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

I love this thing! I didn't know I needed it until I got it! Now I cook breakfast on it, sear meats after a low smoke, smash burgers never tasted better!

The Sidekick is the added completion to my smoker. The burner was what was missing to finish my steaks. With the pizza oven it makes the craving for pizza tonight go away in less than 15 minutes.

1 user found this review helpful

The sidekick sear is a perfect addition to the grill. Awesome for a final sear or propane grilling a quick chop or two. It should come standard!

sidekick is very useful. i have the griddle attachment to help with everything

Easy to use, easy to clean and drops right on to the side kick. Heats evenly and has an ample cooking surface. A bit heavy.

The pallet showed up 4 days after I placed my order, everything in good condition. The driver even put it in the garage for my wife. Assembly took exactly 1 hour- they've started using rivet/nuts so you're not messing with nuts and bolts, just bolting it together. Instructions weren't super clear, but any common sense and you'll be fine. Loaded it up with pellets, installed the app, connected by bluetooth and did the 'mandatory' firmware update. Connected to my wifi and was ready for the burn-in. Don't skip the burn-in...there was a good amount of oils/stuff that burned out and put off a pretty nasty aroma. After feeding the auger, it took about 20 minutes from startup to 350. The probes and the internal thermometer were all spot on with the ambient temp outside and matched my ir thermometer within a degree. I plan to update the review once I've done my first few cooks. Want to find the hot spots, see how stable the cook temp is and all that good stuff.

I got the woodwind 36 a few months ago. I'm in Texas and have been smoking all manner of meats for a long time...webers, offset smokers, and even gas grills (when I used to live in an apartment, please don't tell them!) - this thing has completely blown away my expectations. My Brother-in-Law and Father-in-Law both have Traegers, and there are so many upgrades in the Camp Chef vs. the Traeger that when it comes time to replace their smoker they'll definitely be making the switch. The meat probes are super helpful, the ash clean out is much better designed, and the ability to direct heat sear solves the problem of "how do I get a good crust on this steak". My brother and father (not the in-laws) have both picked up Woodwinds now (the 24) and love them. I'd say go bigger if you can though...no one ever regrets having more space on a smoker and the extra cost spread out over the many years of using it is well worth the cost.

2 users found this review helpful

I feel the Sidekick is a must for any Woodwind. It's such a value-add for the cost, and the versatility is near endless with this thing. I use mine with the searbox and the cutting board the most, but I plan to get the pizza oven soon, and the burner could honestly be used to boil a pot of homebrew wort. My only warning is that the burner is BIG and HOT. I mean, that's what you are paying for, right? It uses propane fairly liberally, but better than I expected. The reason I am warning about this is two-fold: (1) because lighting it goes on high directly, and it's a tall flame, so watch out (lots of singed arm hair for me, and it only clocks once, which is not ideal). (2) My experience with the searbox is that the Sidekick burner is actually more powerful than it can take. I have not put this higher than medium ever (we'll see if that changes when I go to boil some homebrew though!).

Enjoying the Woodwind 36" - fairly easy to install, but there were a few hiccups with missing some smaller screws which were difficult to replace from a local hardware store. Also, the thermometer is quick difficult to place without bending it - I had to watch 2-3 random YouTube videos to make that work. Other than these setbacks, the overall installation made sense, and the smoker is working great :)

I have now had this grill for awhile and I love it, it is the only grill I use anymore. I have even packed this huge grill in the back of my truck and took it to my friends house to BBQ on. The cooking space is big enough to do enough food for all our parties and then some. Our go to is bacon wrapped peppers, hot wings with a pot of Dutch oven potato's on the sidekick. This is the best purchase I have made in awhile.