You state "Your BBQ Galore units are the same Chinese imports sold at Sam's bolt for bolt and not worth the $$$. Fell victim to one of these once but never again! It disintegrated in 18 mos."
Most every BBQ Galore-brand grill has a 5-year warranty on the grill, the burners, the cart, and the rest of the parts are covered for at least 2 years. Knobs and vales have 1-year warranties. Their upper-end stainless ($1000 +) grills are often covered by limited lifetime warranties on most critical parts. If you had a BBQ Galore-brand grill that "disintegrated in 18 months", I hope you exercised your warranty options and contacted the store where you purchased it.
No, BBQ Galore-brand grills are not "the same Chinese imports sold at Sam's".
Many grill manufacturers and retailers, including Barbeques Galore, utilize the same Chinese companies to manufacture their grills. For consumers, this hasn't been a bad thing as grill prices have dropped and features have expanded since grills started coming in from China. Those manufacturers/retailers who have set high standards for their products and have built these standards into their design specifications, have continued to offer excellent quality products to their customers. Unfortunately, those manufacturers/marketeers who cater to the big box stores, with their "buy from the lowest bidder" mentality, have been forced to cut corners in order to compete. BBQ Galore-brand products are not sold in box stores and are not the same grills you'll find in Sam's, et al., even though they may have been produced in the same Chinese factory.
I agree with you about CR needing to reconsider some of its criteria for rating grills. High heat is important when you want to cook a steak. When you need heat, it has got to be there, and it shouldn't take all day for your grill to reach 600 degrees. BTU's are to grills, like horsepower is to automobiles and deserve to be rated.
Another thing CR needs to evaluate is the quality of the materials used to construct a grill. For example most box store "stainless steel" grills utilize low-quality, thin gauge steel. They may look pretty at first, but when they start rusting almost immediately, the old adage "you get what you pay for" should come to mind. The same holds true to burners and other critical parts. If you're unsure as the quality of the stainless, give it the magnet test. If the magnet sticks, it's lesser quality steel. if it doesn't, it higher quality and is less susceptible to rusting. IMHO a grille's quality can only be determined by surveying consumers after at least 5 years of ownership and use.
CU also fails to address one of the biggest problems consumers face with their outdoor grills, finding replacement parts. Just like everything else we own, grills break and parts wear out. When this happens, are parts readily available from the manufacturer/retailer? There are endless stories about consumers who bought a shiny new grill and 5 years later, when they needed to replace a burner or a cooking grid, found that the manufacturer has gone out of business, changed ownership, or no longer stocks parts for that particular grill. Would anyone buy an automobile if there was a question about finding parts to fix it later on? Should grills be any different?
Finally, and I doubt if there is any way for CR to objectively measure it, but how does one evaluate customer service when something goes wrong with your grill? For example, when a grill part breaks or wears out when it's still under warranty, or even afterwards, who can call upon to make the necessary repairs? The manufacturer? You're on your own unless you buy a reputable grill, from a reputable retailer, who offers service and parts support. Getting a box of warranty replacement parts in the mail, even if you can get them, is only half the battle.
With outdoor grills now costing as much as a good used car, these questions are becoming more and more important. I hope CR can find a way to incorporate them into their annual evaluation program.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been employed as a salesman by Barbeques Galore for the past 3.5 years.
