also shopping

[bw22]

I am looking to replace a pretty faithful Coleman (sunbeam, charbroil, all the same company, I believe) with something in the $500 range. I really want a smoker tray for wood chips; most of my cooking seems to be indirect and slow these days, even tri tip.
I have looked at the $400 Costco (Front Avenue?), which has a smoker tray, but the grilling surface is too small.
Any ideas? Thanks.

[sharky]

Hi bw22 - Welcome to the board!

I would first look into a Weber. They seem to be the most well respected mid-priced grill around. Next, I wouldn't a decision based only on the smoker box. I have a smoker box on my Dynasty (http://www.sharky.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2953#post2953) and to be quite honest I don't use it that much. I'd rather foil my chips and put the foil pouch under the grate. It produces a much more consistant smoke.

There are some reviews in this forum for Jenn-air products as well. I would give that a search. I believe Lowes has good prices, and service, on them!

Good luck and let us know what you come up with!

[StPeteBBQ]

I'm a huge Weber fan, however last time I was at Home Depot they had some grills by Vermont Castings that really impressed me. The looked every bit as good as the Weber, and were around $100 less when comparing model to model.

A plus for the VC grills was that they had the burners arranged side to side rather than back to front. I like that much better, especially for indirect cooking.

[bw22]

Thanks for the welcome and the replies. I have been told that none of the $500ish stainless grills are worth buying because it's impossible to produce a quality SS grill for that price without scrimping on other components. Maybe that came from a Weber shill, I don't know.
Opinions? I also wonder what you guys think of the charbroil professional with the brass burners and/or the jenn air (I know, it was made by VC or some firm in china) at Lowe's?
You think they fall into the same shiny/shortcut category?

[Rollo T]

I gotta tell you, today I saw the Charbroil with the cast brass burners and for the price, it looks to be a hell of a unit.....the only question I had was why no flame tamers. I have sent an email to Grand Hall to get an answer. The Jenn-Air looks real nice....I would take it over the VC all day long. At Lowes in Pitt, they have an '04 model for $877.00 in the box and they have 6 of them. The one thing that bothers me about it is the smoker box. It does not have its own burner and is centered in the grill. So correct me if I am wrong, but if you have to have the center burner on and you are trying to cook indirectly or with the rotisserie and smoke at the same time, you would have to have the burner directly under the meat on. Did I miss something here?

[fatboy]

BW22,
Try your local Wal-Mart! Before you cringe at the thought of buying a decent grill from "Wal-Mart" check it out. I bought a Brinkmann SS Pro-Series 2500, with a side burner, smoking tray for $299. After comparing the quality to much higher line grills, it was an easy choice. The bang for the buck is unbelievable, it is by far the best grill I've ever owned. But beware, Brinkmann makes a larger SS grill that looks just like the 2500, but the quality is not there! I don't know why it is different, but it is. Just check it out, you have nothing to lose!

[snapshotmd]

Upon seeing the last post by fatboy, I had to go see the grills at Walmart. He's right! There are several grills there that I wouldn't mind getting and the price for the quality and what your getting is outstanding. I haven't bought mine yet, but I have my eye on a Uniflame 50k BTU SS grill that's running about $375. From what I can tell the quality is there, but Uniflame will only back it with a 1-year warranty. It seems that Uniflame is also affiliated with Blue Rhino propane. I dunno, but this Uniflame seems like everything I'd want in a grill.

Ken

[StPeteBBQ]

I'd run like a scalded cat from any grill with a 1 year warranty... JMHO, ymmv.

[snapshotmd]

Upon further review, Uniflame parts seem pretty scarce. I probably won't be purchasing this grill.