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There’s nothing like being able to set up your grill to smoke a pork roast, savory ribs, or even baking a pie in the summer or winter! One of the newest technologies on the market when it comes to outdoor cooking is pellet grills.
Several popular brands have put smoker grills on the market – and two of the most prominent are Pit Boss and Green Mountain Grills.
Before heading out to purchase a new unit, we’ve got some details when it comes to these pellet grill brands. We’ve created a complete comparison of Pit Boss vs Green Mountain pellet grills right here! So you’ve come to the right place if you’re trying to decide which is better for you between the two.
Pit Boss vs Green Mountain – Brand Overviews
Pit Boss
Pit Boss is a subsidiary of Dansons, Inc. which was started by Dan Thiessen and his two sons.
Their overall mission is to make grills that offer more value per square inch than any other grill on the market. They desire to create community and gathering space around outdoor cooking and backyard barbecues.
What they’ve ended up with a line of grills that range from small and designed for camping and tailgating to bigger, heftier grills that are better left in the backyard! No matter which end of the spectrum you’re looking at, one thing remains the same – great value in terms of cost per square inch of cooking surface area.
Their company does offer other types of grills (like kamado grills and more) but with the expansion of the pellet grills in the outdoor cooking market, their business has taken a distinct turn toward creating and improving on the pellet grill to make it more accessible to more people.
Green Mountain Grills
Green Mountain and their founders discovered that cooking with pellets in their grill made for some mean meats and foods! But the grill they had needed improvements so they set out to make it a better experience for themselves and in turn, created something their customers loved as well
The grills the company turns out are quality but don’t break the bank when you go to purchase one for your home or backyard. When focusing on using pellets in grilling, it all comes back to taste. The pellets allow for the greater flavor to be absorbed into the meat. Propane has no taste to infuse and the way that charcoal briquettes are made destroys the flavor of the wood that they’re made from.
Green Mountain Grills have also been working with technology to allow you to set the temperature of your grill and walk away with a remote in hand that you can monitor the temperature and adjust it as needed. They offer a wide range of grill types including smaller ones as well as heavy hitters that can practically roast a whole hog!
Pit Boss vs Green Mountain Grills – Side by Side
When it comes to the brands and companies in general, the two types and styles of grills not exactly the same even though they share similarities.
Pit Boss’ are often heavier built and can be more expensive. They’re known and utilized as a family-style grill or smoker and have even been featured in some master smoker and grilling competitions.
Green Mountain grills are in a slightly more affordable bracket and can be found at lots of farm and home or box chain stores. They come in a variety of sizes from small, almost individual grills to larger ones – but they are probably most well known for their portable pellet grill.
Both use the same types of pellets and have a smoke feature so that you can smoke or grill your next meal for the family or block party!
Pricing
When it comes to a grill, unless you’re looking to pick up a super cheap charcoal grill, you’ll want to budget and plan to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars on this purchase. The bigger, heavier pellet grills will run you upwards of $1,000 while the smaller ones can typically cost between $350 and $500.
Pit Boss Pellet Grills are usually in the middle of the price spectrum for just about all of their sizes of grills. These are heavier duty than other types of grills so you should expect to pay for the competition qualify for the grill itself.
Green Mountain Grills have made a business by making themselves accessible to even the most novices of pellet grill users. You can pick up a Green Mountain grill for low prices – the smaller ones will run in the $300 range. These are a much more typical backyard style and size so the price is lower all the way around.
Let’s get to the specific grills on our list!
- 1,158 sq. in. of cooking surface area
- 32 pound pellet hopper capacity
- Temperature range of 180-500ºF
If you’re looking for something a little bit bigger and a little bit heftier, this grill should do the trick! The 850 series from Pit Boss features, 8-in-1 cooking features that allow you to smoke, bake, braise, roast, grill, barbecue, chargrill, and sear all on the same cooktop.
The heating range for this grill runs between 180 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also flip between direct and indirect heat with a sliding plate flame broiler. Rather than just smoke or grill through the use of indirect heat, this design allows you to open up the plate so that your meat can be seared on the open flame underneath.
Change the heat and temperature with the digital control board and the included stainless steel meat probes to allow you to set the temperature and walk away. This is a heavier grill than the Green Mountain Grill and it’s not nearly as portable! This is a great grill if you’re cooking for a group and has a large cooking space as well as a huge pellet hopper.
Specs:
- Voltage: 110-120V
- Weight: 164 pounds
- Dimensions: 57.9” H x 47” W x 37” D
- Surface cooking area: 879 sq. in.
- Hopper capacity: 27 pounds
Green Mountain Grill
This is one of the most popular options from the Green Mountain Grill line and is more readily available at box stores like Target and Walmart. This is a smaller grill that is a great go-to for the smaller families, campers, and tailgaters. Overall, you can typically cook a couple of racks of ribs or 4-6 nice steaks for anyone who’s come over for a meal!
The Davy Crockett is equipped with the GMG Smart Control that allows you to control the temperature of your grill from inside your house or even from the GMG app on your phone. The temperatures on this grill range from 150-550 degrees Fahrenheit so you can cook something low and slow or heat things and sear steaks quickly.
If you want something portable to take on your next adventure, this is a great option! It can run on a 12V or 120AC so you can use it at home or on the go. The grill also only weighs 68 pounds and has foldable legs so it will even ride safely in the trunk of a car.
Specs:
- Voltage: 12V
- Weight: 57 pounds
- Dimensions with legs open: 31.75” H x 34” W x 23” D
- Surface cooking area: 256 sq in.
- Hopper capacity: 9 lbs of pellets
Pit Boss Classic 700
This is another heavy-hitting grill that can cook up to 32 burgers at a time! So if you’re planning to host a party at your house for the whole neighborhood this is the grill for you.
When it comes to value per square inch, this is one of the best value grills on the market. This classic Pit Boss grill offers up 700 square inches of cook space in the 8-in-1 style much like the Pit Boss Navigator 850.
This is a grill that’s meant to last through thousands of burgers, hundreds of racks of ribs, and as many steaks as you can stomach. You can smoke, bake, roast, sear, braise, barbecue, or char-grill to your heart’s content on this heavy duty steel grill.
Specs:
- Voltage: 110-120V
- Weight:120 pounds
- Dimensions: 44.25” H x 43.8” W x 26.66” D
- Surface cooking area: 700 sq. in.
- Hopper capacity: 21 pounds
Types of Grills – The Basics
Adding a grill to your house is one of the best and most fun investments you can make for yourself or your loved ones. Smoking, grilling, and searing meats, veggies, and all types of good things can be made on any type of grill but there are some serious pros and cons with each one.
So before settling on a specific pellet grill (which is the type we’ve talked about in this article), let’s go through some of the grill basics for each type to help you determine which is best for you.
Charcoal Grills
These are the most basic and many campers and homes have them readily available. The set up is simple: a grill bowl is filled with charcoals, lit, the grate returned, and the lid set on to keep the smoke and heat inside. Once the charcoals have settled to a smolder, your meats, veggies, and other foods are added.
One of the greatest draws to a charcoal grill is its portability. They’re often seen around camping sites and recreational vehicles because they don’t require electricity or have delicate machinery inside that could be damaged in transportation.
The downside of charcoal is a big one: it’s harder to control the temperature, especially when you are just getting the hang of things at first. The charcoal burns at its speed and depending on how you pour the charcoal, you may encounter serious hot and cold spots for the grate. It can also be hard to smoke meats as the charcoal doesn’t make much of the smoke.
Propane Grills
Propane grills (you might have heard of Weber before) have been on the market for decades and are a considerably easier to use than charcoal grills, although they don’t put off food with that traditional smoky flavor!
These grills are a step up in that they allow the user to directly change the temperature by adjusting the height of the flame and flow of the propane. The grates are directly above the open flame which allows your meal or meat to sear or smoke to perfection.
The downside of propane grills is that they directly open up the propane tank to start the flame. Propane itself is relatively safe but using it with an open flame can be tricky. Too much can start a fire that will blaze out of control and leaving the propane tank open after the grill has been shut off can allow dangerous fumes to build up in the area which any spark can ignite.
These grills can still be portable and moving the propane tanks from place to place is relatively safe. The interior mechanisms that run the grill itself can be a little delicate so moving it around in the back of a truck or recreational vehicle may damage the interior workings if not set up safely.
Pellet Grills
These grills are relatively new to the market but have grown in popularity in recent years! Rather than utilize propane or charcoal, the grill instead has a hot pot with a heated rod inside. An auger rotates wood pellets into the hot pot with the heated rod which ignites the pellets and sets them smoldering. Pellet grills start in little time and the temperature can be easily adjusted to suit the needs of the food being cooked!
Pellet grills are electric so all they need is an electrical outlet to start and run. You can also purchase the pellets at any big box or farm and home store in a variety of flavors that give your meat and meal a different taste! One of the best features of a pellet grill is that they’re designed not just to grill but also to smoke or sear. By choosing a specific flavored pellet, your meat will have a unique taste like Applewood or maple.
While they don’t need much to run and are easy to use, pellet grills’ internal structure is a bit delicate. The auger and electrical areas located on the external part of the grill need to be protected from the elements as much as possible. But pellet grills, unlike charcoal or propane, work well even in colder temperatures so you can smoke and grill as much as you want all year long!
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Final Thoughts
There are a lot of different features that you want to be on the lookout for when searching for a new grill. Keep in mind the versatility of the grill, the overall cooking area, and the hopper capacity when you’re on the hunt for a pellet grill.
Pellet grills are insanely easy to use and operate for even the most novice grill masters! Whether you’re cooking for just the family or throwing on 30 burgers for the entire neighborhood, you can’t go wrong with a pellet grill. Rather than worry about open flames with charcoal or propane, pellet grills offer a safe way to cook or smoke your favorite meals.
Both Pit Boss and Green Mountain Grills are an investment worth making if you want to start using a pellet grill. The Green Mountain Grill on this list is more portable and is smaller overall. Both Pit Boss grills are much larger and more durable, offering 8-in-1 cooking over extremely large cook areas. For the cost, the Pit Boss grills make for a better deal but the portability of the Green Mountain Grill makes it an intriguing purchase.
Whether you want something you can take to each home game and grill up some brats or you want a larger grill that will feed your whole family, investing in a Pit Boss or Green Mountain Grill is well worth your time and money!
