Finally got a chance this weekend to assemble the new Genesis E325s I picked up a couple of weekends ago and try it out... Its been a mild end of winter/start to spring up here in Ottawa and I have been itching to grill. The start of the Jays season really made me want to at least grill up a couple of sausages or dogs. Despite being 11C here today they are calling for snow later this week, so I might have rushed things, though its supposed to return to 13C by end of week so hopefully a 2nd grill next weekend as the snow shouldn't last and I do have a cover for the grill.
For the first grill it was nothing fancy. Just a couple of grocery store NY Strips. I upgraded to the Qulimetal 9mm stainless grates, as I hate babying Cast Iron. They are solid, probably twice as heavy as the included CI grates and no magnetism, so confident they are 304S. I read the reviews in this forum so I wasn't going in blind, but with the Chinese outfits you never know if they substitute things or change manufactures so I was glad they were as advertised.
Of the BBQ itself, I do not have experience with older model Genesis, though I have used a friends 2018 Spirit II 310 a few times.... compared to that, this is a beefier grill. Compared to the Broil King Signet I used before this guy, the cast aluminum firebox was about the same but the Signet was a smaller cooking area, but everything else about the Genesis is a touch better. The burners got to about the same heat (without a thermometer its hard to say definitivly but the Signet could get a touch hotter (and was a bit quicker to get up to temp) but the Genesis, from the little I used it today was good at modulating its heat on low, and not getting too hot. The Signet could get stupid hot but even on lowest settings it stayed relatively hot... Otherwise everything else on the Genesis was nice. The way the drip tray pulls out makes cleaning the que way easier. The warming racking flipping out for more realestate is neat too.
Nit picky things - Its a sharp looking Que as far as that goes, but while the knobs look nice, they felt kinda cheap compared to the knobs on the signet or from what I remember for the Spirit. Thick, rubbery but unfancy plastic vs the fancy Genesis knobs. They are kinda two bits of harder more brittle feeling plastic, one translucent red, pressed with a metallic silver plastic to make the knob, Im guessing on some models they are lit but mine isn't, so the red bit is just for show. Its a harder more brittle feeling plastic vs the older rubbery plastic. They aren't bad to turn but I am not sure they are a functional upgrade over regular knobs. I also don't like how the propane tank is stored in the cart... Storing the tank in the cart is not bad, but hooking it up to the included gauge though is a pain so I will likely not (I have a tank that has a gauge on it already anyway but the cart has a red metal arrow attached to the interior gauge that will go unused. Also don't like the wheels. Full casters they are probably "better" but they are not that good for anything but decks or patios. I have some peagravel and store it in a shed at the back of my yard so I have to offroad it. A bigger wheel would probably work better for me, though I only put it away and take it out at end/start of seasons so its not too bad. Overall I am happy for the clearout price I got it for... $900 Canadian pesos, so about $660 USD but I am not sure it is worth full price. It would be too rich for my blood...
Exterior...
The new 9mm grates... These things are beefy...
For the first grill it was nothing fancy. Just a couple of grocery store NY Strips. I upgraded to the Qulimetal 9mm stainless grates, as I hate babying Cast Iron. They are solid, probably twice as heavy as the included CI grates and no magnetism, so confident they are 304S. I read the reviews in this forum so I wasn't going in blind, but with the Chinese outfits you never know if they substitute things or change manufactures so I was glad they were as advertised.
Of the BBQ itself, I do not have experience with older model Genesis, though I have used a friends 2018 Spirit II 310 a few times.... compared to that, this is a beefier grill. Compared to the Broil King Signet I used before this guy, the cast aluminum firebox was about the same but the Signet was a smaller cooking area, but everything else about the Genesis is a touch better. The burners got to about the same heat (without a thermometer its hard to say definitivly but the Signet could get a touch hotter (and was a bit quicker to get up to temp) but the Genesis, from the little I used it today was good at modulating its heat on low, and not getting too hot. The Signet could get stupid hot but even on lowest settings it stayed relatively hot... Otherwise everything else on the Genesis was nice. The way the drip tray pulls out makes cleaning the que way easier. The warming racking flipping out for more realestate is neat too.
Nit picky things - Its a sharp looking Que as far as that goes, but while the knobs look nice, they felt kinda cheap compared to the knobs on the signet or from what I remember for the Spirit. Thick, rubbery but unfancy plastic vs the fancy Genesis knobs. They are kinda two bits of harder more brittle feeling plastic, one translucent red, pressed with a metallic silver plastic to make the knob, Im guessing on some models they are lit but mine isn't, so the red bit is just for show. Its a harder more brittle feeling plastic vs the older rubbery plastic. They aren't bad to turn but I am not sure they are a functional upgrade over regular knobs. I also don't like how the propane tank is stored in the cart... Storing the tank in the cart is not bad, but hooking it up to the included gauge though is a pain so I will likely not (I have a tank that has a gauge on it already anyway but the cart has a red metal arrow attached to the interior gauge that will go unused. Also don't like the wheels. Full casters they are probably "better" but they are not that good for anything but decks or patios. I have some peagravel and store it in a shed at the back of my yard so I have to offroad it. A bigger wheel would probably work better for me, though I only put it away and take it out at end/start of seasons so its not too bad. Overall I am happy for the clearout price I got it for... $900 Canadian pesos, so about $660 USD but I am not sure it is worth full price. It would be too rich for my blood...
Exterior...
The new 9mm grates... These things are beefy...