Weber’s first pellet grill, the SmokeFire, launched in 2019 to well-documented feed jams and inconsistent temperatures — and Weber has since discontinued it and pulled it from weber.com. The Searwood is the from-scratch replacement: the hopper moved from the back of the grill to the side to simplify the auger path, and Weber added DirectFlame cooking, which sears and browns without a large diffuser plate standing between the food and the fire. We compared both current Searwood models on cook space, searing performance and real price.
Quick Answer
The Weber Searwood 600 is the best Weber Searwood pellet grill for most people — 648 sq in of cook space, a 20 lb side-mounted hopper, and DirectFlame cooking that produces genuine sear marks instead of the faint grey lines typical of pellet grills, per Weber and confirmed by outlets like Smoked BBQ Source. It’s priced at $999. Cooking for a crowd, the Searwood XL 600 stretches to 972 sq in for $1,299 and adds a pellet fuel gauge with low-pellet alerts. Both run a 180°F-600°F range and use the identical Weber Connect app-driven controller.
Best Weber Searwood pellet grills at a glance
| Model | Best for | Cook area | Hopper | Fuel gauge | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Searwood 600 | Best overall | 648 sq in | 20 lb | No | $999 |
| Searwood XL 600 | Best large capacity | 972 sq in | 20 lb | Yes | $1,299 |
1. Weber Searwood 600 — Best Overall
Weber Searwood 600
- 648 sq in of cook space on a 24-inch-wide body, per Weber's spec sheet.
- DirectFlame cooking removes the large diffuser plate most pellet grills use, delivering real sear marks and crispy bark instead of faint grill lines.
- 180°F-600°F range with a digital controller Smoked BBQ Source found held within a few degrees, and a heat-up time Weber lists under 15 minutes.
- 20 lb side-mounted hopper — moved from the back of the SmokeFire to fix that grill's feed-jam problems.
Stock the fridge for the cook while your Searwood preheats — try Amazon Fresh for grocery delivery and you can have the brisket rubbed before the grill even hits temperature. The Searwood 600 earns the overall pick because it fixes what SmokeFire buyers complained about for years — a side-mounted hopper with a simpler auger path — while adding a feature no earlier Weber pellet grill had: DirectFlame searing up to 600°F without swapping to a separate grill. At $999 it undercuts the Weber Searwood XL 600 by $300 and covers most backyard cooks without the extra footprint.
2. Weber Searwood XL 600 — Best Large Capacity
Weber Searwood XL 600
- 972 sq in of total cook space — 324 sq in more than the standard Searwood 600.
- Same DirectFlame searing, 180°F-600°F range and 20 lb hopper as the smaller model.
- Adds a pellet fuel gauge with low-pellet alerts that the standard 600 doesn't include, per Weber.
- 50.5 inches wide and about 158 lb — roughly 32 lb heavier than the Searwood 600.
The Searwood XL 600 is the Searwood 600 scaled up for volume, not a different platform — same controller, same 180°F-600°F range, same DirectFlame searing, just 324 sq in of extra grate space and a pellet gauge that saves you from guessing how much fuel is left mid-cook. That gauge alone is worth considering if you regularly run multi-hour smokes and don’t want to lift the hopper lid to check. At $1,299 it’s the pricier of the two, so it’s worth the step up mainly if 648 sq in genuinely runs out of room for your typical cook. See how it stacks up against other big-capacity picks in our best pellet grill for the money roundup.
What changed from SmokeFire: DirectFlame and the side hopper
Weber’s SmokeFire spent years as the pellet-grill category’s cautionary tale — a back-mounted hopper whose auger jammed under real-world use, paired with temperature swings buyers and reviewers flagged repeatedly. Weber has since discontinued the SmokeFire and removed it from its own site; the Searwood is the ground-up replacement.
- Side-mounted hopper. Moving the 20 lb hopper from the back of the grill to the side shortened and simplified the auger’s path to the fire pot — the specific fix for SmokeFire’s feed jams.
- DirectFlame cooking. No large sheet diffuser sits between the fire and the food, so the Searwood produces genuine Maillard-reaction sear marks and crispy bark rather than the faint grey grill lines typical of most pellet grills, per Weber and outlets like Smoked BBQ Source.
- Weber Connect app. Both models pair with Weber’s app for remote temperature monitoring, the same ecosystem Weber uses across its gas and charcoal lines.
Camp Chef is the only other brand on this site with a built-in direct-flame sear mechanism (Slide and Grill, to 650°F) — see our best Camp Chef pellet grill roundup for how the two systems compare.
Weber Searwood by the numbers
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cookbox warranty | 5 years | Weber |
| Electrical/sensor/grate warranty | 3 years | Weber |
| Temperature range | 180°F-600°F | Weber |
| Searwood 600 weight | 125.4 lb | Weber |
| Searwood XL 600 weight / width | 157.8 lb / 50.5 in | Weber |
| Hopper capacity (both models) | 20 lb | Weber |
The 5-year cookbox warranty is the number worth comparing against the rest of the category: it beats Camp Chef, Z Grills and Green Mountain Grills’ 3-year coverage and Pit Boss’s 5-year term on electronics, but still falls short of Traeger’s 10-year cookbox warranty on its 2026 lineup. Weber’s 3-year electrical/sensor/grate term is in line with what most competitors offer on the parts that actually fail first.
Which Weber Searwood should you buy?
- Most people: Searwood 600 — 648 sq in, DirectFlame searing to 600°F, for $999.
- Feeding a crowd: Searwood XL 600 — 972 sq in and a pellet fuel gauge, for $1,299.
See how the Searwood compares against the rest of the field in our best pellet grill guide, which ranks every top brand side by side. Want a grill built around direct-flame searing at an even higher ceiling, our best Camp Chef pellet grill roundup covers Slide and Grill’s 650°F sear. Whichever Searwood you land on, load it with real hardwood — our best wood pellets for smoking guide ranks the blends worth burning.