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Search "Pit Boss 850" and you'll land on four different grills before you've had your coffee. The Pit Boss pellet grill lineup reuses the same numbers — 700, 820, 850, 1000 — across models with different cooking surfaces, different hoppers, and, more importantly, different temperature controllers. A "700" isn't 700 square inches. An "850" can mean three separate grills with a 92-square-inch spread between them. None of that is a scam; it's just retailer-exclusive branding stacked on top of a decade of running product-name reuse.
This guide sorts the actual six shortlist models buyers compare — the 700, the 820, the three grills wearing the 850 badge, the 850 DX, the 1000-class grills, and the Lexington 500 — by what changes the cooking experience: real cooking area, controller generation, hopper size, and whether WiFi is worth chasing. The goal isn't to crown a universal winner. It's to match the right chassis and controller to the household actually buying it.
What doesn't change across the lineup: every horizontal model here runs 180–500°F with a slide-plate Flame Broiler that opens direct flame access for searing well past 500°F, and every one takes standard wood pellets. What does change is everything that determines whether the grill holds a steady 225°F on an overnight cook or hunts up and down by 30 degrees.
Quick Verdict
| Model | Best for | Real cooking area | Controller |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pit Boss 700 | Couples, tightest budget | ~743–747 sq in | Non-PID dial |
| Pit Boss 820 | Family workhorse | ~849 sq in | Mostly non-PID; WiFi on Sportsman 820 |
| Pit Boss 850 DX | Best value pick for most buyers | 840 sq in | PID + WiFi/Bluetooth |
| Pit Boss 850 (Sportsman/Navigator/Competition) | Buyers who need Amazon availability | 849–932 sq in | Varies — see decoder below |
| Pit Boss 1000 (Austin XL / Navigator) | Big families, entertaining, competition-adjacent volume | 1,000–1,159 sq in | PID on Onyx; LCD digital on base |
| Pit Boss Lexington 500 | Apartments, patios, small households | ~543 sq in | PID on current Onyx; older units non-PID |
Which Versions Are We Comparing?
Pit Boss doesn't sell six grills under six names — it sells the same handful of chassis under retailer-specific branding, and the model number on the box refers to a marketing class, not a measured cooking area. Before comparing anything else, it helps to know which grill you're actually looking at.
"700" covers three near-identical SKUs. The 700FB1, the 700FB2, and the Classic 700 Onyx all land between 743 and 747 square inches with a 21 lb hopper (the separate Carbon 700 variant drops to a 13.5 lb hopper). All three use a non-PID dial controller out of the box; a connected control board upgrade exists separately.
"820" is really an 849-square-inch grill, split across a main grid and a second-tier rack. The Sportsman 820, 820D3, and Pro 820 share this chassis; only the Sportsman 820 ships with WiFi and Bluetooth. The rest run the same non-PID dial as the 700.
"850" is where the confusion peaks — it's not one grill, it's three:
- Sportsman 850: 849 sq in, 21 lb hopper, PID controller with WiFi/Bluetooth. Not sold on Amazon.
- Navigator 850: 932 sq in, 30 lb hopper, but the base model uses an LCD digital display — not a true PID. A newer "Connected" revision (PB850M) adds WiFi/Bluetooth on top of the same non-PID board.
- Competition Series 850: 849 sq in, roughly 21 lb hopper with a cleanout and viewing window, fully programmable PID with WiFi/Bluetooth, and — unusually for a PID board — it keeps the manual P-Setting adjustment older dial owners rely on.
The Pit Boss 850 DX is a fourth, separate grill that also happens to sit near 850 square inches (840, specifically). It's a Lowe's exclusive (model 11077), part of a DX Series that spans three sizes often written as 700/850/1150 or 740/850/1130 depending on the listing. It's the newest of the bunch and the one with the tightest temperature control.
"1000" splits into two different footprints. The Austin XL 1000 (also sold as an Onyx Edition) measures roughly 1,000–1,007 square inches with a 30 lb hopper. The Navigator 1000 is actually larger at 1,159 square inches with a 32 lb hopper. Controller generation again varies by SKU — the Austin XL Onyx (PB1000NX) gets PID with a P-Setting; the base PB1000T1 is non-PID.
The Lexington 500 is the outlier — a Walmart exclusive that's smaller than its number suggests. Its real primary cooking surface is 356 square inches, extended to 543 total with a 178-square-inch upper rack. Some Walmart listings round this to "Lexington 540." Older units ran a non-PID time-based controller; the current Onyx revision adds PID and a factory sear-plate slider that early owners used to have to install themselves.
Retailer-exclusive naming decoder:
| Retailer | Naming convention |
|---|---|
| Lowe's | DX series (e.g., 850 DX) |
| Walmart | Lexington, Austin, Onyx variants |
| Academy Sports | Navigator, Titan |
| Tractor Supply | D3 variants (e.g., 820D3) |
Same steel, same firepot, same auger motor in most cases — different control board, finish, and price tag depending on which store put its name on it.
Cooking Space and Cart Design
Once the naming is sorted, actual square inches tell a cleaner story than the model number does. Here's how the six shortlist grills stack up on raw cooking area, independent of badge:
| Model | Total cooking area | Split |
|---|---|---|
| Lexington 500 Onyx | 543 sq in | 356 primary + 178 upper |
| Pit Boss 700 (any variant) | 743–747 sq in | Main grid + second-tier rack |
| Sportsman 820 / 820D3 | 849 sq in | ~593 main + ~256 upper |
| Sportsman 850 / Competition 850 | 849 sq in | Same footprint as 820, PID board |
| Pit Boss 850 DX | 840 sq in | ~554 main + ~256 upper |
| Navigator 850 | 932 sq in | Largest of the "850s" |
| Austin XL 1000 | 1,000–1,007 sq in | 2-tier porcelain cast iron |
| Navigator 1000 | 1,159 sq in | Largest total footprint in the lineup |
The takeaway most spec-sheet roundups skip: the 820, the Sportsman 850, and the Competition 850 all share the same 849-square-inch chassis. The differences between them come entirely from the control board, not the barrel. Meanwhile the Navigator 850 outsizes all of them at 932 square inches while wearing the same "850" badge — and the 850 DX, despite the number, is actually the smallest of the group at 840.
Cart design follows a similar pattern across the range: black powder-coated steel carts, a lower storage shelf, and a slide-plate Flame Broiler for direct-flame searing on every model. The 850 DX adds a probe-controlled Keep Warm mode that automatically drops to roughly 180°F once the target internal temperature is hit — a feature the base 850s and the 700/820 don't have. Weight climbs with size: the Lexington sits around 90 lb, the 700 around 118 lb, the 820 and 850-class grills around 150–165 lb, and the Austin XL 1000 Onyx tops out near 170 lb.
Controller Generation: The Real Buying Axis
Square inches get the attention, but the control board is what actually determines whether a cook goes well. Pit Boss's lineup splits cleanly into two generations, and mixing them up is the single most common regret buyers report.
Non-PID dial controllers — found on the base 700, 820, older Navigator, and older Lexington units — run on a simpler time-based feed cycle rather than a true proportional-integral-derivative loop. Forum-reported swings on these boards run in the ±20°F range under normal conditions, and more during startup or cold weather. That's not necessarily a dealbreaker for burgers and weeknight chicken, but it matters on a long, low-and-slow brisket where a 20-degree drift changes the cook time by hours.
PID controllers — the 850 DX, Competition 850, Sportsman 850, Austin XL Onyx, and current Lexington Onyx — hold noticeably tighter, with owners reporting swings closer to ±5°F once the grill stabilizes. The tradeoff: most PID boards drop the manual "P-Setting" that dial-controller and Competition 850 owners use to fine-tune smoke output; only the Competition 850 keeps both a PID loop and a manual P-Setting.
A few practical notes that separate marketing copy from lived experience:
- Non-PID isn't broken — it's just less precise. Preheating for a full 20 minutes, cleaning the RTD temperature sensor and firepot before each cook, and adding a lid gasket close most of the gap.
- Newer PID boards aren't automatically more reliable. Community threads flag return rates on some newer Pro Series PID boards, and several forum regulars deliberately stick with older dial-controlled 820s because they trust the simpler electronics over time.
- The Flame Broiler sear function works the same on every model regardless of controller — it's a mechanical slide-plate exposing the firepot, not something the PID gates.
If there's one number to anchor a purchase decision on, it's this one. Cooking area decides how much food fits on the grate. The controller decides whether that food comes out the way the recipe says it should.
Hopper Capacity, WiFi and the App Reality
Hopper size ranges from 15 lb (Lexington) up to 32 lb (Navigator 1000), with most of the shortlist sitting in the 21–30 lb band. Bigger hoppers mean fewer refills on long cooks — the Navigator's 30–32 lb hopper is built for the same overnight-brisket crowd the extra square footage targets — but they also add weight and cost, so there's little reason to size up a hopper if the cooking area doesn't need it too.
WiFi connectivity is where the lineup gets genuinely inconsistent, and it's worth separating the hardware claim from the software experience:
- WiFi + Bluetooth via the Pit Boss Grills app ships on the Sportsman 820, Sportsman 850, Competition 850, 850 DX, Navigator 850 (PB850M revision only), and Austin XL Onyx.
- No connectivity at all on the base 700, base 820, base Navigator 850, base 1000 (PB1000T1), and older Lexington units — though a standalone connected-board upgrade exists for some of these.
- The app itself is the weakest link across every connected model. The app has recurring complaints centered on pairing failures, dropped connections, and server overload during high-traffic periods like holiday weekends — precisely when people are most likely to be monitoring a cook remotely.
The practical guidance from owners of connected models is consistent: run the grill from the physical controller and treat the app as a bonus notification layer, not a primary interface. Nobody should buy a Pit Boss specifically for the app experience — buy it for the PID board underneath, which functions identically whether or not the WiFi connects.
Head-to-Head Specs Comparison
| Model | Cooking area | Hopper | Temp range | Controller | Probe ports | WiFi/BT | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexington 500 Onyx | 543 sq in | 15 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | PID (current) / non-PID (older) | 2 (1 incl.) | Varies by SKU | ~90 lb |
| Pit Boss 700 | 743–747 sq in | 21 lb (13.5 lb Carbon) | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | Non-PID dial | 2 (1 incl.) | No | ~118 lb |
| Sportsman 820 | 849 sq in | 21 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | Non-PID dial (WiFi variant available) | 2 (1 incl.) | Sportsman 820 only | ~150–155 lb |
| Sportsman 850 | 849 sq in | 21 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | PID | 2 (1 incl.) | Yes | ~150 lb |
| Competition Series 850 | 849 sq in | ~21 lb w/ cleanout | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | PID + P-Setting | 2 (1 incl.) | Yes | ~150 lb |
| Navigator 850 | 932 sq in | 30 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | LCD digital (non-PID); PB850M adds WiFi | 2 (1 incl.) | PB850M revision only | Not published |
| Pit Boss 850 DX | 840 sq in | 21 lb w/ cleanout | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear), incl. 275°F preset + Keep Warm | PID | 2 (1 incl.) | Yes | ~164 lb |
| Austin XL 1000 Onyx | 1,000–1,007 sq in | 30 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | PID + P-Setting | 2 (2 incl.) | Yes | ~170 lb |
| Navigator 1000 | 1,159 sq in | 32 lb | 180–500°F (+1,000°F sear) | LCD digital (varies by SKU) | 2 (1 incl.) | Varies | Not published |
Every model in this table shares the same Flame Broiler slide-plate sear system, porcelain-coated grates, and a lower cart shelf. The differences that actually change a cook — controller generation, hopper size, and probe count — are the columns worth reading twice.
Which Should You Buy?
Couples, apartments, or a tight patio → The Lexington 500 Onyx is genuinely smaller than a Traeger Pro 575's barrel, and that's the point — it's built for two people who don't need 850 square inches taking up deck space. The current Onyx revision's PID board is the version worth buying; skip older non-PID listings if a choice exists.
Perfect for: two-person households, small patios, first-time buyers who want to test the pellet-grill habit before committing to a bigger footprint.
Absolute tightest budget, no WiFi needed → The Pit Boss 700 delivers close to 750 square inches on a non-PID dial controller. It won't hold temperature as tightly as the newer PID boards, but with a proper preheat and a clean firepot, it's a capable entry point for anyone unwilling to pay for connectivity they won't use.
Perfect for: budget-first buyers, backyard beginners, anyone who wants to learn on a simple dial before upgrading.
Beginner or family of 3–5 who wants the best value on the market right now → The Pit Boss 850 DX is the current default recommendation from both the enthusiast community and independent testers — it pairs the PID controller's tighter temperature hold with a probe-controlled Keep Warm mode the rest of the lineup lacks, at a price point below the Sportsman 850's typical asking price. It's a Lowe's exclusive, not an Amazon listing, so the affiliate link below routes to a tagged search rather than a direct product page.
Perfect for: most first-time buyers, families of 3–5, anyone who wants PID accuracy without paying premium-tier prices.
Want the PID experience but need it purchasable on Amazon → The Navigator 850 (PB850M) is the closest Amazon-native equivalent, combining the largest of the "850" footprints (932 sq in) with WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity on its current revision.
Perfect for: Amazon-only shoppers who still want a connected controller and extra cooking area over the DX.
Big families, regular entertaining, or competition-adjacent volume → The Austin XL 1000 Onyx brings PID control with a P-Setting and two included probes to a 1,000-square-inch footprint. The Navigator 1000 offers even more room at 1,159 square inches, but check its specific controller — base units run the older LCD digital board, not a true PID.
Perfect for: households of 6+, regular cookout hosts, anyone consistently running two proteins at once.
One consistent piece of advice across every profile: don't oversize. Community feedback is unanimous that the 849-square-inch class (820, Sportsman 850, Competition 850) comfortably feeds a family of four, and the 1000-class grills are genuinely built for crowds — not a default upgrade for a household that doesn't need the extra hopper weight and footprint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is the Pit Boss 850 DX actually better than the Sportsman 850?
The two share the same cooking chamber design, but the 850 DX's PID controller adds a probe-controlled Keep Warm mode and typically tighter temperature holds than the base Sportsman board. The real difference is the control board, not the barrel — and the 850 DX is a Lowe's exclusive, while the Sportsman 850 is sold through other retailers, not Amazon.
Q: What's the actual difference between the Pit Boss 700 and 820?
Roughly 100 square inches of cooking area (743–747 vs. 849 sq in) and the same hopper size. Both use a non-PID dial controller by default; only the Sportsman 820 variant adds WiFi. If cooking area is the deciding factor, the 820 is the meaningful upgrade — the controller stays the same on both in their base configurations.
Q: Is the Pit Boss 1000 too big for a family of four?
For most four-person households, yes — the 849-square-inch class handles regular weeknight and weekend cooking comfortably. The 1000-class grills (Austin XL, Navigator 1000) are sized for entertaining, large-batch cooking, or households routinely running multiple proteins simultaneously.
Q: Does the Lexington 500 have WiFi?
It depends on the revision. The current Onyx edition uses an upgraded PID control board; older base Lexington units ran a non-PID time-based controller with no connectivity. Confirm the specific listing's controller generation before assuming WiFi is included.
Q: Why doesn't the model number match the actual cooking area?
Pit Boss model numbers function as a marketing size class rather than a literal square-inch measurement. The "820" measures 849 square inches, the "850 DX" measures 840, the Austin XL "1000" measures roughly 1,007, and the Navigator "1000" measures 1,159. Comparing real square footage across listings — not the number in the product name — is the only reliable way to size a grill correctly.
Q: Is the Pit Boss connected app reliable enough to depend on?
Not as a primary interface. Connectivity complaints — pairing failures, dropped sessions, and server strain during peak usage — are the most consistently reported issue across every WiFi-enabled model in the lineup. The PID controller itself functions independently of the app, so the safer approach on any connected model is to monitor from the grill's physical display and treat app notifications as a convenience layer rather than a dependency.
Conclusion
The Pit Boss lineup rewards buyers who shop by controller generation and real square inches, not by the number stamped on the lid. Once the six-model confusion is untangled — three grills sharing an "850" badge, two different footprints wearing "1000," a Lexington that's smaller than its number suggests — the actual decision comes down to two questions: how much food needs to fit on the grate at once, and how tightly the temperature needs to hold for the kind of cooking planned.
For most households landing on this comparison, the 850 DX's PID board at a value price point makes it the sensible default, with the Lexington 500 covering smaller households and the 1000-class grills reserved for genuine entertaining volume. None of the connected models should be bought for the app — buy for the controller underneath it, and treat WiFi as the bonus it's meant to be.
Before locking in a model, it's worth reading the full Pit Boss pellet grill review for hands-on cooking impressions, checking the pellet grill buying guide if this is a first smoker purchase, and bookmarking the Pit Boss troubleshooting guide for when auger jams or firepot issues show up down the line. Buyers weighing a connected model against the competition may also want the side-by-side in Traeger vs Pit Boss before finalizing a purchase.
