Pit Boss 500FB2 review
Worth it for daylight cooks: the 700FB2's controller and searing lever for less money. The 5 pound hopper suits grilling far better than overnight smoking.
Verdict7.5 out of 10
Pros
- Same digital control board with 5°F increments and the same 180 to 500°F range as the 700FB2
- Flame Broiler lever for direct flame searing, identical to the bigger grill
- Same 5-year warranty as the 700FB2
Cons
- The 5 pound hopper needs watching and rules out unattended overnight cooks
- Pit Boss publishes no assembled dimensions and no weight
- The 518 square inch figure covers both rack tiers, so it does not line up with primary-grate numbers
Who this is for
- You grill more than you smoke and want smoke flavor without tending a fire
- Your longest cook starts and finishes in daylight
- You are short of patio and do not want to pay for capacity you will not use
Who should skip it
- You want to put a brisket on at night and see it in the morning. That cook belongs to the 700FB2 and its 21 pound hopper.
- You expect a pellet grill to sear unattended, the way a gas sear burner does. The Flame Broiler lever is direct flame under your food and it wants watching.
| Primary cooking areaSee footnote 1 | 518 sq in |
|---|---|
| Temperature range | 180 to 500 °F |
| Hopper capacity | 5 lb |
| Grate material | Porcelain-coated steel, 2 tiers |
| Controller | Digital control board, 5°F increments |
| Direct flame searing | Flame Broiler lever for direct flame searing |
| Warranty | 5-year warranty |
| Color | Matte Black |
- Pit Boss publishes one cooking-space figure covering both tiers of racks. It does not break out a primary grate.
Specifications from the manufacturer and named third parties. Last read 2026-07-25.
Buy the 500FB2 if your cooks start and end in daylight. Pit Boss lists the same controller, the same temperature range and the same searing lever as on the bigger 700FB2, and what you give up is capacity, in the hopper far more than on the grate.
That makes this a short decision. The rest of this page is the hopper question, the cooking area caveat, and the specs Pit Boss does not publish.
What carries over from the 700FB2
Pit Boss publishes the same specs for both FB2 grills everywhere but size. A digital control board with 5°F increments. A published range of 180 to 500°F. The Flame Broiler lever for direct flame searing. Two tiers of porcelain-coated steel racks. The same 5-year warranty.
On paper, none of that changes when you step down to the 500. Whether the internal parts match too is not something Pit Boss publishes, and this coverage is built from the published sheets alone. What those sheets say is that the controls, the searing mechanism and the warranty read identically, which is not something you can assume when shopping pellet grills and smokers down a size class.
The 5 pound hopper, which is the whole decision
The hopper holds 5 pounds of pellets. The 700FB2 holds 21.
Burn rate moves with the set point, the weather and the pellets, and Pit Boss publishes no consumption figure, so an hours claim here would be a guess and I am not making one. What the capacity settles without any arithmetic is the overnight cook. A brisket that goes on before bed expects the grill to feed itself until morning. That job is more than a 5 pound hopper is sized for, and getting up in the night to pour pellets cancels the reason you bought a pellet grill in the first place.
For a cook that starts and finishes in daylight, the hopper is a thing you fill at the start and glance at, not a thing you plan around. That is the grill this is. Five pounds is enough to fill once and forget until dinner. It is not enough to sleep on.
How much cooking space 518 square inches is
Pit Boss lists 518 square inches. Read the basis before you compare it to anything: Pit Boss publishes one cooking-space figure covering both tiers of racks, and does not break out a primary grate. Part of the 518 is the upper rack, which holds buns and finished sausages while the steak stays below. A manufacturer quoting a primary grate alone is publishing a different kind of number, so lining the 518 up against one of those flatters this grill.
Against its own sibling the comparison is fair, because the 700FB2's 747 square inches is counted the same way. The gap is real. It is also the less important of the two gaps.
Searing with the Flame Broiler lever
The controlled ceiling is 500°F. Past that, the Flame Broiler lever opens the grill to direct flame for searing, and Pit Boss lists the same feature on the 700FB2.
Direct flame under dripping meat means flare-ups are part of the deal. This is a tongs-in-hand operation, not a set-and-walk-away one. If your picture of searing is a gas grill's dedicated burner doing the work while you make a salad, neither FB2 is that.
No weight, no dimensions
Pit Boss's page for SKU 11086 lists no assembled dimensions, no weight and no pellet consumption rate, so none of those appear here. The retailer listing offers measurements, but they describe the shipping carton, and a box number presented as a grill number is worse than a blank cell. If the grill has to clear a gate, or one person has to move it, measure a floor unit before you order.
When the 700FB2 is the right answer
You want to smoke overnight. That is the whole condition. The 700FB2 costs more and takes more patio, and its 21 pound hopper is what lets you set a temperature at night and see it again at breakfast. The full working-through is in Pit Boss 700FB2 vs 500FB2.
If that overnight cook is not on your calendar and never will be, stop researching. The 500FB2 is the same grill with less of it, and less is what you were shopping for.