New Gas BBQ On A Budget?

[EViS]

I would call myself a BBQ novice compared to you folks and would be sticking to gas for the time being due to its ease for a 'quick' cook during the week and weekends.

I have come across this Master Chef Deluxe (eBay link) barbecue. The description makes it all sound too good to be true, but what do you guys reckon? Is it likely to be as good as a Webber for example, but at half the price tag for such a large cooker?

There is also this Silver Steel (eBay link) barbecue which seems to be its main competitor (??).

Edit: I purchased a Master Cook Platinum 600 (MC-3) in the end, mini-review on page 2.

[keith157]

I don't know anything about them, but I think I'd rather see one in person to check build quality & "ergonomics" than rely on photos. Please bear in mind you get what you pay for so check it out thoroughly in person if possible. The link for the Masterchef has expired as it's sold.

[Toby]

To be honest the BBQ world is a bit of a muddle when you look at it too closely. It would be a case of physically looking at it as most, including big brands are made in China. Bigger brands have bigger marketing budgets therefore need higher RRP's. I do not think anyone on here would have used one, but you never know. I would stick to a brand with a decent UK presence so that if there are any problems you have someone to talk to.

[EViS]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I would guess that no one here has used a 'Master Chef Deluxe' or 'Silver Steel', but wondered whether looking at those specifications, at least on paper do they look good? The general specification are:

4 Main Burners at 12000 BTU
1 Side Burner at 10000 BTU
Cooking area of 81 x 50cm

Are those BTU values good? And if so, can they be trusted? Is there only one way to measure the BTU of a burner, or do different manufacturers measure this in different ways?

Am I being naive in thinking that there isn't much to a barbecue other than the regulator and grill surface? Are these things only expensive because they are 'luxuries' and marketed in this way by the big players?

[JEC]

With all things BBQ you get what you pay for and when it comes to gas grills in the UK (and the US for that matter) you can spend a fortune. I had a casting glance at some Napoleon grills at the weekend, and while have not interest in gas myself these appeared to be well made, I was particularly impressed with the charcoal version, see me other thread, there's a link below to a similarly priced unit, comes with 6 burners offering more flexibility

http://www.planetbarbecue.co.uk/ShopnapoleonUC500.html

I have no links to Planet Barbecue but I can tell you that David is a top bloke and will answer all the questions you may have

You need to know that what you are buying is a good product from a known brand, personally I am sceptical on the eBay one but that's just me, link to the Napoleon site below too

http://www.napoleongrills.co.uk/products/uc500sb/

[JEC]

Just in case you need it link to a BTU to KW converter so you know what you are comparing

http://www.unitconversion.org/power/kilowatts-to-btus-th--per-hour-conversion.html

[Steve]

Just looking at the price, I would be dubious. My guess would be wafer thin, low grade steel tat will pit like billy-o at the slightest sniff of rain. I'd also be concerned about getting replacement parts when things wear out. Cheap burners for instance will likely last only a season or two.

The reason Webers are twice the price is because they are generally very well made.

Having sad that, the Napoleon mentioned above looks pretty good to me as did the charcoal ne from JEC"s other thread. You really need to look at these things in person before you buy.

[JEC]

Anything from Weber is very well made, as are products from Swiss Grill and Broil King just to name another two, the biggest issue with these companies as already mentioned above is the brand identity, especially Weber, you are helping to fund their massive marketing machine, not such an issue when you are paying 50 to 100% more for a lower cost item such as a kettle grill or smoker but when you are talking about a large high quality grill those extra mark ups make a huge difference, in some cases twice the cost of a non-Weber product, now that's not to say they aren't twice the value as they often can be, my point is you either need to see one yourself or go with a strong recommendation, anything that is unbranded or from an unknown or lower quality supplier should be purchased with caution

[Steve]

I think we also need to remember that with Weber, the volume they sell helps fund their massive marketing machine, I don't think the markup is quite as big as we sometimes think it is. Sometimes it's hard to look at two similar devices and see where the BoM of one is much higher than the other, you only have to look at Pro Q vs Weber to see this. I'm sure Weber's markup is bigger than Mac's BBQ but the materials and manufacturing quality in a WSM is a different class to that of a Frontier/E20. My only irk with Weber is their policy of recycling parts from products to use in others, while this is common practice in many industries to keep costs down, sometimes I think Weber attempt to fit a squarish peg into a roundish hole just to avoid manufacturing a smaller run of a bespoke part.

Anyway, back to topic. Looking at what you want and the price you saw on Fleabay, here's a suggestion for you http://www.bbqworld.co.uk/bbqworld/prod ... name=16842

I've seen these myself in Costco and they appear well built, Beefeater is a reputable brand with a history and given that it's not all stainless it looks like something that could be well built within the confines of it's list price. I assume it's last year's model hence the sizeable discount. Puts it in the same price bracket as the Fleabay model when you factor in free delivery too.

Also BBQ World are a brilliant company to buy from. My WSM's came from them and I had an out of round base on one. they had the replacement part to me within 24 hours.

[EViS]

Thanks for all of the VERY helpful replies fellas . Another BBQ I have come across is the Master Cook MC-3 (Platinum 600). It's branded as a Royalcraft or Firefly on various websites and is supposedly a top seller on BarbecuesWorld, but does anyone have any experience with this manufacturer?