"Okay, let me start by giving a little background. I am a BBQ, grilling fanatic. I own more than 10 grills and smokers. I have also built my own smokers before. My 15 year old Assie grill, yes 15 years old, finally went to that big patio in the sky, so it was time for a new gas unit. I normally prefer to use charcoal or wood to cook, but being in upstate NY, weather often dictates otherwise. I went to my local Home Deposit (I've spent a lot there over the years)...and checked out several models. I didn't want to spend a ton because like I said, I don't use propane very often. I checked out the 200 dollar Brinkman and the 250 dollar Charbroil offering. Compared to them, this grill, although a little more expensive, just seemed to be higher quality. The lid is very heavy and has nice rubber dampers to cushion it. Dampers are cool and chicks dig them.
Okay, so I laid a blanket out in the man zone errrr, garage and placed all of the parts on the floor. It went together fairly easy, but I did have to swallow my pride, put down my beer and ask my daughter to hold things a couple of times.
It's a very attractive product. When assembled properly it's very sturdy. The one in the store wasn't exactly put together with any care and of course it had been mauled all summer long. The only real issue I have with fit and finish is the lid scrapes the side of back assembly, especially if the grill isn't sitting totally level. I tried to remedy it to no avail. I even removed the lid and tried shimming the side panel with a couple of washers, but that threw the lid out of square and created other problems. I loosened the two top screws of the rear cowel and pushed the side panel in a little. That gave me a little more clearance, but the other side has far more. Anyways, I'm going to live with it. It's not a Weber, and I didn't pay as much.
Performance:
Not bad. I'm still learning this grills idiosyncrasies, and there seems to be a few. The main thing, and it's been mentioned here before, is uneven heating. Now for some this is a huge problem. For me, not so much because I often grill different things at once using different temps. My theory is that the outside burners being close to the sides of the grill, deflect most of their heat inwards. I tested this by lighting the outside ones only and checking the surface temp (with my handy dandy surface temp gauge). Sure enough, with center burners off, I actually got a higher temp in the center of the grill than directly over the outside burners. Again, not a huge deal. To get an even temp I found that by just setting the center burners on low and cranking the outside burners to 11, you get even heat. Like I said though, I prefer hot spots and cooler areas when grilling. One just has to know where they are.
So in conclusion, for 300 dollars think this is a good buy. It's made well, looks like a very expensive unit and does what it's supposed to do."