Bradley or Traeger portable? Which one should go buy?

Wildfire

Wildfire

Well-Known Member
R.O.C. (Radio Operator's Certificate)
1658070462229.png vs. 1658070525270.png??

Help me out here guys. I'm looking for something easy to use, requires minimal supervision and will hopefully last a long time. I want something small only for smoking fish since I'll still be using the gas grill primarily for BBQing. Needs to be small and somewhat portable since I'd like to put it in the shed when not in use. I know the Bradley hits all the marks but I'm really not super thrilled about being locked into buying the Bradley pucks. With the Trager you can use different fuel sources right, or does it have to be Traeger pellets? Just some noob questions but are the wood pellets the only fuel or does it require charcoal or something as well? Do you have to light it with starter fluid and a lighter or something?

Or am I best considering something else? My only other requirement is no propane.

Thank you!
 
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Wildfire said:
Yes?... what?

Downvoted... 😂
Click to expand...

You obviously aren't a dark side member. :rolleyes:;)

I'm gonna get boo"d here, I don't think the Treager will smoke at a low enough temp if you figure on smoking below 160-165*

Burns anybody's food grade pellets and nothing else, but requires a source of hydro to operate.

No wood chips no charcoal no starter fluid required or permitted.

Plug it in, fill hopper with pellets, set the temperature and push ignite. Bingo!

Yeah the Bradley forces you to use pucks but it can run at lower temps than the Traeger.

Depends on how you want to smoke your stuff.
🌻
 
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Pellet grill... use any brand of wood pellets. Traeger doesn't require any added fuel source or starter. Fill up the hopper with pellets, set it and forget it. If you EVER might like a smoked brisket or something other than fish , don't choose something that rules out those options.

If you're only going to smoke fish, what about a much cheaper chip-based smoker like Little Chief or similar?
 
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I have both units, one being a non-digital Bradley, and the other being the Trager Pro780. The Bradley is night & day better for flavour than the Traeger, and reaches lower temperatures which facilitates fish well. the Traeger is easy to use, and versatile as it will cook at typical BBQ temperatures.

For heat source - the Bradley is 20 min per puck no matter what, as it’s got an additional heater beyond the pucks. When it’s cold out, you will fly through pellets on the Traeger because it’s using them for heat. Gets expensive fast.

My recommendation - buy a digital Bradley smoker.
 
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@stomp Actually I may adventure to chicken wings or like a rack of ribs or something, but I can do those on the bbq too and always have. Fish is the main desire.

With a cheaper option like you mentioned is it still a semi-automated process? I don’t want to have to be constantly checking the temperature and fiddling with it.
 
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Wildfire said:
Imagine not being able to cook dinner because of a Rogers outage…

I’m good with console access only in this case. 😬
Click to expand...

Speaking of Rogers 🤮

Ignite down again here. :mad:🤬

The Treager will still work, you just can't use the app to control it.

If you have Meaters they'll still work with the app other than Cloud sharing. 🌻
 
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Traeger for versatility and pellets are cheaper than Bradley’s biscuits. Pellets are the fuel source. They ignite in a burn pot using a hot rod igniter and a fan. Then an auger feeds the burn pot with pellets.
 
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