The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart is worth it for cooks who want professional-grade, wood-fired flavor in a grill that travels well and looks sharp doing it.
The decision most buyers overstep is assuming every pellet grill can do it all. Plenty only handle low-and-slow, oven-style cooking, but the YS640s smokes, bakes, roasts, and sears over direct flame across a 150°F to 600°F range. The other mistake is dismissing the 418-pound weight as a downside, when that heavy-gauge, 1/8-inch (10-gauge) steel cook chamber is exactly what locks temperatures in through wind and cold.
Our pick: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart (from $3,199) gives you 1,070 square inches of cooking space, ±5°F control through the Adaptive Control System, FireBoard app connectivity, and flat-free tires with tie-downs for anyone who hauls their grill to competitions, tailgates, or the lake house.
Runner-up: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on the standard open-frame cart offers the identical cook chamber and controller for less, ideal if you never plan to move it.
If mobility and a clean, closed-cart look matter to you, choose the competition cart; handcrafted in Kansas, USA and delivered straight to your door through All Things Barbecue.
Verdict up front: For the cook who wants professional-grade, wood-fired flavor in a grill that moves with them and looks sharp doing it, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart earns every dollar and then some.
Specs and Build Quality
Let's start where every honest review of this grill should — with the steel. The heart of this grill is the same cook chamber that made the YS640s a legend, and it's built from a 10-gauge steel cooking chamber, which works out to a thick, 1/8-inch wall around the part of the grill that actually matters for cooking. That kind of mass is what gives a pellet grill its heat retention and its steady, even cooking environment, and it's a big part of why Yoder Smokers grills hold a temperature through wind, cold, and a full cook load without flinching.
What sets this particular YS640s model apart is the cart underneath it. The competition cart is also crafted from 10-gauge steel and finished with a high-temp powder coat that stands up to the elements for year-round use, and it swaps the open-frame standard base for a sleek, closed-cart design built around mobility. You get robust 8-inch flat-free pneumatic tires with locking casters, and there's an optional upgrade to 10-inch tires if you want even more clearance for uneven ground. Heavy-duty tie-down rings are built in, so if you're the type who hauls your grill to a tailgate, a competition, or the lake house, this is the configuration made for that life.
This is a substantial piece of equipment. It's a robust 418-pound grill, and that weight is a feature, not a flaw — it's what keeps the cook chamber stable and the temperatures locked in. The competition cart is offered in seven colors (orange, silver, black, red, yellow, purple, and blue) with your choice of wire shelves or upgraded stainless steel shelves, so you can dial in both the look and the finish that suits your setup. And it's proudly built in Kansas, USA, which is the kind of provenance you don't find on a mass-produced grill.
On the cooking side, you're working with 1,070 square inches of total cooking space — 640 square inches on the primary grate and another 430 on the modular two-piece upper shelf. That upper rack isn't just a warming perch; it opens the door to genuine multi-zone cooking, letting you sear over the firebox while something bakes gently above.
Day-to-Day Performance
Here's where a Yoder Smokers grill separates itself from the pack. Not every pellet grill is a grill, oven, and smoker rolled into one — plenty of them only do the low-and-slow oven-style cooking. This one does the whole spectrum. The YS640s runs from 150°F all the way up to 600°F, so you can hold a brisket at 225 overnight, crank it up to roast a chicken, and then pop the small access door open to cook over direct flame for real searing. That flexibility is the difference between a grill you use twice a month and one you can't stop reaching for.
The everyday experience is genuinely easy. You load the pellet hopper, power on, hit the "START" button, and the auger begins feeding pellets into the burn pot while the ceramic igniter kicks off the ignition sequence. Visible flames appear within about four minutes, and the grill typically reaches your target temperature in 10 to 20 minutes — a little longer in the cold, which is just physics. From there it's hands-free. There's no babysitting, no cracking the lid every twenty minutes to peek.
The brains behind all this is the next-generation Adaptive Control System. The ACS board is built around a powerful microprocessor that reads multiple inputs at once to hold your temperature steady, and it's smart enough to react to real-world disruptions — opening the door, dropping a cold packer brisket onto the grate, a sudden weather swing, or even a change in burn rate when you switch pellet types mid-cook. You can adjust the temperature in 5°F increments from either the physical control panel or your phone, and the controller keeps the grill holding within ±5°F of your target. That consistency, paired with the left-to-right airflow that carries clean heat and smoke across the food, is what makes the results so repeatable.
Connectivity is baked in. The grill links to both Bluetooth and your home Wi-Fi through the FireBoard app, so you can control temperature, monitor food with the two included probes, and set the grill to hold at a resting temperature once your food hits its mark — all from your phone. That means you can throw ribs on before church, check bark development from the pew, and walk back to a grill that's exactly where you left it.
Hopper capacity is a subtle strength here. The high-capacity hopper holds a full 20-pound bag of pellets and can run roughly 10-plus hours at 225°F, which comfortably covers most overnight cooks. The high-airflow burn grate carries ash away from the burn pot to keep things from clogging, and the ceramic ignition system lasts about five times longer than conventional contact igniters, heats up twice as fast, and produces significantly more heat through induction lighting to help prevent failed starts. Cold-weather cooks get some love too — ball-bearing fans help the grill perform when temperatures drop, and there's an optional thermal jacket accessory for cooking below freezing.
Grate capacity is where this grill starts winning arguments at family gatherings. That 1,070 square inches of cooking area can handle 8 to 10 racks of ribs, 6 to 8 pork shoulders, or 3 to 4 packer briskets in a single load. This is the kind of grill that makes your neighbors start showing up uninvited — and you'll have plenty to feed them.
Who It's For — and Who It Isn't
This configuration is for the cook who values mobility and appearance as much as performance. If you move your grill more than most folks — competition circuits, tailgates, hauling it up onto a trailer or across uneven ground — the flat-free tires, locking casters, and tie-down rings are made exactly for you. It's also for the backyard cook who simply wants that clean, closed-cart look and doesn't mind paying a bit for the upgrade in style and maneuverability.
It's a fantastic fit for a large family or anyone who entertains often. And despite all the pro-grade engineering, it's genuinely beginner-friendly. As verified customer Michael put it about the YS640s, "it's not a big learning curve to get great results." Brian, another verified customer, said as a beginner "everything I have made is restaurant quality or better." You don't need to be a seasoned pitmaster to get a great cook off this grill.
Who should look elsewhere within the lineup? If you never plan to move your grill and want to keep your budget trimmer, the standard-cart Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill gives you the identical cook chamber and ACS unit on an open-frame base. If you want the competition cart's mobility plus dedicated storage, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart with Storage Drawer adds a full-width pull-out drawer that holds up to 150 pounds and keeps your tools within arm's reach. And if you're building this into an outdoor kitchen, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Built-In Pellet Grill with ACS and Valance is designed to surface-mount into a counter. Same incredible grill in every case — just the cart changes.
Cooking for a smaller household and don't need this much real estate? The step-down Yoder Smokers YS480s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart carries the same build philosophy and heavy-gauge, 10-gauge steel cook chamber in a more compact footprint.
What Could Be Better
No grill is perfect, and honesty is the whole point of a review. The most obvious trade-off is weight and price. At 418 pounds, this is not a grill you'll casually lift off a deck by yourself — the tires make it maneuverable, but the mass is real, and you'll want a plan for any stairs or thresholds. And a professional-grade, American-made grill built from this much steel costs more than the mass-produced alternatives you'll find at big-box stores. That's the deal: you're paying for steel, engineering, and a build meant to last decades, not seasons.
The competition cart's closed design looks great and rolls beautifully, but the base model doesn't include on-board storage. If keeping your rubs, tools, and pellets right at the grill matters to you, that's a nudge toward the storage-drawer version rather than a knock against this one — just something to weigh before you order.
A word on searing: cooking over direct flame here requires opening a small access door, so it's a quick, deliberate step rather than a flip-of-a-switch gas experience. For most cooks that's a non-issue, and dedicated searing accessories like the GrillGrate Set take the results up another notch. But if flash-searing is 90% of what you do, know that this grill's true genius is its all-around versatility across the whole temperature range.
Finally, this is a freight item. Because of its size and weight, the YS640s ships palletized to reduce the risk of damage in transit, and when you buy through All Things Barbecue, it's delivered straight to your door. Flat-rate freight shipping is available, or if you happen to be within driving distance, you can pick it up at the flagship store in Wichita, Kansas — which, depending on where you live, can save you a good chunk on shipping.
Expert Verdict
The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart is the right call for the serious backyard cook or traveling competitor who wants professional-grade, wood-fired flavor in a grill that can smoke low and slow, bake, roast, and sear over direct flame — all while being easy enough for a first-timer to master. You're getting a heavy-gauge, 1/8-inch-thick 10-gauge steel cook chamber, 1,070 square inches of cooking space, precise ±5°F temperature control through the Adaptive Control System, FireBoard app connectivity with two included probes, and a mobility-focused cart with flat-free tires and tie-downs — all handcrafted in Kansas, USA and backed by All Things Barbecue as the exclusive online retailer of Yoder Smokers.
This sits at the premium tier, and it should. It's for the buyer who values craftsmanship, durability, and food that turns out right every single time over chasing the cheapest sticker. If that's you — and especially if mobility and a clean, sharp look matter — this is a grill you'll be cooking on, and bragging about, for a very long time. With more than 5,000 five-star reviews across the All Things Barbecue site and a friendly, dedicated team that grills at home just like you do, you've got real people to lean on before, during, and after your purchase. Fire it up, and enjoy the process as much as the food.
