The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on the standard cart is the pellet grill to buy if you cook often, occasionally cook for a crowd, and want one machine that smokes, sears, bakes, and roasts for decades.
The most common mistake buyers make is over-buying the cart. If you're not hauling your grill to competitions or rolling it across gravel every weekend, the pricier rolling and all-terrain carts add cost you won't use. The standard, open-frame configuration is the flagship the whole lineup is built around, at the friendliest entry point.
Our pick: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill (~$2,699)— a 10-gauge (1/8-inch) steel cooking chamber, 1,070 square inches of two-level cooking space, and an Adaptive Control System that holds within ±5°F while you go live your life. Built in Kansas, USA and delivered straight to your door on a pallet through All Things Barbecue.
Runner-up: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart (~$3,199)— the better call if you move your grill over uneven ground, with flat-free tires and locking casters for true mobility.
Choose the standard cart unless mobility over rough terrain or enclosed onboard storage is a genuine priority for how you cook.
Verdict up front: The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on the standard cart is the pellet grill to buy if you cook often, occasionally cook for a crowd, and want a genuinely do-it-all machine that'll outlast the patio it sits on.
Specs and Build Quality
Let's start where every honest conversation about a Yoder Smokers grill starts: the steel. Pick up the lid on this one and you'll understand the price before anyone explains it to you. The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill features a 10-gauge steel cooking chamber — that's 1/8-inch thick where it matters most, in the part of the grill that actually holds heat and shapes your food. The hopper and cart are built from 14-gauge steel, giving the whole grill a solid base. All told, this unit tips the scale at 335 pounds. There are no shortcuts here, and you feel it the first time you touch it.
That heft is the whole point. Yoder Smokers grills are handcrafted from heavy-gauge steel in Kansas, USA, and All Things Barbecue is the exclusive online retailer for the brand — two Kansas companies who happen to agree that real barbecue demands real craftsmanship. The heavy cooking chamber isn't just about durability; thick steel holds temperature like a cast-iron skillet, which is a big part of why food off a Yoder Smokers grill comes out so consistent.
Here's the spec sheet that matters for daily cooking:
- Total cooking space: 1,070 square inches — 640 on the primary grate, plus 430 on the two-piece upper shelf.
- Temperature range: 150°F to 600°F, adjustable in 5-degree increments.
- Hopper capacity: Holds a full 20-pound bag of pellets, good for roughly 10-plus hours at 225°F.
- Controller: Yoder Smokers' next-generation Adaptive Control System (ACS), with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in.
- Temperature accuracy: Holds within ±5°F of your target.
The standard cart itself is Yoder Smokers' classic open-frame design — clean, sturdy, and easy to roll short distances across a smooth patio. It's the flagship configuration, the one every other YS640s cart is built around, and it comes in at a lower price point than the Competition Cart or Outlander All-Terrain versions. If you're not hauling your grill to competitions or moving it across gravel every weekend, the standard cart is very likely all the cart you need.
Day-to-Day Performance
Not every pellet grill is a grill, an oven, and a smoker rolled into one — but a well-built one can be, and this is one of the few that truly earns that claim. In its standard setup, the Yoder Smokers YS640s smokes, bakes and roasts, and with the included two-piece second shelf you get plenty of space for sides, breads, and desserts. Pull the small access door over the firebox and you can cook directly over the flame at higher temps, which gives you restaurant-quality searing and gas-grill convenience and with the flavor you only get from cooking over wood.
The magic in daily use is the consistency. That powerful microprocessor at the heart of the ACS board is constantly reading the chamber and adjusting the pellet feed to hold your number. It's smart enough to react to the things that throw cheaper grills into a tailspin — opening the lid, laying down a cold brisket, a cold front rolling through, or even switching pellet brands mid-cook. The left-to-right airflow moves heat and smoke evenly from one end of the chamber to the other, which is why you don't get one rack of ribs finishing an hour ahead of the other.
Startup is genuinely a non-event. Load the hopper, hit START, and the auger begins feeding pellets to the burn pot while the ceramic igniter fires the induction combustion process. You'll see flames within about four minutes, and the grill reaches cooking temp in roughly 10 to 20 minutes. The ceramic ignition system heats up twice as fast as a conventional contact igniter and helps prevent the failed lights that plague lesser grills. Once you're rolling, the two included food probes report to both the onboard display and the FireBoard app, so you can watch a pork butt climb through the stall from your kitchen table — or from a lawn chair with a cold drink, which is the more likely scenario.
On capacity, the 1,070 square inches goes a long way when you're feeding people. This grill will handle 8 to 10 racks of ribs, 6 to 8 pork shoulders, 3 to 4 packer briskets, or a couple of large turkeys at once. The two-level layout means you can sear over the firebox on the main grate while a tray of mac and cheese bakes gently on the upper shelf. That's multi-zone cooking without any juggling.
Cold weather doesn't faze it, either. Ball-bearing fans keep performance steady when the mercury drops, and if you cook through hard Midwestern winters, the optional thermal jacket accessory helps the grill hold heat and sip fuel more efficiently below freezing. It's the kind of grill you'll actually want to use in January, which is more than most folks can say about their equipment.
Who It's For — and Who It Isn't
This grill is built for the everyday cook who's outgrown a flimsy, inconsistent grill and is ready for something that turns dinner from a chore back into something fun. If you cook several times a week, host regularly, and care about the difference between "fine" and "restaurant-quality," the Yoder Smokers YS640s is squarely aimed at you. It's forgiving enough that beginners get great results out of the gate, and capable enough that seasoned pitmasters — including top competition teams — trust it with their reputations.
It's also a fantastic fit for the cook who wants one appliance to do the work of several. Because a grill this capable already serves as your smoker, your outdoor oven, and your searing station, you don't need a separate smoker taking up patio real estate. Pair it with a gas grill or a dedicated pizza oven if you like, but the YS640s alone covers an enormous amount of ground.
Who should look elsewhere? If you only grill a handful of times a summer and a burger is the ceiling of your ambitions, this is more grill than you need — and the investment reflects a level of craftsmanship you may not fully use. If your primary goal is a permanent built-in centerpiece for an outdoor kitchen, the standard cart isn't the configuration for you; the Yoder Smokers YS640s Built-In Pellet Grill with ACS and Valance is engineered to mount flush into a countertop for exactly that job.
What Could Be Better
No grill is perfect, and it's only fair to name the trade-offs.
First, the weight cuts both ways. That 335-pound build is a genuine asset for heat retention and longevity, but the standard cart is designed for short moves across smooth surfaces — not for rolling across a rough yard or frequently loading into a truck. If mobility over uneven ground is a priority for you, the standard cart will feel like the wrong tool, and you'd be better served by a configuration built for it, like the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart with its flat-free tires and locking casters.
Second, the standard cart is an open frame, which means no enclosed onboard storage for your tools, pellets, and accessories. That's a feature reserved for other configurations. It's not a knock on how the grill cooks, but if a tidy, everything-in-one-place setup matters to you, check out the other cart options.
Third, this is a freight item, and it's a real investment. These grills ship straight to your door on a pallet when you order through All Things Barbecue, palletized to minimize the risk of freight damage — but you'll want to plan for delivery of a heavy machine rather than expecting it to show up like a small parcel. And the price sits firmly in premium territory (~$2,699). That's the honest cost of American-made, heavy-gauge steel construction that's meant to be handed down, not replaced.
Finally, like any pellet grill, it runs on electricity and needs a power source nearby. It's not the grill for a remote campsite with no outlet. For backyard, patio, and outdoor-kitchen life, though, that's a non-issue.
Expert Verdict
The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on the standard cart is the one we'd point most serious backyard cooks toward, and it's an easy recommendation. You're getting a 10-gauge steel cooking chamber, 1,070 square inches of two-level cooking space, a 150°F–600°F range that covers everything from overnight brisket to blistering-hot sears, and an Adaptive Control System that holds temperature within ±5°F while you go live your life. It smokes, bakes, roasts, and grills over direct flame — one grill doing the work of a whole outdoor kitchen's worth of appliances.
It's built in Kansas, USA from heavy-gauge steel, it's backed by All Things Barbecue as the brand's exclusive online retailer, and it sits behind more than 5,000 five-star reviews across our site from cooks of every experience level. For the cook who's ready to stop replacing flimsy grills every few years and buy the last one they'll need, the standard cart is the right call — the flagship configuration, at the friendliest entry point in the YS640s lineup, with nothing sacrificed where it counts: the food.
If your build is heading toward a full outdoor kitchen instead of a freestanding grill, that's a conversation worth having with a real person before you buy. All Things Barbecue offers built-in YS640s configurations and free, professional outdoor kitchen design consultations with an experienced in-house team — actual designers who'll work through your space, your climate, and your cooking style with you, from a simple grill island to a sprawling custom build. Wherever you land, you'll be cooking with confidence.
