u/Difficult_Sea_8841

Like many of you, I have been searching the interwebs looking to find the best pellet grill on the market that does not cost as much as a used car. I wanted to dabble with pellet grilling to see what it was about and got a cheap used Pit Boss Austin xl and was SHOCKED at how much I actually liked it. Yes, it is not a deep smoke flavor, but nothing was ever dry, plus my wife felt so comfortable using it that she let me stay in the pool on the 4th of July and made the wings herself. We have used it most of the time all summer so far.

I was debating Weber (I am a Weber guy), Rec Teq, and Camp Chef. I settled on the Weber Searwood, but at $1,400, I waited to see if a sale would come. In the meantime, I continued to browse and came across some info about the Members Mark Pro. Unfortunately, there were very few reviews of it and wanted to contribute to the information out there that I relied on and so many others do too, so here is another review.

At first, I dismissed it, as it was an unknown brand and I have gone through too many disposable grills in my day and figured "nah". I then saw one review of it and saw it has a smoke box, double steal insulation, 900 inches of cooking, an induction burner/shelf, and the most underrated feature of heavy pellet grills, 4 wheels instead of 2 on the Searwood.

Sam's had this sale for $393. At $1,000 less than the Searwood AND Sam's following Costco's return policy if it sucked, I impulse bought one. I can get the Weber another time if I still want it. I had to get a membership and upgrade it to get free shipping (without the upgrade, it was $160 for shipping and upgrade was $80), and included the 3 year Allstate Warranty delivered to my door for just over $500 total.

It came early and I began building it (I am off for one more week as an educator). The instructions are clear, and has an app to show you 3D images showing how parts fit if needed. I am used to paper instructions and just followed those. It suggests two people and estimates an hour to assemble. I was alone and have a physical disability that affects my motor skills, so some of the screws were tricky for me, but easy peasy for the vast majority of people. I got it done in 3 (with a break for lunch and to get out of the heat for a minute by myself.

I am impressed. The firebox has a stainless steel cover that is actually heavy duty which my Pit Boss doesn't have and the heat deflector is solid and firm, unlike my Pit Boss that is thin metal that I can fold in half if I chose to by hand. The double walls are not cheap either. It wheeled well and is firm with the bottom shelf maintaining the structure of the legs. In a side by side with my Pit Boss, I noticed the lid shaped more oval and giving the MM more room for food on the top shelf. The grates sit higher than the Pit Boss, but not as high as my Weber Genesis (of course I will keep my Weber gas and kettle). The lid is actually thicker than the Weber Genesis because of the double insulation. It can use a front table, which is not an available option that I know of.

The hopper is the same size as the PB, but the safety grate is lower, but still keeps from putting hands in the auger. This is good because I won't have to use a metal skewer or stick to push pellets toward the auger when a tunnel forms and can just push with my hand. It also has a knob to pull to release the pellets to change them out. PB required unscrewing a nut and sliding out the release.

The controls begin at the lowest at 200 and go up by 5 degrees. I did the burn in for about an hour at 400 as the instructions said to. I used a white kitchen towel that I soaked in water to wipe the grates. HOLY CRAP! I had to ring it out and try again. It was black with the soot it burned off. NEVER skip this step!! I loaded the wood chunk box as well and it was all burnt to ashes.

I got a tomahawk steak to break it in with. Set the smoker down to 250 from 400. This is where I found the first issue to work around. The smoker maintained that heat for over 30 minutes. The smoker read it was set at 250, but the temp was closer to 300 according to my ChefIQ Wireless probe with ambient. I adjusted by bumping it down to 200 again, opening the lid for a while, and it began to maintain 250-260 after a little while. This is similar to when my kamado went over temp and with double insulation retaining the heat so well, it was difficult to bring back down. Though, this was FAR easier than the kamado.

The tomahawk cooked well. It had some unintended sear from the grates during the cook and I used the side induction burner with a cast iron pan for the reverse sear. THIS was an unexpected surprise for me. Excellent sear. In the end of my one day with this grill, I am very happy with the purchase so far. I plan a pork butt later today into overnight and can update if anyone has questions they would like to ask.

Things it is missing are wifi (I have wifi ChefIQ and wired Thermoworks Smoke probes anyway), and an easy ash dump and cleanup. This is the same issue with my PB and most pellet smokers I read about in my search. Other than that, I am not missing anything so far. If this thing lasts, and I have nothing leading me to think it won't, it is the deal of the year for me! If not...well...Weber will be called in and I didn't lose out too much.

This is my first review. Please be kind in responses.