Fire Magic or Viking need help on 5K investment

[jersey412]

Hey won some $$$ Looking for the best Gas grill?

USA only

Viking, Fire Magic, Alfresco, Star, Altima etc

Please advise

[Dano]

Dang,

Let me know what you are betting on so I can have your tough choices.... :)

If you are going to spend that kind of money, you must visit a few premium barbecue stores to "feel" the equipment. Lift lids, open doors, take out burners, etc. Ask about warranties, etc. I know Viking has a good reputation, but you pay more for that. Have you thought about a built in grill?

Good luck....

Dan - East San Diego

[Rollo T]

Great position to be in........

Here is my two cents. The Viking grills are SA-WEET!!! I saw one the other day that had the coolest feature: It has an interchangeable smoker box on it that replaces one of the cooking grids. Much better setup (personal preference) than the boxes that sit in the grill all the time. Gives you the double added benefit of using the full cooking grid when needed or using the smoker for rotisserie, etc. I will tell you I have very little experience with the FM grills although I hear they are nice. From all the grills I have been around, it would be hard for me not to buy the Weber Summit Gold D. It has all the features (minus searing zones) you could possibly want, is built in the USA, looks great and has all the bells and whistles. To be honest, the Vieluxe line for Weber to me is not as nice. The Summit Gold D has much more cooking area than their "Cadillac" line of Vieluxe grills. IIf you are looking for the "all-stainless" look, you could buy the Platinum Series that has added SS. I know you are saying money is no option, but if you compare, check out the Summit......also, if you want multiple side burners and searing zones, the Frigidaire line seems to be very nice and they are attractive units as well. Let us know what you decide.

Rollo T. :cool:

[jersey412]

All,

Have been looking and looking. Warranty's both are Tops!!

Build the same with Star having the edge. Beefy stainless nothing thin at all.

60lbs able to be turned on the built in Rotisserie.

Viking was a alittle thin on warranty and build?? I was surprised.

I will keep you all up on my Grill search.

Any other help would really be welcome on any of my finds good or Bad

[MattL]

If you really have to spend $5k on a grill you could check out the Thermadors :-)

http://www.thermador.com/product.cfm?product_id=576

[MattL]

Now this is a grill!

http://www.vintage-grills.com/vintage_refrig.html

Vintage rocks!

[jersey412]

Looks like the SDtar is the lead !!

Has all solid great Warr

Any one have a Star??

[jersey412]

All See Star Grill Link

This is a GRILL!!!!

http://www.star-mfgonline.com/consumer/viewproduct.asp?modelno=9S-SSG48C

[StPeteBBQ]

Nah... but that Vintage above Rocks!

[Deuce]

I'm with StPete, that vintage is awesome!!!

[jersey412]

All,

thanks for the info on Vintage but I am concerned that Vintage looks like a knock off of Alfresco grills?? Only one retail seller?? No one even has them on the East Coast.

No listing about the company? I want a company who has been in business for a while who can back up my now over $6000.00 investment in a grill.

Star has been around for 88 years making top of the line restaurant equipment, including grills.

I looked at them all, Viking Altima, TEC, Lynx, Alfresco, Capital, DCS, Fire Magic and for my investment in a high end grill I think I will be going for the Star if all works out.

Thanks for everyones Help!!

[martin]

That Vintage just *is* an Al Fresco, as far as I can tell by looking at it. Same burners too - they look real prone to burn-through with those jagged edges.

I too am looking for a high-end grill and find the information hard to gather. One thing I know for sure: if I spend that kind of money I don't want to be spending hundreds of bucks on parts in five years. So no grill without a lifetime warrranty on the burners and grates. (thus no Thermador, Wolf, lots of others. The Vintage site says nothing about warranties.)

I think I narrowed my search down to DCS, Viking, and Star. Unfortunately, there are no Star dealers up here in British Columbia, so I am flying blind on that one . Well, I do have web-sight (heh, heh).

So, can you tell me why Star is your top choice in a bit more detail?

Thanks

[sharky]

I have a Dynasty and love it. Dynasty is a brand of Maytag, you can't get any better than that:-) as a matter of fact, they just replaced my burners, for free!

[TimmyB]

First post here, just found the forums yesterday. I am in the design stage for a large outdoor kitchen for the new house I am building in Lutz. Sharky is right about The Outdoor Kitchen Store, great staff.

So I need to pick out a grill head & matching dual side burner. My shortlist includes Lynx(my favorite so far), Star and Dynasty. Any Tampa folks know of where I can see the Lynx grills first hand?

I have had trouble researching Dynasty. I read that their burners are made of cast Dynachrome, what exactly does that mean? At least they have a lifetime burner warranty. Why did you need to have your burners replaced Sharky?

Edit: Short list has changed, now looking very seriously at the Barbeques Galore 38in Grand Turbo. Looks like serious bang for the buck.

[sharky]

HI TimmyB - Welcome to the board!

I assume you have already talked to Bob from the Outdoor Kitchen Store. He can tell you all the ins and outs of the specific grills, and honestly can get you great deals!

Now, the Dynechrome looks to me to be pretty close to cast iron. It's Damn heavy.. but looks good! Mine were replaced because they rusted a bit and a few of the gas holes were clogged causing uneven heat. I dind't properly clean it every 3 months as I should have with as much grilling as I am doing. But Maytag was VERY quick to send me new burners with very few questions asked.

Bob was very helpful to me at the outdoor kitchen store as well. He gave me a pipe brush and a few other things to clean the burners with for free. I recommend them highly!

[martin]

I know there are a lot of Lynx fans out there, but I did not think the grill was as well constructed as the DCS or the Viking (saw the three side by side). Also, personally, I am not fond of ceramic briguettes. They tend to absorb grease and cause flare-ups in my experience. They also need replacing. (The rods on the DCS apparently get so red-hot, flare-ups are not a problem. But you do have to replace them at about $6/piece)

Dynasty recently changed hands - they are now owned by Jade (I'm not sure what Jade's relation to Maytag is). I agree the website is very sketchy , but Sharky's endorsement means a lot.

Since I still have not seen a Star in person, I wonder if anyone can give me some impressions of it.

Thanks

[sharky]

Isn't Jade a division of Maytag?
I was on the phone with them less than a monmth ago and it was still Maytags service:-)

[Phone Guy]

Fire Magic is the best grill you can buy. They are very expensive. They have cast stainless burners which is the best. They last forever. I purchased a Grand Classic from Costco that has cast stainless burners but at a fraction of the cost. With what I saved we are building an outdoor kitchen.

[martin]

I've looked at FireMagic. I know they have a lot of fans. Yes, the cast stainless burners last the best. But, so long as they are guaranteed for life (as in Star, DCS and others but not Thermador and Wolf) by a company that will be around, regular stainless steel is fine. I have not heard of a performance difference. Unfortunately, Costco does not carry the Grand Classic in Canada, so I haven't seen it.

One of the things I want in a grill is a smoker with a small dedicated burner. With smoking, the struggle is to keep the temperature low enough so that smoking can happen before the stuff is overcooked (especially important with fish). The only way you can achieve that (sort of...) if you have to put on a major burner to smoke, is by never soaking the chips and watching the process like a hawk. So the FireMagic is out for me just for that reason.

I must also say that seeing the FireMagic next to the DCS, it seemed pretty clear the latter was better designed and constructed. My local dealer carries both but only sells Firemagic to people who want to replace their old non-stainless grills in existing built-ins.

[Phone Guy]

Check this out!!

http://www.grillsearch.com/html/mostversatilegrill.html

[Phone Guy]

And a quote from the website.

"A leader in the barbecue industry since 1937, Fire Magic offers a wide selection of quality barbecues."

[martin]

Seeing as I am almost certainly going to buy on the web, I have checked out many places. In my mind, unfortunately, grillsearch.com does Firemagic no favours. They are very closely connected with a company in Ohio that runs, oh, I'd say a couple of dozen sites that sell a large variety of grills. Check out "where to purchase" or even "regional links", click on the big-print entries, go to the "contact us" button, and find the same Ohio address over and over again. Until about two months ago, the address was in Mentor, the address of GrillSearch. The selling branch of the company has now moved to a town down the road. So while it's true that Grill Search is not associated with any manufacturer, it is clear they do have an the interest of a large internet retailer in mind.

Their retail websites, unsurprisingly, all say Firmagic is hands down the best grill. The main reason they give are those burn-through resistant cast burners. Fair enough. But other manufacturers have cast stainless burners, and there is no evidence that cast brass is not as good or better.

They support their claim of FireMagic's superiority by claiming that, for example, DCS does not provide a guarantee against burn-through. I could find no such exclusion in the DCS warranty fine print and my local dealer (the biggest in the Northwest) confirmed burnthrough is covered. I wrote to Grillsearch, asking for their evidence and got no reply.

Don't get me wrong, I think FireMagic makes fine grills. It's just that DCS, Viking, Altima, Star, Wolf, Thermador, Capital, Lynx, Kalamazoo, Cabana, Crown Verity, Superb, Solaire, Dynasty, Twin Eagles, SureFire, TEC, Texas Sizzler, Vidalia, Jackson's, Dacor, Vintage, Alfresco, and a few more all make grills to the best of their abilities in the same price range. Grillsearch and its associated selling sites make it sound like the decision as to which grill to buy is a no-brainer. I suspect they get a better profit margin from mr. Peterson than from other manufacturers.

Again, I think this does a fine grill like Firemagic no service. Sorry to go on. Too much research....

And opinions do differ. Check out http://bbq.about.com/od/gasgrillreviews/gr/aapr062804b.htm this website has cloying positive reviews of a bunch of high end grills. But the ONLY negative comment you can find (it's too expensive for what you get) is about the FireMagic Elite. I don't believe that either. The Elite comes with the best side-burner anyone makes which, alone, accounts for $1000 of the cost. So maybe not everyone needs a 60,000 BTU burner to fry an elephant or cook in a 22" wok, but those who do will happily pay for it.

[TimmyB]

I still have two months before I make my purchase, but keep doing research online and visiting and talking with every specialty grill store in Orlando and Tampa.

For the size of grill I am looking for, Fire Magic keeps coming out on top. Burner design is one reason, but there are others. I am most strongly considering a 30" grill, but may end up getting a 36" grill. For 30" grills Fire Magic's IR burner takes up 1/3 of the grilling space, IR on the rest of the grills takes up 1/2 of the grilling space. You can easily swap out a Fire Magic IR burner for a regular burner, no other grill maker that I have looked at has easily swappable burners. Fire Magic has one of the largest rotisserie spaces, rotisserie is a huge factor to me.

Fire Magic offers two different depths of grills, 18" and 22". The 22" depth 30" wide grill (like the Regal II) provide as much cooking space as 36" wide models from most other grill companies. I could fit a 42" or even 50" grill in my island. I would rather just stick to a 30" or 36", especially if I can get more cooking area out of the same width grill.

Fire Magic has been in the business for a very very long time. I want to get 10 or more years out of the grill I am about to buy. Alot of the companies haven't even been making grills for that long. Length of time in the business gives me a little bit of peace of mind that the company will be there in a few years if I need parts.

Some grill companies have had a hard time maintaining solid relationships with the local grill stores. Lynx for example, is down to only one distributor in the state of Florida. Of course there is no guarentee, but Fire Magic has had a good track record of maintaing solid relationships with the local guys. Would be nice if I can walk into the local store in ten years and grab an ignitor real quick. When I ask the local guys what grill they have at home, most of them have Fire Magic. Maybe they got it for free, maybe being in the business they know more then I do. Dunno.

I am 99% positive that I will be putting in a 60,000 btu side burner, and Fire Magic is the only company I have found that offers such a beast. Matching grill to burner weighs in slightly, so that gives a couple of bonus points to Fire Magic. Aesthetics weighs in heavily for the wife, and her support of a major purchase like this.

I am not writing this to try and convince any of you why you should buy Fire Magic. Everyone has different needs and priorities. I am mostly writing this for myself as I go through the decision process.

Cheers.

[martin]

Excellent note. Thanks for all that info. I was kidding about the frying an elephant. If I can afford it, I want to get the 60,000 burner myself - whatever grill I choose. Although others make 22" deep grills, the point about how much of the area the infra-red takes is a really good one. I think the Viking might be quick-swapable too. But because their grills have so much metal around them, you have to go for a 42" to match a FireMagic, DCS or Star 36" in area. I understand DCS doesn't make an IR burner because those ceramic rods they use pump out as much radiant heat over the whole surface. Still, non-warrantied replaceable rods at $6/ piece....

By the way, I would have thought most any good grill should last 10 years. I have an 11 year old Broil King at the moment. It is on its 3rd set of burners (but they only cost $60) and 2nd grates (I never want cast iron porcelain-coated grates again) and flametamers have replaced the ceramic briquettes (huge improvement). The ignitor stopped working after 2 years. But still, it gets used year-around 2-3 times a week and it is very damp up here in B.C.

Do you have any impressions of the Star grills? I still haven't been able to see one.

[TimmyB]

I haven't had an opportunity to see a Star first hand yet, will probably be a few weeks before I do.

Took the wife to The Ultimate Cooker in Orlando today. He actually had a guy calling this week about getting a replacement part for a 24 year old Fire Magic grill. Just an interesting note that most of the grill companies out there haven't even been making grills that long.

Wife wants to get the 36" Monarch rather then the 30" Regal II "since it is only $500 more". Grill guy was amused that the wife was pushing for the more expensive grill, guess he doesn't get to see that every day. Lucky man am I. :D

Think we are going to skip the IR burner. With the BTU to square inch ratio of the Fire Magics, the grill guy thinks it wouldn't be needed in order to get a good sear. Took another good look at the rotisserie. Full length rotisserie, deeper offset and taller grill hood were all good selling points for the Fire Magic rotisserie.

[jersey412]

;) Hi Guys

Sorry haven't been following the forum since I bought my Star

Great Grill, compared to the lynx it is so much more of a grill. Even my best friend down the block was surprised ( he has owned a Lyxn for 4 years) replaced igniter many times check with Dealer. Everything about it is quality it weighs like 700 pounds with the Dlx. cart awesome Grill have any question let me know and I will provide email

Good Luck

Martin and Tim!!!

[snapshotmd]

Sorry haven't been following the forum since I bought my Star

Oh geez! You guys are such snobs!!! ...Too good to hang out with us, eh??? ;)

snaps

[Deuce]

This is an excellent thread, very nice job on the research guys!

[Phone Guy]

The Fire Magic also allows you to use charcoal if you wanted to.
I know people are all a little diffrent from each other and their tastes and opinoin's vary. But comparing a Fire Magic with some of those other grills is like saying a Mercedes is no better than a Honda. Sure Honda makes some nice quality cars but not the same quality as Mercedes. I am not trying to convince anyone to buy a FM grill, I don't even own one but I would if I had the means and hadn't found a pretty good grill for a lot less.

[jersey412]

Hey,


Please remeber like Lance say's "it not about the Bike". I am sure many people do not need to spend 5K on a grill but if you do you want the best value in 5K.

I still stand by the STAR Grill.

Fire magic has smaller IR grill on bottom, those cast burners need attention.


Al Fresco, another great grill

But youy need yor dealer to stand behind whatever you buy, that would sway me in either direction

Good L:uck :cool: