( 2 reviews )
-
Posted: 07-26-2009
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. ---------------------------------------->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.
-
Posted: 07-11-2009
This little grill is just the ticket for my small patio and small grilling needs. It is attractive, very well built, and easy to use. As almost everyone else has mentioned, the instructions are sketchy, but the item is not overly difficult to put together. I'm a 70-year-old lady, and I got it together in about an hour. Here's what I learned: 1. Pay attention to the angle of the holes in the curved leg pieces which will receive the bolts which will hold the grill in place. They should angle upwards toward the grill. I had to disassemble and reassemble the leg pieces because they didn't mention that in the instructions. 2. You will receive and really only need three locking nuts. I used the first pair as first mentioned in the directions, and the last one on the drawer lock, as it seemed obvious that that piece would be turned whenever the drawer is opened, and would thus be in danger of loosening the bolt. The several other instructions that mentioned the locking nuts I simply ignored. The grill is holding together fine after some use, so I guess they were unneeded. Maybe. 3. You'll need a drill or nail and hammer to make starter holes to attach the utensil hooks to the wood shelf, as the hooks do not have self-starting tips. Attaching those hooks is not even mentioned in the instructions, nor do they show in the pictures, but they are nice to have.All in all, this is a nice unit, and I expect it to last longer than I do. Good deal!
