While the burgers cooked, we kept an eye out for flare-ups—which can char the meat and create acrid smoke—and looked at the evenness of cooking across the grates. After about 10 minutes of cooking, we compared how well each grill had seared the burgers, and we looked for excessive charring or patties that were still unacceptably raw. I draped the ribs across the Genesis II’s metal warming tray that sits above the grill grates.
Upgraded features and stainless steel components bring grilling versatility and a premium look to any backyard. The Weber Genesis II line is made in Made in North America where as the Spirit II is made overseas. A distinct difference is the lid, the Genesis II lid is double insulated steel whereas the Spirit II is much thinner. The Genesis II series also has more space to grill with compared to the Spirit II series. A dedicated collection pan for catching grease droplets that can be easy to clean after cooking.
Searing for too long or at too high heat levels gives food burnt charcoal flavors I’d rather do without. Unfortunately the insides of these burgers were also on the dry side. By contrast I found the burgers from the Char-Broil grill juicier, and with more flavor. Another advantage the iGrill app has over SmartChef is a simple wizard to setup probes to actively monitor your food while it cooks. For example, you can select the food type and iGrill knows what target temperature you need to hit. You can also choose the level of doneness you’d like and the app adapts accordingly.
When fresh air and the sear on a juicy grilled burger combine, it’s pure warm-weather delight. To help you keep the good vibes going, we’ve hunted for gas grills that are durable, easy to clean, and simple to control. After cooking burgers, barbecue, and chicken on seven top-rated grills—and researching dozens more—we recommend the Weber Spirit II E-310. No grill matches its combination of exceptional performance, usability, durability, and value.
All Genesis II grills feature the new GS4 High Performance Grilling System. Along with extra storage and a folding side table, you’ll never have to sacrifice power and luxury for space. The Genesis II produced patties with a decent crust but considerable char too.
Finally I dialed all three burner knobs down to their lowest setting and closed the lid. I cooked two racks this way; the first I ran for 3 hours, the second for 3 hours 30 minutes. On both the CharBroil SmartChef and Weber Genesis II, the ribs were too thin to shield their probes from ambient hot air under the lid. As a result I fell back to cooking by time instead of hitting a target thermometer reading. Both grills turned in slightly underdone ribs after a 3-hour cook, so I bumped the time up another 30 minutes for round two. A component in Char-Broil’s “Tru-Infrared” grilling system, the plate is designed to absorb the heat from the burners, and use it to mimic the radiant heat you get from charcoal.
A few of the 1 and 2 Star reviews, as well as many of the 3 and 4 Star reviews, took the time to complain about the one serious design flaw in the grill. The redesign of the Flavorizer bars, which protect the burner tubs was, in my opinion, a bit silly. The new Flavorizer bars have a small semi-circle punched out at the base to allow people to see the flames and make sure the burner tubes are lit. I love Weber grills and have been using them for about 20 years now. I have a lot of experience under my belt using their gas and charcoal grills as well as their charcoal smokers. If you’re paying attention to the model numbers you’ll notice that the middle digit has increased, indicating a feature bump with the same number of burners.
The Genesis line dates back to the mid-’80s, when Weber debuted its first full-sized gas grills. These initial offerings featured a cart-style design, side shelving, and a handy grease management system. Over the years, the design evolved as Weber added grills of various sizes and styles to this iconic lineup. Weber-Stephen is one of the oldest and most respected manufacturers of BBQ equipment and related accessories in the world. Weber grills and smokerscook beautifully and have great features that are clever, effective and easy to use.
Crossover enables one lit burner to ignite other burners. Without crossover, as in this grill, the ignitor must be pressed to fire up each individual burner. A small inconvenience, but Infinity performed flawlessly throughout our tests. The GS4 burners themselves are meant to improve heat distribution. Note the unusual quadrangular burner shape in the photo. It seems that every appliance review has nothing but glowing comments about almost every product, yet you read customer reviews and they are almost universally bad.
Regardless I prefer Weber’s targeted approach and the iGrill software overall. The app is intuitive, cleanly organized and uncluttered. Barbecue enthusiasts will enjoy the handy graph that extrapolates when your meal will be done weber charcoal grill based on current conditions. My favorite feature is how the software pings you when you’re 10 degrees out from your probe’s target temp. It then pings you each time the thermometer rises by 1 degree until your food is done.