Sam’s Club "Performer" - Blech!

[BBQandLove]

I have been seeing people favorably compare this Sam’s Club grill to the Weber Performer.  After having gotten my hands on one in a store, I can say with assurance, this does NOT favorably compare to a Weber Performer.

Let’s start with the vent on the top. Those holes are too small for good airflow.

Next, the grate sucks, but some people may like it, so I’m gonna mark that as personal opinion. 

Now look at the baskets inside. You can’t put them up against the side which means you only have about a 4” space in between them.  how are you supposed to do indirect grilling with a foreign space in between the charcoal baskets?

The basket is incredibly hard to put back. I finally gave up. You basically have to get down on your hands and knees to figure out where the tab in the back fits into the slot before you can put it in place.

To adjust the vent on the bottom, you have to reach up underneath, probably touching the hot bowl in the process, and feel around until you find it. Or you could get down on your knees and see it.

I could nitpick a lot of other things, but this was what I picked up in the first two minutes.

Who designed this travesty? It wasn’t a competent griller, that much is obvious. 



[RonB]

Thanks for the info. I wasn't interested before reading your report, and I'm even less interested now.

[Livermoron]

Yep. Same here.

[smokin fool]

Great info that will hopefully stop someone from making this mistake.
My son had a bad experience with Cuisinarts Smokey Joe clone, made it one cook and it’s so badly wrapped you can’t close the lid.
Luckily they kept the receipt and its going back

[mcook2201]

Thank you for writing this review up.

[jfmorris]

I had posted earlier this year about this grill, but had not looked as deeply at it as you. Glad to hear this info, and I’ll be sure I steer folks away from it. That top vent is the worst issue I think.

[Northern lights smoke]

Sad news is they probably sold a ton of them already to unsuspecting customers thinking they saved a lot of money!

[Jfrosty27]

Another reason to be a member of The Pit. Information!!

[bmillin]

I agree 100% with 22Rifle, saw one the other day and thought they missed the mark by a mile. It had some nice features, like a hinged lid, but none of them were well done.

[Mosca]

With a hinged lid you can’t turn it to place the thermometer where you need it, though. So, one advantage and one disadvantage.