the Bison Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker with 2 Temperature Probes, 23 Pound Hopper, 892 Square Inch Cooking Area

Quick: Recommended. Good quality, easy to use, food comes out tasting great. Excellent price point.Detail:Background: My electric smoker's display stopped working and the thermostat was off 20 degrees. Plus I had a repair holding the heating element together. Used it for years. Needed a replacement, originally looked at another electric smoker but didn’t like the build quality the current selection has. Decided to go pellet smoker after viewing them in a hardware store (chain store that is fond of the color red). Liked a lot of what I saw and decided to do some research (didn’t like the price tag of the units they sold).Goal: Easy to use, easy to clean, able to fit a 14-16 lb Thanksgiving turkey, do great pulled pork, ribs, etc.. Hopefully not break down and last for years.Why I chose Ozark: After research (youtube, reviews, etc.) I narrowed my selection down to a few manufacturers that met what I was looking for at the price I wanted. I could not decide. So I sent each one an email and asked why I should choose their product. Ozark responded with a lot more than I expected including a breakdown between theirs and the main player in this space. In fact, Ozark responded the fastest and has continued to respond to any question I’ve had. I chose them. Originally, I was going to get the Stag, but it was out of stock when it came time to purchase. I had a little extra so went with the Bison. The price point is great.Delivery: Easy. Product was shipped and received at the times that was indicated. Dropped off and placed in my garage by the delivery folks without issue. Box was a little rattled from Amazon’s handling, could tears. No damage to the unit, and it was packed well.Assembly: Easy. Was able to do it myself relatively quickly. Attach the legs, attach the handles, attach the baffle, put in the inserts. Ready to go. Two people recommended, but if you’re careful you can do it by yourself.Look and Feel: Appears to be made well, no gaps anywhere. Quality appears solid. I like the wheel choices, goes smoothly over my driveway and in and out of my garage. Look is attractive for a product in this space.Usage: First time ignition was straightforward didn’t have any problems getting it started. Regular usage since then has been easy. Start the unit always on smoke with the hood open until smoke (few minutes), then close and set to temp and then start cooking about 15 minutes later. If for any reason the fire box goes out, just pop the hood for a couple minutes till smoke comes out.Food: I’ve made pulled pork, a couple chickens, and a couple racks of spareribs (all bought from my favorite warehouse store). All turned out excellent. The pulled pork was the best I’ve ever made. And the easiest. Almost completely set it and forget it till it’s done (make sure the hopper is full). I spent a lot of time monitoring my previous smokers and adding chips or liquid. This one required none of that. Used recipes provided from a competitor’s wood pellet mobile app. Got tons of compliments each time.Clean: So far, I like to wrap the main drip guide tray with aluminum foil, as well as the heat baffle that lies on top. Makes clean up easy, just pull of once cool. Wipe the grates down while still warm. I’ve dedicated a small shop vac I had to suck up all the ash generated. Then a quick wipe down. May sound like a bit of work, but it really isn’t once you’ve done it.Further updates: With a product like this, I tend to want to know how it is doing months down the road. I’ve set a reminder to update this review at the 4 month mark, then after thanksgiving 2020 when I do my yearly turkey.One last thing: Customer service is amazing with this company. Response time is fantastic.

Replaced a worn out Rectec Grill with the Bison. The quality Of the Bison is second to none. Have had it for 90 days and without question the best wood pellet grill on the market today; especially for the price. Our family could not be happier! Best steaks on the planet when grilled with the Bison. Had the pleasure to talk with Robert. Helpful and professional! If your looking for the best homemade Steaks and Barbecue, Get a wood pellet grill land take a good hard look at the Ozark Brand! You will not be disappointed.

Really liked the quality of the grill. Easy to put together but a little time consuming. As for using it especially for a 1st time user of pellet grills. Was a bit confusing for the setting from smoke to cooking. I prefer more smoke amd bought a smoking tube. But when cooming on low temp had only a quarter of the grill with head and the rest with little to no heat very indirect heat. Possibly to do with the drip pan. But over all it's a decent grill for the price especially with size. I put 2 briskets and 2 pork butts and that was without the 2nd rack.

I was so hopeful with this but it's just garbage. I've owned a traeger and a pitboss pellet grill and bought this one for my shop because of the awesome reviews and I wish I wouldn't have.First there were screws missing in the package, Amazon was nice enough to give me a discount though.The main issue though is the venting. It's way too much for this style of grill. Both my traeger and pit boss grills have standard pipes whereas this has holes all along the back.It limits the smoke density, which isnt a super big deal. actually helps keep it cool on the hot summer days somewhat which is what I guess they were going for.It doesnt however get hot enough for what I wanted.After extensive testing even on an 80° day I can only heat the grill to about 430°.Both my traeger and my pitboss go to well over 500°Pretty disappointingUpdate: I've now owned it for a month or so and have made a brisket, pork shoulders, burgers, steaks, etc on it. I wanted to give it a chance because the customer service with this company was awesome.The grill was missing pieces when it came out of the box and they were happy to send them my way quickly.What I can say now is that for smoking purposes its not going to do a true cold smoke as well as a traeger or a pit boss it just runs too hot. Mine runs about 225 or the smoke feature. On my traeger and pit boss they run around 150 on smoke. I dont think I'd even attempt to do something delicate like fish or jerky or cheese or anything on this grill but for large cuts of meat it does a good job.The big problem with this grill (other than the vent system I talked about above) is the p level is not adjustable. In talking with the customer service team they removed this feature to prevent user error. They figured too many people would turn it down too much and the grill would go out all the time I guess... I dont know, it doesn't make any sense to me.With that said though everything I've tried on it has came out great and for the price it workable. Its hard to find a grill this size for under $500 after all. The pitboss is going to be $600 and the traeger $700 so there's a considerable difference.If I had to do it again I would have bought another pit boss but the customer service with these guys was amazing, certainly the best part.If all you are using this for is an entry level pellet grill it works but if you start trying to branch out you're going to need something better.You get what you pay for as they say, and this works just fine for the price.

Been using grills/smokers for about 30 years and this is the best I have ever had. The wood pellet feeder with electronic control makes keeping maintain a constant temperature effortless. Tried boston butt, ribs and salmon so far and all have come out excellent. Great quality and craftsmanship. A grill/smoker of this quality usually costs much more. Highest recommendation.

Love the smoker. Well made, easy to assemble and easy to use. Had a minor problem with the handle and they had a brand new one for me within 3 days. Great customer service. Would recommend to anyone to give a try.

this is a really well built smoker. It is easy to use and does a great job as a smoker or as a grill. I highly recommend this product.