Personally, I'm happy with my old Genesis. I like the idea of the tapered burners but I'm disappointed to read the reviews that comment on the lack of enough heat to do a good sear.
Weber Kettle -- 22.5" (In-Service Date June 2015)
Slow-n-Sear/Drip-n-Griddle/Grill Grates (In-Service Date March 2016)
Pit Boss 820 (Retired)
GMG Jim Bowie WiFi (In-Service Date April 2017)
Maverick ET-733
Fireboard
Home-brewer
I came really close to gettin a Genesis, but the negatives just nagged at me. Max’s review of the Napolean helped greatly & in the end won out. I am pleased as I explore the world of gas.
I guess I'll be the odd man out.... don't like that they are making them in China, but they looked good when I checked them out at the store. I don't own it, but upon inspection it looked better than the old Genesis that I love in my backyard.
I don't know if my Weber Genesis is the old or new design. I purchased it new in 2011. It is terrible! I've replaced the floor twice, due to rust, and it is totally rusted out again. The bottom of the walls and bottom of the legs are also rusted (almost all the way through). So a new floor no longer has anything to attach to. I need to figure out some sort of stand to attach it to. The igniter gave out within the first year. I've kept it covered most of the time. I'm not sure what my next gas grill will be, but it won't be a Weber Genesis.
My previous Weber (I think it was a Genesis...had 3 burners) lasted for 15 years and was uncovered and in the weather the entire time. I used it 5 days a week, on average. The igniter was never replaced and it lasted for 14 years and 10 months without fail. I did replace the flavorizer bars but that was it.
We lived in Hilton Head, SC for the first floor. Then Huntsville Alabama for the second floor and now we are in Fort Worth Texas and there isn’t anything to attach a floor to anymore. I will have to rig something up to keep it together. The grill still works even if the floor and bottom of walls and legs are rusted through.
Hilton Head I can understand with the salt in the air but Huntsville climate isn't much different from here in Atlanta and I've had my Genesis for 3 or 4 years with no problem. Fort Worth is pretty dry, right? Call Weber and complain, something ain't right.
I've been very happy with my nearly 25 year old Weber Summit. I have replaced the burners, regulator, igniter, flavor bars and grates and most recently the casters. But for the age and being uncovered most of it's life I really can't complain. It has outlived other larger grills that I've tried to replace it with over the years. I have no current major complaints about my 6-8 month old Weber Kettle, but I do not see it lasting 5-10 years, let alone 20. It is already showing rust near the welds. With that said, I will never pay what they want for a Chinese made unit.
The Summit sees little use now anyway. The Kettle took over about 95% of the workload from the Summit and now my MAK has taken about 70% of the work from the Kettle.
I am a happy customer of the new Genesis. Got a 3 burner 310 this spring.
First the backstory:
I had a 3 burner Spirit for around 15 years. Biggest complaint I had was the tiny holes in the burner would corrode and every few years I would poke each little hole with something pointy to get an extra year of service out of the burner. I'm guessing I replaced the burner of the Spirit three times in those 15 years. I'm not complaining, easy to do and just regular maintenance to me, it served me well and I loved it. It lived outside, was seldom covered and never let me down.
A few years ago I got enamored with shiny things and bought a Swiss piece of crap BBQ and nothing worked. It has 4 burners and it needed 3 of them on to hold 225 for a low and slow. Its not because it doesn't throw heat, its because it is so vented it doesn't retain any heat (thankfully Weber takes the opposite approach). Within one year the burner elements were corroded and I couldn't get them clean poking them like I had done on my Weber. Long story short, I now use it occasionally as the worlds most expensive sear station since that is the only thing that works on it (ceramic sear station). GRRRRR.
When I decided to replace it instead of fix it, I was going back to Weber. Its the burners of the Genesis that made me move up from the Spirit. The new burners have very large holes like I've never seen before. They are on the top of the straight tapered burner and the holes are really big (I could clean these with a pencil if they ever corroded). And its made of shiny stainless steel. We will have to see long term performance reports, but I'm willing to bet I won't be replacing the burners of my new Genesis as often as I was on my old Spirit. That alone made the value prop work for me.
I agree the biggest weakness for Weber is that they are weak on searing compared to the competition.
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