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Most “new pellet grill” roundups recycle the same five models that have been on shelves for three years. This one does not. Three manufacturers put out genuinely new hardware in the last twelve months or so, and the differences are not cosmetic – one replaces a product line that had real reliability complaints, one targets a price point competitors had abandoned, and one adds a feature tier nobody else in that price range offers yet.
What Actually Counts as New
A repainted hopper or a renamed SKU does not belong on this list. The three grills below either replace an existing product with a different burn system and control board, or fill a genuinely new spot in a manufacturer’s lineup. If a “2026 model” only changed a decal and a price tag, it is not here.
At a Glance
| Grill | Replaces / Fills | Price Tier | Cooking Area | Standout Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weber Searwood 600 | SmokeFire EX4/EX6 | $900-1,100 | ~648 sq in | Full burn-pot and firmware redesign |
| Weber Searwood XL 600 | SmokeFire EX6 (large) | $1,100-1,300 | ~972 sq in | Same redesign, larger grate |
| Weber Smoque | New low-end pellet slot | $699 | ~600 sq in | SmoqueVent smoke circulation, Rapid React PID |
| Traeger Woodridge Pro Plus | Woodridge Pro | $1,000-1,200 | ~600 sq in | Enclosed cabinet, four casters |
Weber Searwood 600
- Easily attaches to the front of the Searwood 600 pellet grill
- Adds 280+ sq in of work space and holds up to 40 lbs
- Locks into place to add prep space
The SmokeFire line launched to a rough reception – early units had well-documented app dropouts, grease fire risk from a burn-pot design that let drippings pool in the wrong place, and firmware that took two generations to stabilize. Weber did not patch the SmokeFire again; they replaced it outright. The Searwood 600 runs a different burn-pot geometry, a rebuilt control board, and firmware written from scratch rather than iterated on top of the old codebase. Early owner feedback is meaningfully more positive than SmokeFire ever managed, which matters if you were burned by that earlier generation and have been waiting for Weber to actually fix the underlying problems instead of issuing another update.
Weber Searwood XL 600
Lineups and configurations in this category change often — check current models, sizes, and pricing directly on Amazon.
Search on Amazon →Same redesign, bigger grate – just under 1,000 square inches, which puts it in range of a full packer brisket plus a couple of rib racks without stacking. If the standard Searwood 600’s roughly 648 square inches feels tight for how you actually cook, this is the same corrected engineering at a larger size rather than a different product with different quirks.
- Easily attaches to the front of the Searwood 600 XL pellet grill
- Adds 425+ sq in of work space and holds up to 40 lbs
- Locks into place to add prep space
Weber Smoque
- SmokeBoost setting maintains ideal temps for deep smoky flavor
- SmoqueVent system circulates smoke for flavor and browning
- Rapid React PID heats up fast and regains temp when lid opens
This is the more interesting release of the two Weber additions, because it is not chasing the premium tier at all. The Smoque starts at $699 and is built specifically around low-and-slow cooking rather than trying to be a do-everything grill. Two features distinguish it from a generic budget pellet unit: a SmoqueVent system that routes smoke through the chamber in a specific circulation pattern before it exits, aimed at pushing more smoke flavor into food during long cooks, and a Rapid React PID controller that reacts to temperature swings faster than the simpler thermostats found on most sub-$700 pellet grills. Weber is explicitly positioning this as an entry point that does not feel like a compromise on smoke quality, a gap that has existed in the budget tier for a while – cheap pellet grills have gotten cheaper without getting meaningfully better at actually smoking.
Traeger Woodridge Pro Plus
- Control your grill from anywhere with WiFIRE
- No-hassle clean up with the EZ-Clean Grease & Ash Keg
- Dial up more wood-fired flavor with Super Smoke Mode
Traeger’s Woodridge line launched a bit over a year ago as a mid-tier option; the Pro Plus, which arrived at the end of last year, adds an enclosed storage cabinet and four casters for about $400 more than the standard Pro. That is a specific, narrow upgrade rather than a burn-system overhaul – the cooking hardware is the same Woodridge platform, just wrapped in a cart that keeps your pellet bin and tools dry and mobile instead of sitting exposed on open shelving. Whether that is worth $400 depends entirely on how much you value not hauling a bag of pellets in from the garage every time it rains.
Why Manufacturers Redesign Instead of Iterate
Pellet grill burn-pot and auger systems are hard to patch around a bad original design. When a control board or burn-pot geometry causes recurring problems – as SmokeFire’s did – firmware updates can smooth over symptoms but rarely fix the mechanical root cause. A full redesign like the Searwood line is expensive for a manufacturer to greenlight, which is usually a signal that the complaints were serious and frequent enough to justify starting over rather than patching. That is worth knowing as a buyer: a “new model” that shares its predecessor’s core hardware and only changed the software is a different kind of new than one that changed the burn pot itself.
Should You Upgrade From an Older Model for This?
If you own a working SmokeFire and it has been reliable for you specifically, there is no urgency to replace it – the redesign matters most to people who have not bought yet, or who had a SmokeFire that gave them real trouble. If you are shopping in the $700-1,300 range for the first time, these three options are worth weighing against established competitors like the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro or Pit Boss Pro Series specifically because they are new enough that most owner reviews are still coming in – a slightly higher-risk position than buying a five-year-established model with a deep review history, but one that comes with genuinely corrected engineering in the Searwood’s case and a new price-to-feature ratio in the Smoque’s case.
What to Watch Before Buying a First-Model-Year Release
New releases carry a specific risk: firmware bugs, parts availability delays, and manufacturing kinks tend to show up in the first six to twelve months of a product’s life more than at any later point. That does not mean skip it – Weber and Traeger both have strong warranty and parts-support infrastructure behind these releases – but it is worth checking current owner threads on forums like The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board or r/pelletgrills for recurring complaints before ordering, rather than relying solely on marketing copy or a single early review.
First-Year Pricing: Expect Less Discounting
New releases rarely see meaningful discounts in their first selling season – retailers and manufacturers protect margin on new hardware until the next model year gets close, and Weber and Traeger both tend to hold firm on MSRP for a new platform through at least one full grilling season. If you are used to timing pellet grill purchases around Memorial Day or Black Friday markdowns, temper that expectation for the Searwood, Smoque, and Woodridge Pro Plus specifically in their first year – deeper discounts on these three are more likely a year or two out, once a next-generation update starts approaching.
Where They Fit Against the Rest of Each Brand’s Lineup
None of these three replace a brand’s flagship. The Searwood sits below Weber’s premium ambitions as a mid-tier pellet option; the Smoque sits at the very bottom of Weber’s pellet range, below even the Searwood; and the Woodridge Pro Plus is a configuration of Traeger’s mid-tier line, not a competitor to the Ironwood or Timberline series. If you are shopping at the true high end – insulated bodies, four-figure-plus pricing, cold-weather performance – these releases are not really addressed to you. They matter most to buyers in the $700-1,300 range deciding between a new platform and an established one at a similar price.
The Mistake of Judging by the Old Model’s Reputation
The most common error watching these releases is assuming a redesigned grill inherits its predecessor’s problems, or less often its predecessor’s strengths, by name alone. SmokeFire’s reputation was earned by a specific burn-pot and firmware combination that Weber changed outright in the Searwood – treating the two as the same product because they share a lineage is exactly the mistake that either scares off buyers from a legitimately fixed product, or reassures buyers into assuming a “new” model that is actually just a repaint will behave like a beloved older version. Read what specifically changed under the hood before assuming either.
Warranty Coverage on a New Platform
A grill’s warranty terms are worth reading in full for any of these three, not just skimming the headline “X years” figure. Manufacturers commonly split coverage into tiers – the main body and firebox often carry longer protection than electronic components like the control board or auger motor, which are exactly the parts most likely to show early-generation issues on a genuinely new platform. Registering the grill promptly after purchase, which several manufacturers require to activate full warranty terms, is an easy step to skip and a costly one to have skipped if a covered part fails in year two.
Where to Buy and What to Expect on Delivery
All three of these releases ship through the same channels as the rest of each brand’s lineup – authorized dealers, big-box retailers with grill sections, and each manufacturer’s own site – rather than through a limited early-access program. That means normal return policies and delivery timelines apply, which is worth confirming before ordering, since a heavier premium unit like the Searwood XL 600 or Woodridge Pro Plus typically ships via freight or large-parcel carrier rather than standard parcel delivery. Inspect the crate for shipping damage before signing for delivery, and keep the original packaging until you’ve confirmed the unit powers on and holds temperature through a first test burn.
The First Cook: What to Expect From New Hardware
Any pellet grill, new platform or established one, needs a proper seasoning burn before its first real cook – running it empty at a moderate-high temperature for 30-45 minutes to burn off manufacturing residue and season the interior. On a genuinely redesigned unit like the Searwood, it’s also worth treating the first two or three cooks as a calibration period rather than expecting flagship-level consistency immediately: getting a feel for how a new burn-pot geometry and control system actually holds temperature in your specific backyard, at your specific altitude and typical weather, takes a few real cooks regardless of how well-engineered the redesign is on paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Weber Searwood compatible with SmokeFire accessories? Some accessories carry over given similar grate dimensions, but the burn-pot and firebox redesign means not everything is interchangeable – check specific accessory listings against the Searwood model number before assuming compatibility.
Does the Smoque support searing the way premium Weber pellet grills do? No – it is built specifically for low-and-slow cooking, not high-heat searing; if searing matters to you as much as smoking, the Searwood or a hybrid like the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro is the better fit.
Is the Woodridge Pro Plus’s cabinet upgrade available as an add-on for the standard Pro instead? Traeger sells the Pro Plus as a distinct configuration rather than a retrofit kit; if you already own a standard Woodridge Pro, check current accessory listings, but there is no guarantee the cabinet ships separately.
The Recommendation
If you want Weber’s ecosystem and searing capability with actually-fixed engineering behind it, the Searwood 600, or the XL 600 if you cook for more people, is the one to buy over a leftover SmokeFire at a similar price. If your budget caps out around $700 and low-and-slow smoking is the whole point, the Smoque is solving a real gap in that price tier rather than just being the cheapest option available. And if you already like the Woodridge platform and specifically want covered, mobile storage, the Pro Plus’s cabinet is a narrow but legitimate upgrade – just do not expect it to cook any differently than the standard Pro underneath.
