Pit Boss Navigator 1300 vs Traeger Woodridge

Side by side

469 square inches is a different grill, not a bigger one

Traeger quotes the Woodridge at 6 chickens, 8 rib racks or 6 pork butts. At the same ratio the Navigator 1300 handles roughly 9 chickens, 12 rib racks or 9 pork butts. That is not a marginal upgrade — it is the difference between one cook and two for a party, and it arrives at similar money.

The caveat we always give with large grills applies: a 1,329 square inch chamber burns more pellets to hold temperature than an 860 square inch one, on every cook, including the small ones. If your normal cook is dinner for four, you will pay that premium weekly to have capacity you use twice a year. See best large pellet grills for the full argument.

The EZ-Clean keg is the Woodridge’s best feature

It collects grease and ash into one removable container. On the Pit Boss you empty a grease tray and separately vacuum ash out of the burn pot — two jobs, one of which needs an ash vacuum.

Nobody buys a grill for its cleanup system. But it is the kind of design that determines whether you keep up the maintenance habit, and ash accumulation in the burn pot is the most common cause of the temperature swings people blame on the controller. So there is a real argument that the keg makes the grill cook better over time, by making you more likely to clean it.

Who should buy which

Navigator 1300: if you host, if you cook in batches, if you want direct-flame searing, or if value per square inch is your deciding criterion. Also if you want a 30 lb hopper, which on a chamber this size you genuinely need.

Woodridge: if 860 square inches is already more than you need, you will use WiFIRE every cook, and you would rather have the easiest cleanup on the market than capacity you will not use.

For a value-focused buyer the Navigator 1300 is the answer. If 1,329 square inches is more than you need, the fair comparison is the Navigator 850 against the Pro 780.