List Price: $1,199.00
Sale Price: $1,164.95
Today's Bonus: 3% Off
I have had this grill now for four months. Used it about 15 times. I have the infra red side burner and rotisserie. Not used the Rotisserie yet, will add to this revue when I have.
First the good:The grill is packaged very well. My delivery guy was excellent in getting the grill to the back yard and helping check for damages ( there were a few holes in the packaging). It takes two people to lift out all the parts and lay them out for assembly. The assembly instructions are good and I took about 3 hours to put it together, taking my time and making sure all nuts and bolts were tight. The trickiest part was getting the doors aligned (see later). This requires some fiddling with the squareness and straightness of the frame. Also a couple of extra thick washers were required to get the doors high enough to miss the bottom of frame. So after assembly, the total package is very heavy and requires two people and a bit of ingenuity to get it into place.Once in place, the grill is easy to light.
Second the excellent: It takes about 3 minutes to get really hot, unbelievable power. Once hot, the grids can be cleaned, then turn all burners down to low before starting to grill. The infra red side burner is outstanding as a way to sear meats before placing them on the main grill to cook the inside of the meat. I found that most foods could be cooked with the lid up. If you put the lid down, don't leave it too long or the food will burn. This grill puts out a lot of heat! I have also used a cast iron griddle plate to cook small items that would fall through the grates, that works well too. This grill cooks very well if you are attentive; don't leave it alone and hope things will work out.
Third, the bad: We live in a wet humid climate (North Carolina). The condiment basket started to rust in 2 months. I threw it away. The grill comes with a ice bucket and cutting board. No use to me. My grill is placed in front of a wall. In order to clean out the grease trap and trash collection tray, the grill must be moved away from the wall as these items are removed from the REAR of the grill. This means you must pick up and rotate the grill. The doors them become misaligned (due to the heavy weight of the grill). If you are on a smooth surface and can just push the grill on its wheels then this will not be a problem for you. The locking casters on this grill are completely inaccessible. They are under the grill and cannot be locked. Okay if you are on the flat surface, but thoughtless design. Ignition: it usually works, but sometimes takes a few twists of the knob for my left hand burner to light. It was like this from new.
Fourth the ugly: If the grill is left uncovered, a heavy rain will flood the inside of the grill. This will fill the grease trap and then drip down inside the grill. A real possibility for rust on the interior. If you start to grill and it rains you cannot put the cover on the grill until it cools down, so the rain gets into the grease trap anyway. If your grill will be under cover, this will not be a problem, but if it is outside exposed to elements, believe me its a BIG problem. Finally, if you are cooking foods which drip grease (and who does not?), the materials that fall into the junk catcher under the burners will catch fire. You will then have a "grill fire". This can be solved with a water spray bottle, but be aware, it's a problem. You can not leave this grill unattended.
Overall for a grill that is around $900, I expected it to be better designed and engineered. True, it cooks very well and has plenty of power, but the negatives are too many for me to give it 4 stars.
Edit at 2/25/2012:
Have now used the grill several times and the rotisserie four times, three chickens and a leg of lamb. The rotisserie works extremely well and food is cooked perfectly. However, since you must keep the lid down while do this, the grill must be maintained at a constant temperature. This requires much fiddling with the flame strength on the rotisserie burner. It does a great job, but takes a lot of attention. The rain coming in is now less of a problem as I keep the grill covered at all times. this is not always possible if the rain comes while the grill is too hot to put the cover on. I also modified the grease trap to allow rain to run out of it, down a vinyl tube to the ground. Still have problems with grease fires. I wonder if the designers of this grill read reviews or care how consumers use their products. I think you can find better better grills for $900.
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Most compare this grill with a Weber because build quality and price points are very similar. The only reason I removed one star is because the Weber looks better in person, but that's the only complaint about Napoleon. The Weber's oven sides are still painted cast metal just like the Napoleon, but they make the color the same as the stainless and then cover the seam with a stainless band and it gives the appearance of a fully stainless hood and oven.Otherwise the Napoleon is the best thing around at this price point. It has great high and low heat, is set with indirect cooking in mind, cooks evenly, and is easy to use as a smoker, and you can cook with charcoal as on option! The rotisserie works great, and the infrared side burner is a nice inclusion, although the grill will get hot enough to sear without it. With the infrared side burner/searer you don't have a flame blowing out on a windy day, and you can use it as a searing station, although it's not the biggest searing station. You can fit two rib eyes on there maximum.
For me the option to cook with charcoal won me over. There's a charcoal tray you have to buy separately but it's not expensive, and you can convert about half the grill surface to charcoal that will even light by the grill flames! It also has EXCELLENT low heat and indirect heat,and the hood is pretty tightly sealed up for flame roasting and smoking. In all these ways it's better than the Weber. If all you're going to do is cook straight over open flame the Weber might be easier because it's just as well made and better looking and you can buy parts at the local hardware store. If you want to cook with charcoal, very low flame, indirect, smoke, etc., you'll be glad you got the Napoleon. The other thing I LOVE about the Napoleon is that the heat dispersion plates (Weber calls them flavorizer bars) are a solid surface beneath the grill grates. This is awesome for a few reasons. First, grease and food debris doesn't get into the bottom of the grill as easy. Second, that grease smokes up more and adds flavor. Third, you can add porcelain or lava rocks that catch and hold grease, which are really a great way to get more smoky flavor in your food, although they do sometimes make flare-ups more common and reduce the top heat. I space them out towards the rear and it does a great job. You can't do that on a Weber because there's no where to put the rocks.
So in short if you really love grilling and want as much versatility as possible, go with the Napoleon for sure. I've cooked steaks, leg of lamb, whole chicken both rotisserie and butterflied on the grill, brats and burgers, smoked a pork shoulder, etc., etc. and it's GREAT for everything. But if you just want a high quality grill to cook right over the flame and you're interested in simple grilling , then the Weber is probably the better option.
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This grill has been fantastic thus far. I have had it for about 3 months and no issues at this point.First off I must say that the packaging is very thorough so there is little chance of any damages. I do recommend that you have at least one other person to help you lift the lid out of the box and onto the cart. I found that opening up all the parts and pieces made the grill come together in a reasonable amount of time. It took me between 30-45 minutes to put this huge grill together. I highly recommend that you use power socket wrench rather than your hand. I started with just a wrench and that slowed me down so use as many power tools as you can to speed up the process.
Once the grill was set up, I decided to light it up to burn off any oils that are on the metals. Later that night I tried my luck at Infrared Cooking. I am now sold on infrared cooking. I have tried the Charbroil Red grill at my brother-in-laws house and please be fully aware that the infrared that Charbroil is preaching is not true infrared cooking. The infrared side burner on this Napoleon Mirage is true infrared cooking. I turned the side burner on and within 30 seconds it was up to temperature. I believe it is 1500 degrees or so. I put my one inch thick steak on the grids for 30 seconds on each side and then moved it over to my regular burners. I then had it on that for another 3 minutes each side. I took them off the grill and saw that I cooked myself a perfectly made Medium Rare steak! It doesn't get better than that.
Since then I have cooked Pork Tenderloin, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn, veggies, potatoes, chicken, filet mignon and beer can chicken. I am hopefully going to buy a rotisserie kit soon so I can enjoy some chicken. If you love food as much as I do then you need to try true infrared cooking. It takes some time to learn as I have left somethings on a little too long. But this is the fun part of grilling. Trying new recipes and learning how to cook better each time.
I am so happy that I decided to get this grill because the grill is so evenly heated. I have cooked for a party of 20 and everything was finished around the same time. I highly recommend this grill. With a limited lifetime warranty I am not worried about having to buy a new grill in a few years. Napoleon has made themselves an excellent grill and I look forward to many years of cooking.
Honest reviews on Napoleon M485RSIBPSS-1 Mirage Propane Gas Grill with Infrared Rear
First 6mo with the grill in SoCal. I bought a beautiful Classic Accessories Hickory Cart BBQ Grill Cover, Large. That fits perfectly. Mine came with the optional SS side cabinets and it makes a formative impression sitting on the patio. The assembly took some time but not hard, one screw at a time.To be fair I bought mine at a 1/2 off price so I may be biased on performance vs. cost.
The construction is as good as a Weber Genesis. Better if you prefer the SS heat box vs cast aluminum. You have to get the Weber Summit to compare as the Mirage is all SS the Summit is painted steel and cast aluminum. Weber S-330 and Summit 470 does not have the side infrared sear section the Mirage has. The 330 has a added burner inside. Side by side you can find things you like better about both.
Likes:
The SS wave grates are better.
SS heat box
SS flavor bars.
Excellent heat.
Excellent seal, little heat escapes.
Sear burner is AWESOME!
Rotisserie is included and works excellent.
Lid is balanced and lifts with a finger.
Thermometer seams accurate.
Drip pan EZ to remove from rear. (Foil cover it to keep it clean!)
Heat..... with 3 burners it gets HOT very fast. I will lite all 3 then close the lid for about 2 minutes and then just run 1 burner. High heat is not an issue because the box is well sealed.
To run low and slow you need only 1 burner and turned way down. As one reviewer already said you can slide the SS flavorizer bars together under the meat and shield the food from direct heat while letting the drippings smoke the food. The bars are EZ positioned anywhere on the heat box.
I haven't experienced any rust to date but again I live in SoCal but I am subject to the daily marine layer. It does live outside and always under cover. I did spray the interior with Pam spray and season the heat box, rack and grill grates. It really takes the "New" off your grill but is better in the long run and my be why I don't see any rust that others are reporting.
I am super happy especially with the deal I got. Now if I paid retail I would have looked really hard at the Broil King imperial 490, Mirage then the Genesis 330 in the price range.
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