New The Huntsman Kettle Kamado Grill from Spider coming.


 

Joe Anshien

TVWBB Platinum Member
I think this grill looks exciting, at least in theory. I believe it will be 22". The price is $749.00 but still less expensive than Weber's Kamado. They will also have a rebate for Venom customers that don't want to have 2.

 
I am not so sure I would call that a kamado style grill, it appears to be more of a kettle made of carbon steel (5mm thick) with a built in ATC. Kamado style grills are heavily insulated & would never be able to withstand the impact of a sledge hammer.
 
I don't think it really competes with the Summit Kamado. I guess I would have to see more, but I like the simplicity of no electrical required for my WSK. Also, WSK has the lower charcoal grate position and deflector plate for low and slow.
 
I don't think it really competes with the Summit Kamado. I guess I would have to see more, but I like the simplicity of no electrical required for my WSK. Also, WSK has the lower charcoal grate position and deflector plate for low and slow.
I did ask if this could be run w/o power and it had bottom vents to control air flow and they said yes.
 
I am not so sure I would call that a kamado style grill, it appears to be more of a kettle made of carbon steel (5mm thick) with a built in ATC. Kamado style grills are heavily insulated & would never be able to withstand the impact of a sledge hammer.
Where is ATC?
 
Well, I’m not buying one but, it seems like it has pros and cons.
I doubt I will be either, but I do really like the construction, think it is interesting, and like the side door. I could see myself interested in a used one down the road, if / when my Masterbuilt gravity bites the dust.
 
I like it, but the size is important. I am hoping you are right, @Joe Anshien about the 22". I only watched the preview briefly and maybe missed that.

I would think that thick carbon steel and electronic fan controls would be MORE capable of holding temps than a "plain" kamado. That's coming from a former Big Green Egg owner who sold only because of being afraid to try and move it from Florida to Indiana.

I like the industrial look (my son would call it "steam punk") as a fresh alternative to others out there. And at $749 it beats out BGE and yes, the WSK, by a pretty wide margin. Not saying I could buy one, but if I was in that league and looking, it would be on my list.
 
I like it, but the size is important. I am hoping you are right, @Joe Anshien about the 22". I only watched the preview briefly and maybe missed that.

I would think that thick carbon steel and electronic fan controls would be MORE capable of holding temps than a "plain" kamado. That's coming from a former Big Green Egg owner who sold only because of being afraid to try and move it from Florida to Indiana.

I like the industrial look (my son would call it "steam punk") as a fresh alternative to others out there. And at $749 it beats out BGE and yes, the WSK, by a pretty wide margin. Not saying I could buy one, but if I was in that league and looking, it would be on my list.
I got the 22" from the questions answered in the comments on they YouTube Video. I am looking forward to seeing the review videos from the "influencers" when they get them.
 
I doubt I will be either, but I do really like the construction, think it is interesting, and like the side door. I could see myself interested in a used one down the road, if / when my Masterbuilt gravity bites the dust.
I will wait to see some serious reviews after they are released (post “influencers”) before passing any form of judgement.
 
I agree Timothy as far as not wanting to be too early an adopter. These days we have so many opportunities to see products well vetted before we have to plunk down a chunk of change! I will be watching as well.

I see the primary disadvantage being that just like pellet grills - or any setup with electronics involved - there are inevitably going to be issues down the road. Spider seems like an innovative company, but will they be there for the long run? Hard to say for certain. On the other hand, the heavy-duty construction is a welcome relief for someone like me who, as I mentioned, gave up on my BGE because of fear of it turning into Humpty Dumpty in a long-distance move.

I DO like the electronics merging the low worry aspects of a pellet grill with real charcoal cooking (high heat or low and slow). The Masterbuilt Joe has and the somewhat similar gravity charcoal grill from Chargriller do the same thing. However, you really have to take care of those as there seems to be a lot of issues with longevity of the parts under so much stress. (There is a cottage industry already of stainless inserts for the Masterbuilt!) This design seems much simpler and more rugged. Yeah, you probably will be adding fuel more often, but that door looks like a great solution to that. In some ways this new grill tries to bring together benefits of both kamado and offset grills.
 
So far, the more I see, the more I like. At least they admit they are going to try and get their profits up by selling you all those "accessories!" I think that is OK, at least you can get into ownership at a really good deal compared to the alternatives. And, if you already have a bunch of Weber 22" stuff, then you can use them on this grill. A VERY wise choice using that size, in my view.

Side table(s) would be nice, but you can put it next to a table you already have. A heat deflector seems more important. If I was fortunate enough to raise the funds to buy one of these, I would use the one I already have for my Weber kettles.

I messaged Tom Horsman who kindly replied that he has put in a pre-order for a Huntsman. He said they told him they would try to get his out to him earlier than the July expected date. He is already very favorably inclined toward Spider, so I am sure they want him to be an "influencer."
 
Hats off to Spider for trying something a bit different in a space saturated already. I like the look and construction certainly looks solid. I will watch with interest for sure, the price looks reasonable for the level of materials used but post early bird I can see issues with getting people to drop $900 on this grill.

As I own numerous weber grills that are compatible with the venom this would be my first port of call if i was to spend any cash with Spider as this seems to be the component that provides all the tricks. Having owned a couple of Big Green Eggs and various char grills I still think the Weber Summit Kamado does everything well and rights the inherent wrongs of the pricey ceramic grills.

Good luck spider!
 

 

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