Pit Boss Pellet Grill Review 2026: Which Model to Buy

For $749.99 on Pit Boss’s own site in October 2026, the Sportsman 850 gets you 849 square inches, a 21 lb hopper, Wi-Fi, a flame broiler for searing and a 5-year warranty. Traeger doesn’t match that space and warranty until you pass $1,100, which is why Pit Boss is the value pick across our pellet grill reviews. The cost is a controller that’s a step behind Traeger and Weber, and that’s the main thing to understand before you buy one.

Owners of the dial-controller models report swings of 20 to 50°F around the set point, and a minority end up with a replacement board under warranty. The touchscreen Navigator grills draw far fewer of those complaints. I’d happily put ribs or a pork butt on any of them, with a wireless thermometer in the meat so the meat, not the dial, tells me when it’s done.

This covers the brand as a whole, and none of these grills has been through our own cook test yet. Everything here comes from spec sheets, retailer listings and owner forums, and the page gets dated results when our test lands.

Who should buy a Pit Boss

Pit Boss suits the cook who smokes on Saturday and grills burgers on Tuesday without wanting to spend Traeger money. If you want 800 to 1,600 square inches so a packer brisket and two racks of ribs fit at once, Pit Boss sells that for $550 to $1,000, where other brands start around $1,200.

It’s also the brand for people who want to sear on the pellet grill. A lever slides a plate away from the fire pot so open flame reaches the grate, and Pit Boss rates the surface right over the pot at up to 1,000°F. A Traeger Pro, by contrast, stops at 500°F with no flame access.

If you want set-and-forget accuracy inside 10°F, or an app you never have to reconnect, you’ll be happier with a Traeger or a Weber Searwood and a smaller grate.

The Pit Boss models worth knowing

The lineup sprawls, and half of it is retailer exclusives with different names at Lowe’s, Walmart and Tractor Supply. These are the direct-from-Pit-Boss models I’d shortlist, priced in October 2026.

Model	Price	Grate	Controller	Wi-Fi
FB2 500	$399.99	518 sq in	Dial, P setting	No
FB2 700	$549.99	747 sq in	Dial, P setting	No
Sportsman 850	$749.99	849 sq in	Dial, P setting	Yes
Navigator 850	$799.99	850 class	Touchscreen PID	Yes
Sportsman 1600	$949.99	1,598 sq in	Dial, P setting	Yes
Navigator 1300	$999.99	1,329 sq in	Touchscreen PID	Yes

The Carbon series starts at $349.99 for the Carbon 500, with a 3-year warranty and no Wi-Fi, and the line tops out with the Navigator 1600 at $1,199.99. The Lowe’s Pro Series and Walmart Competition Series share the same bones with different trim, and they’re discounted harder than the direct models.

Specs that hold across the line:

• Temperature range: 180 to 500°F in 5°F steps, with a Smoke setting below 180°F on P-setting boards.
• Hopper: 21 lb on the 850-class grills, up to 30 lb on the big Navigator and Competition models. A 21 lb hopper runs roughly 14 to 20 hours at 225°F.
• Searing: flame broiler slide plate on almost every model.
• Warranty: 5 years on parts and electrical, 3 on the Carbon series.
• Weight: about 150 lb assembled for an 850-class grill, which tells you the steel is thick.

How a Pit Boss cooks, and how owners tame the swings

Owners argue about temperature stability more than anything else. The pattern in forum threads runs like this: the grill holds within 10 to 15°F for a while, drifts low, then dumps a load of pellets and spikes 50 to 100°F before settling. Owners of the 700 and 820 series dial grills report it most. The fixes they use, roughly in order of effort:

1. Raise the P setting, which adds pause between auger feeds and cuts overshoot.
2. Set the dial a notch below the target and let it average out.
3. Add thermal mass, such as a pan of sand on the lower grate.
4. Fit an aftermarket PID board, which a few owners do.

The touchscreen Navigator models get far fewer of these reports.

A second quirk catches new owners. The grill’s own probe sits on the side wall of the chamber, not at grate level in the middle. Owners who add a probe on the grate often find the real temperature 20 to 40°F different from the display, and one side of the grate running hotter than the other. That isn’t a defect, it’s where the probe lives, but it means you should cook to a grate thermometer and learn your grill’s hot side.

Pit tip: Before your first real cook, cover the whole grate with slices of white bread at 350°F. Ten minutes later you’ll have a map of the hot and cool zones that’s more useful than the display.

Smoke is where Pit Boss earns credit. The looser control loop and a cool, lazy Smoke setting mean more visible smoke at 180 to 225°F than a Traeger Pro makes, and owners who switch say the ribs taste smokier. For more still, a smoke tube is a $20 add-on.

The flame broiler works, with two caveats. Pull the lever, let the grill reach 450 to 500°F, and the strip over the fire pot gets hot enough for a proper crust on steaks and burgers. Grease flares when the plate is open (keep a spray bottle close), and the plate can warp over time on thinner-gauge models.

Pellet use and what a weekend costs

Owners report about 1 to 1.5 lb an hour at 225°F and 2.5 to 3 lb an hour at 450°F, depending on the weather and the pellets. Pit Boss’s own Competition Blend was $19.99 for 40 lb in October 2026, about 50 cents a pound (prices in our pellet guide).

Cook	Grill temp	Time	Pellets	Cost at $0.50/lb
Pork butt	250°F	about 10 hours	10 to 15 lb	$5 to $8
Spare ribs	250°F	about 5 hours	5 to 8 lb	$3 to $4
Steaks on the flame broiler	450 to 500°F	30 minutes plus preheat	2 to 3 lb	$1 to $1.50

The pellet calculator will run your own numbers, including cold-weather use.

Build, app and warranty

Pit Boss grills are heavy. The 850 models weigh about 150 lb, the Sportsman and Navigator lids are double-walled, and most of the line uses porcelain-coated cast iron grates instead of thin wire. The common complaint is finish. Powder coat on the lid and hopper flakes near the hot spots after a season or two, and the grates rust if left wet. Neither counts as a defect under the warranty.

The app has improved since the first Wi-Fi models but is still the weakest of the big three. Owners report dropped connections and probe readings that lag by a minute or more. Use it to keep an eye on the cook from the couch, not as the alarm that catches a dead fire.

Watch out: Don’t rely on the Pit Boss app as your overnight safety net. Put a separate wireless thermometer with its own alarm in the meat, so a dropped connection doesn’t mean a cold pork butt at 6 am.

Warranty is 5 years on the whole grill, electrical included. That beats Traeger’s 3 years on the Pro series and matches Weber. Owners say Pit Boss ships replacement controllers and igniters without much argument, though the wait can run two to six weeks in peak season.

Pit Boss prices and how they compare

Three models cover most buyers in October 2026: the FB2 700 at $549.99 as the budget pick, the Sportsman 850 at $749.99 as the all-rounder, and the Navigator 850 at $799.99 for the touchscreen and tighter control. The single-model review is the Pit Boss 700FB1 review.

Against a Traeger Pro 575 at $799.99, the Sportsman 850 gives you 274 more square inches, 3 more pounds of hopper, direct-flame searing and two more years of warranty, while Traeger wins on steadiness and the app. That’s argued in full in Traeger vs Pit Boss. Against Z Grills at $400 to $600, Pit Boss is heavier and has the sear plate, and Z Grills is cheaper with a similar controller. If you’re still deciding whether a pellet grill is right at all, see pellet grill vs gas grill, pellet grill vs offset smoker and electric smoker vs pellet smoker.

Pit Boss grills appear on the best pellet grills, the best pellet grill for the money, the best budget pellet smokers, the best pellet grill for beginners, the best portable pellet grills, the best small pellet grills, vertical pellet smokers, electric pellet smokers and pellet grill deals.

First cooks on a new Pit Boss

• Ribs on a pellet grill at 250°F, about 5 hours. Ribs shrug off a 30°F swing, and the extra low-temperature smoke shows in the bark.
• Smoked pork butt at 250°F to 203°F, which is where the 21 lb hopper earns its keep.
• Smoked chuck roast at 250°F to 205°F, a cheap way to practice brisket technique.
• Smoked mac and cheese at 250°F for an hour and smoked meatloaf at 250°F to 160°F, both good for spare grate space while the big cut rests.

The Pit Boss I’d buy

If you’ll cook to a thermometer and learn your grill’s hot side, the Sportsman 850 at about $750 is hard to beat for grate, steel and warranty. If you want the grill to hold its number with less babysitting, pay $50 more for the Navigator 850 and its touchscreen controller. If you want the grill to do all the thinking, spend the extra on a Traeger Woodridge or a Searwood instead.