I don’t know about you, but I love to grill. Grilling steaks, burgers, chicken, pork, hot dogs, brats, and more is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve always owned old-style kettle grills, though, and the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is the first time I’ve deviated from that tradition. My dad used to make his own grills out of old oil drums, so I am used to simplicity, not looks and features.
Estimated reading time: 16 minutes
My trusty kettle grill has never done me wrong or left me in the wind. So in almost thirty years, I have never felt the need to ever use anything else. So when the opportunity to review the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe came up, I figured I’d try something different for once in my life. Can I move away from my trusty kettle grill and embrace something different? Let’s find out in the full review of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe.
Table of Contents
Kamado Joe Konnected Joe — The Quick Take
The Kamado Joe Konnected Joe was my first experience outside the traditional kettle grill and the oil drum grills my dad made. I never found myself needing to deviate from what I grew up and have known all of my life. But after using the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe, I regret not checking out the alternatives to kettle grill cooking.
The Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is easily the best grill/smoker that I’ve used in my life. Of course, I am excited to try other grills in the future, but this one blew my socks off.
I love the design and look of the grill. At first, I thought the interior space was going to be too small, but I was wrong. There is ample space to cook numerous burgers, dogs, steaks, and even whole turkeys. I love the ignition system that gets the lump charcoal going quickly.
The Konnected portion does an excellent job of regulating temperature, so you don’t have to always be adjusting the vents. I love that the app has timers, and using the thermometer, you can monitor the temp of the food.
I also love that you don’t have to even use the tech on this grill, it will function just as a normal grill without needing to plug it in.
Overall, the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe comes with a ton of features both traditional and tech-packed that are going to make your grilling adventure that much better. I recommend the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe or, if you don’t want the connected features, just the original Kamado Joe.
Specifications
The Kamado Joe Konnected Joe has the following features and specifications:
- Model Number: KJ15041123
- Width: 47 inches (ca. 119 cm)
- Height: 48 inches (ca. 122 cm)
- Grill Weight: 216 pounds (ca. 98 kg)
- Heat Range: 225°F to 700°F
- Cooking Surface: 18-inch diameter
What’s In The Box
- Kamado Joe Konnected Joe
- Stand and Shelves
- Grates and Ceramics
- Thermometer and Tools
- Manuals and Documentation
Design
The design of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe was a departure for me. As I mentioned, I have been using a basic black kettle grill for years and before that, my dad used oil drum grills. It’s not that I haven’t seen this type of design, I have, but this was my first hands-on experience with this design.
The first thing you notice about this design is that bright red color. It is noticeable, and it fits the aesthetic very well, I love the red. The main difference between this design and the non-connected version is the bottom potion is black and has the tech bits incorporated into the bottom.
Otherwise, it’s pretty near identical to the original Kamado Joe. It has a solid build quality, I mean SOLID! Constructed of a mixture of high-quality materials such as ceramic, metal, high-quality plastics, there’s nothing on the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe that feels cheap.
Starting at the top, you’ll find the metal chimney and vent. This is used to regulate the flow of air and helps regulate the temp of the Joe. Moving down, there is the original thermometer gauge, which I am glad that they left here. There may be a time you would rather not use the app or digital temp and just want to go old school. So very nice that they left it.
Continuing on down the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe, there are two shelving units that can be folded down for storage. These are extremely nice to have and are a great place to place food, tools, and other necessities. There are hooks on both shelves, perfect for your grill utensils.
Open the lid and you’re greeted with the grill grate, ceramic plates, 2-tier holder for temp separation, and basically, your normal Joe guts. There is a nice heat gasket that goes around the lid that keeps heat in and smoke in as well. There might be a little leakage of smoke or heat on some units, but you can adjust the Joe to fix that. Our unit didn’t have any issues with this.
Back on the exterior of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe and heading down to the ground. The next thing you’ll find is the Konnected Joe tech bits. Here you have a bright display, some buttons, probe inputs, the AFS (Automatic Fire Starter) button, and the ashtray and second vent.
This is all sitting on a black powder coated steel stand that has a bottom shelf and four heavy-duty casters. The rear of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe has a main power button, power cord input, and the lid hinge system.
Finally, the capacity of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is decent, but I would have liked a larger grill space. It’s not a dealbreaker and I’m really only mentioning this because I have countless great things to say, I need something to ding it with. LOL.
Overall, this Joe design does not stray far from the company’s bread and butter original. This is a good thing. It keeps to a design that is proven but adds in some tech bits that we will go over later.
Setup
Physically setting up the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is, at minimum, a two-person affair. I am not kidding you, don’t even attempt doing this alone. My son and I did the heavy lifting, and my wife helped to guide and move things as needed. Because I am a massive advocate for safety, it took three people. I injured my back when I was young and I am still paying the price, so safety, for me, is paramount.
After putting together all the bits and pieces that required putting together, including the stand. We lined up the stand with the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe and did a two-man lift while my wife verbally guided us onto the stand. Lifting the Joe onto the stand is the hardest part of the physical setup. Once on the stand, it gets secured to the stand by the supplied screws.
When the stand and casters are fully secure and the assembled Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is secure on the stand, you can put the inner pieces inside the Joe. That process is straightforward, as is securing the shelves on the side of the Joe.
The casters are heavy duty, as are the locks on them. These casters are also very smooth running, the bearings inside must be made well because moving the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is effortless with these on.
Overall, setting up the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe isn’t difficult but I highly recommend two people, at minimum, when placing the Joe on its stand and screwing it in.
App Experience
I am generally not a fan of apps that are really needed and that are usually overthought and more intrusive than anything. So I was pleased to see that the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe app was simple, clean, and easy to use.
Only the essentials are given here. Set and adjust your temperature and time, monitor your meat probes, look up recipes, and get notifications when your cook is ready or if something requires adjusting.
Kamoado Joe also provides temperature graphing on the grill itself and in the app. This is great if you’re super serious about your meats and your cooks. I’ll be honest here, this being my first experience with the graphing, I didn’t find it useful. But, that’s not to say those who are very much into this world won’t find it useful.
Overall, the app is simple. I love that it just gives you the info you need and not a lot more. There is a section to look at recipes, in some apps, that can get annoying. But this app manages to tuck it to the side so you can look at it if you want but it’s not front and center. I know some apps can get annoying by pushing non-essential things in your face, not so here.
Performance
The Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is my first experience with a real smoker. I’ve used my kettle grill to do some smoking but nothing of consequence. To be honest, most of my attempts were subpar. So I was excited to give the Joe a go with smoking.
The Cooks
In the time I’ve had the Joe, I was able to do two turkey cooks using smoke. The first cook came out perfectly, at least to our liking. The second cook, I used too much wood and over smoked the turkey. It was still edible, but didn’t taste nearly as good.
What have I learned? Smoking meat is an art and takes numerous skills. I still have a lot to learn about it and hopefully, I can get better as time goes on. I don’t lay blame on the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe, that first bird was excellent and I was playing it safe with the wood the first time. The second time, I got a little overzealous and decided that I wanted a bit more smokey flavor and just entirely overdid it.
I also did plenty of grilling, the normal items, hot dogs, burgers (both fresh and frozen), steak, chicken, fish, and veggies too. All of those cooks came out fantastic, with all the food tasting amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the dual zone cooking feature. This allowed me to place something like fish at a higher level than my steak so I didn’t blast the ever-loving crap out of the fish.
Probably the best feature of the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is the ability to regulate temp with the app. Keeping the temp consistent helps a ton, and while I could do that with my kettle, it took way more effort with the kettle. This feature makes for better cooks and better food.
Overall, the cooks I did with the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe were some of the best cooks I’ve ever done on a grill. The smoker part of the equation was a little harder for me, since I am not experienced in that realm of outdoor cookery.
The Technicals
Now, the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is packed full of tech stuff that its Joe brothers do not have. One of these features is the AFS (Automatic Fire Starter) Button. This is really a wonderful feature as it allows you to put your coal in, push the button, and it evenly heats your coal with no need for a starting element.
No need to grab starting fluid, or logs, or paper. Just pour your coal into the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe and arrange it, then push the AFS button and the element at the bottom will turn on. One thing I will say about this feature, it does draw some power and if you have the Joe connected to a GFCI outlet, you will most-likely trip that outlet. So I recommend using a non-GFCI outlet when using this feature.
The Kontrol Board is located on the front and here you can set your cook temp and time, you can do that in the app too, but it’s nice to have it on the Joe as well. You can also set the temp, timer, alerts, graphing, and all of those things.
I found that using the app and the Kontrol Board was easy and straightforward. I love the temp control that the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe offers. Once you have your desired temp set and the vents positioned to where the app tells you to position them in. At that point, the fan in the Joe takes care of rest. It will kick on when the Joe needs to get to temp and it will turn off when it gets where it needs to be.
This is most effective and useful when smoking because those cooks are much longer. But it works nicely for grilling too and keeps the grill from getting too hot and potentially burning and drying out your food.
The Joe also comes with one temperature probe, but it has three ports so you can use up to three. The probe was very useful and accurate. I used my MEATR2 alongside it and they were almost identical in measuring ambient and internal temps.
Overall, the technical side of this grill is fairly easy to get a handle on. Smoking is the one thing that I need to work on but I know I will get it once I have more cooks under my belt.
Price/Value
Priced at $1,699, the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe is not an inexpensive prospect. There are other, less expensive options in the lineup though, and if you’re not concerned with the tech bits, then those options may be better for you.
There are other options you can add to the Joe, including a grill cover (highly recommended), the DoJoe, the JoeTisserie, and other items. None of these are necessary and they will push the price higher. The only one I say you should get is the cover.
Considering the price of other Joe products, prices of the competition, the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe feature set, and the build quality. I absolutely believe that the Konnected Joe is well worth the money. Not to mention that these ceramic grills should last you for years to come. Even if, for some reason, the electronics stop working, you can still use this grill without them.
Kamado Joe and More Spring Deals
With spring in full swing, here are a bunch of deals from various retailers that might be worth looking into. Some of these deals are not active yet, so check the dates!
- Masterbuilt website — April 19-30
- Buy a Gravity 800 MB20040221 and get a Free Grill Cover MB20080221 and Get a 2-Pack of Charcoal Free MB20091721
- Gravity Series® 1050 + Bulk Lump Charcoal Bundle (20 Bags) — Save Additional 10%
- Kamado Joe website — April 19-30
- 20% off Big Joe I grill Model BJ24RH
- 10% off Classic Joe I grill Model KJ23RH
- Char-Griller website — April 19-30
- Buy a 3-Burner Flat Iron Gas Griddle (Model: E8428) and Griddle Cover 8355 and save $75
- Buy a Dual Function 2-Burner Gas & Charcoal Grill Model E5030 and Get a free Grill Cover Model 8080
- Lowes Spring Deals
- 4/4 – 4/17
- $50 off Char-Griller AKORN Auto Kamado 18-in W Gray Kamado Charcoal Grill
- Original price: $399
- Sale Price: $349
- 4/18-5/1
- $50 off Char-Griller Legacy 33-in W Black Cart Charcoal Grill Item #799971
- Original price: $299
- Sale price: $249
- The Home Depot — April 4-28 (in-store and online)
- $100 off Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Wi-Fi Charcoal Grill, Griddle, and Smoker in Black
- $100 off Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050 Digital Wi-Fi Charcoal Grill and Smoker in Black
- $30 Off Gravity Series Pizza Oven
Wrap Up
I can’t say that I am done with my trusty kettle grill, I do think there is still a place for it. But I am sold on the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe. It’s a fantastic grill/smoker, and it is my new favorite grill to use. It gets so much right, and it has never failed me on any cook. Even if you don’t want the Konnected portion of the grill, you could get the version without it. I used the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe as a regular grill and as a connected one, it is a fabulous grill and hands down, the best grill I’ve used to date.
Kamado Joe Konnected Joe
$1,699
Nailed it
- Great looking design
- Fairly easy to setup, though you do need two people
- The app is simple, to the point and easy to use
- Amazing grilling machine, my cooks were perfect
- Amazing smoker, though I admit I need work on this as one of my cooks was not very good
- Automatic fire starter is a godsend
- Temp, timer, notificaitons, temp probes, all amazing tech features
- You can still use it as a regular Kamado Joe, if you don't or can't plug it in
Needs work
- Not a deal breaker, but it is heavy
- Pricey, this dude is expensive and some may not want to spend the cash
- Decent capacity, but I would have liked a larger surface area.
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