The Z Grills 7002C2E is part of our test for the best pellet grill of 2025, which we recently published. We took 5 wood pellet grills under $599 and pitted them against each other in over 20 categories to determine which wood pellet grill is the best in this price range.

But today we’re talking about the Z Grills 700 Series, which gets its name from the fact that the pellet grill has a cooking surface of 700 square inches. Let’s first take a look at the technical specifications of this appliance.

Z Grills 700 Specifications:

• Assembled dimensions: H51″xB48″xT26″
• Weight: 113 lbs
• Cooking Height: 9 inches
• Hopper Capacity: 24 lbs
• Temperature Range: 180-450 °F

This wood pellet grill weighs just over 110 pounds and carries up to 24 pounds of wood pellets at a time. There is even a viewing window for the wood pellets in the pellet hopper so you can see the level of the pellets at all times while cooking. I really like this feature as I always forget to add wood pellets to my grills before I start cooking.

The main cooking surface provides 504 square inches of cooking area, and the top rack adds another 193 square inches, for a total of 697 square inches of cooking area.

Z Grills Build Quality:

As for the build quality of this wood pellet grill, we tested it with our digital caliper and came up with a measurement of 2.11 mm for the thickness of the lid and 1.55 mm for the thickness of the body.

The grill is equipped with 2 lockable castors and 2 large wheels, making it easy to move. We found that if you grab the pellet grill by the handle and lift the casters off the ground, the large rear wheels make it easy to move it through grass and softer dirt when needed.

Z Grills Controller:

The controller on the Z Grills 700 Series is a PID temperature controller, which is part of the new trend in wood pellet grills that we’ve seen recently. There used to be timed controllers or standard digital controllers, but the PID temperature controller is more efficient in the way it controls the temperature. It is predictive, which means that the temperature doesn’t fluctuate as much over time.

Cooking with the Z Grills 700 wood pellet grill:

Let’s take a look at some of the preparations we’ve made with the Z Grills 700 pellet grill.

Low and slow

We started with a pork shoulder for pulled pork, which we grilled slowly and gently. We seasoned the pork with a 50/50 mix of salt and pepper, set the pellet grill to 250 degrees and didn’t even open the lid for the first three hours.

We sprayed the pork with water to keep it moist and wrapped it in aluminum foil when it reached an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Once the temperature reached 200 degrees, we took the shoulder off the wood pellet grill and let it rest in a dry cooler for a few hours before removing the bone and carving the pork for the sandwiches.

Hot and Fast:

The next dish was a spatchcock chicken with Heath Riles Apple BBQ Rub. We cut the backbone out of the chicken so it would lay flat on the grill and cook evenly. We set the wood pellet grill to 350 degrees and let it cook for about 90 minutes, until it was a nice golden brown color and the breast reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees. We took it off the wood pellet grill, covered it with foil so the residual temperature rose to 165 degrees, and served it to the family for dinner.

Temperature Tests:

We tested this unit to see how long it would run with an empty pellet hopper that we put exactly 4 pounds of wood pellets in. We started the auger and turned it off as soon as the first pellet dropped into the burn tray. We reset the pellet grill, turned it on to stabilize it at 250 degrees, and that grill ran for 3 hours and 39 minutes with 4 pounds of wood pellets before dropping below 230 degrees and continuing to lose heat until we turned it off.

We used our Thermoworks signals to measure the exact temperature of the wood pellet grill compared to the programmed temperature of the Z Grills 700 pellet grill.

We also measured the time it took this wood pellet grill to run from a cold start to a temperature of 250 degrees. We magnetically attached our Thermoworks Big and Loud Timer to the front where we could see both numbers, and it reached 250 degrees in just 11 minutes and 38 seconds.

Warranty:

The Z Grills pellet grill comes with a standard 3 year warranty.

What we don’t like about the Z Grills 700 Series Wood Pellet Grill

There is no side shelf on this 700 Series model from Z Grills, so the stainless steel lid of the pellet hopper is the primary place to place trays of food or accessories when you’re working with the wood pellet grill.

During our slow cooking sessions, we missed the real smoke that we have experienced with some other wood pellet grills. This great temperature consistency comes at a price, as it is the temperature fluctuations that create more smoke and give the proteins a better color and bark.

Conclusion

So what do we think of this Z Grills 7002C2E wood pellet barbecue overall? It’s a very consistent pellet grill that keeps the temperature in a very narrow range, whether you’re grilling at 250 degrees for smoking or on high for a hot and quick sear.

It’s a wood pellet grill that’s great for both smoking and searing, and it was the most efficient grill in our test group of 5 units. A 24-pound capacity pellet hopper allows for over 20 hours of cooking time at smoking temperatures, so an overnight cooked brisket is just right for this grill. There’s not much to complain about with this unit, and in the sub-$600 price range, it compares very favorably to the competition.