Reviews of Magma Marine Kettle Gas Grill w/ Hinged Lid, Original Size

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List Price: $224.98
Sale Price: $181.58
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This is actually my second grill. The first I used for 11 boating seasons, and it served me well. But, I started having trouble with the propane remaining on, so it was time to get a new one. The hinged lid is a great improvement because you no longer need to fuss with the metal cable keeping the lid on board. But, the best improvement is the stay cool handle thank goodness! This time around I also got the land stand, which I would definitely recommend as well. That makes it easy to convert to a more multipurpose travel grill (road trips, camping, picnics, etc.).

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This grill only does one thing well: it adheres to the universal law that anything with the word "marine" in its name gets a 200% price mark-up. This terrible product would not be fit for cooking roadkill in a post-apocalyptic refugee camp. There is a lot of stainless steel in it, so it may have scrap value, but that is all.

How much do I hate this thing? Let me count the ways:

(1) The manufacturer claims this grill is wind resistant, but this can't be a true statement unless Magma only means to imply that the grill itself will not blow away when it is properly secured to your boat (see note 4 below on proper securement). Don't be fooled into thinking the flame will not blow out when the wind pipes up. The truth is that if the wind is blowing more than about 10 knots, your flame is done for. So while you are cooking with your new $180 to $200 marine grill, don't plan on going anywhere--you'll need to stand by the grill at all times so you can relight it once every 30 seconds or so.

(2) The burner must have been designed by someone who either hates food, or hates cooked food. This is supposed to be a grill, but it comes with a small circular burner about 2 inches in diameter--basically, a small stove burner. There is a heat shield you can place over the burner which apparently is supposed to distribute the heat more evenly across the cooking surface, but what it really does is catch all the heat so that your food stays pleasantly cool and raw. So if you don't like completely raw food (and you know you don't, or why are you reading a review about a barbecue grill?) your only choice is to take the heat shield off. Then you can put a two-inch burn circle in whatever you are cooking, while the rest of it stays raw. If you are really coordinated, you can use one hand to move the food around constantly to attempt to burn it all equally, while using your other hand to relight the grill every thirty seconds when the wind blows it out (see note one).

(3) The piezoelectric ignition button broke after two uses. Magma probably never expected anyone to try using this grill more than twice, so it might make sense for this feature to have a short lifespan. Why invest in parts no one will ever use?

(4) This grill is heavy, but the hardware for attaching it to your boat is flimsy and pathetic. It came with a stainless steel arm that is supposed to clamp onto a lifeline stanchion. If your stanchion is too small in diameter for the included clamp, there is a plastic shim. The clamp, the shim and the stainless steel arm are woefully unprepared for the simple task of holding the grill level. The only way I can use this grill without it wobbling so much that raw food rolls off the side while I'm trying to relight it, is to not use the attachment arm at all, and instead put my swim ladder across my cockpit seats and balance the grill between two ladder rungs. Classy, right?

(5) There is no backup plan in this design for what to do when the wind inevitably blows out your lousy 2-inch burner, and your piezoelectric switch is broken. There is no easy way to light the stove burner by hand except to take all your raw food off the grill, unlock the cooking surface from the bottom pan, and reach in with a match or a lighter, and then put everything back together, trying to move as fast as you can before the flame blows out again. Fortunately, since nothing on this grill ever gets hot, you can do all this with your bare hands.

Overall Impression: this grill might make a good emergency anchor, might be good to throw at attacking pirates and might be good if you have extra space in your dock box and you're dying to fill it up with something. If you have a new one in the box still, and you haven't opened the box, you could regift it to someone who likes raw food and goes boating in a place with no wind--maybe a lake in a cave. This is a poorly designed piece of junk, which is priced at least ten times more than it is worth. I would be happier cooking over an empty coffee can burning scraps of trash.

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Very happy with this grill....struggled a bit with the propane bottle connection...there is slot on the valve that locks it in place once it's in the fuel neck....but it wasn't obvious. The grill design is great, lid is never in the way, easy to open, easy to clean.

Honest reviews on Magma Marine Kettle Gas Grill w/ Hinged Lid, Original Size

Magma grills use the lower cost 304 stainless vs the better 316 stainless. If you have a boat on salt water, you must get 316 stainless as 304 does not resist rust very well from salt. I've had two Magmas and the both are covered in surface rust within 6 months. This is not an exaggeration. In addition, the "special" Magma grill cleaner, does not remove much of the surface rust and is very hard to use. It takes a lot of elbow grease. If your on salt water, don't buy a Magma grill or you'll be sorry!

304 vs 316 stainless What's the difference? The simple answer is 304 contains 18% chromium and 8% nickel while 316 contains 16% chromium, 10% nickel and 2% molybdenum. The molybdenum is added to help resist corrosion to chlorides (like sea water and de-icing salts).

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Magma Marine Kettle Gas Grill w/ Hinged Lid, Original Size

This is the third one for me in 6 years. I have not been happy with the life span which resulted because of a poor inner liner design. I have contacted Magma about this on my first one and they were not helpful at all.

To my surprise when I got this grill the design has changed to exactly as I suggested to them to solve the problem.