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250 Inch Grill Area, Large drawer for easy refueling and clean-up, Cast Iron Cooking Grates, Side Shelf
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Technical Details
- Side Drawer, Cast Iron Cooking Grates, 250 In. Grill Area- Stay Cool Wood Handle, Side Shelf
- Double Steel Bottom
- Side Air Vent
- Wheels for easy mobility
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By Eric T. Nentrup (Indianapolis, IN)
My wife and I were looking for a new grill this summer. Firstly, I was committed to charcoal. So, I thought I'd get another Weber. After reading enough favorable reviews of the Char-Griller Patio Pro, I had to go have a look. From a usability and "design" perspective, it absolutely slays the Weber. How annoying is it to have to set your lid AND grate on the ground in order to get a fire going?
Now, before I anger all the Weber-faithful, let me say, Weber makes THE BEST charcoal chimney starter available. Buy one with your Char-Griller and NO OTHER. Fill one with ALL NATURAL LUMP charcoal, stuff a sheet of newspaper underneath, light it and walk away. By the time you've prepped your food, the coals are ready to be dumped, for cooking
Assembly is a pain, but frankly, a good exercise in problem-solving while working with your hands. I encourage you to take the extra expense/effort to polyurethane all the wood, and you might as well buy a can of high-temp black paint to keep handy for when the factory enamel blisters and peels (not been an issue for me after a summer of use, but still....)
My other upgrades I'm intending include a pizza stone to fit on the grate, a charcoal tub to attach to the lower rack (otherwise, it's pretty useless). And I'd like to figure out a way to mount a thermometer on the lid.
This little furnace is perfect for me and my wife, and if I ever want to upgrade, I'm pretty confident I can bolt the Patio Pro to the side of it's big brother and make it the smoke box!
By Howards Amazon Reviews
Yep, the other reviews complaining about the assembly instructions are right! The instructions are terrible, but hey, you pretty much only use them once, and then lose them :) You've also got to rely on thinking in addition to the printed instructions so things go together correctly. So once that's out of the way, it turns into a charcoal grill that you can use to cook. In the latter case, it's a great grill. Fit and finish on mine was excellent. Had some left over hardware, particularly two cotter pins, and cannot find anywhere on the grill to use them. And there were two or three missing split lock washers. Fortunately I had some at home to use. A few tips on assembly:
1. Before installing the hardware on the legs and stand "tubing", put the pieces together (except the braces). This will help you get the wheels on the correct side of the grill. It will also help you get the holes lined up "inwards" for the barrel/grill to mount correctly.
2. For the damper bolts, I put a little blue Loctite on the bolts before putting the washers and nuts on them. This may help to keep the nuts on, as they cannot be too tight, or the dampers will not rotate for adjustment. If this doesn't work out, I will get longer bolts and double-nut them for the dampers.
3. There cast iron grates come with instructions that are slightly different than those in the manual. The grate instructions say to first heat them up to 200 degrees to melt off the protective wax coating, if it exists (on mine it did). And to do that before seasoning the grates. The instruction manual says to apply vegetable oil to the grates and season without mention of the wax coating. Probably not a big deal as the wax coating will still melt off. Just re-seasoned the grates a 2nd time afterwards.
4. Use "Goo Gone" to get the adhesive label off the lid, before first use of the grill.
5. Remove the plastic coating "strip" that protects the Char-Grill logo plate on the lid before first use.
Fit and finish were OK. No gaps, bends, or anything awkward (other than the instruction manual). I ordered the grill from Amazon on a Sunday, and it arrived the following Friday. It was shipped in the manufacturers box, with all the fancy marketing and printing on it. It weighed about 50 pounds.
In summary, this grill gets 5-stars for its main purpose, being a charcoal grill. However the instructions get 0-stars, ok, maybe 1-star because they give some minimal guidance. We were looking for a smaller charcoal grill because we like the flavor enhancement to meats, something we just don't get with our gas grill. Got tired of replacing cheap hibachis, and didn't want a kettle, even a small one. So this Char-Griller was perfect.
Hope this review is helpful. Enjoy your grill purchase!
By Phillip B. Leggette (fayetteville nc)
this is a great little grill. assembly was not at all difficult. if missing lockwashers are an issue, reserve them for the vents. rated 4 instead of 5 only because the lid is misaligned. this is more cosmetic than functional. when the time comes, i will get another.
By The Truth Guru (Planet Earth)
I ordered 2 of these grills; one for myself (carnivore) and one for my wife (herbivore). She won't eat it if it's been "contaminated" by meat. Anyway, when they arrived, both packages looked the same. However, upon opening and setting them up, I noticed that one looked slightly different.
One is more rustic looking, it has a dull finish, mostly long bolts with four shorter ones for the legs, the angle bar that holds the grill grate is heavy duty metal and welded on, the grill grates are heavy duty cast iron, the slide out tray closes tightly to the grill box, the welds are strong, and the lid closes down tight. The other one has a shinier finish, all bolts are the same length and have a more shallow head (with a phillips head screw style stamped into it), the angle bars for the grates are aluminum and screwed onto the grill box, the grates are lesser quality, lighter cast iron, the slide out tray does not close tightly and sometimes gets stuck on the longer bolts that are supplied with this model, the welds look weaker, and the lid is somewhat warped and does not close tight.
Not sure why they are different. I assume the nice, shiny, cheaply made one is the newer model. This appears to be the trend these days - if it looks nice and the price is right, people will buy anything. If it breaks, oh well, just buy a new one. I suppose it's the new "American way". I'm not going to bother sending it back - only because it works ok for grilling veggies and that's all it will get used for. Fortunately, I lucked out and got one of the good ones for the meat or I would have sent them both back.
Overall - If you are lucky enough to get a good one, it's an awesome product and I hope it will last many years. I've only had it a month or so as of now - so we'll see! If you are unfortunate and get the crappy newer one, sorry 'bout that. I give this product 4 for the good one and 2 for the shoddy one.
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These last few words are for everything sold today. Hopefully companies will quit making garbage to add to our ever growing landfills and quit taking from our trusting American wallets in the future. It would be nice to see the quality we once demanded in the products of today. Where has the quality gone? Why do we accept this? I don't understand the people who say "it's good for the price you pay." Thinking like that is why these companies get away with selling crap to begin with. If there is anything crappy about a product, it shouldn't be on the shelves or in the consumers hands - period. Buying crap is never worth the money. Come on people, let's see some change here.
By C. N. Schwallenberg (Hanford, Ca)
I have to say very fast shipping on the grill, but be careful who ship's the item because mine the medal door is some what bent so it does not close flush with the base of grill. I can live with the flaw, only wish the carriers were more careful with your property that you just bought. I am very pleased with the grill and the assembly was not that big of a deal.
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