Since I haven’t seen the new Weber SmokeFire in person, I will withhold final judgment. However, I have seen grills similar to what Larry linked at from Menards. Regardless of what they say about searing, I don’t think these compare in terms of construction materials or engineering. Certainly, the electronics are not in the same league. That isn’t to say that the linked grill can’t do a decent job, but there are reasons it is priced a lot lower. I do agree that the nickel chrome plated steel grates were an unfortunate choice by Weber. At least they are standard Spirit/classic Genesis size so for 40 to 50 bucks you can ultimately replace them with one of the middle of the road stainless rod grates I reviewed a while back. I also don’t believe the grill linked is capable of anything over 500 degrees without some compromising modification.