Portable Wood Pellet Grills 900°F，Smoker with Viewing Window – 8-in-1 BBQ, Digital Control, LED Screen, Temperature Control, Meat Probe，Bake and Roast, Ideal for Camping, RV, Beach Backyard

I was considering the Traeger Ranger Portable because my friends use Traeger smokers, and it was the first one I was exposed to. I figured, why not stick with what I know? I’ve heard more positives than negatives about Traeger, but the biggest downside was the price—it runs about $550. When searching on Amazon for portable smokers, I found quite a few options. After reading reviews, I narrowed it down to the Traeger Ranger and the Hello Dr. smoker. Here’s the breakdown: • Traeger Ranger: Comes with a cast iron skillet and grill grate. • Hello Dr.: Doesn’t include a cast iron skillet but offers similar smoker space and functionality. • Both: Require 110V power. Ultimately, price was the deciding factor. The Hello Dr. was half the price of the Traeger and still had all the same capabilities (minus the skillet). After Purchase: Setting up the Hello Dr. smoker was simple. Initially, the temperature was a bit erratic, but I had manually scooped in more pellets than normal. After about 15 minutes, the temperature stabilized and held steady at the set point. Cons: • There’s a constant low sound—it’s not annoying, but noticeable (like a "wha wha wha"). • The fan kicks on occasionally, and it’s a bit loud. • The build quality seems excellent quality [except the fan] and everything else is comparable to the Traeger Ranger, but at half the price. Final Thoughts: I’m very happy with this purchase. The Hello Dr. doesn’t pour out smoke like some other smokers I have seen, and it provides steady heat and works great. I also love the look—I chose the model with the separate red heat shield because it stands out. At half the price of the Traeger Ranger, it’s a solid choice for anyone looking for a budget-friendly portable smoker that gets the job done.

I love this grill. The first thing I grilled was two thick T-bone steaks. I marinated the over one day and grilled them with two sweet Potatoes and they came out wonderfully. Tender, juicy and smoky. I always felt pellet grills were overrated but this one is great! Easy and quick to assemble. Dead easy to operate.

Used the smoker for the first time to smoke a Brisket. Followed instructions to get first smoke. Everything thing worked fine. The next day, started up into an 11 hour smoke. Near the end of the cook, the black paint inside the lid was melting off. The highest my temperature got to was 240. I am unable to return due to over 30 days. I would not buy again. This should not happen to first smoke.

It's a great little unit for the price. Only issue is when you want to grill and set it for 350 or above, the grill will soar to 50 degrees over the setting as this is how it gets to twmp quickly. It does settle out, but just be aware of this.

Update: Product malfunction after 9 months. I contacted the company and they are shipping me a replacement product. They are honoring the one year guarantee. Great customer service. I would recommend them. Love how it works. Paint in places coming off in less than a few month of owning the grill.

I read the other reviews and people seem to either love it or hate it. Many cited very low quality. Other said it was great. I'm kind of on the fence. Here's my take, though. I will refer to the pics in order, Pic 1 - comes packed in a cardboard box with 1" styrofoam sheets to protect. In my opinion, this is a huge issue. My first unit arrived damaged. It is too heavy (nearly 50 pounds) to be protected by only this little packaging. This is the cause for a LOT of bad reviews. If they address this, they will get at least 1 or 2 stars more. Pic 2 - Lid comes with box with handle and other small items tucked inside. Pic 3 - Cooking grate and diffuser are inside. Pic 4 - Removed grate to see diffuser better Pic 5 - Pic showing fire pot. Extra box with feet for the unit. See fire pot has a small moveable cover. This opens to allow you to get ash from fire pot out through the bottom. Pic 6 - Pic of bottom of unit. Note legs installed. Center shows the rails for the ash tray and you can see the hole in the bottom that leads up to the fire pot. Shows how the ash can be brushed down in the ash tray Pic 7 - Purpose of pic is to show the heads of the screws are rubbed down. This is shipping damage from the poor packaging. There was nothing to keep the bottom protected. Pic 8 - Close up of hole from ash tray, up to the bottom of the fire pot. In the pic, I have the door closed in the fire pot. Pic 9 - Items that come in box in lid. The black tray is for the ashes. The silver one in back is the grease/drippings tray.. It goes in from the unit. See hole in upper right corner of pic 5 to see where it comes in. Also, the handle and the temp probe. Pic 10 - Intent of pic is to show the ash tray in place. There is quite a bit of play between it and the two riveted rails. It almost can fall out on it's own. Rails should have been place 1/4 closer together. Pic 11 - Example of poor workmanship. Silver tab on the side wall of the cooking area should have fit down flush. It didn't, but they riveted it anyway. This bent the tab. The tab up like that rubbed the finish off the bottom of the lid in the same spot. Tab was not trimmed to fit correctly. Also, see the tuft of white insulation between the front and side silver panel. This is heat insulation poking out through gap. This should have been a better fit and been adjusted before bolting down. Also at top of pic, see finish worn off the lid and box for the pellet hopper. Due to everything being riveted together while not square. Pic 12 - Hole in the heat shield where the right screw for the handle gets inserted. This is a little confusing. Handle comes with two short screws. You use one in the left side of the handle (above the hopper). The second you discard. The right side needs a single longer screw to screw through the shield and lid into the handle. Further details - My first unit was damaged. It had been dropped on the right side, which bent the lid out of square and crushed in the right side of the base. Replacement arrived in much better shape, but still with a LOT of workmanship issues. Fit and finish during assembly is horrible. Nothing was properly fit and squared before slapping it together. As a result, lots of places that pieces rubbed together during shipping (again, poor packaging contributed here). This caused a lot of worn/missing finish, scratches, etc. Lid is not very sturdy. Mine, like a LOT of reviews, did not sit square on the base. Three corners touched and there was 1/8 gap on 4th corner from closing. The lid was not square to the base. However, I was able to easily fix this. Loosen the 4 screws at the back, where the hinged arms hold the lid to the base. With the lid closed and some weight to keep it in place. retighten the screws. This also lets you shift it side to side to center is better on the base (both units I had had this WAY off, which led to the scraping on the side of the hopper. Even so, it still wasn't perfect, so I ended up pushing down on one side of the lid while raising on the other to literally bend the lid back into shape. After a few tries and tweaks, I got it to fit well enough and seal pretty tightly. If this were done at the factory, the shipping damage undid it, but I suspect they just bolted together whatever come to them on the line. Other issues with design - So besides workmanship, what's good/bad. Firepot and augur seem well done. Have not had a chance to cook yet to see if the timing on the augur holds temps to what the setting is. Will report back when I can on this. Hopper lid could be better. If lid is open on hopper and you try to close the main cover, it gets jammed on the hopper lid. Seems like a design solution could have been devised to prevent this. You can bend something if you aren't paying attention. Grease drip tray has an issue. With the tray in place, it makes a trough for drippings along the front and back sides. This follows the bent metal to a hole that lets it drip into the drippings tray. Two issues. If the diffuser/grease tray is put in (it fits loosely) and is pushed to the rear, you're OK. The dripping from the front of the tray will go in the dripping tray. However, if the tray is pushed to the front edge of the cooking box, there is enough room to let the drippings go through the hole and MISS the grease tray in the bottom, leaving a big mess and fire hazard around the firepot. Three causes. The grease tray is a little too short to reach all the way to the front. There is too much play in the diffuser tray. There is no metal diverter on the bottom of the diffuser hole to guide the dripping to the rear more, to prevent it from missing the grease tray. If nothing else, a piece of wire to allow the grease to move down the wire into the tray (I will be adding one on mine - this is reason I have not cooked on it yet. Lastly, this is WAY to heavy a unit to not have latches to hold the lid shut and some form of carrying handles. If it is still warm (or hot and an emergency), I don't know how you can move it to safety. Other brands have latches for the lid and most have some form of integrated handles (either on the lid or the sides. I am looking at modding mine to add something. Overall impression - for the most expensive thing I have reviewed, I expected more. However, it is not a disaster. I will be using for RVing and expect to get a LOT of use. I will update as I see what I can do with it. But at the same time, I get all the bad reviews. I would have expected more at this price point. Even if they have to charge $10 more, they need to invest in better packing and better assembly labor to make the product viable. Otherwise, I would have returned to get my money back. Just seems like mediocre execution all around. Disclaimer: I am reviewing this product as part of the Amazon Vine program. I received the product at a highly reduced cost (I still have to pay taxes on the full regular price) for my honest, unbiased review. If I gave the product 4 or 5 stars, it is because I was pleasantly surprised with the product. If I gave it less than that, I will tell you exactly why and what problems I encountered. Unless noted, this is an initial review from using for a limited amount of time, and not full blown lab-grade controlled testing. YMMV. Sorry, but I try to be as accurate and complete as possible, so this is likely at the end of a longer than usual review. I hope you find it helpful, though. Other 1/2 point deduction for a really dumb brand name. At least learn where the period belongs.

I did a pork butt 18 hours had the hopper filled to the top and lasted 18 hours I am amazed I have a Pit Boss smoker at home and it uses way more this thing also does Smoke on the smoke setting I don't know what other people were saying with it not smoking after they used it the first time but it's still smokes great purchase for the price