Country Smokers The Traveler Portable Wood Pellet Grill Review
SmokedBBQSource is supported by its readers. We may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you if you buy through a link on this page. Learn more.
Aptly named, The Traveler is a portable wood pellet grill from Country Smokers.
Until recently if you wanted a pellet smoker to take camping or tailgating you didn’t have a lot of choices.
For this review, we put The Traveler to the test to see how well it performed as a portable pellet grill.
Country Smokers sent me this grill for free in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own
Country Smokers The Traveler Review Overview
With 256 square inches of grill space and a 5-pound hopper, The Traveler has definitely been designed for portability.
But how well does it cook?
After thoroughly testing the grill in a range of situations we can confidently say this grill does what it says it can do. It can do a mean sear and does a good job of smoking.
The temperature is very consistent and very convenient to use.
Specifications
- Black sand exterior
- Control type: dial-in digital
- Cooking temperature: 180°F to 500°F
- Total Cooking Surface: 256 square inches
- Searing zone
- 5 lb hopper capacity
You can run the grill on standard power, or if you are on the go you can power the grill off a 12-volt DC plug in your vehicle with a 100-watt inverter.
Country Smokers are owned by Dansons, the same company that owns
What I like:
- Portability – A pellet grill that can go on road trips, camping or out to the ballpark for tailgating. This grill/smoker is light at 52.9 pounds and easy to transport
- Searing zone – This feature appears to be more than a marketing gimmick. It actually works. I was quite impressed with this little grill’s ability to sear some meat!
- Grill grates – The grates have been very easy to clean off and they seem to be well made. The upper grate is removable from the base grate. I really like this feature. It is handy when you need all the space you can get.
What I don’t like:
- No carry handle – The grill may be portable, but it doesn’t have carrying handles which makes it a little awkward to carry. It also requires a vehicle to be within extension cord distance and gel starter in order to use the grill’s portability.
- No backstop to prevent food sliding off – The grill grates slide food a little too well! I slid a burger right off of the back of the grill, as there is nothing there to stop it. Since the cooking area is not super large, I was trying to use every inch of the grilling area. It would probably help if there was a small lip or something to act as a backstop to keep food from sliding off.
The grilling area is definitely on the small size, but it is comparable to some other portable grills. Read on to see how it compares with the competition.
Get the latest price from Walmart.
Unboxing and assembly
The package was well protected with thick cardboard and foam.
Grill grate and diffuser plate, sear zone sliding plates were protected with more foam and cardboard.
Metal parts were arranged so they couldn’t touch during shipping.
Oh so easy. It doesn’t get easier than this. A couple of screws for the handle. A few screws for the legs and you’re done!
It took 15 minutes conservatively.
Read and follow the instructions explicitly for priming, startup, and preheating of your grill. I can’t stress this enough. This is the key to great pellet wood cooking experiences. Â
Build Quality
All metals parts had a good coat of paint. No rust, no non-painted surfaces.
Corners of sheet metal parts were sealed with high temp caulking.
Considering this is a portable grill, I was very impressed with the coating and strength quality of the parts. I believe this grill would live to see multiple seasons of good use.
There was a small issue initially with how the lid fit on the base. The lid was sitting offset of the base to the left. I loosened the lid hinge screws, adjusted the lid, and re-tightened them. After that, the lid was nice and square.
Temperature control and accuracy of grill and probes
The grill has 2 internal probes: 1 that displays on the control panel, the other is installed in the hood.
These probes measured very accurately when tested by my Thermoworks Smoke.
They ranged from 0-10°F difference from my testing device. Some of that could be accounted for by the probes being in slightly different positions.Â
Temperature Consistency:
When set at higher temps (350° or above), the temp range averaged 355-375°. The max temp I recorded was 375°, but it only reaches this temp briefly before lowering again.Â
When set at lower temps (225°), the temp range averaged 227-252°.Â
Not too shabby for a portable pellet grill
This level of fluctuation is pretty normal as most pellet grill fires work in waves. Pellets drop, they smolder, they catch fire, then burn out. Repeat.
Because of this, the temperature in the firebox will normally go up and down in waves. The temps will rise up briefly and then drop briefly. This is normal behavior.Â
For reference, I tested my gas stove: When set to 250°, the stove’s temp range was 235-248° ( a range of 13°).
Cooking on The Traveller
You can plug the traveler into a standard 120V fuse for use around the home, but this grill wasn’t designed to sit around your house!
The grill can be used in conjunction with a 100-watt inverter to run the grill off of a 12-volt DC plug in your vehicle.
This will power the auger and control panel, but the grill igniter will have to be disconnected as it requires 1000 Watts to function.
So a person would need to use a gel starter to initially ignite the pellets. Then use the 100 watt inverter to continue operating the grill.Â
Pellet Consumption: About ½ lb per hour on lower temps (250° or less). About ¾-1 lb per hour on higher temps.Â
Pay attention to which way the grill is positioned if the wind is blowing. I made the mistake of positioning it wrong with the wind blowing.
Every time I opened the hood the smoke would blow right in my face.
This little sucker can produce some smoke. This is not a negative for the grill, just unexpected operational information.
How to run the grill without a vehicle
I don’t like the idea of being tethered to a vehicle by an extension cord. If I want portable, then by golly I want portable!
If you want to go cordless here’s what you need:
- 1000 Watt max inverter (the grill igniter needs 1000 watts to run)
- 35 AH SLA (sealed lead acid battery)
With these items, you will get all the portability that you want.
If you’re gonna buy an inverter to power the grill anyway, you might as well pay a little more and get one that will power the grill’s igniter too. The igniter only runs for a couple minutes anyway.
The grill takes 8.3 amps per hour to run. So you can get a small SLA battery that will power the grill for however long your want!
I chose the 35 AH size because that would give you roughly 4 hours of run time. I believe this would give you several days of cooking if a person were camping before they would need to recharge the battery.
Obviously, if you were planning on using it to smoke foods, you may need a larger battery.
Alternative portable pellet grills
The portable pellet grill started off small bus has been rapidly growing of late. The two most likely alternative grills worth considering would be the Green Mountain Grills Trek and the Traeger Tailgater.
We do a full breakdown in our guide to the best portable pellet grills.
Trek VS The Traveller
- The Traveller is about 15 pounds lighter
- Trek is currently more expensive
- Trek has Wifi connectivity and can be controlled via App (it has limited range though)
- Trek includes a meat probe
Traeger Tailgater VS The Traveller
- The Traveller is about 9 pounds lighter
- The Tailgater is significantly more expensive
- The Tailgater has 300 square inches of cooking space which makes it a little roomier
In our opinion, the Country Smokers Traveller is more of a pure portable grill, while the two other options can be used as a small grill at home and have some portable features.
Verdict
This is a great portable pellet grill/smoker.
It’s very easy to operate. It’s easy to clean and maintain. Its pellet consumption is very efficient and reasonable. It’s priced very well for its size, and it has some of the same features as bigger grills like the searing zone.
And while I wasn’t able to solve the drawback of no backstop, I was able to provide a reasonable solution to being tethered to a vehicle.
Do you love the taste of food being cooked over real wood, but like to keep things simple? Do you like to go camping? RV’ing? Tailgating? BBQing at the park?
If you said yes to both of those questions, then this is a grill you should take a serious look at.
Thanks for your review Ryan. I found it very helpful. I do have a question about what inverter to purchase. I have a Toyota 4 Runner with a 400 watt output plug in the back of the vehicle that would be enough to keep the grill running, but my concern is getting the 1000 watts for the igniter. Can you recommend an inverter that would be a good fit? I am excited about taking my Country Smoker on the road, but want to make sure I have the proper equipment.
Thank you so very much.
Randy
We RV about 8 months ea year and the Cointry is absolutely the best way to go. Easy to use and have had no problems in over a year. Best Buy I’ve made in along time.
What types of surface can this sit on safely? Does it need to sit on a heat shield of any type?
Hey Wes,
You should be able to sit it on just about anything. I have sat mine on concrete and just a regular plastic table. I don’t think you will need any type of divider as the legs didn’t get hot for mine.
I have the CS portable wood pellet grill, I have not used it yet. I want to get a grill cover for it before I set it up outside. Can you give me guidance. Thank You!
the pellets jam at times .how can I solve this
Hi Deb,
Usually when we see this, it is because the pellets are being left in the hopper for an extended period of time. If you aren’t using the grill, I wouldn’t leave the pellets in there for more than about a week. You can get away with longer depending on how humid your area is. Hope that helps.
Hi!
I have a Traeger Pro 34 at home but looking for a smaller grill for simpler items li,e burger, quick cooking steaks, etc. I’m interested in the Country Smokers Traveler.
You mention A few times that it’s not for home. Cold you please explain why?
Thanks for your response.
Pierre Aubry
Canada
You mention that it can run with a 100 inverter but the ignitor needs 1000 watts? Just wanted to confirm that a 100 watt inverter will work?
Hey Bill.
The grill electronic controller will run off of a 100 watt inverter, but the the igniter needs 1000 watts to heat up. So, there are two options:
Option 1: Disconnect the plug for the igniter, use a gel wood starter to ignite the pellets, and use a 100 watt inverter to run the grill controller
Option 2: Let the igniter connected and just use a 1000 watt inverter. Then all functions of the grill will work as normal.
Hope that helps!
How about ease of clean-up? Where does the ash end up? Also, regarding the grease spout on the right side of the unit… I’m trying to picture how the grease that runs off the side of that cover plate ends up finding it’s way to that spout. Can you explain how that works?
Hey Frank. Sorry for the delay on a reply. The ash ends up in the bottom of the burn pot. You vacuum it out of a shop vac or something like that. In this case, because the grill is so small, you could even flip the grill and dump the ashes out.
About the grease: There is a “trough” on the right side of the grill that the flame diffuser plate sits in. When grease drips on the diffuser plate, the grease drains down to the trough, and the trough leads the grease the spout you see on the outside of the grill.
my owners manual keeps telling me there’s a recessed button for the P mode and I can’t find it where is this located
The grill/smoker we tested didn’t have a P mode button. Maybe that added that option on a newer model?
Have two of these pellet grills (Traveler) and both run at 340 F when I set dial at 225. I have set P setting from 2 to 7 and no change. Strange but both of them run hot. Not sure what else to try to get temps close to set temp.
Hey Eugene. Just a couple questions. Are you following the startup procedure outlined in the manual, which includes a 20 minute preheat of the grill at 300-350 prior to your set temperature? I ask because that seems to make a big difference on most pellet grills. They seem to surge hot and cold if the metal is not sufficiently preheated first. Hope that helps.
Great grill and smoker very well built
On my first cook after start up and burn in – I am having issue with the 225 setting running at 200. I am using a 50/50 mix of PitBoss charcoal and classic blend pellets. I was cooking two medium size country style pork ribs and temp outside was 40-45F with no wind. I preheated at smoke setting for 15 minutes then set it at 225. the temp hovered around 200 consistently. I changed to 250 setting thinking cool weather may be issue. Grill went to and held 250 temp consistently. I covered top of grill with medium weight wool blanket and temp went up to 260-265 when setting was at 250. I changed setting to 225 – grill slowly dropped in temp but settled again around 200. Seems my control board is not calibrated correctly at the 225 setting. Do you have any suggestions or tests to verify functionality of control board? Do I need a new board? Thanks for your help.
Hey Stephen,
Have you confirmed any of your temps with a 3rd party temp device? I ask because many pellet grills’ displays are not that accurate. If you have haven’t yet, I would verify your actual temperature with something like a Thermoworks Smoke, Signals, or something like that. If you have already done, this I would probably give Country Smoker’s customer service a call. I know they have some quick control board/ auger tests you can run to determine if these components are functioning correctly.
I see this cool little smoker available now for two bills. You left out the most important part of a smoker review: What size meats can you smoke? From birds to butts, how many inches of room between grate and lid do you have for a hunk of meat?
Hey NJKris,
This portable pellet grill is geared mainly towards light grilling and not a great deal of smoking. It CAN smoke, but not large quantities. The website says their main grate cooking area is 191.4 inches which is not a great deal of room. You could smoke a couple of whole chickens on it, or a rack of baby back ribs (might have to cut them in half). The reality is: it will fit some meat for smoking, but not a lot. Although I have never tried, a boston butt would be extremely tight if it fit at all. And if it did, I can’t promise that the smoke would circulate COMPLETELY around the meat.
I have the Country Smokers The Traveler Portable Wood Pellet Grill for the past couple years and overall I love it..however, recently in the past 6 months, I can’t maintain a proper temperature on the smoker i.e. I set the smoker for 250 and it goes up to 400 and above, I always have to start and stop the smoker 2 or 3 times before it maintains a proper temperature, not sure what to do if anything? any help would be so appreciated
Hi William,
I think your best option would be calling customer support. They can walk you through the troubleshooting process to help figure out what is causing your issues. Most of these companies have some quick tests that can help pinpoint the cause.
I live in an apt complex, i set my traveler on 2 small wooden tables, they never get hot. I wanted to say bad things about this smoker/grill, but it just doesn’t allow that.
I have smoked chicken, pork, and beef all of which were pit house worthy. This little gem is a keeper. Yes the digital temp gauge kinda does its own thing but i pay more attention to the one mounted in the lid, i find it more accurate. Outside temp and wind do affect the overall temp, but just adjust accordingly. I’m hooked on this lil guy, i can smoke like a pro, and grill great fire kissed steaks and burgers. TOTALY satisfied!
Nice review of the Traveler. I am currently on my second one. The first one, the temp wouldn’t stay at any temp, kept going up and down. I have replaced the controller twice and the auger motor once on it, same thing happens. They finally sent me a new Traveler, and it does the same thing-temp continually swings up and down, and won’t stay at any temp. Dansens customer service has been excellent. Is it something I’m doing wrong? Thanks
How much is the temp going up and down, and is this using the probe or are you checking with a third party one?
The way pellet grills work you should expect to see some temperature swings naturally, 10-40 degrees shouldn’t be a problem.
Where is the temperature located at the bottom of the grill, and how to clean it?
The temperature probe is located in the upper left hand corner of the grill. It’s connected to the outer wall. It’s not the easies item to get to. Consider using a cheap tooth brush.
One issue I’ve encountered. If you lose power, once power is restored, the Pellet Smoker thinks it’s starting over and does a pellet Dump like it’s starting the 1st time. Just encountered that July 4th 2025 in Muskegon Mi. Lost Power for 5 1/5 hrs. Used Generator on Motorhome to continue Smoking. When power was restored I switched back to Local Power. Had to turn the Grill off and back on prior to.
Once back on it did a Pellet Dump.
Should have thought the Temp Probes would have registered the Temp and not do a Start cycle.