This is my fourth gas grill which replaces a very expensive stainless "Turbo" unit I bought from Barbecues Galore about eight years ago. That Turbo started out fine, but steadily deteriorated to the point where I didn't even want to fire it up anymore. The quality of materials and workmanship on the Weber Summit S-650 is top shelf. Every detail is well thought-out and executed, including the burner system, high-end side burner, LP tank weight guage, heavy guage stainless grills, jet ignition system, separate smoker box and burner, drip tray system, massive lid, and LED grill-out lights that really work. I've only owned the Summit for a short time, but everything I've grilled so far has turned out perfectly. The six burners and large cooking area make it possible to cook for a large party, but also provide more options for indirect cooking. Want more heat without increased gas usage? Turn on the burners closer to the food. It's brilliant. Perhaps the best features are the flavorizer bars and grease drip system. They virtually guarantee no flare-ups on fatty foods like burgers and chicken quarters, which was a constant source of frustration with my previous grill. The grease hits the flavorizer bars and disappears into a poof of smoke. What misses the flavorizer bars hits the full width slanted grease tray that terminates into an aluminum catch pan. Clean and easy to manage with zero flare-ups and no charred food.
I really can't say enough good things about this grill and I can't think of a single negative to write about. While the Summit S-650 may seem expensive at first glance, it compares very favorably to grills costing 4x as much. With the Summit, you don't get what you pay for...you get much more. Is it possible to love a grill? :-)
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We looked at numerous box store stainless gas grills and after reading many opinions indicating the cheaper grills don't hold up more than around two years, we realized to own a grill with longevity it would have to be a Weber Summit.
The initial cash outlay is significantly more but will pay for itself by providing years of dependable service and if there ever is a problem is backed by a well known, in it for the long haul, reputable company.
The boxed grill arrived perfect, supported in a heavy-duty plastic shipping base strapped to a wooden pallet. Assembly was quick and simple with picture type instructions.
We have owned the grill for about a month and are extremely satisfied with its performance. We were impressed by the following features: Super heavy-duty 3/8" dia. stainless steel cooking grates that leave perfect grill marks, cooking grates are mounted flush with the opening at the front making it convenient to insert a quick read thermometer sideways into the center of your food and allowing the lid to be closed on the thermometer keeping the heat in, easy to access and clean stainless drip trough, flavorizer bars provide a nearly charcoal flavor, heats up to 700 degrees in 3-4 minutes at 85 degrees outside temp, smoker burner can be switched on in normal mode providing an additional 8,000 BTU, all burners light nearly instantly with the turn of each knob, tip-up battery lights are very effective and provide a bright white light in the optimum location.
The smoker system is extremely convenient and allows you to control the grill down to the 225 degree range with just the smoker burner on that is ideal for indirect slow smoke cooking ribs, briskets, vegetables. The stainless smoker box is easily removable for cleaning and the top is hinged to provide easy access to allow additional wood chunks/chips to be added during the smoking process.
Rotisserie burner is mounted in the ideal location up along the back center of the interior shell of the unit out of the way. The spit is easily serviceable during cooking and provides an adjustable location for two items approximately 10" diameter.
The only negatives we have seen: discoloration of a small painted area on either side of the main grill cover as a result of the smoke exiting the grill only when the smoker is used, the weight of the unit made it a challenge to get it into place.
UPDATE: March 2013:
Still love this grill after nearly 6 years! The stainless finish still looks the same as when it was new. It has sat outside for its entire life through the cold winters of Minnesota and has performed extremely well even during the winter months. All of the burners still ignite perfectly. I have noticed when the temperature drops below 20 degrees and the propane is cold it is difficult to keep all of the burners burning. I think it has to do with the temperature/pressure of the gas and its ability to meet the demand of the burners. If I replace the tank when I need to grill with a warm tank all works as expected.
My grill runs a little hotter on the right side than on the left. I generally use this to my advantage when grilling various thickness items. I use the heavy wire shelf above for grilling hot dogs, slow grilling chicken legs, toasting buns, melting cheese for a few seconds over finished burgers and keeping foil wrapped breads and other sides toasty warm. I utilize the side burner to heat up/boil panned foods mostly during the hottest months of the summer to keep the heat out of our kitchen. I am happy to say I have been thrilled with the performance of this grill! It works excellent to sear steaks at around 750 degrees for around 1-1/2 minutes per side or less and then turn the burners to low to drop the heat quickly to around 450 degrees and slowly finish them off to a nice rare to medium rare.
I use a heavy duty, liquid, wipe-on stainless steel cleaner from Zep that removes the residue left from the smoke and grease that makes its way to the outside surfaces of the grill. I then follow that up with a citrus based stainless cleaner that cleans off the heavy duty cleaner and leaves a beautiful shine behind. The painted sides on either side of the main cover have become more darkened over time but are not detracting from the grill. The base and interior framework show no sign of rust. I take out the grills to vacuum the burners once a year. I also remove the stainless tapered catch pan underneath for cleaning twice a year. Food particles and grease catches on this pan but wipes off fairly easily with the stainless cleaner. Buy the extra, narrow disposable grease catch pans in multi-packs as the grease/water mix becomes acidic over time and tends to eat through these. No damage is done to the unit because it has a completely enclosed bracket to hold this pan. I would buy another one of these grills in a heartbeat but don't think I will need to as this one is really lasting!
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This is my third gas grill and by far the best. It really seems built to last and passes the shake test with fying colors as mentioned before. It gets hot very quickly and gives your meat those nice sear lines, the smoker works well, as do those neat grill out handle lights. Packaging was very good, set up is very simple basically remove the grill from carton (takes 2 people as it is very heavy) install the side shelves, flavorizer bars, cooking grates, grease trap and hook up your lp tank and your ready to grill.
Overall I would highly recommend this grill even with the hefty price tag. For me it is a long term investment and is well worth it.
Honest reviews on Weber 1780001 Summit S-650 Propane Grill, Stainless Steel
I got rid of my 10 year old Weber gas grill last summer and I'm sorry I did. I had a large red Weber, not sure of the model number, that served me well for 10 years. There never seemed to be enough room on the grill however so when I saw the new S-650 I just had to get it. Big enough to cook for a crowd, smoker box, it seemed like a dream grill! Except for the price!
One of my favorite things is slow cooking on the grill but this has turned out to be a disaster on this grill. The smoker works flawlessly but the temperature is just not right inside the grill. Slow grill-roasting requires indirect heat at a "slow" temperature of 250 to 275. When this grill is set to that temperature the food just does not cook. My old, smaller Weber did a great job at slow cooking ribs, briskets, chicken, pork shoulders, whatever, But I just couldn't seem to get them to cook correctly on this grill.
I suspected the temperatures were not what the thermometer on the hood said they are. So I bought an oven thermometer and tested the temperatures under the hood. I tested it by slow cooking and smoking two racks of spare ribs. I had the smoker burner on low and the two main burners next to it on medium (the closest one) and low. When the grill hood thermometer read 275 the temperature on the far left side of the burner surface was only 150 degrees! And the temp just to the right of the ribs rightmost side was 175 (to be expected as closer to the lit burners). A 125 degree difference between the grill hood thermometer and the surface...totally unreliable in my estimation.
The only way to get the 275 over on the left surface was to get the grill hood thermometer up to around 375. The distance between that thermometer and the left surface is only about 12 to 18 inches in an enclosed space. The only thing I can figure is that the heat is rising up inside the hood but not staying down lower. Perhaps the hood is just too big or the thermometer needs to be lower. Didn't these guys test this before it went into production???
After all the money I spent on this thing, I wish I had my old grill back (which I gave away, still in decent shape!). I can't control the time or the cooking like in my old grill. Last year many outdoor cooking days were ruined by the food not being cooked or just undercooked and tough.
I did notice that Consumer Reports in their latest issue only rated this grill average in slow cooking ability. They are correct. I gave this grill a 3 rating because it does a really good job in the normal tasks of grilling steaks and hamburgers, etc.
One final thing. I wrote to Weber about this issue and got a really strange response from them about how this is a bigger grill than my older one and I have to get used to cooking on it, etc. What a stupid response! And even worse, the Weber person suggested that maybe I need to use more wood in the smoker box...what that has to do with a faulty thermometer and uneven temperatures I'll never know.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Weber 1780001 Summit S-650 Propane Grill, Stainless Steel
Grill arrived with bent front doors. Weber customer service was great on the phone. New doors arrived, missing the magnetic clasp and interior instruction sticker and themselves slightly bent. In removing the old doors, I saw rust streaks underneath, which didn't make me feel very confident in the durability of this grill.
The back and sides are painted, not stainless, so you'll probably want to place it against a wall. The base bends easily on uneven surfaces. The casters are lame. But in the end it cooks well. All the business parts, the grate, burners, etc., work nicely and it can definitely crank out the BTU's.
