Infrared grills

[FrankC]

Hey Everyone, I am wondering what else is out there that uses an infrared grilling system? I have been grilling on a saber for about 5 years. I must say I never want to go back to flare ups for my gas grilling. I have to maintain a fire on all of my other grills so it's really nice to have something for quick week night grilling and for hosting that does not require so much attention. It's great to be able to throw marinated chicken on the grill, walk away for 10 minutes and not come back to flames shooting out of the sides of the hood. It also gets very hot otherwise it would not be worth it. However, after 5 years now I am wondering if there is something even better than the Saber that offers a similar infrared cooking experience? It looks like they have updated their products since I purchased mine back in 2016 so i would definitely consider buying another Saber but I have also had some issues with mine so I am wondering if there is a next tier of Infrared grills that maybe be a little bit more expensive, but also longer lasting?

Thanks for your help

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit Frank.

[bbqLuv]

Welcome and hello from NW Oregon

[Chiller Phil]

Welcome Frank,
Please elaborate on your Saber, as I am about to purchase a grill for my outdoor kitchen and have narrowed it down to primarily a Saber.
As to other brands or models, I have no experience, only research.

[Sweaty Paul]

Salutations from Hays, Kansas! I do like my Saber too. That said, should my Saber die I will likely go with a Napolean grill. Two reasons, one we have a dealer in town, however, after eyeballing them they have some really nice features and the quality appears very good too.

[FrankC]

Will look more into them. Thanks!

[Max Good]

The Saber burner system, like the Char-Broil TRU-Infrared design which it is based upon, is very different from most Infrared Grills. There are many choices for infrared grills that use ceramic IR burners, but I don't know of any others that use Char-Broil's design.

[FrankC]

THanks Max Good and Thanks for all of the welcomes
Chiller Phil, I really can't say enough good things about the cooking experience on the sabers. They get seriously hot and they make cooking for guests much more enjoyable because you don't need to constantly keep your eye on the food. Its pretty amazing how it works. I've owned a couple of webers, that I loved, but I cannot go back after using this infrared system. Since I bought mine 5 years ago, it looks like they have upgraded the design and added a few bucks to them. I believe Costco even carries them now. However, I've had a few issues - Lots of corrosion on the burners which Saber replaced at no charge, the igniter button does not work well (their solutions did not help), and markings on the knobs wore off after within the first year (they did not replace). For those reasons I was exploring other options but if I can be convinced Saber's newer products are updated I would love to purchase another in a few years. Even with those issues I highly recommend it.

[jfmorris]

Now, this might not be quite the same thing, but the best thing I ever did for my Weber gas grills was to outfit them with Grillgrate branded replacement grates. With those on the grill, flareups are eliminated, searing temperature increased, and I feel it operates somewhat like an IR grill. I've cooked a LOT of 80/20 burgers and chicken wings (lots of fat there) without ever a flareup once I had Grillgrates on my Weber gas grills. I have them on a Genesis 2 burner, a Genesis II 4 burner, and my dad has them on his Spirit 3 burner grill.

If you cannot find an IR you like to replace your Saber, maybe you should consider another brand or style of grill, and outfit it with Grillgrates.

[FrankC]

Wow, nice idea. Thanks!

[glitchy]

TEC, the pioneers and kings of infrared grills: https://www.tecgrills.com. I also believe they are whom CharBroil has to license from.

[FrankC]

Good to know. Thanks!

[Max Good]

Char-Broil did license the design from TEC. I believe the patent has expired.