Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with XO grills?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
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No XO, butWelcome to the Pit from Dallas -
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They sure look nice. Kind of reminds of the luxury brands like Heston, Lynx, Blaze, etc. I wish I could offer you some experience on them but I'm afraid it's outta my range.Comment
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The Shadow knows................................
couldn't resist!Comment
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Sorry. Way out of my price range. 🤷♂️🤣Comment
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No experience here. Welcome from Virginia!Comment
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Welcome to the Pit from the Florida Suncoast. XO is way out of my price range too. Sorry I can’t be more help.Comment
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hello from NW Oregon, the birthplace of the pellet grill.Comment
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I can't give you personal feedback on the XO, but a very similar product material, feature, and appearance is made by Summerset. I have their TRL44 in use for about 6 years now and it continues to perform very well. It is well built and made entirely of 304 stainless and cast stainless for the burners. If you're buying for the long haul, grills in this category will deliver on a value equation. The last one I had (different brand but same class), bought in 1992, served me for near 25 years and is still going strong for the friend I gifted it to.Comment
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No gas here, but welcome to The Pit.
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My neighbor has one I will ask.Comment
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Finally caught up with my neighbor. They love it. They have the power burner and a grill.Comment
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Jury is out but I’m not happy so far
I have a service call next week so we’ll see how things go but at the moment I’m regretting my decision to go with the XO.
Overall, it’s marketed as a competitor to the top grills (Lynx, Firemagic, Heston etc.) at about 40% less. I might argue that it’s better compared to the lower level lines of those companies (Sedona, AOG, Aspire) with the exception of the burners that are more consistent with the top end grills. That’s not horrible — it’s priced in line with those other grills and has better burners but, maybe isn’t quite the great deal as advertised. It does seem to be a well made, attractive and very large grill.
There are two things that I’m not sure I like but are probably features of all similar grills and so aren’t criticisms of XO but more faulty decision making on my part.
The grill is deeper than many and I’ve always viewed that as a positive, more effective cooking room in a certain amount of width. Then I realized how hot it is reaching across to get to that extra depth.
The other is that the ceramic briquettes hold heat very well but take longer to heat up. For a big cook that’s good, for a quick grill of a couple hot dogs, not so much. I’m finding it’s really important to follow the directions with a 10 minute preheat before cooking.
There are problems specific to this grill though that I’m having as well and it’s been really frustrating. Even when I take the time to fully preheat the grill it’s not heating evenly or consistently. There are ways to work around uneven heat but this is not predictable or consistent. Sometimes one area will run hot, the next day it’s somewhere else. Additionally there are hotspots periodically where it seems like hot gas is pushing through gaps between the briquettes and burning small areas on the food. I’m a fairly experienced outdoor cook and I’ve never had a grill that I’ve struggled this much with.
I was also having problems getting the conventional burners to fully light but adjusting the air seems to have helped with that. I was often getting a rushing noise when lighting them prior to the adjustment which required turning them off and trying again a few times to get it to go away. That doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore — however, now neither of the infrared burners will light.
Hopefully there is something wrong with the regulator or there is an adjustment they can make that solves the ignition and uneven heating problems. There is no resale value on gas grills and the thing is heavy enough that it’s not going to be easy to get rid of even if I want to. But at the moment, I’m regretting the decision to take a chance on XO vs either sucking it up and spending a lot more for a Lynx trident setup or saving some money, giving up on buying an American made grill and going with one of the Napoleon Prestige models.
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Good commentary about the ceramic briquettes, they are intended for heat retention/distribution and not quick cooks. My solution is the use of a sear burner. Either as a replacement for one of the under hood burners or as a side add on they are very handy. As to your example, that's my go to for a quick hotdog lunch (gotta pay close attention for bun toasting
). I also use it to heat a 10" cast iron griddle for times when that's an appropriate tool.........very quick results.
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Thanks for the reply. I have the gloves for when I’m using charcoal or cleaning the griddle. Just haven’t needed them historically for the gasser and it’s a little less convenient. Honestly, using my actual BBQ tongs (which were in a drawer for the past 10 years) solves most of the problem. And when I don’t actually need the depth I don’t have to use it so not a huge issue but thought I’d mention it as I hadn’t thought about it prior to buying.
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I’ll add an update to my earlier response in case it’s helpful for someone in the future. The issue I had with lighting the burners turned out to be user error. I’d never used a grill with flamethrower ignition and wasn’t doing it correctly. Interestingly, I’ve since replaced my blackstone griddle with a Weber and it also has that ignition type and the tube vs H style burners light much more quickly. If the XO lit as fast even my wrong technique would have been okay.
The issue with random hotspots has continued and periodically makes me want to toss it off the deck. The infrared burner is also hotter on the right half of it than the left — especially when on low power. That’s surprisingly annoying as it’s what I want to use when I’m just grilling a few dogs and don’t want to wait 20 minutes for the grill to heat up. Even on low the right side is quite hot and burns the dogs very quickly — while the left side is just being warmed. Given that the burner isn’t that wide it’s highly limiting to try to work on 50% of it.
Also the grates (which were replaced once early on) are again rusting. It’s not horrible but it’s worse than I’ve seen on any other grill with any type of stainless grates on other grills. (Not all of which were 304 as these claim to be). One of the interior lights has started to fail. It will be off when I light the grill and then (most of the time) turns on to a varying brightness level once the grill is hot.
Finally, it often seems to struggle to get hot in the winter. I’ve used multiple tanks on it (and no other cooker seems to have the issue with them) so I’m wondering if there is something in the regulator that’s more sensitive to temperature and is limiting the flow.
Long story short, (Well, maybe not that short) I’m not happy with it and wouldn’t recommend it. I’m sure I can probably get the grates replaced again if I want and the light is something that happens and probably could be fixed. The hotspot issue though seems fundamental to the design and that’s by far the most annoying piece.Comment
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