Best Vertical Pellet Grill: 3 Picks

Two of the three highest-ranking "best vertical pellet smoker" guides we checked right now recommend products that aren't vertical pellet smokers at all. One's top picks are electric smokers, with a gas model filling its "largest capacity" slot. The other lists several horizontal pellet grills as top picks, wearing a vertical smoker's headline.

The Pit Boss Navigator 6-Series is the strongest all-around pick among current vertical pellet smokers, with 2,224 square inches of cooking space across 5 racks and a 75 lb hopper, confirmed on Pit Boss's own product page along with WiFi and Bluetooth.

It's the largest cooking area and hopper of any current model we researched. It's also a genuine wood-pellet vertical smoker. It's not a mislabeled electric or gas unit wearing the same search term.

That still leaves a second problem. The spec sheet alone won't catch it. Pit Boss's own "Navigator" name covers two completely different appliances. Shopping by series name instead of exact model number can land you on the wrong one.

Why "Vertical Pellet Grill" Search Results Get the Fuel Type Wrong

We checked the three highest-ranking guides for this exact search term before writing anything here. Two of them don't actually review vertical pellet smokers. One guide's top three picks are electric smokers from two brands, and its "largest cooking capacity" slot goes to a gas-fueled unit, not a pellet-fired one.

A second guide's "Editor's Choice" and several other named picks are horizontal barrel pellet grills. That's the layout that lays racks out flat side by side, not the stacked-cabinet design its own headline promises.

Only one of the three guides we checked correctly scopes itself to pellet-fired vertical models. If you've been comparing "vertical pellet smoker" roundups and the picks feel inconsistent from one site to the next, that's why. The fuel type and the cooker shape both drift depending on which guide you land on.

Before you trust any listing, confirm two things on the actual product page. Does it name wood pellets as the fuel? Does its own temperature spec top out somewhere around 400° to 420°F with no direct-sear feature mentioned?

Both true means you're looking at a real vertical pellet smoker. Either one failing means you're not.

The Navigator Naming Trap

Here's the second issue. It comes straight from the manufacturer, not a mislabeled roundup. Pit Boss's own Navigator Series collection page lists four products under one series name: the Navigator 850, 1300, and 1600 Connected Grills, and the Navigator 3-Series Vertical Pellet Smoker.

Three of those four are horizontal grills, and the 850 has a direct-sear Flame Broiler feature reaching 1,000°F. Only the 3-Series is a vertical smoker. It caps out at 420°F with no searing feature of any kind. A shopper who searches "Pit Boss Navigator" and clicks the first result that fits their budget, without checking the exact model number, has roughly even odds of landing on the wrong cooker type entirely.

None of the three named picks in this guide carry that exact naming collision themselves. It's still worth knowing before you shop this brand's wider catalog. If a listing says "Navigator" anywhere in the title, check whether the model number starts with "PBV" (vertical) or "PB" alone (horizontal) before you assume you know what you're buying.

What You Give Up Going Vertical

None of the three models in this guide can sear. That's not a gap specific to Pit Boss's vertical lineup. It's true of every current wood-pellet vertical smoker we researched.

Every one tops out around 420°F on its own digital control. That's well short of the 1,000°F Pit Boss's own horizontal grills reach with a direct-flame Flame Broiler lever.

What you get in exchange is capacity per square foot of patio or deck space. A horizontal grill can't match it. Stacking racks vertically instead of spreading them out flat is how the Navigator 6-Series fits 2,224 square inches of cooking area into a footprint no wider than a much smaller horizontal grill.

If you already run a horizontal pellet grill or a separate gas grill for searing, and want serious smoking capacity without eating more patio space, a vertical smoker like these three fills that gap. If searing is the job you need done, none of these three will do it, no matter how much capacity they offer.

Best Overall: Pit Boss Navigator 6-Series

If you want the most cooking capacity of any current vertical pellet smoker, this is it. Pit Boss's own product page confirms 2,224 square inches across 5 porcelain-coated racks. Each rack measures 25.7 by 17.3 inches, big enough to run multiple full-size cuts or several rib racks in one cook.

The 75 lb hopper is the largest of the three picks here, giving the most buffer before a refill of any pick in this guide at typical low-and-slow temperatures. Temperature runs from 130° to 420°F on the digital control.

WiFi plus Bluetooth connectivity is confirmed outright on Pit Boss's own page, through the Pit Boss Grills app. Three probe ports, one included probe, and a 5-year warranty round out the spec sheet.

The one thing to watch for isn't about this specific unit. It's the naming trap covered above. This is the Navigator 6-Series, a vertical smoker. The plain Navigator 850, 1300, and 1600 are unrelated horizontal grills that share the family name, not the cooker type.

Most Compact: Pit Boss Pro Series II 4-Series

If floor space is tight, this is the smallest of the three picks, at 1,077 square inches across 4 adjustable racks. It's also the only one of the three whose own product page explicitly calls its controller a "digital PID control board." Pit Boss uses plain "digital control" elsewhere for a standard cycling controller.

Despite the smaller footprint, the hopper holds 65 lb, the largest hopper relative to its own cooking area of the three picks here, even though it's not the largest hopper outright. Temperature runs the same 130° to 420°F range as the Navigator 6-Series.

The same Pit Boss Grills app connects here too, and four wheels make it easy to reposition despite the compact frame. It carries the same 5-year warranty as the rest of this lineup.

The trade-off is capacity, plainly. It's the smallest cooking area of the three.

In our research, the main unit turned up mostly through Pit Boss's own retail network rather than as a standalone Amazon listing. Only replacement parts and accessories showed up there. Confirm the exact listing before you buy.

Best Mid-Capacity Value: Pit Boss Sportsman 7-Series

This one splits the difference on capacity, at 2,015 square inches across 6 adjustable racks, more racks than either of the other two picks. The hopper holds 60 lb. Pit Boss's own listing confirms a double-wall insulated cabinet, which should help hold temperature better in cold or windy conditions than a single-wall build.

Here's the genuine catch with this specific model. Pit Boss's own current feature list for the Sportsman 7-Series doesn't include a WiFi or Bluetooth bullet, unlike both other picks in this guide. Marketing copy elsewhere on the same page calls it "app-connected" only. A separate SKU exists specifically labeled as the Wi-Fi variant, which suggests the base model may not include it by default.

The current listing also doesn't publish its own temperature range. Pit Boss's prior-generation Copperhead 7 Series, the same product line under an older name, confirmed 130° to 420°F on its own page. That figure isn't restated on the current Sportsman 7-Series listing itself.

If WiFi monitoring matters to you, confirm it's included on the exact listing before you buy. Don't assume it matches the other two picks here.

Our Verdict

All three of these are real, currently-sold wood pellet vertical smokers from the same brand. That's itself worth knowing going in. Camp Chef's only wood-pellet vertical smoker is discontinued as of this research. Its own product page is marked "Currently Unavailable." Pit Boss is the practical default for this cooker type right now, not one option among several the way a horizontal pellet grill search would turn up.

Pick the Navigator 6-Series if capacity is the priority. It's the largest cooking area and hopper of the three, with WiFi and Bluetooth confirmed outright. It's the strongest all-around pick in this guide.

Pick the Pro Series II 4-Series if floor space is tight. You give up cooking area for the smallest footprint here. In exchange, you get the largest hopper relative to that footprint and the only explicitly named PID controller of the three.

Pick the Sportsman 7-Series if you want a mid-size step up in capacity and don't need confirmed WiFi. Confirm the exact listing includes it if remote monitoring matters to you.

If you're not sure how much cooking area you actually need, our Grill Size Calculator matches your guest count and cook style to real, currently-available picks, vertical or horizontal.

Whichever you land on, none of the three can sear or grill directly. If that's the job you need done, that still belongs to a horizontal pellet grill or a separate grill entirely. And whatever you search next, check the exact model number before you buy. On this brand's own site, the series name alone isn't enough to tell you which cooker type you're looking at.