Smart home technology is for more than just indoors. The Weber Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill lets you control the grill’s temperature and even see if your meat is done from a smartphone while you sit inside. And oh yeah, it makes some pretty delicious barbecue too.

Color

Black

Fuel

Pellet

Cooking Area

972 sq inches

The Weber Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill can cook anywhere from 180 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit for a wide variety of cooks methods, all the way from barbecue to searing. Using wood pellets, the grill can heat up in less than 15 minutes. The temperature and more can be controlled with the companion smartphone app that offers tons of recipes and more. 

Pros & Cons

• Holds temperature extremely well leading to great tasting meat and more
• SmokeBoost feature provides extra dose of smoke flavor
• Huge grilling surface
• Control temperature with smartphone app
• Well-designed grease and ash management system

• Expensive compared to similar charcoal or gas grills
• Assembly does take time

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Price and Availability

The Weber Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill retails for $1,299 and can be purchased from Amazon, directly from Weber and a number of other retailers.

Be Prepared to Take Some Time to Assemble

Pellet grills are a fairly new addition to the world of grilling. Instead of the usual charcoal or propane, the grill burns its namesake wood pellets. The grill is designed to provide the ease of use of propane grills with a consistent cooking temperature but the much better flavor of a charcoal option.

Because a traditional power source is required to burn the pellets and control the fan, most have built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so you can connect to a companion app so you can see the grill temperature and much more from anywhere around your home.

Before it’s time to eat, it’s time to assemble the grill. It’s not exactly the most fun part of the grilling experience. Because the grill is so heavy, Weber recommends that during some steps you need at least two people to lift and turn the grill.

The package comes with two major parts: the complete grill section with cooking area and pellet hopper and all of the other parts like the legs, interior grill parts, and wheels. It took me around two hours total to put the grill together. The good news is that you can do almost everything with a single provided Allen wrench. But the process is time-consuming and you will break a sweat. Thankfully, the instructions are clear, and you can also watch videos if you need some help.

One of my larger issues with the grill is that there are only two wheels instead of four like on other grill models. That makes moving the 157-pound grill to its final location a large problem, especially if you don’t have anyone else to help. It also makes it more difficult to move the grill around a deck since you have to pick it up by a handle on the left side and pull it. The girl is 50.5 inches wide and 45.74 inches high with the lid closed.

There is a bit of good news if you want to skip this step. If you order from some local retailers, they have already assembled the grill. You just have to find a way to transport it home.

I was pleased with the grill’s build quality, especially after seeing all the parts first-hand during assembly. It’s made from hard steel that looks like it can definitely withstand the crazy weather here in Texas.

A Large Cooking Surface and More

With XL in the name, I expected the Weber grill to be large, and it definitely met my expectations. Weber says you can fit 21 steaks and 20 burgers, and that sounds very doable. In my first cook of steaks, chicken, and hamburgers, I had almost half of the grill free. So you’ll easily be able to grill for your family and pretty much the entire neighborhood if you want.

There are 972 square inches of cooking area, with 630 of those in the bottom grate, which is closer to the heat source.

Getting started with the grill is easy, even if you haven’t used a pellet grill. You’ll fill the hopper with your choice of pellets and then turn the grill on. You then set a desired temperature, anywhere from 180 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. That allows you to cook barbecue low and slow or do a quick steak at high temperature, and everything in between.

It takes around 15 minutes for the grill to heat up to a desired temperature, but the heat will stay put no matter how long the cook is. I was also very pleased with how the grill uses pellets. After an overnight brisket cook, more than half of the pellets were left.

While I cooked a variety of meat on the grill, my favorite was low-and-slow barbecue, like brisket and pulled port, thanks to SmokeBoost. A disadvantage of pellet grills is that they often don’t provide the same smoky flavor as their charcoal counterparts.

But the feature helps make that a thing of the past. You’ll want to use SmokeBoost at the start of a cook. It maintains a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit so the pellets smolder instead of burn. And it turns up the flavor of barbecue. Using the feature for around 30 minutes, my barbecue was almost as smoky and flavorful. It’s something you’ll want to use liberally, and you’ll be glad you did.

As a nice addition, the Searwood sports dual, built-in probes, so you can monitor the temperature of different meats simultaneously.

You can control the grill with the control panel on the outside of the pellet hopper. Along with seeing the current temperature, you’ll see what the grill is set to, and the temperature of both probes. The Searwood also has a pellet gauge so you can see how much fuel is left on the screen without opening up the lid.

You can also shut the grill down when done from the control panel or companion app. For safety reasons, you can only start the grill on the control panel.

Wi-Fi Connected for Easier Control and Cooking Management

Even though you don’t need to use the Wi-Fi and companion app, it makes the cooking experience even better.

The Weber Connect app is available for iOS and Android. After downloading the app, you’ll need to connect it to your grill to begin.

One of my favorite features of the app is the surprisingly robust number of recipes that can be used with the grill. There are some great options for obvious categories, like beef, pork, and poultry. You can also head into new categories with fruit, vegetables, and even plant-based items.

Each recipe is integrated with the grill and the dual temperature probes. Once you start the recipe, you’ll see detailed instructions on how to prepare the item. Many of the recipes also have detailed videos that were really helpful when I tried a new item.

After you’ve put it on the grill, you can track the temperature, see how often it needs to be flipped, and even the approximate time it will be complete.

Don’t worry if you’re looking to cook something that’s not in the recipe book. You can keep a sharp eye on both the grill and item temperature directly from the app. It was great to quickly check on my cooks while sitting in the cool indoors. You can even set an alarm when an item hits a specific temperature you select. For anyone who can’t get enough of their cooking, you can share a graph of the complete cook or even export it as a CSV file.

Since I’m a big Apple Watch fan, I’d love to see a version of the app for the small screen of the wearable device, but that’s a small complaint.

Should You Buy the Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill?

While I’ve tried out other pellet grills from brands like Traeger, I came away very pleased with the Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill.

It easily has everything you could want if you’re looking to dive head-first into pellet grills and have the cash. Along with the quick warm-up time and easy control via smartphone, the grill did great, keeping a consistent temperature and providing some delicious meals. The SmokeBoost setting also added a dose of tasty smoky flavor to my barbecue. Being able to add on an additional, optional griddle and rotisserie only makes it even a better choice for all your grilling needs.

Color

Black

Fuel

Pellet

Cooking Area

972 sq inches

The Weber Searwood 600 XL Pellet Grill can cook anywhere from 180 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit for a wide variety of cooks methods, all the way from barbecue to searing. Using wood pellets, the grill can heat up in less than 15 minutes. The temperature and more can be controlled with the companion smartphone app that offers tons of recipes and more.