Oklahoma Joe’s has entered the pellet grill market with the Rider DLX, and after several months of testing I’ve cooked a wide range of dishes on it with consistent, impressive results. This review covers what stands out, what could be improved, and whether the Rider DLX is a good fit for different cooks.
Here is my detailed review of the Rider DLX.
It’s a Beast
The Rider DLX is built for volume. It features three cooking shelves: a large bottom rack offering 578 square inches and two substantial upper racks at 328 square inches each. Those upper racks are sturdy and adjustable—big enough to hold a whole brisket each. In practice, I estimated the main chamber could comfortably accommodate three, possibly four, briskets at once. That kind of capacity is important: you can always cook a small meal on a large grill, but you can’t cook a large meal on a small grill.
I used the main chamber for cold smoking cheese and was able to fit forty-two 8-ounce blocks on the grates with room to spare. The tall chamber body helps make the most of vertical space, and additional rack configurations and accessories are available for purchase to tailor the layout to your needs.
You can always cook a small meal on a big grill but never a big meal on a small grill.
It’s a True Grill
One standout is the sear capability. The Rider DLX has a large sear plate and a cast-iron bottom grate with an 18-inch circular region dedicated to searing. That space comfortably handled three to four steaks at once during my tests. Switching between smoke and sear is simple: a slide on the smoke/sear handle opens the sear chamber and exposes the open flame.
This functional, roomy sear area distinguishes the Rider DLX from many pellet smokers, which often provide much smaller sear zones that might manage only one or two steaks if they’re squeezed together.
Monster-Sized Pellet Hopper
The QuickDraw hopper is rated at 20 lb and, despite initial skepticism due to its shape, it truly holds that capacity with room to spare. Its four-sided funnel design feeds pellets efficiently into the auger, reducing air pockets I’ve encountered with other hoppers.
Emptying the hopper is fast and user-friendly thanks to the included storage bucket and the hopper’s slide mechanism. Slide the bucket into place, pull the hopper handle to open the bottom flaps, and the pellets fall neatly into the bucket. I emptied the hopper after every cook without losing a single pellet—an impressively clean and simple system.
Other Standout Features
- The control board is clear and intuitive, with built-in probe ports and timers for monitoring cooks and a large temperature control knob that’s easy to operate.
- The unit reaches high temperatures with ease; in sear mode I recorded temperatures exceeding 725°F.
- Mobility is good: four wheels (two wagon-style and two swivel casters) make the grill easy to move around the yard or patio.
What Can Be Improved
Despite many positives, there are a few small drawbacks. The Rider DLX includes a side shelf and the top of the hopper can double as a work surface, but the absence of a front shelf was noticeable. I often rely on a front shelf for plating and quick access to tools and ingredients, and not having one felt like a missing convenience.
The control scheme also creates a temperature band that limits certain uses. The grill offers precise low-and-slow control between 180–300°F, but above 300°F it switches to low/medium/high settings. In my experience, the low setting in “BBQ mode” starts around 400°F, leaving a gap in the usable range between roughly 300–400°F. That makes it harder to, for example, slow-cook something just under 300°F and then gently raise the temperature into the mid-300s for finishing or baking-style applications.
These are relatively minor quibbles on a unit that otherwise performs very well.
Final Thoughts
After regular use around the home and on weekend cooks, I grew to appreciate the Rider DLX’s strengths. It excels when used either for traditional low-and-slow smoking (300°F and below) or for high-heat grilling and searing (roughly 400–700°F). If those temperature ranges match your cooking style, the Rider DLX is a strong contender.
The included pellet storage bucket and cover add tangible value; these accessories typically cost extra and make maintenance and pellet handling much easier. Food cooked on the Rider DLX consistently developed great flavor, and I found the smoke character to be more pronounced than on some other pellet grills I’ve tested.
At a retail price of $599, the Rider DLX offers a very large cooking area and the versatility to replace both a propane grill for high-heat searing and a dedicated smoker for low-and-slow cooks. The ability to add optional accessories and alternate rack configurations further enhances its flexibility.
My final rating: 3.5 out of 5 meat hooks.
