The Yoder Smokers YS640s Outlander Pellet Grill is worth it if you want professional-grade, American-made cooking that can actually travel over rough ground without giving up an inch of capability.
This is a serious investment, and the mistake most buyers make is paying for the rugged Outlander cart when their grill will never leave one spot on the patio. The cook chamber is identical across every YS640s configuration, so the cart is the real decision here, not the cooking.
Our pick: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Outlander Pellet Grill — its 10-gauge steel cooking chamber, 1,070 square inches of dual-level cooking space, and oversized pneumatic tires on a reinforced 22.5-degree turning axle make it the grill to buy if you tailgate, camp, or want a genuine head-turner that still nails a Sunday brisket.
Runner-up: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart — a better fit if you move your grill around the yard or to tailgates but not "off road". You get the same acclaimed cook chamber and Adaptive Control System on a sleeker, closed cart without paying for all-terrain mobility you won't use.
Choose the Outlander if adventure-ready mobility is on your wish list; if the grill is destined for a fixed patio corner or built-in island, pick a stay-put cart instead. Either way, ATBBQ delivers these freight-shipped grills palletized straight to your door.
Verdict up front: If you want a professional-grade, American-made pellet grill that cooks like a dream and can actually go where you go, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Outlander Pellet Grill is the real deal — rugged enough for the backcountry, refined enough for a Sunday brisket.
Specs and Build Quality
Let's start where every Yoder Smokers conversation should start: the steel. The Yoder Smokers YS640s Outlander Pellet Grill is built around a 10-gauge steel cooking chamber — that's a full 1/8 inch of thick, heavy-gauge steel doing the work where it matters most. That kind of mass is the whole story behind why these grills hold temperature so steadily and shrug off cold, wind, and years of hard use. This is a grill that's proudly built in Kansas, USA, and it's the sort of build quality you feel the first time you lift the lid.
What sets the Outlander apart from the rest of the YS640s family is the cart underneath it. Yoder Smokers designed the Outlander for genuine mobility without giving up a single ounce of cooking capability. The frame is heavy-duty 10-gauge steel that resists flex and corrosion, riding on 10-inch wheels wrapped in 6.5-inch-wide pneumatic tires. A 22.5-degree turning axle and integrated pull handle let you make tight, controlled maneuvers across rocks, gravel, and grass — the kind of terrain that stops lesser carts cold. Even fully assembled at 541 pounds, it rolls with confidence.
On the cooking side, you get 1,070 square inches of total cooking area — 640 on the primary grate plus 430 on the upper shelf. That's enough real estate to handle 8 to 10 racks of ribs, 6 to 8 pork shoulders, or 3 to 4 packer briskets in a single cook. The included 2-piece second shelf is modular, which opens the door to true multi-zone cooking: sear over the firebox on one side while something bakes gently up top. The temperature range runs from 150°F all the way to 600°F, so you can go from delicate cold-weather smoke to a genuine grilling sear.
The Outlander cart also brings practical touches for life on the move: an undermounted storage area, built-in tie-downs, and removable stainless steel shelves. It comes in a Standard and an Upgraded configuration, and it ships to your door via freight — palletized to reduce the risk of damage along the way. If you happen to live within driving distance, you can also pick it up at the ATBBQ flagship store in Wichita, Kansas.
Day-to-Day Performance
Here's where a Yoder Smokers grill earns its keep. Ask any owner what they love most and they'll skip right past the specs and tell you about the food — and there's real engineering behind that.
At the heart of the YS640s is Yoder Smokers' next-generation Adaptive Control System. Built around a powerful microprocessor, the control board monitors multiple inputs and adjusts the pellet feed to hold your target temperature with ±5°F accuracy, in 5°F increments. It responds intelligently when you open the lid, drop in cold meat, or when the weather shifts on you — no babysitting required. Pair that with the grill's consistent left-to-right airflow, which fights temperature swings and soot buildup, and you get a cooking environment that's genuinely stable from one end of the grate to the other. That stability is also why your pellets last longer.
Fire-up is refreshingly simple. Load the hopper, power on, press START, and the ceramic ignition system takes over — it lasts five times longer than conventional contact igniters, heats up twice as fast, and generates 100% more heat using an induction lighting process that helps prevent failed ignitions. You'll see visible flames within about four minutes, and the grill reaches cooking temperature in roughly 10 to 20 minutes. The high-capacity hopper swallows a full 20-pound bag of pellets and can run for approximately 10-plus hours at 225°F, so an overnight brisket won't leave you setting a 2 a.m. alarm to refill.
Now, an important distinction: not every pellet grill can claim to be grill, oven, and smoker in one. This one can. The YS640s smokes low and slow, bakes and roasts oven-style with that included upper shelf, and — by simply removing the small access door over the firebox — lets you cook over direct flame at higher temperatures. That combination gives you the convenience of gas grilling with the flavor of real wood fire. And it plays beautifully with a few purpose-built accessories: the GrillGrate Set for Yoder Smokers YS640s reaches temperatures above 650°F for steakhouse marks and crusts, the Yoder Smokers Wood-Fired Oven turns out blistered Neapolitan pizzas and crispy wings, and the Yoder Smokers Pellet Grill Rotisserie Kit self-bastes chickens, turkeys, and prime ribs (new grills come pre-drilled for it).
Where a lot of connected grills feel like a gimmick, the YS640s uses its tech to genuinely make your life easier. It connects over Bluetooth and your home Wi-Fi through the FireBoard app, so you can control the temperature, monitor food with the two included probes, and set hold programs to keep your grill steady once the meat hits temp — all from your phone. The dual food probes report to both the display panel and your device, meaning you know exactly when dinner's done without lifting the lid and losing heat.
Cold-weather cooks, take note: ball-bearing fans keep performance strong when the temperature drops, and an optional thermal jacket accessory helps retain heat and improve fuel efficiency below freezing. This is an all-season grill in the truest sense.
Who It's For — and Who It Isn't
The Outlander is for the cook who refuses to choose between capability and mobility. If you tailgate, camp, host in the backyard, and occasionally want to haul your grill somewhere the ground isn't smooth and flat, those oversized pneumatic tires and reinforced chassis are built exactly for you. It's also a natural fit for the enthusiast who wants their grill to make a statement — this thing genuinely turns heads parked on a patio or a tailgate lot.
It's equally at home with the everyday cook who wants restaurant-quality results without a steep learning curve. Between the push-button ignition, the Adaptive Control System, and app control, a first-timer can pull off a beautiful cook right out of the gate, while a seasoned pitmaster gets the temperature precision and capacity to run competition-level sessions.
Who should look elsewhere? If mobility isn't on your list and you know the grill is going to live in one spot — a dedicated patio corner or a built-in island — you may not need the rugged Outlander cart at all. The YS640s cook chamber is identical across every configuration, so a cook who's staying put might be better served by the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart or a Yoder Smokers YS640s Built-In Pellet Grill with ACS and Valance for an outdoor kitchen build. Same phenomenal food, different foundation. And if you're feeding a small household and honestly can't imagine filling that primary grate, the smaller Yoder Smokers YS480s Pellet BBQ Grill may be a more sensible starting point.
What Could Be Better
Let's be honest about the trade-offs, because every grill has them. At 541 pounds, the Outlander is a serious machine — the cart is engineered to roll smoothly, but this isn't something one person casually lifts into a truck bed. "Mobile" here means it maneuvers beautifully across tough terrain, not that it's a lightweight you toss over your shoulder. Plan your transport accordingly.
Because these grills are heavy, professional-grade equipment, they arrive by freight rather than standard parcel delivery. The upside is that ATBBQ ships the Outlander straight to your door, palletized to protect it in transit. If you're near Wichita, the flagship-store pickup option can save you a meaningful chunk on shipping.
The Outlander is also, by design, a rugged statement piece. If your taste runs toward a sleek, fully enclosed cart or a flush built-in look, the all-terrain aesthetic and open utility of this cart may not be what you're after — and that's exactly why Yoder Smokers offers the YS640s on so many other carts. Finally, to unlock the grill's full range — dedicated searing, pizza, rotisserie — you'll want to budget for those accessories separately. They're worth it, but they aren't included.
Expert Verdict
The Yoder Smokers YS640s Outlander Pellet Grill is one of the easiest recommendations we can make to a specific kind of buyer: the cook who wants a professional-grade, all-season pellet grill that delivers genuine grill-oven-smoker versatility and can travel over real terrain without compromise. You get the same 10-gauge steel cooking chamber, the same 1,070 square inches of dual-level cooking space, and the same precise Adaptive Control System found across the YS640s line — mounted on the toughest, most adventure-ready cart in the family.
This sits at the premium end of the pellet grill market, and it's priced like the handcrafted, Kansas-built equipment it is. If your budget stretches there and you value craftsmanship, durability, and food that keeps you dreaming about your next cook, the Outlander is absolutely worth it. As the exclusive online retailer of Yoder Smokers, ATBBQ backs every one of these with friendly, dedicated customer service and the kind of hands-on product knowledge that comes from actually cooking on these grills — which is a big part of why the site has earned more than 5,000 five-star reviews from backyard and competition cooks alike.
If you're weighing the Outlander against a stay-put configuration for a patio or an outdoor kitchen build, that's a conversation worth having before you buy — and it's exactly the kind of thing the ATBBQ team loves to help with. But if adventure-ready mobility is on your wish list and you want a grill you'll be proud to cook on for decades, this is the one. Fire it up, and don't be surprised when the neighbors start showing up uninvited.
