Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 24 Pellet Grill Review: The Smoke Box

At about $1,300 at BBQGuys in October 2026 (model PG24WWSB), the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 24 pellet grill is the most direct fix I know for thin pellet-grill smoke. A front-loading Smoke Box beside the firepot burns wood chunks, chips or charcoal while the pellets and the PID handle the heat, and owners say the difference on brisket is obvious.

You pay for that box rather than for the steel. The grill is powder-coated with a 3-year warranty that excludes finish and labor, and it carries the same flameout and probe complaints as the rest of the Camp Chef line. My pellet grill reviews page ranks it against every rival, and the Camp Chef brand review covers the cheaper Woodwind 24 and 36 if you don’t need the Smoke Box.

This page draws on Camp Chef and retailer spec sheets plus owner reviews and forum threads. My own cook results will be added with a date.

Who the Woodwind Pro 24 is for

It’s built for the cook who has owned a Traeger or Pit Boss and misses offset flavor. You want brisket with a dark bark and a ring you can see across the table, and you want it while you sleep. Under $1,500, it’s the only barrel pellet grill I know of that burns actual wood chunks with a PID holding the pit.

Cold smokers get something too. Fan Only mode moves air without lighting pellets, so a couple of chunks smoldering in the Smoke Box will cold smoke cheese, salmon or nuts on a cool day.

It’s not for anyone who wants low upkeep. The Smoke Box is one more thing to light, empty and scrape, and owners say it puts extra ash into the chamber. If you feed twelve people every weekend, the Woodwind Pro 36 (from $1,699.99) has the room; the 24 is sized for a family and the occasional party.

Woodwind Pro 24 specs

From Camp Chef and BBQGuys listings in October 2026:

Spec	Woodwind Pro 24
Cooking area	811 sq in (429 lower on a 22 x 19.5 inch grid, 382 upper)
Hopper	22 lb
Temperature range	160 to 500°F, plus Fan Only
Controller	PID, Smoke Number 1 to 10, color display, 4 probe ports
Wi-Fi	Camp Chef Connect app
Weight	182 lb, about 50 inches wide
Grates	Stainless
Warranty	3 years limited, finish and labor excluded

The lower grate takes two packer briskets or three racks of ribs laid flat. At the roughly 1 lb an hour owners report at 225°F, the 22 lb hopper is good for 18 to 20 hours in mild weather.

Sources disagree on the top temperature. Most list 500°F and one older spec shows 400°F; the current PG24WWSB listing says 500°F, and that’s the figure I’d trust.

How the Smoke Box works, and how to run it

The box is a steel tray with its own damper that sits beside the firepot and takes heat from it. Load a few lit chunks of post oak or cherry, open the damper, and smoke rolls through the chamber with the pellet heat. Close the damper and the wood smolders slowly.

Owners run it for the first three or four hours of a long cook, which is when meat takes most of its smoke anyway, and let the pellets carry the rest. Add a few chunks at a time rather than packing the box, because a crammed box starves the wood of air and the smoke turns gray.

Pit tip: Light the chunks with a torch or in a chimney until they’re glowing at the edges, then load the box. A BBQGuys reviewer and several forum owners say cold chunks take too long to catch and give off dirty smoke.

Cooking on it: smoke, temperature and searing

Smoke is what owners talk about. The BBQGuys reviewer who wanted more than pellets alone could give said the box “works perfectly” once he started lighting the chunks first. Reviewers comparing the Pro with a standard Woodwind describe heavier bark and a deeper ring on brisket. Some owners load lump charcoal instead of wood for steak nights, which adds a char flavor pellets don’t produce.

Temperature control is reported as good at low Smoke Numbers, with swings under 10°F at 225°F. Turn the Smoke Number up and the controller lets the fire cycle to make more smoke, so the swings widen. That’s intended, and the fix is to drop it back to 1 or 2 once the Smoke Box goes out.

Flameouts follow this model like they follow the rest of the line. Owners name two causes, pellets bridging in the hopper and a firepot clogged with extra ash from the Smoke Box. The cleanout lever handles the ash in about ten seconds. For bridging, keep the hopper full and dry, stir it before bed, and run a pit alarm on overnight cooks.

Searing is weaker than on the cheaper Woodwind. The Pro has no Slide and Grill flame slide, so 500°F lid-down on stainless grates is the ceiling. Camp Chef’s answer is the Sidekick Sear Box, a propane burner that bolts to the side shelf for $399.99 and runs far hotter than any pellet grill. It works well; it’s also $400 and a propane tank you didn’t plan for.

Pellet use runs a little lower than on a standard Woodwind when the box is burning, since the chunks carry part of the load. Owners report about 1 lb an hour at 225°F. Cold and wind push that higher, and the pellet calculator gives a number for a specific cook.

Build, the Camp Chef app and the warranty

The chamber is powder-coated steel with a double-wall lid and stainless grates. At 182 lb it feels solid, and the 80 BBQGuys reviews average 4.8 on product quality.

Owners name two weak points. Probes are the first, with more than one reviewer reporting two probes dead after a few cooks. The second is the Smoke Box itself, which one reviewer said “could be bigger and easier to clean.” Ash builds faster than on a standard Woodwind, which is the cost of burning chunks.

The Camp Chef Connect app does probes, timers, labels and push alerts. It’s serviceable and nobody raves about it. The four probe ports are the more useful feature, though I’d still run a separate thermometer from the best wireless meat thermometers list on an overnight cook.

The warranty is 3 years limited, excluding finish and labor. One BBQGuys reviewer gave two stars after a probe claim dragged on for a month with repeated receipt requests, while other owners had parts within days. Register the grill and keep a photo of the receipt.

Price and the grills to compare it with

The Woodwind Pro 24 is $1,300 at BBQGuys in October 2026, where it was out of stock at the last check and has sold for $1,189 on promotion. Camp Chef’s own site listed only the Woodwind Pro 36, from $1,699.99, so the 24 is a retailer buy. Add $399.99 if you want the Sidekick.

Grill	Price (Oct 2026)	Smoke	Sear	Warranty
Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 24	about $1,300	Heavy, wood chunks	Sidekick add-on	3 years
recteq Backyard Beast 1200	$1,199.99	Mild	700°F lid-down	6 years
Traeger Woodridge Pro	about $1,150	Moderate, Super Smoke	None	10 years
Weber Searwood 600	about $1,000	Moderate	Direct flame, 600°F	5 years

The recteq is about $100 less with stainless parts, 700°F and twice the warranty, and you’d need a smoke tube to get near what the Smoke Box does. The Traeger Woodridge Pro is cheaper, has a better app, 10 years of warranty and Super Smoke, and owners still describe less smoke than the Camp Chef. The Searwood 600 costs less again and sears far better with direct-flame mode, while giving up the heavy smoke.

The Woodwind Pro 24 also appears on my best pellet grills list and the pellet grill deals page, which is worth checking before you pay $1,300.

First cooks on the Woodwind Pro 24

• Baby back ribs on a pellet grill at 250°F with one lit cherry chunk in the box. Short enough to learn the damper without risking a brisket.
• Pellet grill brisket at 250°F with post oak in the Smoke Box for the first four hours. This is the cook the grill is built for, and the brisket internal temp chart covers the finish.
• Smoked pork belly burnt ends at 250°F, where the extra smoke shows on every cube.
• Spatchcock turkey at 300°F with the box empty, to see how evenly the pit runs on pellets alone.

The smoke time calculator gives a starting time for each.

Should you buy the Woodwind Pro 24?

Buy it if smoke flavor is the main thing you want from a pellet grill and you’ll keep the firepot and Smoke Box clean. Buy the recteq Backyard Beast 1200 instead if you’d rather have stainless and a 6-year warranty. If you want Camp Chef features without paying for the Smoke Box, the Woodwind 24 at $749.99 in the Camp Chef brand review is the cheaper route.