Buy Vision Grills Classic Kamado Charcoal Grill 596 Sq. In. Cooking

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I purchased this on season close out at my local Costco for $399 about a month ago. It really does compare to the Big Green Egg (BGE) and Primo grills for performance. It's about the size of a large BGE and can use some of the same accessories. I wasn't really considering BGE or Primo because they weren't in the budget. However, I almost bought a dedicated smoker instead, but I'm glad I didn't. I just couldn't see paying $200 to $400 for a metal box when I could have this. I'm hoping this is a buy it for life item, but only time will tell.

So far I've been mostly impressed with the construction. The head snapped off one bolt during assembly, which gives me some pause, but I was using a socket wrench, so I might have over-tightened it some. Otherwise everything is solid. The shelves are very nice and it comes with two tiered rack and cover. It has a huge firebox, so you shouldn't really load it to the top like you do with other kamados. Ideally you'd even put your deflector plate within the fire box. To do this, I purchased a spider along with a 16" wok from ceramic grill store dot com, and a 14" round 1" thick deflector plate (aka pizza stone) here Old Stone 4461 14-Inch Round Oven Pizza Stone. The spider will hold the heat deflector or the wok. The heat deflector allows us to do slow indirect cooking. You can't really smoke or BBQ without it. We checked for air leakage while smoking and found none. In fact, we accidentally snuffed out the fire once when we didn't mean to by closing it up too much. Despite our beginner mistakes, learning to control the heat was easy, and everything we cooked turned out great.

The first thing we made was ribs. They were some of the best ribs I've ever had, and I grew up in Texas. We've also roasted chicken, cooked pork loin roast, grilled shish-kabobs of shrimp and veggies, and made stir fry in the wok. My husband said that cooking on the grill is very fun and not significantly more work than the gas grill once you know what you are doing. I appreciate that I don't have as much mess in the kitchen to deal with. I have a young son and I'm glad that the bottom doesn't get as hot as some other grills ...ahem BGE ahem. I've checked while grilling and the bottom is just rather warm and not burning hot. I also love that it can handle both low and high temps very well. My Weber Q, which is still working after 10 years of regular use, is feeling lonely.

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I have been grilling/smoking for years. I switched back to charcoal grilling after a few years down the propane path (I only use my propane for grilling hot dogs when we entertain kids who refuse to eat good food). I had built myself a quite nice smoker unit out of some barrel stock a few years ago. I have smoked tons of meat and cheese over the years, all the while staying up until all hours tending my pit, my uninsulated air leaky homemade pit.

A friend moved back into the area and had a large Green Egg. He was a fellow bbq'r and we started competing as it were every other weekend making delicious feed. I noticed instantly how well a Kamado held in the heat and could not believe his fuel usage....he could smoke for 12-14 hours straight on a nice fuel load (half a bag of lump hardwood). The only thing I could not come to terms with is the fact that with his setup he had sunk 2 grand into it. Thanks, but no thanks. As nice as it was I couldn't afford to drop that kind of bread on a hobby.

Fast forward a few months later, and I found this Vision grill at Costco on a season end sale for $375 (i mean the normal price is 549 and online they will ship it to you for 699) and let me tell you this was worth it. The grill came fully assembled, all i had to do was assemble the wheeled cradle. Nice quality sideboards that fold down and even came with a VERY high quality custom tailored and embroidered cover.

I can control my temperature down to 220 degrees (smoked some AMAZING pork shoulder on Friday night) and even cranked it up to 740 degrees. I made some fajitas and threw the cast iron plates over the hot coals so I could "sizzle" them just like the restaurants. The temperature can easily be set anywhere in between and be regulated there for hours. I put a half bag of hardwood lump fuel in at 6 p.m. and got them ready, and pulled the pork off at 9 a.m. the next day and still had fuel in the oven. I have NEVER had the luxury of setting my pit and walking away. Amazing. It even got down to 40 degrees overnight. You can't beat the insulation and control of this oven. Next weekend we will be baking bread in it. All for about a quarter of the Egg brand.

Buy this you won't be let down.

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I bought 2 of these grills black, stainless steel stand, cover, pine shelves etc from costco a couple of weeks ago

They are great quality and cook better than my webers because the grill is about a foot above the charcoal and the air flow is much more controllable

better heat retention in the 180 pounds of clay may be the real cooking difference though

I haven't been able to get over 500°F with briquets for pizza a test with dry hardwood went quickly over 700°F

I bought both of mine for well under $750 for both on an end of summer clearance markdown check your local costco to see if any nearby costcos are still selling them

The costco online price is still $700 each incl shipping it weighs 226# in the box

amazon has a similar price on the other model of this grill amazon sells for $900 here titled

--paste-search--[Vision Grills Pro Kamado Barbecue Bundle Grill by Vision]

Honest reviews on Vision Grills Classic Kamado Charcoal Grill 596 Sq. In. Cooking

I ordered this grill from costco and it is amazing. My first cook was a brisket and it held 250 for around 15 hours with no adjustments to the vents. The bottom vent did leak a little air at first but a little bit of sealant and it's perfect now. Even without the sealant it worked great just wasn't able to get below 250-270. I did beer can chickens today that were so moist and juicy you would not believe it.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Vision Grills Classic Kamado Charcoal Grill 596 Sq. In. Cooking

I used to have a gas grill and no matter how many wood chips I used and how slow I cooked my meat it could never match up to this Kamado. The first time I used it I made the best tri-tip ever and same goes for chicken, ribs, and more. It's much more fun and actually easier in the long run as you learn to just dial in the temperature and walk away. My brother bought the high end webber gas grill and we are always competing who is best. His cost so much more and really it's only better at cooking a quick burger or something easy. Burgers on this grill actually taste better but he can start up his webber with less effort. I just start my coals on my camping stove and then dump them into my Kamado. I read up on everything and went over smokers, the bullet, gas grills etc... In the end I wanted a Green Egg or Primo but those were out of my price range. What made this stand out to me was the ability to cook well at different temperatures. Found this at costco and it was my best buy ever. It's a year old now with no signs of breakdown. At this rate I figure it will last for a very long time. If you want to have fun cooking and bust out flavorful BBQ on every try then this or something similar is the way to go.