Traeger Silverton 620 at Costco {Head to Head with the Pro 575}

Costco carries an exclusive line of Traeger grills including the Silverton, Mesa and Century models. There are two versions of the Silverton grill, the 620 and the 810, and they are some great values compared to the Traeger grills that you find at Home Depot or Ace Hardware.

Let’s take some time to look at:

The Key Features of the Silverton 620
Customer Reviews of the 620
How the 620 is Different from the 810
How the Silverton 620 Compares to the Pro 575

Table of Contents

Key Features of the Traeger Silverton 620

The Silverton grills have an angular design that stands apart from the rounded barrel style of most other Traeger grills. I like the styling but have heard other people complain that it looks too “boxy”.

Let’s go ahead and get the boring numbers out of the way so we can start looking at the fun stuff.

Main Cooking Grate: 363 sq in
Secondary Cooking Grate: 257 sq in
Overall Dimensions: 48 x 46 x 47 inches (WHD)
Temperature Range: 180-500F
Pellet Hopper Capacity: 20 lbs
Controller: Proprietary D2

The main cooking area is not huge but is large enough to fit a brisket or a couple slabs of baby back ribs. The secondary cooking grate is the perfect size for an extra slab of ribs or a few pork chops, a pile of chicken breasts or some country style ribs.

The Silverton grills are made in China.

D2 Controller

The real star of the show is the D2 controller with WiFire connectivity.

The D2 controller runs off of DC power which allows for precise control of the fan and auger as it responds to changes in the grills internal temperature.

This precise control lets it maintain the grill at about 5 degrees of the setpoint temperature while also enabling the “TurboTemp” feature which lets the grill ramp up really fast without seriously overshooting.

The controller integrates with the stainless steel meat probe which enables it automatically turn the temperature down to a “Keep Warm” mode after the meat reaches a target internal temperature.

The controller has “WiFire” capabilities which enables you to connect it to your smart phone through the Traeger app.

Customer Reviews of the Silverton 620

The Silverton 620 has been around for a few years and there have been lots of reviews posted over on Costco’s website.

On average customers are pretty positive about the Silverton but the love for the grill is not universal.

82% of customers like the Silverton enough to leave a 5 or 4 Star review.
12% of customers were so unhappy that they left either a 1 or 2 Star review.

A 12% dissatisfaction rate is pretty significant for anything that costs this much money so I did some digging through the negative reviews to see if I could find any recurring issues.

The two main recurring themes in the negative reviews were:

Very hard to connect the WiFire controller to WiFi and use the Traeger app.
Faulty electronics coupled with a shortage of replacement parts.

Silverton 620 vs Silverton 810

Costco sells two different versions of the Silverton, the 620 and 810, and other than price there are only three significant differences.

The first difference is that the 810 is a larger grill than the 620 so if you want to cook for a crowd then the Silverton 810 is worth a look.

A second difference is that the 810 has a pellet sensor in the hopper that will send an alarm to your phone if the hopper is starting to get low on fuel.

The last difference is that the controller on the 810 has a setting that enables Super Smoke Mode which can add even more smoke flavor to your barbecue. Super Smoke is not available on the 620.

Traeger Silverton 620 vs Traeger Pro 575

The Silverton 620 is a great value comparison to make against the Traeger Pro 575. There are a bunch of minor differences between these models that, when you add them all up, make the Silverton the better choice in my opinion.

The significant differences between the models are:

Cooking Grates
Work Tables
Grease Collection
Ventilation Design
Cost

Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail.

Cooking Grates

The Pro 575 has a slightly larger primary cooking grate than the Silverton 620 (413 vs 363 sq in) but a smaller secondary grate (154 vs 257 sq in).

Both of these grills have plenty of capacity for most cooking situations.

Work Tables

The Silverton has a three surfaces where you can place a stuff like a tray of burgers or a bottle of hot sauce. The surfaces are the side table, front shelf and the top of the pellet hopper.

The Pro 575 does not have a side table or front shelf so the only work area is the top of the pellet hopper.

The extra work space on the Silverton comes in handy when you are cooking for a crowd and have a lot of stuff going on at you grill.

Grease Collection System

The Silverton drains and collects grease into a bucket that is mounted below the grill and inside the cabinet. The Pro 575 drains and collects grease in a bucket on the side of the grill.

The grease collection system works just fine on both grills.

The real difference is that on the Pro 575, because the pail is exposed on the outside of the grill, it is incredibly easy to accidently knock the grease pail off the Pro 575 and dump grease all over your deck. This happens a lot when you are taking the cover on and off the grill.

Ventilation Design

The Pro 575 is designed to exhaust hot air and smoke through a traditional smoke stack.

The Silverton 620 is designed to exhaust smoke and air in a forced downdraft manner that pulls the smoke down the smoker and out the back.

Traeger markets the forced downdraft configuration as an upgrade on its Ironwood and Timberline grills as it provides more contact between the meat and smoke.

Cost

The cost of these grills keeps jumping around but, in general, you can almost always purchase a Silverton 620 for about $100 less than the Pro 575.

This cost differential only exists if you can purchase the Silverton in person at your local Costco warehouse. If you buy the Silverton online through Costco’s website the costs gets jacked up by about $100 to cover shipping which wipes out any savings advantage.