Help Choosing a Grill, returned a weber, considering Napoleon

[hiddenforce]

I've been a stick burner for some years on a homebuilt unit, and have mastered ribs, brisket, and what not. Now I'm looking to make great steaks.

I bought Weber Genesis 2 (e-410 4 burner unit) I figured out quickly that I could not sear a steak on it properly as it did not have a sear burner to begin with.

I've been considering Napoleon models in the 1000-2000 range.

Personal priorities of the grill: Steak, functionality, durability, easy to clean.

I am open to hear thoughts of gas grills.

Does anyone have experience with Napoleon and how easy they are to clean. I'm unsure how the infrared sizzle burner works and therefore how it is cleaned.

Are Hot spots really an issue with these?

Is there a different grill someone would recommend?

[bardsleyque]

Weber kettle?

[EdF]

FireMan your pulpit!

[hiddenforce]

Weber kettle?

Haha, I do indeed already own one, along with over 20 bags of kingsford charcoal. I'm chasing after that quick edge to edge sear restaurant quality. I think with a little more practice I could do it with the kettle, but I'm not thinking I could when I have a handful of steaks. Maybe this is where I should purchase 2 more kettles?

[texastweeter]

The Napolian is on my list to replace my current gasser with, I have a char broil professional. It has a cast Iron sear plate/griddle on the right side, and it will get screaming hot. never had a problem with searing off a steak on it.

[BooBoo28]

I have a Weber Genesis Platinum for 16 years now and it is great but I just got a Big Green Egg and once you cook a NY strip at 600 degrees you will never look back.

[mjsmilloy]

I’m just starting out on my egg and having trouble with searing steaks—what’s your approach?

[Cheef]

I've been an EggHead for 20+ years. If all it did was a high temp steak I would still rank it at the top of my my list. Incredible steaks come off the Egg.

[BooBoo28]

mjsmilloy, get a cast iron cooking grid and take a look at the NY Strip Steak video on biggreenegg.com. That technique has worked for me.

[FireMan]

Well I don’t know about pulpit, but I got my Napolean about late July last year. I was all over the place as far as considering what I was going to get for what I needed due to a family situation. After about 2 mos I narrowed it down to a gasser. At that point I had 3 in mind, the Weber, the Napolean & no joke, I can’t remember the third. Early on in my research I discarded the Weber due to quality complaints of the new models. I will stress new, because everything about the older models was outstanding that I heard. NOT so much with the new models.
I have a tendency to over analyze things the nth degree. What swayed me was the glowing ratings of "gold" standard repeated yrs & Max Good’s review​​​​​​. You are the second person to talk about "hot" spots. It is foreign to me. I don’t know what they speak of. The ease of cleaning I just experienced. The stainless steal is marvelous. I went ahead due to Jon Solberg, and got the rotisserie. He had a post that sold me on the idea & I have not looked back, just a great accessory. Wouldn’t cook chickies any other way.
Now for that side IR side burner. Whew! I use it with every thing, meat that is. I questioned the value of it in th beginning. I wouldn’t have a gasser without it period. Cleaning? No problem. One small draw back is the cast iron grates. I might look into getting some SS grates for it. As it is, I just brush it.
i just got payed a great compliment from my wife, who was in a bit of shock when I got this, that she recognized it as a quality piece of equipment.
I know I didn’t give you much detail, but I drove myself nuts with research & didn’t want to bore you with what I remember & that’s only half of it. It’s a great company & a great product. You won’t be disappointed. Hope this is some help.

[Jerod Broussard]

time for an offering

[Troutman]

Can I get an amen???

[bardsleyque]

amen

[Sweaty Paul]

I bought a Saber and have been really pleased with it, although, I’ve heard really good things about the Napoleons. If you haven’t committed to anything yet I would also look at the Saber.

[hiddenforce]

Thanks, I will take a look, any comments on the quality? Rust? Easy to clean?(easy for a grill that is)

[Sweaty Paul]

Excellent quality. Heats very fast. No rust (I bought a demo) and the grill lives on the deck with a cover (although, the grill is not otherwise protected). Very easy to clean no flare ups, has lights in the grill to see the food cooking.

[Huskee]

Broil King reportedly are great for searing too.

[hiddenforce]

Huskee I went thought all the broil king entries I could find, and the only mention of build quality I could find comparing to another grill was on one of their lower end models, and he mentions the Weber spirit 2 is built better.


None the less I am headed to my closes major city, and plan to stop by lowes to see if they have some more floor models.

Thanks for taking the time!

[Huskee]

hiddenforce I think it's in the comment section on one of those pages, I think it's on the Napoleon page in the comments. It was a week or two ago Max made the comment. No big deal, just wanted to share.

[Thunder77]

I have cooked on several Broil King grills. The Barons I have cooked on were in no way, shape, or form flimsy. They are pretty solid grills.

[hiddenforce]

Well I don’t know about pulpit, but I got my Napolean about late July last year. I was all over the place as far as considering what I was going to get for what I needed due to a family situation. After about 2 mos I narrowed it down to a gasser. At that point I had 3 in mind, the Weber, the Napolean & no joke, I can’t remember the third. Early on in my research I discarded the Weber due to quality complaints of the new models. I will stress new, because everything about the older models was outstanding that I heard. NOT so much with the new models.
I have a tendency to over analyze things the nth degree. What swayed me was the glowing ratings of "gold" standard repeated yrs & Max Good’s review​​​​​​. You are the second person to talk about "hot" spots. It is foreign to me. I don’t know what they speak of. The ease of cleaning I just experienced. The stainless steal is marvelous. I went ahead due to Jon Solberg, and got the rotisserie. He had a post that sold me on the idea & I have not looked back, just a great accessory. Wouldn’t cook chickies any other way.
Now for that side IR side burner. Whew! I use it with every thing, meat that is. I questioned the value of it in th beginning. I wouldn’t have a gasser without it period. Cleaning? No problem. One small draw back is the cast iron grates. I might look into getting some SS grates for it. As it is, I just brush it.
i just got payed a great compliment from my wife, who was in a bit of shock when I got this, that she recognized it as a quality piece of equipment.
I know I didn’t give you much detail, but I drove myself nuts with research & didn’t want to bore you with what I remember & that’s only half of it. It’s a great company & a great product. You won’t be disappointed. Hope this is some help.

Thank you for taking the time to comment.

The Models I'm looking at are stainless main grates, then cast on the side grate which I would replace with stainless. Their $1400 model comes with rotisserie and the burners are 304 grade stainless, where the $1150 lex does not mention 304 stainless on the burners..

It is difficult to find reviews where people have owned it for 1-5+ years.

Any issues with rust? How bad was the IR side burner to clean?

[FireMan]

I’ve got the SS burners. Side burner? Quick clean every time, no problem. Again the roto & side burner are worth every penny.

[Davek8282]

I had a low end Napoleon unit (made in China), it came with rotisserie and the IR side burner. After about 7 years I replaced it and gave it to my daughter who is still using it, not sure of its age but over 10 years and still going strong. Keep in mind this is one of their lower cost units and it has stood the test of time. The grates on this model were all cast so there is some rusting if you don't maintain but looks like your looking at the higher end stainless grates so shouldn't be an issue. I would have kept it but the fact I was moving made it easy to let my mcs take hold and replace when I got to the new place.

[hiddenforce]

I had a low end Napoleon unit (made in China), it came with rotisserie and the IR side burner. After about 7 years I replaced it and gave it to my daughter who is still using it, not sure of its age but over 10 years and still going strong. Keep in mind this is one of their lower cost units and it has stood the test of time. The grates on this model were all cast so there is some rusting if you don't maintain but looks like your looking at the higher end stainless grates so shouldn't be an issue. I would have kept it but the fact I was moving made it easy to let my mcs take hold and replace when I got to the new place.

Thank you for commenting, this is a great help. I do plan to do maintenance and cleaning. Rust on cast iron has not been a concern since everyone know you can always grind it off.

Rust on the body was more of a concern since it seems that they are not all 100% stainless or aluminum.

But since I am planning to take care of it, it may not be as big of an issue. But it is hard to care about something that is falling apart.

[Troutman]

After having had both, you do not want to have to maintain CI grates, pay the extra amount for stainless. Remember it’s where the rubber meets the road, it’s where the food actually contacts your cooker.

[EdF]

I agree with Troutman on the CI vs SS grates.

[Thunder77]

I'm throwing my two cents in for the Broil King Baron. I love that grill. You will DEFINITELY be able to sear a steak on the Broil King. It's functional for sure, and not difficult to clean.

[vandy]

Well I am going to throw my 2 cents into the ring. I just tried this yesterday with a combination of Weber kettle outfitted with an SNS along with the Drip and Griddle. First I started out with the kettle set up at around 250 degrees on the cool side of the grill and threw a couple NY strip steaks on it and let the temp of the steaks get up to around 110 on that. I then took the steaks off and took them inside to dry them off then seasoned them with some steak rub then I took them back outside to my Blackstone that was screaming hot by that time and I did a sear on both of those steaks. This is the first time I have tried this and I let one of them get a little too done with the temp around 140 instead of 130 like I would prefer so I need some more practice with this technique to get it down better, I need to remember to move the steaks around while they are searing to get the char more all over the outside of the meat. Even though it was too done for me it was still a pretty good steak that had the charcoal taste it just needed a better overall sear. I think I can get the sear I want doing it this way with a little more practice. I have tried to upload some photos of the steaks but can't get it to work, keeps telling me there is an error for some reason.

[hiddenforce]

So I stopped by Lowe's and it got more complicated.

I still think the broil Kings metal is a little thin.

But I found a weber summit e 470 last year's model on sale for 1,000. Currently going to another place to look at the blaze brand grills, but I'm thinking I will go back and get that summit if it still has the weber warranty.

[Troutman]

You saw a Weber Summit E-470 for $1,000 and didn't buy it ??? Are you kidding me, that's a $1700-1800 unit !!! I've had the S-470 for about 6 years now. The sear zone gets up to about 800*, if you want to sear a steak that baby can burn it to a crisp. Run, don't walk, back to where you saw that and buy it.