For most home cooks and competition pitmasters, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill is the better all-around choice over a comparable single-purpose smoker in this premium, American-made tier.
Both grills are built from heavy steel and run FireBoard-powered controllers, so the decision comes down to how you actually cook. The mistake most buyers make is treating chamber steel as the only tiebreaker. What separates these grills is versatility and format: the YS640s smokes low and slow, sears over direct flame, bakes on its second shelf, and can run a rotisserie, all from one cook chamber offered across six carts.
Our pick: Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill 1,070 square inches of cooking space, a 1/8-inch (10-gauge) steel cooking chamber, and an Adaptive Control System holding ±5°F make it the workhorse that grills, smokes, roasts, and sears.
Runner-up: Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart with Storage Drawer the pick for tailgaters and competition teams who need their tools rolling with the rig.
If you only ever cook low and slow, the gap narrows; if you want one grill to do everything and land freight-delivered to your door through All Things Barbecue, choose the YS640s.
If you're shopping in the premium, American-made pellet grill tier, you've almost certainly landed on these two names, and for good reason. Both are handcrafted in the USA from heavy steel, both run FireBoard-powered controllers, and both promise the kind of build quality that outlasts a decade of backyard cooks. This guide is for the serious home cook or competition-minded pitmaster deciding where a real investment should go. By the end, you'll know which criteria actually separate these grills, which configuration fits your cooking life, and how All Things Barbecue being the exclusive online retailer of Yoder Smokers changes the math. The genuinely interesting part of this decision is that it comes down to how you cook far more than whether one brand is "better" than the other.
What to look for in premium pellet grills like these
Once you're past the mass-produced entry-level pellet grills and into professional-grade territory, price differences track four specific things. Get these right and the rest is personal taste.
Steel thickness in the cooking chamber. This is the single biggest driver of heat retention, temperature stability in cold weather, and how many seasons the grill survives. The Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill uses a 1/8-inch thick (10-gauge) steel cooking chamber with a 14-gauge steel hopper and cart. The Lone Star Grillz pellet smoker runs a 3/16-inch thick steel main chamber, which is heavier plate. Both are dramatically more substantial than the thin-walled pellet grills that warp and rust after a few seasons, so the real question isn't which brand is "heavy" they both are but which cooking style and cart configuration you actually need.
True high-heat searing, not just smoking. Do not assume every pellet grill cooks the same. All of them use wood pellets for oven-style, set-and-forget cooking, but only a select few can also sear a steak, run a griddle, or hit pizza-oven heat. The YS640s covers a 150°F to 600°F range and lets you pull an access door to cook directly over the flame, and with the GrillGrate Set for Yoder Smokers YS640 Pellet Grill it climbs above 650°F for steakhouse-grade marks. The Lone Star Grillz direct grill grate can reach around 700 degrees as well. A grill that can only smoke is a one-trick appliance; the grills worth this money genuinely function as grill, oven, and smoker in one.
Controller intelligence. Both grills lean on FireBoard cloud connectivity, which is the good news for anyone comparing them. The YS640s pairs it with Yoder Smokers' next-generation Adaptive Control System, which adjusts in 5°F increments and holds ±5°F accuracy while reacting to lid openings, cold meat, and weather. Precision at this level is what separates a grill you babysit from one you trust overnight.
Format and footprint. Lone Star Grillz builds a single-door cabinet smoker family sized by chamber dimensions, with a patent-pending burn pot design for its smoke profile. Yoder Smokers builds one flagship cook chamber offered across six carts standard, competition, storage-drawer, all-terrain, and two built-in kits so you match the grill to your patio rather than the other way around.
Cook-expanding Accessories. Accessories are a key differentiator when it comes to cooking versatility. Both brands offer a wood-fired oven insert, though it's worth comparing quality if that matters to you. Beyond that, Yoder Smokers pulls ahead with a broader lineup of high-quality accessories: a cast iron griddle insert for smash burgers and breakfasts, a rotisserie kit for self-spun chicken and other proteins, and in collaboration with GrillGrates an aluminum grate set built specifically for high-heat searing on Yoder pellet grills. Lone Star Grillz, by contrast, offers a steel griddle insert and steel grill grates, but no rotisserie kit. Ask yourself: how versatile do you need your grill to be, and how much do specialized materials matter to you? Your answers will settle the comparison.
Our picks
The all-around best investment: Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill. This is the Yoder Smokers brand's top seller, and it's the grill for the cook who wants one workhorse that does everything well. You get 1,070 square inches of total cooking space 640 on the main grate plus 430 on the two-piece upper shelf which handles 8 to 10 racks of ribs or 3 to 4 packer briskets at once. At 335 pounds of 1/8-inch steel chamber and 14-gauge hopper and cart, it's built to be passed down. If your pellet grill lives in one spot on the patio and pulls double duty as smoker, oven, and searing station, start here.
For the cook who moves the grill: Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart. Same cook chamber and Adaptive Control System, mounted on 8-inch flat-free tires with locking casters and built-in tie-downs, available in several standard colors with optional stainless shelves. This is the pick for tailgaters, competition teams, and anyone rolling their rig across grass, ramps, and gravel. It's a strong seller for a reason mobility without giving up an ounce of cooking capability.
For the road warrior who hauls gear: Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart with Storage Drawer. This ranks second in the Yoder Smokers lineup by revenue. It adds a full-width pull-out drawer holding over 4,900 cubic inches and up to 150 pounds, so rubs, tools, and grates ride with the grill and stay off your prep table. Ideal for competition cooks and heavy entertainers who want everything within arm's reach.
For the built-in outdoor kitchen: Yoder Smokers YS640s Built-In Pellet Grill with ACS and Valance. Surface-mounts to a non-combustible counter for a seamless island integration something the freestanding Lone Star Grillz cabinet and cart smokers aren't designed to do. If your grill is becoming the centerpiece of a masonry outdoor kitchen, this is the format that belongs there.
The most popular pairing every owner buys: BBQr's Delight Wood Pellets, 20lb Bag one of the most-purchased products at All Things Barbecue. That's because a premium grill deserves clean-burning fuel, and the YS640s 20-pound hopper will run roughly 10-plus hours at 225°F on a single bag. Stock a few flavors and you're set for a season of cooks.
What most guides get wrong
Plenty of comparisons stop at the spec sheet and declare the thicker steel the automatic winner. That's the mistake. Steel thickness matters enormously for heat retention and longevity and both grills here are heavy, well-built machines that leave imported thin-gauge pellet grills far behind but chamber steel alone doesn't tell you which grill fits your life. The Lone Star Grillz smokers are outstanding at what they're designed for: dense, single-door and cabinet-style smoking with a firebox-forward layout. Where the YS640s pulls ahead for most home cooks is versatility and format. It's engineered to sear over direct flame, bake with the second shelf, run a rotisserie, and griddle on cast iron, all from one cook chamber offered across six carts. If you only ever cook low and slow, the difference narrows. If you want one grill that grills, smokes, roasts, and sears, the flexible format matters more than a fraction of an inch of steel.
One more practical point buyers overlook: freight logistics. Every Yoder Smokers grill purchased through All Things Barbecue ships palletized straight to your door via freight, so a 335-pound grill lands where you need it without a warehouse pickup or a second vehicle. That door-to-door delivery, backed by a human customer service team before, during, and after the sale, takes real friction out of owning a grill this substantial.
The recommendation
If you're the everyday cook or entertainer who wants a single grill to smoke a brisket overnight, sear steaks on Friday, and roast a turkey for the holidays, buy the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on the standard cart. If you move your rig to tailgates and competitions, step up to the Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill on Competition Cart with Storage Drawer so your tools travel with you. And if this grill is headed into an outdoor kitchen, the Yoder Smokers YS640s Built-In Pellet Grill with ACS and Valance is built for exactly that.
The Lone Star Grillz pellet smoker is a genuinely excellent grill, especially for a dedicated low-and-slow smoking specialist. But for the home cook who wants professional-grade steel, true do-it-all versatility, six cart options to match any patio, freight delivered to the door, and a retailer whose whole team cooks on these grills and stands behind more than 5,000 five-star reviews site-wide, the Yoder Smokers YS640s is the right choice.
