I have a Weber Genesis E-310 myself and love it, and I recently helped a friend purchase and assemble this cheaper Spirit E-310. Overall, it's a very nice grill and a great value. Compared to the Genesis, it has a smaller cooking area and some of the materials aren't as nice, but as far as I can tell it uses the exact same burners/heating mechanism and as a result it heats up quicker and gets hotter because it's smaller (ours heated up past the 600 degree mark after only about 10 minutes!). I think Weber makes a great gas grill, my family has owned them for years (my dad had a genesis that lasted over 10 years left outside under a covered porch but w/o a grill cover in the harsh south FL climate, he recently replaced it with another Genesis). I would definately recommend this grill to anyone, in fact while I love my Genesis I am left wondering if it's really worth the extra $250 vs. this Spirit.
First, cooking on it: This grill gets HOT. Over 600 degrees. It heats up very quickly, and maintains a nice even temp.
Grill Grate *IMPORTANT* - one decision you have to make in buying this grill is what type of grilling grate to get with it. You have a choice of porceline (lowest end), stainless steel, cast iron, or cast iron w/ porceline enamel on it. I'm not actually sure if the grill is offered new with all of these grates, but they are all available from Weber as add-ons (I'm pretty sure they're all available new on the grill, but each store tends to stock it with a different grate so shop around, none of the stores I went to had all of them). The porceline is the lowest end - it doesn't retain heat that well and it doesn't last particularly long. However, the one my friend got had the porceline and I cooked on it and it seems to work just fine. Cast iron retains heat the best (and heat retention is important for grilling ... imagine you get the grill nice and hot, then plop down a 1/2 lb burger right out of the fridge, a grate with better heat retention will give a superior "sear"), but unfortunately if you live in a humid climate don't even THINK about cast iron as it will rust out (we live in FL and it's not an option here). I've never used the enameled cast iron, I'm sure it lasts longer than the regular cast iron but probably has some compromises (heat retention), but I'm guessing here. I have stainless steel on my Genesis and like it, it holds up well in humid climates but doesn't give quite as good a sear as cast iron. The solution is, if I'm cooking something where I want a great sear like a Filet Mignon, you can take a cast iron skillet or grill/griddle pan (available on Amazon under the brand name "lodge" for about $20) and put that right on your grill before preheating and cook on that, it works great, just remember to bring it back inside afterwards so it doesn't rust.
Assembly it's a "2 beer job": This is where I deduct a half point. I had my Genesis delivered assembled but foolishly offered to assemble my friend's Spirit, and in hindsight would have rather paid the extra 20 bucks for assembly. The instructions say it takes a half hour (or 15 minutes for a pro, which I intepret as a Home Depot employee who has assembled 100 of these things before), as far as I can tell if this is your first time doing it the only way you could assemble it in a half hour is if you start with it entirely unpacked with the parts well organized, and that process itself will take 20-30 mins. It took me about an hour (including unpacking, I started with just the opened box). The instruction are pretty bad, but not terrible, I figured it out and I'm an idiot. Some of the parts are pretty low quality, like the screws/bolts (the kit comes with a cheapo plastic wrench, I'd suggest using that instead of a real metal wrench, as I broke a bolt in half using a metal wrench and no I didn't tighten it too much by normal standards). If you buy the grill assembled, it appears very high quality but when you assemble it yourself you see where they cut corners. Overall the quality is probably as good as anything out there in this price range though.
Price: Note, don't pay over $400 for this grill (before shipping/assembly). Amazon used to list it at $399, but is now asking $549, while Lowes, Home Depot, and my local hardware store all ask $399. Note it is offered in a couple different trim levels (the main difference, possibly the only difference, is the grate, see below on that). My local hardware store asked somehting like $50 for shipping AND assembly, so shoot for something like $450 out the door delivered and assembled (if you want/need it assembled).
A warning about cheap gas grills: It is worth it to pay for a decent gas grill. If I were in the market and was on the budget, I probably wouldn't go any lower than the slightly cheaper Spirit E-210 (2 burners to the 310s 3 and smaller grilling area). Cheap gas grills are TERRIBLE - they don't last, they don't get hot enough, they don't maintain even temperature, and they usually have the burners too close to the grate which results in flare ups (which ruins your dinner). If you're on a tight budget and want to go much cheaper than the Spirit E-210 ($300), save yourself a headache and just get a charcoal grill. Which brings us too ...
Charcoal vs. Gas: I used to be a charcoal snob. That was over 10 years ago now, though. Most people who swear by charcoal's superiority either have an ax to grind or have never used a GOOD gas grill, only cheap ones which, as I said before, don't get hot enough and don't give you enough control. The advantage of charcoal is not the "rich smokey flavor", that's an old wives tale. The advantages of charcoal are 1) it gets HOT, 2) it gives a (skilled griller) great control of the temp, and 3) it can be used to generate a wide range of temps, from low heat for slow BBQing to high heat for a great steak. A good gas grill will do an excellent job at 1) and 2), although probably isn't great for low-heat smoking (I've never tried on my Genesis). In a perfect world we'd have both, and given the low price of a weber charcoal kettle you can have both. I appreciate the convenience of a gas grill, and for something like a burger, a pork chop, or a steak IMO it does just as good a job as a charcoal grill with 1/2 the effort. I live alone so a lot of times I'm just grilling for one, a gas grill is great for that but at the same time is big enough to cook for a decent group. One day I will probably have both so that I can use the charcoal grill for slow-cooking things (BBQ) like baby back ribs and the gas grill for "grilling" (steaks, burgers) and when that day comes I'll probably spring for something like a Big Green Egg as my charcoal grill, but even then I bet I'd use my gas Weber probably 3 times as often as the charcoal option. Overall: I seriously doubt you will find a better gas grill for this price, and I'd wager you could find a number of inferior grills at higher prices. If you're in the market for a gas grill and are budget concious, you can't go wrong with this. If you're not on a tight budget, consider the Genesis but as I said before I do question whether my extra $200 or so was well spent, even though the Genesis is probably the best < $1,000 gas grill available.
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Weber 3721001 Spirit E-310 Gas GrillProduct Description: 3 Stainless Steel Burners / 36,000 BTU-per-hour input / Crossover ignition system / Removable thermoset work surface / 3 Tool holder / Cookbook Right-hand and left-hand condiment baskets 2 Locking casters 2 Crackproof all-weather wheels 424 Square Inch Primary cooking area 112 Square Inch Warming rack area 75 Square Inch Warm-Up basket area 611 Square Inch Total cooking area Dimensions -Height 63 x Width 54 x Depth 30 with the lid open
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I finally splurged and got these cast iron grates for my 8-year old Weber Genesis Silver A...wish I would have gotten them years ago!They are heavy (durable) and leave a great char mark on whatever you grill.They are also easier to clean that the original ceramic coated steel grates, nothing has stuck to them yet after a month of use (10 or so uses).Combined with new burners, I have a new grill that will last another 8 years.I am very pleased.
