Traeger Ironwood XL or Woodridge Pro? The $1,000 question owners answered for you

The short version

The Traeger Ironwood XL is Traeger’s second-most-expensive grill, and the owner forums say the premium buys size, not reliability. The three complaint themes have been stable since the grill launched in early 2023: it cannot reach or hold a set temperature on some units, with preheats stretching to an hour or two; its WiFi and app fail at setup and after firmware updates Traeger will not reverse; and its display temperature can run 50 degrees or more above what a thermometer at the grate reads, which replacement probes and controllers do not fix. If you are leaning yes, add it to your cart now: Amazon locks today’s price in your cart, and adding the item within 24 hours of clicking keeps the referral credited for 90 days.

What owners report

The longest-running thread on Traeger’s own owners forum is titled “Ironwood XL can’t get or hold temp”, opened July 14, 2023. The original poster could not reach 250F on preheat; getting there meant setting 500F and waiting about 30 minutes, and dropping the setpoint from 500F to 350F sent the grill to 300F. By September 8, 2023, a workaround of pulling the internal parts and running the grill at 450F had worked for two cooks and then stopped, with 45-minute preheats in 95F weather. Another owner in the same thread, July 16, 2023, wrote that after six months of temperature problems across three Traegers they took a refund and bought a different brand. The thread was still active in February 2025, when an Ironwood owner reported the grill taking over an hour to reach 350F after a firmware update dated December 12, 2024; Traeger refused to restore the earlier firmware, replaced the temperature sensor, the control unit, the hot rod and the flame sensor, and finally sent a whole replacement grill, which heated normally.

An August 3, 2024 thread describes an XL set to 500F that reached only 285F after two hours; a handful of pellets dropped into the firepot got it to 375F before it settled at 225F. The owner said it happened on roughly a dozen startups and that “Once it gets going it’s fantastic.” Replies blamed pellet feed at startup, a possible lid-sensor fault that slows the fan, and advised calling Traeger, which another member said is “good at sending parts.”

A March 15, 2023 thread from the first weeks of the XL describes a 375F setpoint running at 397F to 404F for fifteen minutes, dropping to 350F when the lid opened, then climbing past 400F again. Traeger support told that owner swings of up to 25 degrees are normal. A June 24, 2025 thread describes an XL set to 270F on its third cook reading anywhere from 185F to 500F; Traeger’s answer was that the owner had not shut down properly, which the owner disputed.

The display-versus-grate complaint has its own thread. On page two of “Temperature incorrect”, an XL owner on August 25, 2024 measured about 190F at the center of the grate with the controller set to 225F, and about 400F with it set to 500F; Traeger sent a new probe and said the grill was “functioning correctly,” and the owner got within 5 degrees only after moving the probe mount about a quarter inch. A Timberline XL owner in the same thread replaced probes, hot rod and thermocouple with no change and was told the grill was working correctly. A Pro 575 owner in November 2025 replaced the grate probe, igniter and controller and still saw 25 degrees of variance against a ThermoWorks probe. A long-time Ironwood 885 owner’s conclusion on November 19, 2025 was that swapping the probe, hot rod or controller has “little impact” on calibration.

The WiFi complaints start at unboxing. A March 18, 2023 thread has a new XL owner unable to pair after disabling 5GHz, changing channels and power cycling; it finally connected with an older phone. Another member in the thread could not reconnect after an update went wrong. On r/Traeger, a May 2025 post describes a new XL that joined the network but reported no internet, with firmware the owner knew was out of date and no way to update it without a connection; the eventual fix was shortening the WiFi network name. An AmazingRibs forum first-impressions post from March 21, 2024 reports that the first system update rebooted the grill, which “had lost everything” and “refused to pair again” until the owner power-cycled it three times and redid setup.

Retailer reviews match. On BBQGuys, where the XL carries a 4.17 average over 110 reviews, a December 24, 2023 review describes a 180F setpoint running at 225F to 235F that “would not come down,” a dead WiFi probe, and a warranty process that consists of self-repair with shipped parts. A September 10, 2023 review describes outdated software that made the grill unusable even from its own screen, a week of support, and a verdict that it “needs a new motherboard” before the owner returned it. A November 12, 2023 review reports a flame sensor dead after three days and a refund refused in favor of parts.

What actually breaks

Cannot reach or hold temperature, long preheats

How common: this is the dominant complaint on the owners forum, with XL-specific threads in March 2023, July 2023, August 2024 and June 2025 and reports continuing into 2025. When: often from the first cook, sometimes after a firmware update months in. The symptoms are two-hour preheats, a grill that overshoots by 50 degrees or undershoots by 60, and swings of hundreds of degrees mid-cook.

The fix is unclear because the cause is unclear. Traeger’s first-line answers are clean the firepot, prime the auger, use dry pellets, shut down properly, and accept that 25 degrees of swing is normal. When those fail, Traeger ships parts: thermocouple, probe, hot rod, flame sensor, controller. In the February 2025 case none of those worked and the grill was replaced outright. Parts are free under warranty; the labor is yours. The cost is the cooks you lose while the parts ship.

WiFi pairing failures and firmware with no rollback

How common: the second most common theme, with reports in March 2023, September 2023, March 2024 and May 2025. When: at setup, and again after updates. Updates arrive over the air once the grill is online, and in the December 2024 case the owner reported the temperature problem starting with an update and Traeger refusing to restore the old version.

Fixes are owner-discovered: shorten the network name, turn off iCloud Private Relay during pairing, split the 2.4GHz band, pair through a phone hotspot to force an update, or power-cycle until the controller comes back. None cost anything. One cost is that a grill waiting on a motherboard, as in the September 2023 BBQGuys case, is a grill you cannot run from its own screen either. The grill will cook without WiFi; it will not take an update without it.

Display reads hotter than the grate; replacement parts do not fix it

How common: a steady background complaint rather than a flood, but it recurs across the XL, the Timberline XL and the smaller Ironwoods, and it is the one that survives every parts swap. When: from day one; it is a sensor placement issue, not a wear issue. The August 2024 XL measurement of 190F at the grate on a 225F setpoint is a 35-degree miss at the exact temperature most people smoke at.

The fix that worked for one owner was repositioning the probe mount by a quarter inch, after a new probe from Traeger. The fix that works for everyone else is an inexpensive grate thermometer and a controller offset, which is what the forum’s veterans say they do. Traeger’s position in every case cited here is that the grill is functioning correctly.

Where to buy it, and where not to

The hero listing is sold and shipped by Amazon. For a grill with a documented first-cook temperature problem that is where you want it from, because Amazon’s return window turns a bad controller into a return instead of a three-month parts correspondence. Traeger’s warranty, as the owner reports above describe it, means parts shipped to you for self-install: responsive on parts, immovable on refunds and firmware.

If the same ASIN shows a third-party seller at a discount, check the sold-by line. A reseller sale means returns and warranty run through that seller, not Amazon, and a grill this heavy is not something you want to be negotiating return freight on with a storefront. Traeger also sells direct, and the forum reports above are mostly from owners who bought that way and then found that the only remedy on offer was parts.

If you still want one

Buy the Ironwood XL sold by Amazon, and put a grate thermometer and a wireless probe in the same order so you can verify the controller on the first cook, inside the return window. Pair it to a 2.4GHz network with a short name before you do anything else. The ladder on this page covers the Woodridge Pro (same app, same pellets, newer controller, about half the price), the Weber Searwood XL 600 if you want the size without the Traeger controller, and the five accessories every pellet grill owner buys in month one.

Verdict

The Ironwood XL’s premium over the Woodridge Pro buys 924 square inches, a touchscreen and a second shelf. It does not buy a controller that holds temperature more reliably than Traeger’s cheaper grills, and the owner threads suggest it holds it less reliably than some. Buy it for the size, with a thermometer and a return window, or buy the Woodridge Pro and keep a thousand dollars.