Once your grill has a rusty hole in the firebox, it’s destined for the scrap heap. All of our picks are propane-gas grills, since propane tanks are portable and can be purchased almost anywhere, and they don’t require any special hookups in your backyard. Standing for British Thermal Units, BTU is a measure of heat.
One area that it is lacking in slightly is its build quality and design. When your lid handle gets so hot that it melts after only one use, then there’s something wrong! If you notice on all those photos above, Weber has put a warning label right next to the ignition button stating not to touch the polycarbonate plastic shell when hot. The propane tank installation however was a bit confusing .
I also like that the grill has indicators that let you know where exactly to adjust the burner knobs for high, medium and low heat. It also doesn’t have a spot to hide the propane tank like the Spirit II’s competitors. That isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but it looks less streamlined since you can easily see the tank versus hiding it behind a couple of doors.
This is definitely a nice feature if you like to barbecue chicken, turkey, & other fowl! Across the three chicken tests, they averaged 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach 165 degrees. That isn’t a very long wait, but it’s significantly longer than the Char-Broil Performance XL, which only took 1 hour and 11 minutes. My chicken was tender and somewhat juicy with somewhat crispy skin — I even took some home for leftovers. But the speedy Performance XL blew it away with deliciously tender whole grilled chickens. The GS4 system includes a new ignition system that’s “ensured to ignite every time.” It worked eight times out of ten, but it didn’t always ignite after my first attempt.
Easily fold down the left side table of the grill whenever you want to save space and need extra room to work with. Just click the button and flip the table down – making it ideal for smaller balconies. Use Next and Previous buttons Blackstone Adventure to navigate, or jump to a slide using the slide dots. Combustion by-products produced when using this product contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.
Despite this, you would be surprised to see how many other brands don’t bother with such an important function. Maintaining a grill is not hard, and if you do it right, you can add years to the life of your grill. Of course, you may also have concerns about how each of these fuel choices might impact the environment. There’s no easy answer, but we Blackstone Adventure discuss some of the considerations in the sustainability section below. Experts and our testing confirm this range is where you’ll find the best value, with grills that perform great and can last a decade or more. It’s worth the cost…had our last Weber for 15 years…frame rusted out due to our seaside residence…but grill still worked perfectly.
Reflects how wide a temperature span the grill offers by comparing temperatures at the high setting and lowest setting possible. Evaluates the temperature after a 10 minute preheat using thermocouples. It also gives an indication how quickly char broil performance the grill reaches its maximum temperature. Of all the fuels mentioned here, charcoal emits the most carbon into the atmosphere. Though there’s no debating that, some experts argue that lump charcoal is potentially carbon neutral.
The durability of these grills is also standard, as they are made using good quality materials that last for years. The larger models of this series come with a spacious grilling area supported by a side burner, while the smaller models feature foldable shelves and wheels that make them easy to store and move. We cooked a grillfull of pre-made one-third pound hamburgers on high with the lid down. They cooked fast at two minutes per side, although the front row needed an additional minute. We’d prefer overall, even heat from the front to the back of the grill, but we appreciated how quickly and easily Spirit II cooked this popular item.