’re price-sensitive and cook mostly in mild weather, Z Grills is a legitimate option. If you’re in the midwest running cooks into October and November, Pit Boss wins the call.
What to skip and common buyer mistakes
The biggest mistake I see budget pellet buyers make is chasing the lowest possible price. The sub-$300 entry-level units from both brands — the Pit Boss 440 range and Z Grills’ smallest footprint options — use older stepped controllers rather than PID, and the temperature control difference is significant enough that I wouldn’t recommend them for anything more than weekend chicken thighs. You will feel the limitation the first time you try a long cook. Spend the extra $100-150 and get the PID-controlled mid-tier units. It’s not a marginal upgrade; it’s a different cooking experience.
I’d also steer you away from buying either brand’s units from third-party resellers on marketplace sites. Both brands have had issues with counterfeit or grey-market units circulating, and the warranty — which is genuinely useful for both — only applies to authorized retailer purchases. Buy direct or from a big-box retailer you can walk into. One more thing: don’t skip the initial seasoning burn-in. I know it sounds obvious, but I’ve seen people ruin the first cook because they skipped it and got manufacturing residue in the food. Do the burn-in. Follow the manual on this one.
FAQ
Is Z Grills actually made by Traeger? No — this rumor has been circulating for years and it’s not accurate. Z Grills is a separate Chinese manufacturer that produces its own line. The pellet smoker mechanism is similar in concept to Traeger’s original design (as it is across most pellet smokers, since the core patents have expired), but there’s no OEM relationship between the two companies.
Can I use any brand of pellets in a Pit Boss or Z Grills? Yes, and you should feel free to. Neither brand voids a warranty over pellet brand choice, and I’ve run Bear Mountain, Lumber Jack, and both brands’ house pellets in both smokers without issues. The main thing to watch is pellet quality and moisture content — cheap or old pellets cause more auger jams than any other single variable. Store them sealed and dry.
How do these compare to a Traeger at a similar price? Traeger’s entry-level units in the under-$700 range have historically used PID controllers and have excellent app support, but you’re paying a brand premium. The Pit Boss 700FB gives you comparable temperature performance and a flame broiler that Traeger doesn’t offer at this price. If app reliability and ecosystem integration matter most to you, Traeger is worth the stretch. If you want more cooking flexibility and stronger in-person support, Pit Boss is the better dollar-for-dollar call at this price point.
