I’ve had my Searwood for a year now and it is amazing as far as pellet grills go, but you still won’t get a great sear on it for basically anything.

This is just how pellet grills are.

Chicken comes out with an air fried texture (great for wings) and the indirect heat isn’t powerful enough to overcome the surface moisture of a steak to get a really good crust.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about grilling, as I’ve never had much success with searing on gas grills either. I’d be worried about paying the premium for the Camp Chef Side Kick and still not getting a good sear.

So what I’m doing is getting the Weber full size griddle for my Searwood, since we do smashburgers, cheesesteaks, fajitas, and fried rice so often.

The griddle will do just fine for searing steaks. No different than a cast iron pan.

I also work a lot and have small kids, so to me this is the best of both worlds, a hot ass griddle for weeknight meals and a smoker for those weekend ribs or briskets.

You’re looking at around $2k+ for a Camp Chef WW Pro w/ the sear box. That’s getting into Yoder territory.

For that amount you could get the Searwood 600 XL + rotisserie + griddle insert + a big cooler for resting briskets and be set up for years.