With my articles on the best portable pellet grills/smokers and the best tabletop pellet grills, I’m aware that portable units are a growing niche. Well, we now have a couple of new models coming on the market that are battery-powered. Surely adding a battery to a small portable pellet grill is a great idea, right!? Well, sure, it has its benefits in making a portable grill more convenient to use. But there are other methods to achieve the same result, which I’ll argue are better value.
Disclaimer: Hey! By the way… any links on this page that lead to products on Amazon or other sites are affiliate links, and I earn a commission if you make a purchase.
Introduction To The Pros/Cons Of Battery Pellet Grills
All pellet grills are electric. Power is needed for the various electrical components (auger, fan, control panel) for a pellet grill/smoker to function.
Obviously, for a portable pellet grill/smoker to be truly portable, it needs a portable source of power. I’m not oblivious to this. That’s why I’ve previously written about battery power for pellet grills.
What we are discussing in this article is that there are now at least two pellet grills/smokers on the market that have their own built-in batteries.
There is the Pit Boss battery pellet grill seen in the image above. However, the first model on the market with a built-in battery was actually the Halo Prime 300.
Before we discuss the pros and cons of these models in more detail, I’ve provided a quick table below with their features/specifications and price points.
| Features | Pit Boss 150 Battery | Halo Prime 300 |
| Cooking Area | 256 sq.in | 300 sq.in |
| Hopper | 5 lbs | 10 lbs |
| Temp (F) | 180 to 500 | 180 to 500 |
| Battery Run Time | Up to 15 Hours | Up to 15 Hours |
| Battery | Included | Not Included |
| Battery Cost | Currently Unkown | $70 |
| Price | $500 | $550 |
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Right, before I start to express my own comments, I thought I would share a review I came across on the Halo Prime 300 from Hey Grill Hey.
As of writing the Pit Boss 150 Battery has only just become available, so as of yet there are no reviews I can reference.
I would echo the main point in the video above by Hey Grill Hey that being able to power a portable pellet grill via a battery takes full advantage of its portable nature.
I’m not going to argue that point. I’m going to argue there are better methods to achieve the same result at a lower price point. As you will have noticed, these battery pellet grills aren’t cheap.
The Pricing Of Battery Pellet Grills/Smokers
So as I’m sure you noticed from my table and in the review video by Hey Grill Hey, these battery pellet grills definitely aren’t cheap.
You have the Pit Boss Battery 150 at $500 and the Halo Prime 300 at $550. However, remember, the Halo does not come with a battery included. That’s another $70 on top.
So the total cost of the Halo Prime 300, with a battery, is more like $620. That’s a lot of money, but I’d also argue you’re not getting a much better deal with the Pit Boss, even though it comes with a battery included.
You see, the Pit Boss 150 Battery is essentially identical to the other tabletop Pit Boss tabletop pellet grills. They just don’t have a battery built-in.
The cheapest sibling of the Pit Boss 150 Battery is the PB150PPG which is sold exclusively at Walmart for just $227.
Right, so we have essentially the same tabletop pellet grill (minus the battery) for literally half the price.
Presuming you were willing to spend up to a total of $500 (the price of the battery model), can you get an equivalent or equal source of battery power? Oh yes…
Get A Portable Power Station…
Ok, both the Pit Boss 150 Battery and the Halo Prime 300 use a battery which holds 5 Ah of energy and that can apparently run the grills for up to 15 hours.
But, as we have discussed above, they cost a lot more than their non-battery tabletop pellet grill siblings, in the case of the Pit Boss, about $250 more.
So for $250, you could buy yourself what’s generally branded as a ‘Portable Power Station’. One of the most popular brands in this space is Jackery.
The Jackery model above is by no means their most powerful model with the largest battery capacity. However, it comes in at just under $220.
Hence, you could buy the Pit Boss PB150PPG above, and the Jackery Explorer 240 for under $500!
But what about run time? How long could the Jackery Explorer 240 run the PB150PPG for? Well, it has a 240 Wh battery which is equivalent to 20 Ah.
Hence, the battery inside the Jackery Explorer 240 is four times larger than that fitted to the Pit Boss Battery 150 at just 5 Ah.
Therefore, a run time of up to 60 hours would be possible on the Jackery Explorer 240. However, its obviously not just capable of powering your portable pellet grill.
While you were camping etc a portable power station could be used to charge/power your other portable electrical devices. Your phone, tablet, laptop etc.
My Final Thoughts On Battery Pellet Grills/Smokers…
I understand the appeal and utility of a portable pellet grill/smoker with its own built-in battery. I get it. It makes it simple and convenient to use pretty much anywhere.
My point is you can get better value and utility by using a standard portable/tabletop pellet grill with a separate battery portable power station.
Not only will you get the same functionality for a similar cost, but you also get the additional functionality of being able to power other electrical devices while you’re camping etc.
Now, there is a chance that a portable power station may not provide sufficient power to get the fire going, as a hot rod igniter uses a lot of power to get the fire going.
However, you could always manually ignite the pellet grill fire, its not hard.
That’s it! Thanks for reading, I hope my above comments have given you something to think about with regard to battery pellet grills/smokers.
As always, please check out my Pellet Grill/Smoker Guide for more of my articles etc.
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