The fine folks over at ApolloBox.com reached out and asked if I would be interested in playing around with a new grill model from Z Grills, the 700 2B. The thought of spending hours putting together another grill did not get me excited and I almost told them no. In the end I changed my mind and asked them to send it over. That was the best decision I made this grilling season!
I almost didn’t get this grill because I dreaded the thought of spending hours putting the thing together. My fears were completely unfounded. The grill arrived neatly packaged and had simple, easy to follow instructions for assembly. Heck, it even came with all of the tools I needed!
My total assembly time was just over an hour. EASY!
These grills are marketed as great alternatives to Traeger grills and it is easy to understand why. Let’s look at some of the details on this grill:
Even though this grill comes with a nice cover I am still storing it inside my garage. That makes the heavy duty wheels an important feature since I am constantly rolling it out to my driveway and back.
Moving the grill is super easy.
The details on the grill are a simple but nice touch. It has an attractive badge on the lid and stainless steel handles on the grill and hopper lids. This is a handsome grill.
The 700 2B has a 20 pound pellet hopper. I have burnt about 60 pounds of pellets through this guy and the hopper design has consistently been able to keep the auger fed without my intervention.
The temperature controller is very easy to use and is set with 25 degree increments. The grill typically takes about 30 minutes to reach the desired set point and stabilize. Once it hits its set point the temperature has been incredibly steady.
The cooking surface on the 700 2B is pretty massive. The product literature advertises 700 square inches but those inches are split between the primary cooking grate (~500 square inches) and the secondary elevated grate (~200 square inches).
The real question is, “How does the grill perform?”
The answer is, “Like a dream!”
I have run the grill at 250F to slow smoke spare ribs and tri tip.
I have run the grill at 400 F to grill up crispy chicken wings.
I have smoked pork loins and chicken breasts at 275 and 325 to see how it laid down smoke on boring meats. I used it to cook up some chicken drumsticks just because I was feeling good and wanted to burn some pellets.
The loin was delicious but the ribs were better! I was impressed with the smoke ring that this cooker lets you throw down. The smoke flavor from the pellets is on point and not overpowering.
The only drawback that I have found with the grill is that there is no easy way to remove unused pellets from the hopper when you are done cooking. If you want to change wood flavors or protect your pellets from humidity in between cooks you might need to get yourself a small shop vac.
The two things that I loves the most about this grill, other then its performance, are:
- Z Grills sells this grill as a screaming bargain and you can usually buy this grill for about $500.
- The grill is backed by a three year warranty which is on par with the industry leader, Traeger, and two years longer than you get with discount rival Pit Boss.
Z Grills almost always has some good sales going on where they either discount the price of this grill or throw in a free cover, etc. If you are in the market for a new pellet grill then head over to Z Grills and check this guy out!
Update 2020: I have had this grill for two years now and published a walk through review of how it has held up.
Update: I recently upgraded to the Z Grills 1000 series. You can read why I love the 1000 series even more than the 700 series in this one year review of using the Z Grills 1000.
