Camp Chef Pursuit Portable Grill
By Cory McLaughlin
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Just the Facts:
Anyone can cook deliciously smoked food with the smaller, portable design of the Pursuit® Pellet Grill. With 501 square inches of cook space and a convenient 10 pound hopper capacity—the Pursuit is prepared for wherever your next adventure takes you. Tailgate, campsite, block party, and back yard approved. Heavy-duty wheels, locking lids, and push-button folding legs will have you up and cooking in minutes.
Enjoy an extensive 160°F to 500°F temperature range fueled by premium hardwood pellets. Switch seamlessly between indirect and direct flame broil mode with our Slide and Grill Technology. Customizing your cooking has never been easier—Smoke a brisket for hours and achieve a beautiful smoke ring or quick-cook a batch of burgers and feed the family. Fit up to 24 – ¼ pound burgers or 16 – ½ pound burgers, one 12-inch pizza, 4 chickens, 4 racks of ribs and 4 tri-tips. When you’re done, clean up is effortless with our patented Ash Cleanout system. Get the same reliable name and durable construction of a Camp Chef, with the flavors of a wood fire. Fuel your next adventure with the Pursuit.
FEATURES
- Includes 2 meat probes
- Smart Smoke Technology
- Slide and Grill Technology
- Ash Cleanout System
- Cord Management System
- Grease Management System
- Electronic auto-start ignition
- Simple temperature selection system
- 160º F up to 500º F temperature range for slow smoking to grilling
- Automatic auger dispenses pellets as needed for improved smoker efficiency
- Bottle opener
- Compact design, stores, and transports easily
- Locking chamber and hopper lid for easy transport and storage
- Folding legs and leg levers
- Dual position rolling transport
- Requires 110-volt outlet, 400 watts, 3.33 AMPS
SPECIFICATIONS
- Upper Rack Area: 248 sq. in.
- Lower Rack Area: 253 sq. in.
- Total Rack Surface Area: 501 sq. in.
- Chamber Capacity: 2,100 cubic in.
- Hopper Capacity: 10 lbs. of pellets
- Folded Dimensions: 38 in. L x 18.5 in. W x 21 in. H
- Overall Height: 32 in.
- Overall Weight: 82 lbs.
- Warranty: 3 years
My Story:
I love to smoke meats. I have had the pleasure of using many of today’s leading pellet grills and I have to say that Camp Chef has really impressed me. I had a blast testing out the Smoke Pro SG 24 last year http://ireviewgear.com/camp/9210/. I was really excited to have the opportunity to test out another great grill from Camp Chef as it would be unlike any of the other ones I have tested. The Camp Chef Pursuit is a PORTABLE grill and it is a game changer.
I am not going to act like this is a simple 20LB grill that you can just take any old place. It is still a beefy grill that weighs just over 80 LBS. but it is a whole lot more manageable than a standard pellet grill. Because of its versatility I was instantly drawn to it at the 2019 Summer Outdoor Retail show. You see my life has taken a bit of a new turn as my daughter joined a traveling softball team and this really stepped up our RV game. I had great visions of coming off the diamond and sitting down to a plate of freshly smoked ribs or deliciously smoked burgers. I had great plans for this grill.
When the Pursuit arrived at my house it was an exciting day and I was pumped to get it assembled. I found the assembly to be simple and after an initial burn to get the chemical smells out of the grill I was ready for a test run. I decided that a pork roast would be a great first test so I bought a monster 20LBS roast and set out to smoke it in the Camp Chef Pursuit Portable Pellet Grill.
Before we get into the cooking I want to hit on some of the best features that this grill has. The first of which is the most important in my eyes. This baby is portable! Yes, you can fold the legs down and actually travel with this grill. I bet it would even fit into the trunk of most cars when fully collapsed. This is a very attractive feature and honestly the whole purpose of this grill. I will admit it takes some practice to get this feature figured out but it is not rocket science and it is truly awesome.
Other features you will enjoy are the ability to open the sear grate and get the wonderful searing ability of open flame. This is huge when cooking steaks and burgers. The rapid ash cleanout is simply amazing. If you have ever used other pellet grills you will know just how amazing this feature is compared to having to completely pull your grill apart to clean out the ash. Camp Chef really did a great job with the cleanout feature. Temperature regulation is a snap and the dual meat probes are very useful. This might be a small grill but it is big on features!
Now back to talking about smoking meat. In the picture above that shows those roasts you likely saw that I had inserted the temperature probes into the meat. Once that was done I set out about the low and slow long smoke of these delicious roasts. I noticed that the meat probes were slightly off from my Thermapen by about 5 degrees. This was a bit disappointing but because it was consistent with both probes I was able to adjust for it. I was able to finish the roasts inside the Pursuit and they came out perfectly! The picture below shows the readout display for the included probes.
After smoking some amazing pork roasts Softball threw a hitch in my plans as several of the tournament areas prohibited RV’s this year and I was not able to bring my vision to life. However, I was not super worried about it as I knew I had a 3 week hunting camp that would offer plenty of other testing opportunity. My first meal at camp is a family favorite. I used some of the leftover pulled pork and made a pulled pork pizza.
We fired up the generator and plugged in the Pursuit Grill. Once it was at baking temp we put in the pizza and soon after we all filled our starving bellies with this delicious meal.
I mentioned ribs earlier, because throughout this whole adventure I was bound and determined to smoke some ribs. Elk camp for us has always been a family affair. We live relatively close to camp so the wives and kids typically come up on weekends to run around in the hills and make new memories. When the family comes up we always go big! This year we planned to smoke ribs on a day we had a little help from the ladies.
The process started midday and when my hunting partner and I left for the evening hunt the ladies stayed back at camp to tend to the smoker and it’s extremely important cargo. I cannot begin to tell you how exciting it was to return from a nights hunt and sit down to a plate of perfectly smoked ribs!
The Camp Chef Pursuit Portable Pellet Grill was used for many other meals throughout the trip but the one that I was most excited to showcase here was my last official testing meal. I was lucky enough to harvest a mature cow elk and as a camp tradition we like to eat the tenderloin. After marinating it in teriyaki sauce for the day we made kabobs. I loaded up the Camp Chef Pursuit Portable Pellet Grill with as much as it could possibly hold. It was a glorious success!
The Camp Chef Pursuit Portable Pellet Grill comes with the option to buy a carry/protective bag. I am not going to review that here as I do not want to take away from my positive thoughts about the grill. Let’s just say that this case is functional but could use some work.
Find it Here:
https://www.campchef.com/accessories/carry-bags-covers/pursuit-carry-bag.html
What can be done better?
I would like to see the meat probes be a bit more accurate. It’s not a huge deal and certainly not when you are looking at camp cooking but it’s nice to know you are hitting your desired temperature. I would also like to see some type of handle on the opposite side of the grill hopper that would aid in lifting the grill. It really should be a two man lift but in times that is not possible the second handle would be hugely helpful.
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Functionality
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Value
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Ergonomics
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Durability
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