Camp Chef Woodwind Review
On November 08, 2021 (Updated May 26, 2022)
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Gather ’round grilling friends! It’s time for a review of one of the most popular pellet grills on the market, the Camp Chef Woodwind! Camp Chef’s continued improvement of the Woodwind line keeps them at the top of the game. Boasting a range of 501 – 1236 sq. in. of cooking rack space, Slide and Grill Technology, and a massive 22-pound hopper capacity, the Camp Chef Woodwind is one of the most versatile grills available. With three models to choose from, you’re sure to crank out flawless food perfect for your friends and family.
Camp Chef sent us this grill for testing and review purposes; however, all opinions are our own.
Camp Chef Woodwind Features
The Woodwind is a great pellet grill with a plethora of awesome features. Camp Chef continues to improve on pellet smoking technology, so you’ll be ready to smoke consistent food every time.
Check out the great features of the Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill:
- WiFi connected Gen 2 PID controller with a full-color screen
- Smart Smoke Technology to fine-tune your flavor
- 160°F – 500°F Temperature Range
- Pellet Hopper Cleanout
- Slide and Grill Technology for direct grilling
- Patented Ash Kickin’ Cleanout system
- Stainless Steel firebox
Camp Chef Woodwind Assembly
Assembly of the Woodwind is straightforward. The instructions included by Camp Chef are detailed and easy to follow, allowing for quick assembly. With a helping hand, I was able to assemble the Camp Chef Woodwind 24 with basic hand tools in well under an hour.
Camp Chef is well known for its incredible service! If you have any issues with your grill, make sure to give them a call and they’ll take care of you!
How to Use
Startup Procedure
When you’re ready, getting this grill started is incredibly easy! Starting this grill for the first time when it’s empty is slightly different than one that has already been filled with pellets and seasoned. Make sure you follow the break-in and seasoning procedure outlined in the manual before proceeding. Let’s get that smoke rolling!
- Fill your hopper. I recommend Camp Chef pellets as there are no added oils or binders.
- Select the temp. Set your desired temperature and smoke level with the controller.
- Preheat. Let the grill preheat for 10-30 minutes, and get to cooking!
Low and Slow
Cooking low and slow on a grill that makes it this easy is a wonderful thing. I have several long cooks under my belt with a Woodwind and I’ll tell you, the grill makes for a wonderful experience especially if you’re cooking on a busy day.
The digital controller provides a bunch of cool features that help accomplish that. It is accurate and able to maintain temperatures within 10 degrees of its setpoint. It also includes four temperature probes to help you keep a close eye on your food. All of this can be monitored on the controller itself or your smartphone right from Camp Chef’s app.
Smart Smoke Technology is another great feature provided. It allows you to dial in your flavor with 10 strength levels to choose from. I usually leave mine set at 10 unless I’m cooking for someone that doesn’t like a lot of smoky flavor. Yes, these people actually exist.
Combine all of that with the 22-lb hopper and you’ve got a beast of a smoker. On a nice summer day, I’ve found that you can get upwards of 20 hours at 225 degrees F with a full hopper, so you can easily run overnight without topping off your pellets. However, it should be noted that this efficiency will be affected depending on which model you purchase.
Direct Grilling with Slide and Grill Technology
Want to do some direct heat grilling on your Woodwind? No Problem!
All it takes to transform the Woodwind into a direct grilling machine is a quick pull of the grill knob, which moves the deflector plate and allows food to be cooked right over the fire. Using this feature is a great way to grill up some burgers or brats for your family party or crank out a hot and fast steak to keep all to yourself.
You can get a decent sear on a steak with this method, but I much prefer the one you’ll get from the Sidekick attachment if you opted to purchase that as well.
The Sidekick
Camp Chef also included the Sidekick, one of their most popular attachments, and I couldn’t be happier about this feature. It adds a tremendous amount of versatility to an already feature-packed grill by being compatible with most of Camp Chef’s 14″ cooking system accessories.
The Sidekick really brings the heat with a 28,000 BTU/hr. burner which, combined with the BBQ Grill Box, will put a flawless sear on a steak or take you on a deep-fry frenzy. In addition to the grill box, I opted for the flat top griddle attachment as well as the Artisan Outdoor Oven. Broil, bake, sear, fry, whatever you fancy, the Sidekick can handle almost anything you throw at it.
Woodwind Cleanup
Not only are the racks and drip pan removable for easy cleanup, Camp Chef’s entire lineup includes one of my absolute favorite features; the patented Ash Kickin’ Cleanout system. When you’re finished with your cook, simply give the clean-out handle a pull to empty the ash into the cup for easy disposal. Make sure your fire is completely out and the grill is cool before you do this!
The grease management system helps a ton as well. All that nasty cooking gunk and grease is directed down the drip pan and into a bucket on the side of the grill for easy disposal. Camp Chef even sells foil inserts for the bucket to make this process even more manageable.
With these two features combined, it makes those times when you need to deep clean your grill much easier, less gross, and extends the time you have between cleanings.
What We Like
Here are some of our favorite things about the Woodwind Pellet Grill from Camp Chef:
- Ease of Use. It’s easy to use, easy to clean, and produces incredible food!
- Digital Controller and Smart Smoke Technology. Camp Chef hit the nail on the head with their digital controller, and the smoke level adjustments are a game-changer. The PID technology in the controller helps maintain a high level of temperature accuracy while the WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity is a feature many people love. The full-color screen is also a nice touch.
- The Hopper. The 22-pound hopper provides ease of mind late at night on those long cooks. You can rest easy knowing that it’ll be a long time before you’ll need to top it off. The pellet purge also makes changing pellets a breeze.
- Solid Construction. Camp Chef builds these grills out of fairly thick powder-coated steel except the firebox and lid which are stainless. The legs provide rock-solid stability along with durable rubber wheels. I have a Camp Chef SGX36 in my lineup that is over 5 years old showing no sign of slowing down soon.
- The Price. You can pick one of these grills up for under $1000!
What Could be Improved
Even though this is a great grill, there are a few things that could be improved with the Woodwind:
- The App. Let me start by saying I’m not a huge app person. I tend to stick close to my grills during all of my cooks so connectivity isn’t a feature I prioritize. The app is mostly fine but exhibits occasional crashes and random connectivity issues. These are easily remedied by reopening the app and reconnecting to the grill, but frustrating nonetheless.
- Shelving and Prep Area. Originally the Woodwind comes with a side shelf, lower storage shelf, and the hopper lid. When you add a Sidekick you lose a ton of real estate and a front shelf would help ease that pain. These are available as a separate add-on for the grill but are pricey for something that I feel should be included.
Recipes for the Camp Chef Woodwind
Do you have the Woodwind in your backyard, or are you planning on buying one in the future? If so, I recommend trying these awesome recipes with your pellet grill.
- Apple Jalapeno Smoked Ribs
- Simple Smoked Pulled Pork Butt (Smoked Pork Shoulder)
- Pineapple Cream Cheese Pig Shots
Camp Chef Woodwind Review: Final Thoughts
The Camp Chef Woodwind is a heavy-hitter in the pellet grill market that is a great fit for any beginner or pro alike. With it, you’ll be able to produce incredible food with minimal effort that takes your backyard BBQ to new levels.
In its base form, this grill is a super capable cookin’ machine and only gets better with each accessory Camp Chef offers. The pros heavily outweigh the cons across Camp Chef’s entire lineup, so you can’t go wrong purchasing one of these beasts!
As a general rule pellet grills don’t produce heavy smoke regardless of brand. For many people this is a feature. It is easy to have too much smoke. If you want more smoke, get a charcoal grill with wood chunks for flavor. But I happen to like the balance of smoke flavor. Things to check if having problems are pellets, airflow, & proper temperature control. There are other possibilities, but those are the big ones. So far my unit has worked as advertised. The sear box allows a proper reverse sear which allows for more even cooking & a great crust.
I bought a Woodwind, not from your recommendations I have smoked on it less that 10 times, bought July 2017, the last two times the smoker after 45 minutes loses temp and drops to under 100 degrees, went through shutdown procedures, started again same thing after 45 minutes loss heat at 275 degrees to under 100 so far not sure if it is worth the $900 spent, not happy looking at the other models now, maybe just stick to the barbecue!
John, it could be the pellets. If you leave them in the bin, they can absorb humidity and become bad to use. This is especially true if you don’t use the grill very often.
How would you compare this with the SG? What purpose does this serve as opposed to the SG?
Hey Peter- I’ve got an SG review so you can see the features on that one. They both have slightly different benefits based on how you think you will be using it most frequently. https://heygrillhey.com/camp-chef-smokepro-sg-pellet-grill-review/
Do not waste money on this grill. It produces very little if any smoke. I purchased the woodwind and it will not smoke on any setting at all. Camp Chef customer service even states that their grill smokes very little if at all. Save your money and buy a gas grill and a smoke tube, it’ll be the same thing.
Hey David- I definitely see smoke with my Woodwind, but more importantly to me is the flavor that i get cooking with it. Most wood fires have ebbs and flows of when they are smoking vs. smoldering. I’m sorry you’re not happy with it, but I’m sure their customer service will do their best to make you happy. I’ve never had anything but good experiences!
Same thing has happened on my new WW, it will produce large amounts of smoke on “low smoke” but hardly any on “high smoke”. There is no smoke flavor unless I use a smoke tube. Very disappointed!
I was surprised at the low amount of smoke that you see with pellet smokers. They do however still produce smoke (more so at lower temps), it is just a cleaner smoke. You wont get the billowing of smoke that you see with stick burners. Once I adjusted to it, I am able to produce the same quality of product as I can on my stick burner but with a lot less effort.
Hello and Happy New Year.
I was told by Camp Chef that the sear box has three heat settings, not just low to high temperature settings. They never measured the BTU’s or temp of the grates on each of the settings. I noticed that you didn’t mention the three settings and I am wondering if you took the time to look over that specific.
Thank you.
Hi Craig- Happy New Year to you as well! On the sear box, I don’t use it on any setting other than High. When I am searing I am looking for the highest temperature I can get. I’ve used a laser infrared thermometer to measure the surface heat of my sear box grates and after preheating on high it was at 900 degrees F. If I’m looking for a lower temperature, I typically just use the pellet grill side on the highest heat setting.
Hello, I have been enjoying my woodwind but on 3 occasions recently it stopped making heat while I was trying to cook. I take excellent care of it and it stays clean and covered. Have you experienced anything like this?
Hey Brad- the only time I’ve heard of people losing their fire is if they are cooking on the low smoke setting in cooler temperatures. Sometimes the fire can go out before more pellets are fed into the fire pot.
I had to have them send me a new controller to fix mine
Is it necessary to always cook with pellets in the hopper? I ask because I don’t like a heavy smoke flavor in some meats, so I want to know if I can simply dump the pellets after smoking for a period, then continue to cook at whatever temp I select until I reach the correct internal temperature.
David, the entire grill is run off of the pellets. They provide both the smoke and the heat. Usually if you are grilling at any temperature over 275, you really don’t get much by way of smoke flavor, just the heat from the pellets burning. Lower temperatures are where you get a majority of the smoke flavor.
You can buy charcoal pellets. This would be the same flavor you would get from a regular charcoal grill. If you don’t like a lot of smoke mix it 50/50 with a light wood like pecan
Can the sear box be converted to natural gas?
Hey Dennis- it doesn’t have an option to convert right now, but rumors are Camp Chef is working on it.
Any gas appliance repair man should be able to convert it for you. It’s just a matter of drilling the orifice to the correct size and puting a different regulator on it.
Can you tell me how easy grease is to clean out of the Woodwind? Grease is a major problem on my current gas grill.
Thanks for a great review!
Hey Paul- I find grease really easy to clean. There is a large heat deflector/drip tray underneath the grill grates. I line that with heavy duty aluminum foil and when it is dirty and greasy, I simply remove it and replace with clean foil.
Loving mine, nice thorough review. I think they nailed it with this one, with the exception of a couple minor things missing (cord management and tool hooks), this has everything I need in a grill. To me this is the best all around for flavor, speed, and ease of use. I used to use an electric smoker, charcoal grill, and gas grill – not anymore.
Ash dump is totally bogus. I have to vacuum after every second cook. Ashes go everywhere…………….except into the dump pot
Huh, mine could go a long long time without cleaning it.