Traeger
Traeger Ironwood XL
The Ironwood XL is the standard Ironwood stretched from 616 to 924 sq in; controller, touchscreen, sealed chamber, pellet sensor and grease keg are all identical. Against the Timberline above it, it gives up the third rack, the induction side cooktop and the stainless build for $1,500. Against the Woodridge Elite at the same money, it trades the gas burner for the touchscreen controller and the better-sealed chamber.
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Specifications
Features
Pros
- ✓924 sq in is 50% more grate than the standard Ironwood for $200
- ✓Sealed, gasketed chamber holds temperature in wind better than the Woodridge family's simpler lid
- ✓Touchscreen plus two wired probes, with Traeger's app handling multi-probe alarms
- ✓Digital pellet sensor warns before the hopper runs out, a real feature on overnight cooks
- ✓EZ-Clean grease and ash keg empties both waste streams into one container
- ✓10-year warranty
Cons
- ✗3.6 out of 5 across 151 reviews on Traeger's own store — the weakest owner score in the current Traeger line, largely firmware and controller complaints
- ✗500°F ceiling, so it is a smoker that grills rather than a grill that smokes
- ✗243 lbs — the heaviest grill in the Traeger line short of the Timberlines, and not something to wheel across grass
- ✗22 lb hopper is smaller than the 24 lb Woodridge despite costing more
- ✗No side burner or sear station at a price where the Woodridge Elite includes one
Owner Insightssummarized from owner discussions
The Ironwood XL is the Ironwood stretched to 924 square inches, and it exists for people who cook in quantity. That comes through clearly in what owners actually do with it: six nine-pound pork butts at once for a sixty-person party, a run of butts for a graduation with a hundred guests, four briskets as a paid job, and one university tailgate coordinator feeding a couple of hundred people because running his offset is not affordable. Nobody complains about the size. What they complain about, or rather agonise about before buying, is whether a Traeger is worth Traeger money, and these threads are full of people talking themselves into and out of it while a chorus recommends a Recteq instead.
The cooking itself gets good reports. The current generation appears to have fixed the thin smoke that owners criticised on the old Ironwood, to the point that buyers are told they will not need Super Smoke to get flavour, and owners running long cooks with it on describe the best bark they have produced. The double-wall body handles cold weather, the 165F floor and downdraft exhaust are real advantages over rivals starting at 180F, and the pellet sensor and easy hopper emptying matter on overnight cooks. Against that sit the two failure modes that dominate the owner threads: WiFi pairing that can defeat a competent person with a new mesh router and a dedicated 2.4GHz network, and ignition faults that trip a GFCI outlet, which took one owner's overnight cook down at 3am with a year of trouble-free use behind it. Temperature swings of about 20F are normal, the fan is loud enough that new owners ask about it, and Traeger's own recipe times can be off by hours.
It suits someone who regularly cooks for crowds, already has something else for searing, and values the app and the cleanup system enough to pay for them. The comparison owners run most often is against the Recteq Flagship, which is cheaper, stainless, claims a much higher top temperature and has a support reputation people volunteer without being asked; the Traeger answers with the insulated chamber, the pellet sensor, Super Smoke and a ten-year warranty. Buy it on one of the frequent discounts rather than at list, since owners report $1,000 sale prices, $660 floor models with full warranty, and auction finds at a quarter of retail.
What owners like
- +Capacity is the whole reason to buy this one and it delivers. Owners fit six 9 lb pork butts on it for a sixty-person party, pack in butts for a hundred-guest graduation, run four briskets for a paid cook, and one tailgate coordinator feeds a couple of hundred people off it because he cannot afford to run his offset.
- +The current generation smokes harder than the Ironwoods that came before it. Buyers researching it report the new models putting out enough smoke that Super Smoke is no longer mandatory, which is a direct reversal of the main complaint about the previous Ironwood, and owners running Super Smoke for a full ten-hour beef rib cook describe getting the best bark they have managed on any cut.
- +The double-wall body is why buyers in Toronto and the Midwest short-list it against a single-wall Recteq. That, the pellet sensor and being able to swap pellets out of the hopper between cooks are the three advantages owners list when they write out the comparison themselves.
- +The 165F floor plus the downdraft exhaust is a real point of difference against rivals that start at 180F, and buyers choosing it over a Recteq specifically cite the low end and the airflow design as their reason for expecting better smoke.
- +It is simple enough that reluctant household members use it. One buyer chose it precisely because his wife values simplicity above everything and dislikes his kamado, which is a use case the app and touchscreen genuinely serve.
- +The discounts are large and frequent. Owners report buying at $1,000 on sale, one grabbed a perfect-condition floor model with full warranty and accessories for $660, and one found one at a local auction for a quarter of retail.
Common complaints
- −WiFi setup defeats people. One owner tried to pair it before putting a single pellet in the hopper and spent hours across multiple support agents on a grill that connects to the network and then reports it cannot detect the internet, with no option but to abort and retry. He replaced his router with a new mesh system, built a standalone 2.4GHz network, reinstalled the app, and moved the grill to within fifteen feet with line of sight. It still failed.
- −Electrical shutdowns during ignition come up more than once. One owner's grill died three hours into an overnight cook the night before the Super Bowl, dropped to 90F internal, and then tripped the GFCI outlet a minute or two into every reignition attempt. It was just over a year old and had been faultless until then.
- −Swings of around 20F either side of the set temperature are what owners report and what other owners tell them is normal. It is not a fault, but it is worth knowing if you expected the touchscreen number to be the actual number.
- −Traeger's own recipe times can be badly wrong. An owner cooking the app's chipotle pork butt at 225F in mild weather was told 4 to 6 hours to reach 160F internal and was still at 150F after seven, with the app's temperature readings otherwise tracking correctly.
- −The fan is audible enough that new owners ask whether something is broken. Nothing is, but it is not a quiet cooker, and one owner who tried swapping in a high-quality computer fan to change the airflow found it made temperature control worse and abandoned the experiment.
- −The 500F ceiling means it smokes rather than grills, and buyers comparing it to a Recteq that claims 700F give that up knowingly. Owners keep a gas grill or a charcoal cooker alongside for searing.
- −It carries the whole Traeger reputation problem. Buyers arrive already anxious about paying for the badge, and the alternatives named in every one of these threads are a Recteq Flagship in stainless for less, a Camp Chef Woodwind Pro with a wood chunk box, a Pitts and Spitts Maverick for American-made stainless, or a Yoder if the budget stretches.
Common Questions
How many people can it actually feed?
Ironwood XL or a Recteq?
Why won't it connect to my WiFi?
Is a 20 degree temperature swing normal?
Can I trust Traeger's recipe times?
Should I be worried if it trips my outlet?
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