Enter the characters you see below Sorry, we just need to pit boss brisket sure you’re not a robot. SmokedBBQSource is supported by its readers. We may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you if you buy through a link on this page. The Lockhart grabbed our attention with its unique design.
Pit Boss has essentially added a double door smoker cabinet on top of a new and improved pellet grill. This gives you a whopping 2,136 square inches of cooking area, making the Lockhart the largest pellet grill we’ve reviewed. In this hands-on review, we’ll go through our experience cooking on the Lockhart for the last few months so read on to find out how well this grill performs in the real world. Pit Boss sent me this grill for free in return for my honest review.
Should you buy the Pit Boss Lockhart? For the most part, the grill operates exactly how you would expect for a pellet grill. You set your desired temperature, let it come to temp, and then just cook. It’s as easy or easier than using a gas grill but with the benefit of wood flavor on all your cooks. One of the common issues with pellet grills is that they don’t get hot enough to sear. Pit Boss have got around this with the use of an adjustable slide-plate flame broiler which you can see in action below. Pellet consumption is moderate but not excessive.
Thermometers are built into both the grill area and the smoke cabinet and you can add up to 4 meat probes. There’s plenty of cook area in both modes for all but the largest cuts of meat. Build quality is quite good for a mid-range grill. The lights in both the grill area and the smoker cabinet provide excellent visibility when cooking at night. When pellets start to run low they don’t seem to slide down smoothly to feed the auger. More on this further down the review.
I found a number of areas that needed to be improved, including poor Bluetooth range, difficult to read display and no history function. The app is brand new and should continue to be improved over time though. One other potential negative was you can’t control the smoke cabinet independently of the main grill. To get the temperature you want, you have to fiddle with the grill temperature and look for how the smoke cabinet temperature corresponds. You’re better of thinking of the smoke cabinet as an extension of the main grill. If you want a pellet grill with endless space, versatility and searing capability then the Lockhart is definitely worth considering.
Note that the Lockhart is currently available for pre-order at Walmart only. I ended up assembling right where I got the pallet and then wheeling the assembled grill to my backyard. The instructions were easy to follow and all the pieces fit well and were well machined. Overall I was quite pleased with the initial assembly and setup of the grill. The lid to the grill cabinet is kind of annoying. When you lift it up it may not stay up by itself because of the smoke cabinet. I’ve had it come crashing down on me multiple times so I started always keeping one hand on the handle.
I often need two hands when working on the grill. I spoke to Pit Boss about this, and they told me this shouldn’t happen and I most likely had a minor defect with my door. Hopefully, this is the case, and it won’t be a problem for others. Thankfully there’s no such issue on the smoke cabinet because those doors open side to side. The wood pellet hopper also seems to have a bit of a design flaw. While it is sloped to feed the auger wood pellets won’t slide down it smoothly once you get low. However, they positioned it too close to the frame so you cannot actually get a bucket close enough to it without holding it.
Since you need to push down pellets to get them all out at the same time, this makes cleanout difficult. However, the access to the control board eyelet is very tight, as is the one to the grill area. I found it was best to just run these beforehand though that meant your grill or smoke area was open while you did it. Worse yet, for the grill area, you need to insert your probe with one hand as your other is holding up the grill area lid. These issues are mostly nitpicks rather than deal breakers and you may find that the above issues don’t bother you but I wanted to be thorough so you don’t get any nasty surprises.
No cover came with the smoker. I would recommend getting the cover for an electrical appliance that is going to be sitting outside. Cooking on the Lockhart To cook, you set a target temperature for the grilling area. This worked quite well for grilling and was really easy to use. As I mentioned above, there there was no way to target the temperature for the smoking cabinet. Instead, you have to fiddle with the grill temperature and look for how the smoke cabinet temperature corresponded. A far better solution would have been a way to set the smoke cabinet directly and given you get an active read on the smoke cabinet temperature, I’m not sure why Pit-boss didn’t take this approach.