Traeger’s New, Feature-Packed Timberline Sets the Stage for Its Future Grills - Thrillist

Courtesy of Traeger

If you somehow managed to look past the nearby bloody mary bar, the unmistakable smell of burning wood pellets wafting through open doors—oh, and that one guy in the audience who was wearing a full, wood-print suit—then Traeger's recent product reveal event in Salt Lake City might have felt like that of a tech giant. The audience was packed with fans and employees, the company CEO's address was carefully scripted with anecdotes designed to pull at your heartstrings, and the grand unveiling showcased new features that sent the crowd roaring with applause multiple times. Of course, Traeger didn't unveil a game-changing new phone, or a sleek desktop computer. It was a new grill. But the Silicon Valley-esque trappings of the event made it perfectly clear: This isn't just any grill. It's the future of Traeger's entire lineup.

The new Traeger Timberline now represents the ultra-premium top of the company's line. The Timberline and super-sized Timberline XL are packed with advanced features that—again—leaves us coming back to the tech product analogy. After all, one of the key new enhancements is a 360 Wi-Fi antenna that enables an easier connection between the grill and your phone for convenient grilling controls in your pocket. The Timberline also possesses the fit and finish of a new high-end tech device, with its stylish wooden shelving, full-color touchscreen display, and visually pleasing components (this reporter was offered a preview of the grills at the event and can vouch for their beauty). And, as you may have guessed by now, it all comes with a price tag to match. The Timberline starts at $3,499, while the larger XL version (size is the only difference) will set you back $3,799. And that's before the cool accessories, of which there are many (we'll get to them in a minute).

Courtesy of Traeger

Traeger bills the Timberline as "the most advanced outdoor cooking solution ever developed," positioning it as more of a complete backyard kitchen than a grill. That's largely thanks to the inclusion of an outdoor-rated induction cooktop located on the left side of the grill, which you can use for adding more sear to steaks, simmering sauces, sauteing vegetables, and even frying—in addition to what you're grilling on the racks.

In theory, you can prepare most—if not all—of your meal via these cooking methods without having to go back and forth between your kitchen and your backyard, which could be life-changing on a perfect summer day. They didn't stop there. The Timberline is also designed to be built right into pre-existing or new outdoor grilling setups, if you'd like to (to be clear, that's optional). Basically, you can build it right into your outdoor countertop for a seamless look. Add an outdoor fridge and a sink, and you've got yourself a dream deck.

Courtesy of Traeger

Of course, dream may be the key word here for a lot of Traeger fans, thanks to the Timberline's price point. "I can tell you that every member of the Traegerhood is going to want this," CEO Jeremy Andrus said, when asked by Thrillist who among the company's huge community of wood-fired grill enthusiasts the Timberline was made for. He went on to acknowledge its price tag and hinted that the Timberline's breakthrough features will eventually make their way into other grills down Traeger's lineup. This is just the beginning.

"When you innovate, you typically innovate at high price points because there's no scale in innovation. So what we launched is very expensive," he said, minutes after stepping off the event stage. "We recognize that that's a premium price point and there's not going to be any member of the Traegerhood that doesn't want this product, but there will be members that will say, 'that's expensive.' It's important for our community to understand that we're not elitist and want everyone to have a great cooking experience, and in time, we're going to bring those great features down to price points that work for everyone."

Andrus said Traeger has done this before. He pointed to the first Timberline, which launched in 2017 with the company's connected cooking platform, WiFIRE. The company ended up adding WiFIRE to less-expensive grills such as the Ironwood series and Pro series.

"What we'll do is we'll now really understand how to cost-effectively deliver elements of this grill to a consumer that says I cap out at… name the price point," he said. "We can't bring everything downstream, but how do we bring enough downstream—how do we get enough scale in innovation so that we can actually make it more cost-effective."

Courtesy of Traeger

One such element is the Timberline's new ash and grease collection system, which dramatically reduces the time and effort needed to clean and maintain the grill. It's worth noting that the crowd went wild when Andrus announced this on stage.

"It's just such a better experience," he said. "It's something that we looked at a lot of different ways to do this and the reality is that things need to be maintained, like a car needs to be maintained. And part of the maintenance of a Traeger is take out the grates, take out the drip tray, take out the heat baffle, and you shop-vac the ash about once a month, it depends. You don't have to do that anymore. You just pull out that hidden ash and grease keg, take out the liner, and put a new one in. That's a game changer."

Andrus also pointed to the Timberline's ability to cook at higher and more consistent temperatures, and most importantly, get more flavor into foods when cooking with more heat. This is achieved thanks to its redesigned heat delivery system, which is enabled by the grill's full stainless steel interior. Ultimately, it results in more of that flavor-filled thin, blue smoke at higher temperatures that previous models don't produce. More flavor? We'll take it.

Courtesy of Traeger

Here are some other major Timberline features to look out for:

• New smart combustion system
• A patented DownDraft Exhaust
• Improved Super Smoke Mode
• A new FreeFlow firepot
• Two Traeger x MEATER wireless meat thermometers included
• Traeger P.A.L. Pop-And-Lock rail system for customization
• Several ModiFIRE accessories

Speaking of the accessories, here's what you can expect, per Traeger's Timberline product pages:

• P.A.L. Pop-And-Lock Front Shelf
• P.A.L. Pop-And-Lock Storage Bin
• P.A.L. Pop-And-Lock Accessory Hook 3 Pack
• P.A.L. Pop-And-Lock Roll Rack
• ModiFIRE Fish & Veggie Stainless Steel Grill Tray
• Induction Cast Iron Skillet

Traeger also announced that a pizza oven accessory—capable of fitting two pizzas—will arrive sometime later this year.

The Timberline and Timberline XL are both available to order on Traeger's website now.

Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Tony Merevick is the Managing Editor at Thrillist. Follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick and Instagram @tonymerevick.