Sneak Peek: NEW Review - SPARK Grill, by Max Good

[Huskee]

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Spark Grill, by Max Good

https://amazingribs.com/ratings-reviews/grills/spark-grill

Everyone is talking about the sexy new Spark Grill. It catches your eye and draws you in, then throws roadblocks in the way. We wonder if Spark's uncommon effort to improve on the simple, tried and true, beloved charcoal grill will come to fruition. Read our review to learn why we don't currently recommend it.




Video:

[Troutman]

First thing I thought of was a rip off of the original PK Grill. Looks cheap and flimsy....passs.

[Huskee]

It's way different, not an add-your-own-charcoal-like-the-others device. Proprietary all-in-one. Nice idea but the execution needs work.

[Jfrosty27]

Nope. Never.

[RonB]

Thanks for the review.

[Rod]

Dang! $900 for that!?

[Old Glory]

I would not want to be tied into buying proprietary charcoal.

[scottranda]

My first thought was they’re going to make a small fortune... by starting with a large fortune.

[scottranda]

I find this astounding also...

https://angel.co/company/sparkgrills

🥴

[BBQPhil]

Absolutely astounding. Looks like a venture funded operation. Could have saved a lot of money by doing some market research from some of us or chatting with Max.

[scottranda]

BBQPhil he added more jobs!!!!

[Huskee]

I suppose when Traegers first came out in the late 80s folks thought along the lines of 'why would I use little wood pellets when I can use tried & true charcoal or real wood, or better yet my shiny new gas grill?'...so given enough time and availability of the charcoal loafs, maybe such an idea as this will be an accepted thing one day. I can't see myself committing to it, no way. I bet there will be plenty of folks who are eating it up though. Bradley Smokers and their biscuits come to mind. What happens when the suppliers of the proprietary fuel systems aren't there any more....

[Razor]

Well, to be honest I still ask myself "why would I use little wood pellets when I can use tried & true charcoal and real wood". 😂

[Huskee]

Razor I hear you! That was me for many years. For me, with a pellet cooker, some things taste better with more delicate smoke, like nachos, lasagna, salmon, veggies, etc. Plus they're super convenient.

[Razor]

Troutman a friend of mine has a Bradley smoker and that was my first experience with a home smoker. I was blown away with how good everything tasted and immediately started shopping for one. Thankfully we were still in our condo and I couldn’t pull the trigger. Once I started thinking about it I started wondering about the biscuits and where to buy them. Pellets were the next lust for reasons that you mentioned, but after spending time here I finally bought a WSM.

[Attjack]

Max Good If you guys get to keep it after the review you should see what happens when you load it up with Kingsford Blue Bag charcoal.

[STEbbq]

I feel like there’s a good market for AR reviewers to just go wild with non-approved experiments at times.

[Max Good]

One of my criticisms of Spark is the lack of instruction, especially since it is so unusual. That applies to use of fuels other than their proprietary Briqs. It's not enough for them to state it's OK to use briquetes in a pinch, but it won't work that great. We don't do R&D. That's the manufacturers responsibility. I agreed to keep Spark and revisit it if and when they resolve their issues with the Briqs and provide adequate instruction.

[Panhead John]

It seems like they just created this with the idea of "Let’s make something different to stand out from the crowd" , no matter if it was anything really needed or wanted by the consumer. No way would I buy something that has their own proprietary charcoal or fuel source. If I can’t get it easily at a lot of places, forget about it. Looks too small also for an only grill and limits how you can use it, as pointed out.

It does look kinda cheap and flimsy as well. They also wasted the bottom frame area by not adding some type of shelf or rack system for storage or to place things. And $900.! No way.

[Attjack]

I agree but I'll bet some people would cook on charcoal if it was very easy to dial in the temperature. This is obviously aimed at those people.

[BBQPhil]

I bet they got funding based on selling the proprietary fuel.

[GolfGeezer]

Hey, maybe we can get glitchy to buy it and review it, give Max some help.

[glitchy]

Hey, don't be getting me in trouble. It looks like Max has it totally covered already. Besides, I don't need another 'revolutionary' design type of grill for a while. I'm still recovering from the SmokeFire and the Big Horn Otto Wilde knock-off.

[STEbbq]

A solution to a problem that does not exist...

[Andrrr]

The real problem here is they haven’t yet discovered the right problem to sell the solution 👌

[STEbbq]

Spoken like a future marketing exec.

[Andrrr]

STEbbq that's how you make the big bucks

[MTurney]

Is that sexy? Man I don’t know what sexy is anymore 🤦🏻‍♂️

[STEbbq]

Here is what we hired Panhead John to do.

PJ, your audience wants to know what sexy is.

[Panhead John]

Well, if we’re talking cooker sexy.....LSG baby! If you’re talking sexy in a man, well I’ve got that covered. I had this homeless chick wink at me the other day, after I gave her a $1.00 at the red light. And she had most of her teeth too!

[Richard Chrz]

Humans are easily amused.