Green Mountain Grills entered the pellet grill market in 2008 and has won over a lot of loyal fans ever since.
Traeger is the company that is behind the invention, concept, and production of a wood pellet grill, so it is only natural that every other producer of pellet grills gets compared to it.
Here is a detailed overview of the main differences and similarities between the grills offered by each of these leading grill makers and how some of their most popular models compare to one another.
Green Mountain vs Traeger pellet grills – a head-to-head comparison
Making a general comparison between all of the grills offered by the two companies can be quite difficult. The common denominator is that both Green Mountain Grills and Traeger make high-quality wood pellet grills. But which one is better depends on what the customer is looking for.
Here are some of the advantages of GMG in this comparison between Green Mountain and Traeger:
- While all of the Green Mountain Grills have built-in Wi-Fi, Traeger only introduced its WiFire Wi-Fi technology 3 years ago, and currently, only the Traeger Pro 575, the Ironwood 650, and the Timberline 850 support the WiFire smart connectivity and mobile app system.
- Green Mountain Grills remains the only pellet grill maker that offers a portable Wi-Fi-enabled grill, namely the Davy Crockett Sense Mate.
- When it comes to pricing, the equivalent models of Green Mountain Grills are significantly less expensive than those offered by Traeger
- GMC is also the winner in the maximum temperature competition between the two with a maximum temperature of 550 degrees Fahrenheit, as compared to the maximum of 450-500 degrees Fahrenheit of the Traeger models.
Here is what Traeger excels in this head-to-head comparison with Green Mountain Grills:
- Traeger offers much larger grills than Green Mountain. The largest Traeger grill has a massive 1300 square inches of cooking space, while the largest Green Mountain grill – the Jim Bowie, has a 658 square inch cooking space.
- Traeger has a wider assortment of grills of all sizes and configurations than Green Mountain Grills.
- You can buy all of the grills offered by Traeger online, while GMG prefers referring its potential customers to the local brick-and-mortar stores of its dealer’s network.
About the brands
About Green Mountain Grills
Green Mountain Grills (GMG) was established in 2008 but started gaining popularity after lowering its prices for its pellet grills in 2014.
The company is responsible for the introduction of Wi-Fi-enabled pellet grills, and all of its main grills have wireless connectivity.
The policy of the company is to refer its customers to the dealer’s network rather than sell the grills online, so GMG grills can be hard to find online.
About Traeger
Traeger was established in the 19080s by Joe Traeger, who, in fact, invented the first pellet burning stoves.
The company patented this invention and became a monopolist in the industry of wood pellet grills for over two decades.
But in 2006, the patent of the family-owned company ended, and eager competitors rushed into the market with their own pellet grills.
Later Traeger was purchased by a private equity group, and today it remains the larger producer of pellet grills, with more than $300 million worth of sales per year.
The Top Green Mountain Grill Models
For the purposes of this review, we will look at the three most popular and bestselling GMG grills intended for general use. These are the Davy Crockett, the Daniel Boone, and the Jim Bowie grills.
While the company offers non-Wi-Fi enabled versions of these models with a little discount, we strongly recommend that you pay for the Wi-Fi feature because the company regularly releases updates to its firmware, improving the mobile app and the functionality of its grills continuously.
1. Davy Crockett Wi-Fi Pellet Grill
The Davy Crockett is possibly the best portable pellet grill on the market and is definitely the only one that is Wi-Fi enabled.
It is an exceptional choice for campers, RV-ers, tailgaters, and people who like to cook just about anywhere.
Due to its folding legs, small size, and light weight, the grill is very competitively priced and really portable. With its folded dimensions of 20.5 (H) x 27.75 (W) c 17.5 (D) inches and weight of 57 lbs., it can be carried by one person.
The Davy Crockett portable pellet grill is affordable, portable, and composed of durable materials that can handle a lot of usage and travel.
It is also appropriate for those who need a compact, portable pellet barbecue and have limited room.
The grill includes a computerized controller that makes it simple to adjust the temperature in 5-degree increments between 150 and 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
The hopper has a capacity for 9 lbs. of pellets, and the total cooking area is 219 square inches.
For this price and given all of its features, the Davy Crockett is one of the best portable pellet grills you can buy in 2022. Plus, it is the only grill offered by GMG, which you can currently purchase online here.
Related article: The Best Portable Pellet Grills for 2022
2. Daniel Boone
The Daniel Boone is the bestselling pellet grill made by Green Mountain Grills, is a mid-range model from the company, and is perfect for general use.
The pellet grill has a cooking area of 458 square inches and a 13.5-inch peaked lid, which means that you can fit about a dozen rib racks and even a small hog inside.
The Daniele Boone has an easy-to-set and control temperature range of 150 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
This excellent pellet grill has some features which help hold the temperatures constant for long hours, including the variable speed fan and auger micro-adjustment capability. Plus, the hopper has the capacity to hold up to 18 lbs. of pellets, so you don’t need to keep refilling it during a long grilling session. The most expensive version of this grill even has a nifty pellet alarm to alert you when the pellets need to be refilled.
The pellet grill has an interior grill light, a collapsible front shelf, the ability to mount a rotisserie, and even stronger grates.
Unfortunately, you are not likely to find it available online, but you can find your local dealer here.
3. Jim Bowie
The Jim Bowie is the largest of the three most popular pellet grills offered by Green Mountain Grills for general use.
The cooking space of this grill is 658 square inches, and thanks to its peaked lid, which is 13.5 inches high, you can fit enough food in the grill to feed an extensive group of people.
It has very similar features to the Daniele Bonne grill and added features such as pellet and grill windows to monitor the pellets and food without opening the grill. The hopper capacity is once again 18 lbs.
The temperature is once again easy to adjust and keep constant, and the temperature range is from 150 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
But while this is a larger grill than the other two, it has nearly half the size of the cooking area of the Traeger Timberline grill, which has a grill surface of 1300 square inches. Then again, the difference is the pricing of the two is also pretty impressive.
You can find a nearby dealer for the Jim Bowie here.
The Top Traeger Grills
As mentioned previously, Traeger offers a much wider selection of pellet grills of all types and sizes, so it is harder to review all of their models in one single short article.
When you compare the pellet grills offered by Traeger, keep in mind that the company updated its lineup in 2019 as well as many of the names of the grills. The grills from 2019 include a number that represents the cooking surface in the grill’s name.
As for the grills manufactured before 2019, the number in the name is the width of the grilling rack. Like for example, the Pro34 has a total cooking capacity of 884 square inches, and the number 34 in the name refers to the width of the main grilling rack, which is 39 x 19 inches.
The Traeger Wood Pellet Grill Lineup:
- Tailgater – This is the company’s portable grill which is a direct competitor to the Davy Crockett portable grill by GMG. The Tailgater has a 300 square inch cooking area and comes in an even smaller option – the Ranger with a cooking area of 176 square inches. It doesn’t have Wi-Fi and many of the excellent features of the Davy Crockett, which is why we prefer the latter in this price range.
- Pro Series – This is the base model in the main pellet grill lineup by Traeger and is offered in two sizes, the Pro 575 and the Pro 780 – the numbers stand for the cooking areas of each. These are among the few grills offered by the company, which is Wi-Fi enabled. Depending on which size you choose, you can expect to pay a size for a Traeger Pro Series grill which is somewhere in between the price of the GMG David Boone and Jim Bowie grills.
- Ironwood – The grills from the Ironwood series come in larger sizes of either 650 or 885 square inches of cooking space. They also have some advanced features such as TRU Convection, a DownDraft exhaust, and a convenient Super Smoke mode which can boost the produced smoke with a single press of a button. But even the smaller Ironwood grill will cost a lot more than a Jim Bowie grill.
- Timberline – these are the largest of the pellet grills offered by Traeger and come in sizes of 869 and 1343 square inches of cooking space. This premium pellet grill has some of the most advanced features on the market, including a pellet level sensing technology, WiFire, Super Smoke mode, D2 Grill controller, dual-position smoke, and sear, hidden grease management, and more. As you can imagine, the grills from this series are much more expensive than any of the Green Mountain pellet grills.
Check our comprehensive review for the best Traeger grills of 2022
Alternative pellet grill brands to consider
If you are still wondering which pellet grill to buy and which one is better in the Green Mountain vs. Traeger comparison, here are some other manufacturers which you may find even more suitable for your needs and your budget:
Z Grills
This is a relatively new pellet grill manufacturer, but evidence shows that it used to produce grills for Traeger and other top brands in the industry.
Z Grills offers pellet grills that provide the best value for money.
One of their bestselling models is the Z Grills 700E which is affordable, well-built and has an excellent temperature controller.
Do you want to know more about Z Grills? Check our article on this topic and find out are they better than the competition.
Camp Chef
Camp Chef is another pellet grill maker which manufactures high-quality grills at reasonable prices, just like Green Mountain Grills.
One of the best models offered by Camp Chef is the SG24 Wi-Fi Pellet Grill with an improved Wi-Fi controller, smoke control, PID technology, and a total cooking area of 811 square inches.
Follow this link to see our in-depth review of the Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill
Final words
Hopefully, we have helped you decide whether you want to invest in a Traeger or in a Green Mountain Grill. We recommend the GMG grills if you want to get the best value for the money paid, but if you want a very large grill with all the advanced features, and money is no factor, then you may want to opt for the larger Traeger series instead.