Like pellet grills, a fan helps maintain the desired cooking temperature. On the 560, it blows air upward, into the bottom of the charcoal hopper to keep the heat going and circulate it into the main cooking area. If you have the temperature set high enough for searing, you’ll see flames too. There are switches on both the hopper lid and the side door, both of which stop the fan while you’re loading or performing maintenance. It’s a safety feature, but it also means that you won’t get blasted with smoke, embers or ash when you’re trying to keep the grill going. There’s one on the main grill lid too, and while that one doesn’t stop the fan entirely, it does alert the controller that you have the 560 open. There have been some reports of issues with these switches failing, which means the grill always thinks one of the three doors is open and the fan doesn’t operate normally, making it unusable. In over a dozen cooks, I haven’t experienced this, and the problem doesn’t appear to be widespread based on user reviews. Still, it’s worth noting as you consider buying a 560. 

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On the left side of the 560, there’s a shelf with the grill controls. Masterbuilt has simplified the things here, giving you much less to scroll through than a Traeger or Weber pellet grill. Instead of having to navigate through a menu with a rotating knob, each item has a dedicated button. There’s a separate one for grill temperature, probe temperature, timer and phone pairing. With the exception of connecting to your phone, you select each option and then set the temp or time by rotating and pushing the dial. A bright blue display is your guide on the grill, or you can do all of this inside the Masterbuilt app. Lastly, the 560 accommodates up to four food probes at once. It only ships with one, but you can add more if you need them for $20 each. 

Inside Masterbuilt made some design choices to really help with cleanup. With a pellet model, you have to vacuum out dust and ash every few cooks to keep all of that debris off your food. And, of course, to keep the grill working efficiently and safely. With the 560, there is almost no ash or dust to fall to the bottom. The only thing you’ll have to clean is the grease collection pan. It’s a smaller bin that’s easy to remove, and it sits in a larger angled tray that also slides out for cleaning. Both of these are easily accessible from the back of the 560. As far as the charcoal goes, all of that falls into a metal bin at the bottom of the hopper. And from the side door, that container can be quickly removed, dumped and returned in a matter of seconds — even during a cook. 

The 560 is capable of temperatures from 150 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. That range gives you the versatility to tailor your cooks to your preferences. Prefer to smoke ribs at 185 for the first three hours? No problem. Need to keep something warm around 165? It can do that too. Masterbuilt says the 560 can reach 225 degrees in seven minutes and 700 degrees in 13. I found those figures to be mostly true, however, they don’t factor in the time it takes for the charcoal to fully ignite. And that can vary based on ambient conditions, the state of your charcoal and how quickly your fire starter ignites the hopper. 

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During a few cooks, I double checked temperatures with the Smoke X2 and found the 560 was within three to five degrees of what I had set most of the time. The range was higher right after the initial preheat cycle, but it leveled out after a few minutes. During reviews of Traeger and Weber pellet grills, I typically experienced a variance of around five to seven degrees between the built-in thermostat and an external thermometer.

Getting the charcoal lit takes some practice. If you’re using fresh charcoal, this won’t be a problem. But if what you have at the bottom of the hopper is leftover from a previous cook, it will take an extra few minutes to get things going. I found that Masterbuilt’s recommendation of a food-safe fire starter keeps frustration to a minimum. A paper towel works, but not nearly as well since it burns so quickly. It also helps to slide the grate at the bottom of the hopper back and forth to knock off any excess ash from those lowest briquettes. In the event the grill doesn’t fully light, it will beep and flash an error message on the display. You can simply reset the temperature and try again. Unfortunately, you don’t get the error in the app, so you’ll want to stay close to the grill until you’re sure the fire is going. Most of the time ignition took under five minutes.

Masterbuilt says you can use lump charcoal or briquettes in the 560. This gives you some variety in brands and types of wood that are available to cook with. In my experience, charcoal alone only produced a modest amount of smoke on the 560, but the company says you can add wood chunks or charcoal to the ash bin at the bottom of the hopper to boost it. As the embers from the burning charcoal fall, they cause any wood pieces or extra briquettes to burn slowly and produce more smoke. Masterbuilt also says you can mix wood chunks in the hopper with your charcoal, so long as you don’t add more than 1.5 pounds of it. During my tests, I got the best results with both: some wood in the hopper and sporadically adding some to the ash container. 

In addition to Traeger’s handy app that allows you to control and monitor the grill remotely, the Ironwood series grills ship with a pellet sensor. This add-on keeps tabs on your fuel supply, so you don’t have to worry about running out. The app also houses a wealth of recipes, which you can send directly to the grill from your phone. The Ironwood has a barrel-shaped design, which circulates smoke and heat before it exits the exhaust port on the back, and a small side shelf to rest supplies on as needed. And because the grill has an internet connection, you’ll be privy to regular firmware updates that improve grill performance. 

Buy Ironwood Series at Traeger – from $1,200

Buy Ironwood 650 cover at Amazon – $80 

Buy Ironwood 885 cover at Amazon – $71

Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560

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For the most part, built-in WiFi connectivity is for pellet grills. More often than not, if you want the same feature on a charcoal grill, you’ll have to settle for a separate purchase. Masterbuilt’s Gravity Series 560 is one exception. It’s a gravity-fed charcoal grill you can monitor from your phone.

Another key thing here is price. The 560 is $499: hundreds of dollars less than a lot of WiFi-enabled pellet grills, and less than half of what you’d pay for an Ironwood. The build quality isn’t quite up to Traeger’s standards, but the performance is great. In seven minutes, the 560 can be at smoking temperature (225 degrees), and the grill can hit a blazing hot 700-degree searing temp in less than 15. Plus, the fuel source is easier to find. Almost every grocery store carries charcoal while, despite the popularity of pellet grills, you still have to visit a hardware, sporting goods store or go online to buy pellets.

You will have to make some sacrifices here, though. For starters, the app isn’t as full-featured as those that come with some connected pellet grills. You can basically only monitor things, not make any adjustments. Second, some components of the grill are rather flimsy, especially the sides of the charcoal hopper. Even with those caveats, getting a grill that can reliably do low-and-slow BBQ and high-heat searing — and that also uses a common fuel source — is an interesting proposition at this price. 

Buy Gravity Series 560 at Home Depot – $500

Buy 560 cover at Masterbuilt – $50

Weber iGrill series

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I’ve been using the Weber iGrill Mini for years now. Until I added it to my grilling arsenal, I had a bad habit of overcooking steaks. And in my defense, it’s really easy to do if you don’t have some type of thermometer. With the iGrill, you can insert a food probe before you start cooking, select your meat or seafood, pick your desired doneness and an app will alert you when the food is ready. It will also warn you when you’re getting close. And if you like a manual route, you can skip the food preset entirely and just go by internal temperature. The iGrill also lets you use a probe to monitor ambient grill temps, should you need to do so. 

Weber offers a range of options here, starting with the single-probe iGrill mini (under $50). The iGrill 2 can support up to four probes at once, as does the iGrill 3, which is specifically for use with some of Weber’s gas grills. Those are both $100.

Buy iGrill Mini at Amazon – $35

Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub

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Weber won Engadget’s Best of CES 2020 award for Best Connected Home product with the Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub, and for good reason: The standalone cooking device offers all of the smart features of WiFi connectivity on literally any grill. The Weber Connect app has step-by-step guidance for a range of meats and seafood, so you have a sous chef on your phone at all times. What’s more, the Hub features June’s software that uses algorithms to estimate completion times and tells how long until the next phase of cooking. 

The Weber Connect app is somewhat limited in terms of presets right now, but you can opt for a manual mode to bypass the software guidance. The company has committed to adding more profiles, so you should see new items pop up in the app over time. The Hub ships with two probes — one food and one ambient temp — but it can support up to four simultaneously.

Buy Grilling Hub at Amazon – $130

Buy meat probe at Weber – $15

Buy ambient temp probe at Weber – $15

Thermoworks Smoke X2 and X4

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If you already have a grill or smoker you like, and you don’t need the fancy app-based guidance of Weber Connect, Thermoworks’ newly redesigned Smoke X thermometers are worth a look. These devices give you the ability to watch food and grill temperatures without having to venture outside. They use RF wireless technology to relay info from the hub at your grill to a handheld receiver. You can set high and low temperature alarms yourself, so this is a completely customizable device for more experienced users. 

Thermoworks says the Smoke X has a line of sight range of up to 6,562 feet (1.24 mile). I’m not sure you’d want to trek that far away while cooking, but the increased signal strength means you won’t have to worry about walls and other obstacles around your house. The Smoke X also has a long battery life. Because it doesn’t rely on WiFi, it can last up to 330 hours on two AA batteries (1,800 hours for the receiver, Smoke X2). The device duo is also protected against outdoor hazards with an IP66 splash-proof rating. Lastly, the Smoke X2 and Smoke X4 ship with all the probes you’ll need, so you don’t have to make any additional purchases there. 

Buy Smoke X at Thermoworks – from $170

Thermoworks Thermapen Mk4

Billy Steele/Engadget

I get it: not everyone needs or wants to keep tabs on what’s cooking from afar. No shade there, but you do need a reliable thermometer to confirm when your food is done. I’ve been using the Thermoworks Thermapen Mk4 for a while now and it’s the best instant-read option I’ve found. There are cheaper models available elsewhere, but the Mk4 has a backlit display that rotates based on how you’re holding it. It also has motion sensing activation, so it automatically turns on when you pick up and shuts off after you put it down. The Mk4 is waterproof with an IP67 rating, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet when you’re saucing chicken. 

Buy Thermapen Mk4 at Thermoworks – $99

Anova sous vide

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A sous vide device might seem out of place in a grilling guide, but hear me out. Since I started using an Anova Precision Cooker as part of my steak process, I’ve massively upped my game. Steaks are tender and juicy, with edge-to-edge doneness that’s difficult to achieve on a hot-and-fast grill. Basically, I sous vide for a couple hours (or more) and then sear the steaks on a grill to finish them off. Perhaps the best part is you don’t have to invest a ton to get one of these app-connected machines (they start at $99 from Anova), and they’re great for cooking other things, too. 

In order to make the most of your sous vide setup, you’ll want to also invest in a vacuum sealer. I have the FoodSaver FM2000, a model that doesn’t have some of the flashy features of more expensive units, but it does the basics just fine. Plus, you can use this to seal leftovers for the freezer or store other goods you don’t want air to get to. I’ve also found vacuum-sealed packs handy for reheating things like pulled pork. With sous vide, the meat doesn’t dry out like it would in the microwave. What’s more, the pouches are great for marinating, which is essential for cuts that aren’t very tender, or just imparting flavors over time. Sure, you could just use Ziploc bags, but I’ve done that, and the FoodSaver is worth the investment. 

Buy Anova sous vide at Anova –  from $99

Buy FoodSaver FM2000 at Home Depot – $83