Traeger Timberline 850 Review: Can Your Smartphone Make A Grill Better?

I’m not a grilling master like Forbes contributor Larry Olmsted. But I spend a lot of time in my back yard, year-round (even in three or four feet of snow), manning Weber and Napoleon grills in my semi-enclosed “BBQ pit.” A portable grill comes camping with us every year, and serves as a backup in case I have an army to feed. I have charcoal and propane covered, but I’ve never had the opportunity to cook on a true wood burning grill.

Traeger approached me to see if I would be interested in a long-term review of its Timberline 850 wood pellet grill. I jumped on the opportunity, not just because of the wood pellet angle, but also because this review is actually in my primary wheelhouse. The Timberline 850 is Wi-Fi connected and turns your smartphone into a remote. A smart grill, if you will.

The Timberline 850 already got a nod from Larry, making it to his list of top grills last summer. But I really wanted to find out if the wood pellet system lived up to its billing, and whether bringing a smartphone into the equation actually makes for a better grill, as opposed to being a feature tacked on to make it sound more high-tech. In short, is the Traeger Timberline 850 actually worth its $1699.99 retail price?

Assembly and Initial Impressions

I’ve learned the assembly stage can tell you a lot about what to expect in the long term from a grill. And the Timberline 850 was awfully impressive at this stage. The review unit arrived on a pallet --a first for a grill, in my experience. That was partially because the company included several bags of wood pellets and an assortment of rubs and sauces (all available at retailers or online direct from Traeger). But the Timberline 850 itself weighs 213 pounds. 

The parts and hardware were clearly labelled, and the assembly was relatively straightforward. The company recommends a second person to help out due to the weight, but I was able to put it together myself without much fuss. This grill is definitely built to last. The legs alone probably weigh more than my gas grill!

Once assembled, the Timberline 850 is a large and imposing looking grill, with lots of useful work surfaces, 850 square inches of cooking surface (enough for eight rib racks or nine chickens) spread across three adjustable levels, a 24 pound pellet hopper, and the integrated WiFIRE controller. 

And this is where technology starts to come into play. Once assembled, one of the first steps was to connect the grill to my Wi-Fi network, using Traeger’s smartphone app (free for iOS and Android). There is something surreal about checking your Wi-Fi network map and seeing not just the usual PCs, smartphones, game consoles, wireless speakers and smart lights showing up, but also a grill...

A Quick Word on Wood Pellets

The Timberline 850 was already a technological marvel to me without the Wi-Fi connectivity. It has to be plugged in to an electrical outlet, and that power is used to control a motorized auger that delivers wood pellets to a surprisingly compact fire pot. A “hot rod” provides the high temperature to ignite the pellets, and based on the temperature you dial in, the feed of pellets is adjusted. The entire cooking barrel is sealed and with its built-in fan, acts as a convection oven, evenly distributing heat and smoke across all the cooking surfaces.  

Traeger sells the hardwood pellets in big box stores and online, in a variety of flavors including Hickory, Mesquite and Apple. In terms of cost of operation, the Timberline 850 hopper consumes pellets at a fairly slow rate when cooking at  low temperatures, but the rate increases significantly when you dial the thermostat up (the company says anywhere from one to three pounds per hour). Over the course of several months of cookouts --weighted toward low temperature cooking, with short bursts of heat for searing-- I averaged around one 20lb bag of pellets for every two to three sessions. At $18.99 for a bag, that makes this wood pellet grill more expensive to operate than my charcoal or propane grills, but not dramatically so.

I did discover one potential downside to the wood pellet approach. Leave it outdoors (it was snowing here when the shipment was dropped off and I wasn’t able to unpack everything immediately), and if water gets into a bag of pellets they will absorb it, swell up and turn into what is effectively an incredibly heavy bag of wet concrete. That’s easily avoided, though --store the pellets indoors.

Traeger WiFIRE

All Traeger grills --from portable table top models, to commercial versions-- are wood pellet grills. So the Timberline 1850 isn’t unique in that regard. What really sets it aside are features like its TRU convection system and especially the integrated WiFIRE connectivity.

Once connected to your Wi-Fi network, WiFIRE means your smartphone completely frees you from the task of grill temperature maintenance. This may not sound like much, but it is a big deal, especially when smoking meat over the course of a day.

For example, here’s what’s involved in smoking pork back ribs using my charcoal grill. The night before, I soak a bucket of wood chips. I fire up the grill in the morning and once the coals are established, work with the air vent system to try to get it around 225 degrees. The ribs go on the grill, and a handful of wood chips are tossed on the coals to generate smoke. Every 20 minutes or so for the next six hours, I have to walk out to the back yard “BBQ pit” to add charcoal, adjust the vent to keep the temperature low (it can quickly take off to 300 degrees or more if not watched closely), and continually add wood chips to keep the smoke coming. For the last 30 minutes, I build the fire up, sauce the ribs and caramelize them.

The results are usually good, but it’s very time consuming. Realistically, I can’t leave the house. And if the temperature drops or increases without being caught it can either stretch the cooking time or make the meat tough.

Using the Timberline 850 with its WiFIRE connectivity truly revolutionized my process.

Once the grill was started up and the meat was on, I set the temperature at 225 degrees and left it to do its thing. The motorized auger and thermostat worked in concert to maintain temperature, automatically feeding pellets to the fire pot as needed. Better yet, I did not have to be physically present to check that temperature, change it, or to control the smoking process. I could be at the grocery store, or dog park and whip out my iPhone for an instant reading showing the grill temperature, and meat temperature (a probe thermometer is included). If I chose to do so, I could instantly adjust the temperature using my phone. If the meat hits the target temperature earlier than expected, there's a “Keep Warm” button that drops the temperature to 165 degrees. There is even a “Super Smoke” button --the best button ever on a mobile app so far as I’m concerned-- to give an extra blast of hardwood smoke.

Wi-Fi connectivity was solid, so I never had any trouble connecting to the grill (which was located about 75 feet and one solid wall away from my router).

The net impact of that WiFIRE connectivity is huge. You get full control over the temperature and amount of wood smoke without the need to be physically chained to the grill.

Temperature Accuracy

I wanted to add a quick note on temperature accuracy, since that’s a key factor in slow cooking barbecue.

I found that once the Timberline 850 reached a target temperature, it stayed close to that range, say within a few degrees. If the temperature was ramped up, there could be a short period where it exceeded the target temperature by five or even 10 degrees, but that backed off as the fire pot was allowed to burn down.

How accurate are the grill’s own temperature measurements? I don’t have a scientifically certified thermometer to compare against, but I do have a cordless meat thermometer I’ve been using for the past five years. I made a point of checking the Traeger grill temperature and meat probe temperature against the readings from my own thermometer. I found they were pretty much in lockstep together, and never measured more than two degrees difference. 

So either the Timberline 850’s thermometers and mine are both wrong (consistently and by the same amount), or the Traeger grill is pretty accurate when it comes to measuring both cooking temperature and meat temperature.

Traeger Timberline 850 Results

There’s no arguing with results and the Timberline 850 delivered excellent results with everything I tried.

Pork back ribs? After six hours at low heat and plenty of super smoke, they were fall apart tender. Sirloin steak medallions? I smoked these for a few hours, then cranked the grill up to about 450-degrees to finish them with a sear. Tender, juicy and full of flavor. I grilled corn, cauliflower, chicken, sausages, you name it, all the while working up to a beef brisket. It was a hit, sliced thin with a nice crust and a beautiful pink smoke ring. The brisket point was cut up and made into burnt ends --which is basically like smokey, meat candy.

I never came close to running out of cooking space, although most dinners were for seven guests. If you need something bigger, there's the Timberline 1300, that ups the cooking area to 1300 square inches.

All the meal choice were made with the help of the Traeger app, which has over one thousand recipe ideas. For many of these, the app can be used to program the grill to run a specified cooking sequence, adjusting the temperature automatically at set intervals.

I was actually ready to publish this review last week, but the Traeger rep suggested giving hamburgers a try. I went with smoked burgers, cooking them at 225-degrees with super smoke for two hours, adding hot dogs on the grill for the final 15 minutes of that. Then the meat came off for a few minutes while I cranked the grill up to 450-degrees. Everything went back on for a few minutes and seared nicely with perfect grill marks and caramelized BBQ sauce. Hamburgers and hotdogs were both very well received, juicer and with a much smokier flavor than usual.

So if you had any doubts about whether a wood pellet grill can truly replace a traditional charcoal or gas grill instead of primarily being a smoker, the Traeger Timberline 850 easily puts those to rest.

Downsides?

Based on my time with the Traeger Timberline 850 grill, there were three primary downsides compared to what I’m accustomed to: charcoal and propane. Depending on your grilling habits, these may make you think twice, but they may also be total non-issues.

The first is cost. Depending on how you cook, those wood pellets will likely cost a few dollars more per session than using charcoal or gas --although you don’t need to buy wood chips for smoke, which could even that cost out. The Timberline 850 is also a $1,700 grill, which would be a significant investment for many. It’s more than three times what I paid of the Weber Performer that’s been my go-to grill for the past decade...

The second is clean up. The Timberline 850 takes a little more effort to clean than my other grills. After each use, the cooking area has to be disassembled --including removing the grill racks, heat shields and grease tray. The fire cup needs to be cleaned out to remove ash (a shop vac would actually help here). It got a little easier with practice, but still took more time and effort than with my charcoal or propane grills, and always ended with grease on my hands and arms.

The final downside is startup time. It does take some time for the grill to ignite and get up to temperature. That’s fine for a planned meal, but if I decided at the last minute to quickly grill some burgers or hot dogs for lunch, I’d be looking to the convenience of a gas grill. 

Bottom Line

There’s no doubt in my mind that Traeger’s pellet grills are a compelling option for the backyard barbecue connoisseur. 

The Timberline 850 was the most solidly constructed grill I have ever worked with, it had room to spare and the extras --like the integrated wood cutting board-- were well thought out. The wood pellet system is perfect for cooking low and slow, provides a fantastic wood smoke flavor, and still has the capability to sear when needed. It’s a bit of a chore to clean up after use and not as convenient as gas for a spur of the moment meal, but overall the results were consistently impressive.

But does technology make this grill even better, or is it a marketing gimmick? Based on my experience, Traeger’s WiFIRE connectivity makes an already great grill even better. It’s no gimmick; the Wi-Fi connectivity and smartphone app work together to make grilling far more convenient than ever before, especially for the “low and slow” all day sessions a wood pellet grill already excels at.