Editorial Policy

Who decides what gets published

Mike M., owner, iron mako media, writes and edits everything on this site. There is no outside editorial input and no sponsored content. Iron Mako Media owns the site; editorial decisions and the scoring method are its own.

Where our figures come from

Every pick here is researched from the maker's published specifications, recognized standards and verified owner feedback, scored on our published rubric, and shown with a live price. Where an independent party has measured something, we name them and link it, so you can weigh the source yourself. The rubric and the score bands are published in full on how we pick.

Four things we never publish

1. A specification a manufacturer has not published. Where a figure is missing we write that it is missing. Camp Chef, for example, publishes no cooking area, hopper capacity, temperature range or warranty for the Woodwind Pro, and the page says so rather than estimating.
2. A measurement we did not take. Where we report temperature accuracy, it is the manufacturer’s published figure, attributed to them. Where a brand publishes none, we say that too.
3. Credentials, awards or ratings we do not hold. No certifications, no competition record, no “award-winning”, no star rating for this business. There are no reviews of this site, which is why it has no testimonials section.
4. Urgency or scarcity we cannot verify. No countdown timers, no “only 2 left”, no “price rising soon”, no “lowest price anywhere”.

How we source specifications

Every spec figure on this site was transcribed from the manufacturer’s own current product listing — the title and the feature bullets — at the time of writing. Each page carries a Sources section linking the pages we used.

Where a maker’s own listing contradicts itself, we report the contradiction. Two live examples: the Pit Boss Navigator 1600 states 1,593 square inches in its title and 1,539 in a bullet, and the Advantage 850SL states “58 square inches on primary rack” where it means 582. Both are flagged on the relevant pages, because quietly picking one figure would be presenting a guess as a fact.

How we handle owner reports

Some things that matter to buyers cannot be read off a spec sheet — app reliability being the clearest example. Where a pattern is widely and consistently reported by owners, we pass it on and label it as reported sentiment rather than as a finding of ours.

That is why our pages say things like “Pit Boss connectivity has drawn persistent owner complaints across app generations, and owners of the current firmware still report it” — attributed to the owners reporting it, with the scale of the pattern stated. It is less satisfying than a flat verdict, and it is what the evidence actually supports.

Scoring

Every grill gets five component scores out of ten, weighted into one figure: value 35%, temperature control 20%, build 20%, capacity 15%, owner support 10%. The weights are published and every component score appears on the product card, so the rubric score is reproducible from the page. That result is then reported on our published 8.4–9.8 scale, using one mapping applied identically to every grill — because a cooker we would not recommend is removed from the site rather than given a low score. Both numbers appear on the card, and the bands are explained on how we pick.

These are editorial suitability scores for a value-focused buyer. They are not product review ratings and they never appear as Review, reviewRating or aggregateRating in our structured data — marking a spec-and-price judgment up as a review rating would contradict the first section of this page.

Prices

Prices are read from Amazon by an automated daily check and written directly into the page. Nothing is typed by hand, and every price carries the date it was read. If the refresh stops, all prices disappear after 48 hours and the buttons fall back to a price check.

Where a discount is shown, it is the percentage Amazon reports against its own list price. We never calculate one from a number we remember. Full detail on affiliate disclosure.

Corrections

We correct errors and we note the correction. If something on this site is factually wrong — a specification, a model name, a claim about how a grill behaves — email contact@pelletgrillandsmoker.com or use the contact form.

What happens then:

• Factual error: we verify it against the manufacturer’s listing, fix the page, and update the “last updated” date. Where the error changed a recommendation, we say so on the page.
• Dead or wrong product listing: we replace the ASIN with the verified-live listing that matches the editorial intent, or retire the slot if nothing fits. We do not leave a link pointing at an unavailable product.
• Disagreement rather than error: if you think our judgment is wrong but our facts are right, we will tell you so honestly rather than quietly changing the page.

When we update

• Prices: daily, automatically.
• Product availability: when a listing dies.
• Rankings: when specifications or prices move enough to change the answer.
• Model lineups: when a manufacturer replaces a series. Where a discontinued model still has real search demand, the page says plainly that it is no longer sold and points at the live successor.

Every page displays a “last updated” date, and that date is real — it is not refreshed on every deploy to look current.

Independence

• We do not accept payment for reviews, rankings or placements.
• We do not accept free products in exchange for coverage.
• Commission rates are not an input to the scoring.
• No manufacturer sees a page before it is published.

This site earns affiliate commission, and that is disclosed on every page carrying a commercial link. What it buys is the site’s existence, not its conclusions. Full terms: affiliate disclosure.

Scope

Pellet grills and pellet smokers, wood pellets, grill covers and pellet-grill accessories. Four brands as recommendation targets — Pit Boss, Traeger, Z Grills and Camp Chef — plus pellets and accessories from whoever makes the best version.

Out of scope on purpose: recipes, charcoal, gas, electric, offset and kamado cookers as recommendations (they appear only as comparison foils), and anything that is not barbecue gear.

Pelletgrill & Smoker is published by Iron Mako Media. Last updated 6 November 2026.