The Traeger Pro 780 boasts WiFire technology, reliable cooking temperatures, and huge capacity. How does this innovative model from the renowned BBQ brand stack up against other pellet grills on the market?
Traeger continues to push the boundaries of pellet grilling, and their Pro 780 is a testament to their innovative spirit. While it’s a step up in size from its smaller counterpart the Pro 575, the Traeger Pro 780 offers a substantial amount of grilling space and advanced features that justify the investment.
Despite its larger size, the Pro 780 maintains compatibility with Traeger’s proprietary WiFire app, ensuring you don’t miss out on the convenience of remote grill control. It also includes Traeger’s signature ‘Turbotemp’ feature, which allows for rapid heating and adds a distinct smoky flavor to your food, whether you’re aiming for a hot-and-fast grill or low and slow smoke.
From its precise temperature control to its impressive cooking performance, delve into what sets it apart in the pellet grill world with our Traeger Pro 780 review.
Quick Verdict
The Traeger Pro 780 is a top-tier pellet grill for those after stable cooking temperatures and large cooking capacity. With added features like Traeger’s ‘Turbotemp’ rapid heating and their standard WiFire app, there’s plenty for BBQ grill fans to get their teeth into here. Despite its connectivity issues, If you’re serious about barbecue and want to get into pellet grilling, this is a great place to start.
★★★★☆
Features Summary
- Precision Temperature Control: The 780’s solid build keeps cooking temperatures steady, allowing you to be as hands-off as you like
- WiFire Compatibility: WiFire can allow you to check and even alter the temperature without being near the grill
- Built-In Temperature Probe: Inbuilt temperature control lets you check the temperature with a probe without even opening the lid (this causes the temperature to drop)
- Turbotemp: Traeger’s ‘Turbotemp’ is included to help the grill reach the desired temperature much faster
- Pellet Dispenser: Easy hopper cleanup releases all of the pellets in one motion, allowing you to easily change the hopper’s contents and the pellets within
Ignition
The Traeger Pro 780 needs a power source as well as fuel. To ignite the grill, make sure you have plenty of fuel within the hopper first, and then plug in the grill and press the Power Button.
When it lights up, it is ready to set the temperature. You can do this by setting the controller dial to the desired temperature. You’ll press the dial to confirm and see a message on screen, PRESS HERE TO IGNITE. Tap and hold IGNITE and it will start to heat.
Temperature Range
The temperature range starts at 180°F and goes all the way up to 500°F. Safety features are inbuilt to shut the grill off if it goes above 550°F as this indicates there’s something wrong with the grill.
This makes the grill a good choice for smoking and searing. It’s rare you’d need to hit a temperature above 500 degrees. On top of this, the fact that you can change the temperature from your phone mid-grill can open up new possibilities and cooking styles, such as choosing to lower the temperature just to keep something warm.
You can also increase the grill to a higher temperature if the internal temperature of the meat isn’t reaching the right level.
The app also has a probe alarm to tell you when the internal temperature hits a certain level.
Build Quality
It’s not a cheap model of grill. This means that you want a certain level of build quality. It’s fair to say that the Traeger Pro 780 offers quality and durability.
The wheels on the Traeger Pro 780 are all-terrain and much higher quality than some competing models. The grates are also ceramic-coated which provides some extra longevity.
We recommend buying the cover for this grill to protect it, but this is sold separately. Traeger provides a three-year warranty on the grill, which we think is fair. The ceramic and porcelain coating means the risk of it not handling the heat is low, but it is nice to have extra protection.
Cooking Performance
How does the Traeger Pro 780 perform when it comes to different types of cooking?
Smoking
For smoking, this grill is absolutely excellent. All the different varieties of pellets are great for creating different flavors and styles of cooking. On top of that, the amazing stability that the grill offers when it comes to temperature means that you can keep the grill closed for long periods, and it will remain at the same temperature (or within a few degrees).
Grilling
The fact that this gets up to temperature quickly is great for grilling too. You can quickly prepare steaks, burgers, veg, and more. The second rack comes in handy for keeping the food warm once cooked.
Cooking Space
780 square inches is plenty of cooking space for most. It’s split over two levels, and according to the manufacturer, you can fit six whole chickens in the grill, or six racks of ribs. This gives you an idea of the space.
The second rack is good for keeping things warm and expanding the room you have for cooking.
WiFire App
While the WiFire app is a great feature in theory, it doesn’t always work seamlessly in practice. Because it relies on connection via WiFi, the connection hinges on the strength of your home’s internet setup, and even then it’s not uncommon to run into connectivity problems. We ended up just feeding our own meat thermometer probe through the grill’s chamber to measure our meat temperature manually.
Traeger Pro 780 vs. Pro 575: What’s the Difference?
You might see both of these models for sale and notice the features are the same. So what’s the difference? This is all about grilling size. The system is simple enough, the Pro 575 has a total of 575 square inches of space, and the 780 has 780 square inches. This means the Pro 780 is more expensive, too.
Pros
- WiFire App: Traeger’s WiFire pp allows you to keep one eye on your meat’s internal temperature at all times without needing to tend to the grill
- Quick Heating: The Pro 780 features Traeger’s patented Turbotemp technology, which helps cut down preheating times considerably.
- Easy Hopper Cleanout: The hopper releases all the pellets in one swift motion, meaning you can swap pellet flavor between cooks much easier without having to painstakingly scoop them out manually.
- Large Cooking Space: With 780 square inches of cooking space, the Traeger Pro 780 offers a generous amount of cooking space. More than enough to cater to large gatherings or crowds.
- Precision Temperature Control: Like with many of Traeger’s other recent models, the chamber’s powder-coated steel build keeps temperatures steady and cook times consistent.
Cons
- Price: The Traeger Pro 780 is a high-end grill, and its price reflects that. Not only is the grill itself expensive, but the pellets, especially if you opt for the Traeger brand pellets, can also add up over time. More casual grillers might find this too much of an investment.
- App Functionality: The WiFire app’s performance relies on the strength of your home’s internet connection, and even then it’s not uncommon to run into connectivity problems.
- Probe Alarms: During testing, we found that the probe alarms were slow to alert us when our meat had hit our target internal temperatures. This delay could make or break your cook-off, giving you overcooked food.
- No Ash Cleanout: While the Traeger Pro 780 is packed with features, it lacks some that its pellet grill peers do have. Top of the list is ash cleanout, which is provided by grills like the Camp Chef SmokePro DLX.
Final Verdict
The grill isn’t cheap for most casual grillers and pitmasters, but when you look at the advanced features and the way it can assist with your grilling, you might decide it is worth the extra expense.
In particular, the app control and the excellent temperature stability are features that are appealing and provide the sort of control you have with an oven. Some grillers will always prefer the old-fashioned way, but if you want guaranteed results, the Traeger Pro 780 is worth considering.
