Camp Chef Sidekick Sear 14-Inch Propane Searing Station - PG14BB

Started out noticing they painted over rust so paint is flacking off. Then there screw holes for the burner we're off. They were missing 2 holes for the side kick. The cheap John screws for the thermostat made everything loose, that and the plate for it. The metal is very thin not, not the quality I would have expected for the price. The grate for the top rack was broken. There were also dents in it. Works good but good god when you spend 1600 take some pride in your product rust bubbles is not right. I would send it back but I don't want to disassemble it.

I dislike leaving this type of review, but it needs to be said so others/potential owners have an idea of what they may experience as what I have went through. I took the plunge and spent my hard earned cash on a pellet grill few weeks ago as I've always wanted the freedom to enjoy the party and instead of babying the grill. I chose to get the Camp Chef (Woodwind 36-Wifi) after researching and reading mostly positive reviews as well as recommendations from friends and family who have a Camp Chef themselves. It offered best bang for your buck and has a great modular design to suit your needs (i.e sidekick attachments, etc) I ordered one on the official Camp Chef site taking advantage of the deal and had no issues. Upon receiving the unit from FedEx however I noticed the packaging looked slightly damage to the corners, but didn't pay much mind to it until I started taking the unit out and attempting to assemble it. Found the unit was bent on one of the corners where the lid opens, but I told myself I could live with it. No biggie as long as it works. Moving on to the manual that's where it gets confusing. If you think you know how to assemble this unit blindly? Think again. The manual really needs an overhaul to make it more user friendly as some instructions are either confusing or the example diagram is too small to follow. I believe they attempted to save on printing material and included info for the smaller grill (24) along with the larger (36) grill which made it worse trying to figure out how to assemble the unit. 1) It should include a full list of parts instead of a small diagram showing the parts. It should be modeled after a quick guide/furniture assemble manual. Simple and concise. It would also provide the customer a chance to go through the parts to see if there are any hardware parts missing before assembly. More on this below. As I was assembling the unit one of the leg didn't have the nutserts to insert the bolt. Luckily it was only missing on one leg and a quick chat with support sorted it out. No biggie I told myself. However, that was the only beginning as I continued to assemble I noticed the deflector that rides on the two bars was incorrectly assembled in the wrong orientation. No biggie its easy to removed the 4 screws for the two bars on each end and rotated it in the correct position and re-installed the 4 screws. At this point I asked myself why would I need to do this with a brand new product? It only got worst as the screws for the lid on the hopper was missing from the hardware bag. A quick lookup and my local hardware store had them. Ok no, biggie, but later found out during the final assembly that the self tapping screws were also missing (6) six of them. Without it you wouldn't be able to attach the probe, hopper, or block cover for the thermometer. On each of the occasion I had to make two trips total to my local hardware store. Could not wait for support to send the remaining parts as I had already made plans to host friends and family. As for the operation of the unit? With my limited time I can't say for certain how it will hold-up and I will update this review accordingly as I have more time with this grill..

Little difficulty removing older model from Woodwind pellet grill and attaching new unit. Once that was done, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!!! Heat generated is major upgrade and this certainly makes food better when doing "reverse sear" after smoking. I have owned a few other Nationally marketed pellet grills, but CampChef has shown itself to be the best....

1 user found this review helpful

Excellent addition to my Woodwind 24 looking forward to getting the pizza oven attachment

1 user found this review helpful

I bought the woodwind reading the reviews thinking it was a good grill. When I cooked it did wonderful but with in 6 months I had to fix the shear pin where it had fell out. Then thanksgiving I go to cook and my I believe what is to be my auger fan went out. Dealing with the warranty department now. The warrant on the grills is for the parts only and you better be good with wires if you want to diagnose any problems.

Just know that the wifi range is very limited to around 10-15 feet from your router. Connection is flaky and causes my biggest dissatisfaction with this product. Mine has trouble connecting to Bluetooth and wifi is hit or miss even within range.

I've had the Woodwind wifi 36 for over a month now. I've done at least 15 cooks. Ribs, ham, pork loin, pizza, burgers, brats, steaks, chicken whole, quarters, wings, pork chops, etc! I haven't done a brisket yet, but that'll be this weekend for Memorial Day. The wifi connection works great. Ability to change smoke level is also a great feature. I've compared the temp probes against my meater probes as well as a Maverick temp monitor and the temp probes are spot on. The "set" temp of the grill is also very consistent with where you set it. Maintains temp well also.The slide and sear feature works great as well. Better than the pit boss slide and sear feature. I was skeptical on the slide and sear because you are counting on the flame to come up through the vents on the grill plate. The flames do come through the vents, but it also creates a larger "hot spot" to sear than the pit boss. OUTSTANDING! The pellet dump is also a great feature. Lots of my friends have Traegers and i can easily say this grill is every bit as good as the Timberiine 1300. Better in my opinion and 1/2 the cost. I also have the Sidekick. Great bonus. I've done a couple breakfasts on the griddle. It's not huge, but a great small flat top for any meal for my family of 5. I have the grill box for the sidekick and it works great too. I've seared steaks in there instead of on the grill as a comparison, and both work great. I do have the artisan pizza oven for the sidekick, but haven't tried it yet. I will this week. Bottom line, you can't go wrong with this beautiful grill. I absolutely love it! Camp Chef has on outstanding reputation and their customer service gets great reviews. I haven't needed customer service, but from what I've read from others, they are great. If you're considering this grill, consider no more. Buy it! You won't regret it.

I've had the Woodwind wifi 36 for over a month now. I've done at least 15 cooks. Ribs, ham, pork loin, pizza, burgers, brats, steaks, chicken whole, quarters, wings, pork chops, etc! I haven't done a brisket yet, but that'll be this weekend for Memorial Day. The wifi connection works great. Ability to change smoke level is also a great feature. I've compared the temp probes against my meater probes as well as a Maverick temp monitor and the temp probes are spot on. The "set" temp of the grill is also very consistent with where you set it. Maintains temp well also.The slide and sear feature works great as well. Better than the pit boss slide and sear feature. I was skeptical on the slide and sear because you are counting on the flame to come up through the vents on the grill plate. The flames do come through the vents, but it also creates a larger "hot spot" to sear than the pit boss. OUTSTANDING! The pellet dump is also a great feature. Lots of my friends have Traegers and i can easily say this grill is every bit as good as the Timberiine 1300. Better in my opinion and 1/2 the cost. I also have the Sidekick. Great bonus. I've done a couple breakfasts on the griddle. It's not huge, but a great small flat top for any meal for my family of 5. I have the grill box for the sidekick and it works great too. I've seared steaks in there instead of on the grill as a comparison, and both work great. I do have the artisan pizza oven for the sidekick, but haven't tried it yet. I will this week. Bottom line, you can't go wrong with this beautiful grill. I absolutely love it! Camp Chef has on outstanding reputation and their customer service gets great reviews. I haven't needed customer service, but from what I've read from others, they are great. If you're considering this grill, consider no more. Buy it! You won't regret it.

That 2 foot hose is way too short. Doesn't even make to the propane tank

The grill is a beast and is the only grill you need but I had a few issues with it. With that said the customer service is the best in the business. Every issue I had was quickly addressed. The customer service department communicated quickly and sent the replacement parts without hassle. This grill is a beast!