Bass Pro Shops and their subsidiary, Cabela’s, announced a new pellet grill line. The grills are house branded with the Cabela’s name on them.
The line includes three different grills, all with PID controllers. They offer a temperature range of 160° F to 450° F. They also include two meat probes for keeping an eye on your cook. The three models are as follows.
- Cabela’s Deluxe 24” Pellet Grill – This base model carries a retail price of $599.99 (check price). It has 570 square inches of cooking area, and an 18 lb hopper.
- Cabela’s Pro Series 24” Wi-Fi Pellet Grill – This is similar in design to the cheaper model, but with a retail price of $699.99 (check price) it has some additional features. The biggest feature bump is this grill has WiFi to connect with the Bass Pro or Cabela’s app on your phone. It also has another set of casters, a 22 lb hopper, a bottom shelf, and slide and sear over the fire pot.
- Cabela’s Pro Series 36” Wi-Fi Pellet Grill – This retails for $799.99 (check price), and has the same features as the other WiFi model. It’s bigger with 1,236 square inches of cook area.
Similarities to Camp Chef
We have many reasons to believe that Bass Pro is using the same pellet grill supplier as Camp Chef. It’s something that happens from time to time in the industry. It wouldn’t make us less interested in the grills, but it’s worth noting and price comparing.
Update: It is in fact made by Camp Chef.
Look of the Grills
You’ll notice that the Cabela’s grill line-up has a striking resemblance to various Camp Chef grills. For the Cabela’s Deluxe 24″, it’s pretty close in appearance to the Camp Chef SG24.
Above is the Camp Chef SG 24, while below is the same angled product image of the Cabela’s Deluxe 24. It has the same handle, hopper, temperature probe hole in the cook chamber, and lid.
The only real difference visually between the two is the design of the legs, the chimney top, and the Camp Chef has a bottle opener.
It also appears to use a controller that looks the same as Camp Chef’s Gen 2 controller. The only difference being is Camp Chef upgraded theirs with WiFi eventually.
Above is a closer look at the controller on the Camp Chef SG 24, while below is the controller on the Cabela’s Deluxe.
The naming convention is also something that is unique, and shared between the two grills. While other companies label their grill with the cooking area size, like the Traeger Pro 575, Camp Chef is one of the rare companies that goes by inches. Much like the new Cabela’s grills, they come in 24″ and 36″.
It’s the same with Cabela’s Pro model pellet grills with WiFi. The controller looks very much like Camp Chef’s Gen 3 WiFi controller that was found on their MZGX 24 pellet grill.
Above is the Camp Chef MZGX 24 pellet grill with WiFi, while below is the Cabella’s Pro Series 24. You’ll notice the controllers look pretty much identical.
You’ll also notice that even the phone app itself for WiFi control is even remarkably similar between Bass Pro / Cabela’s and Camp Chef.
Above is the Camp Chef Connect app, while below is the app from Bass Pro Shops. They have icons and an interface that look very similar.
Cabela’s even advertises that you can control smoke levels on the controller, which is a feature that is pretty unique to Camp Chef.
Conclusion
We have no idea if Camp Chef owns any of the intellectual property for their grills and apps, or if the supplier does and could be just supplying two different companies. We don’t also know definitively if they’re the same, because we haven’t examined them closely. It seems like a strong possibility though.
If you do plan on buying a Cabela’s grill though, it’s probably worth looking at Camp Chef too. They have grills that appear to be similar, for prices that could be more competitive.