New decade old Summit vs. New Genesis/Genesis II

My 2004 Genesis Silver C is on its last legs. The frame rot by the body is terrible and the whole grill body rocks back when I open the lid. It is time to move on and get a new gas grill. I am not fond of the higher Weber prices though. So, I am trying to limit myself to $500 or so. I know that will get me a very solid older grill to refurbish if I felt like it. I just don't know if I have the time to devote to that quest. I have three year old twins and am training for the BP MS150, so my weekend "project" time is limited. I really only need a three to four burner grill. The side burner is not really needed.

On craigslist locally, there is this grill, a Summit Gold A4 (guessing) - $700. It is new with plastic still on it and has been in storage for the past ten years. Think it should be no more than $500, even as a new item. I am curious about the age, so I attached a picture. If anyone has thoughts on how much a reasonable value for this grill, please let me know. It's been listed fora few months now, so either there is no interest, or the guy isn't moving off of his price.



My other option is to try and beat down the Lowes manager for a couple of 2016 Genesis models they have on the floor. There is a copper E-330 for $699 and an S-330 for $849. The S-330 is missing the big grease drip tray and the igniter button, so I can try and use that to bring the price down. But it is a long way to get to my self-imposed $500 limit.

Talk him down on that summit. Start at 200 see if he'll meet at 300. With used always haggle. You never know.

IMO I wouldn't pay over 500 for that summit. If that doesn't work with your budget of 500 you might consider a weber spirit. I have a friend that has one and he loves his. It's a step down from the genesis but still well built IMO.

Another option would be a broil king. I think they make a quality grill and their three burner models start at 400.

The Summit would not be a "bad" deal at $500 if you can do it. Frankly I would not buy a Spirit at all. Was looking at them as a possible housewarming gift for the upcoming new home for daughter #1 and son in law. Total disappointment. The huge spaces (no secret I hate so much) between grates is even worse on the Spirit than the new(er) Genesis models and Summits. I know it seems like a "dead horse" but I hate sacrificing food to the burner gods.
Honestly compared to the latest crop of Chinese stuff Weber is foisting off at HUGE prices IMO this https://www.samsclub.com/sams/6-burner-gas-grill/prod20650624.ip?xid=plp1872-outd:product:1:4 looks as good or better than anything from them.
Otherwise I'd look at something from Onward http://www.omcbbq.com/ again MUCH cheaper than Weber and IMO at least as good if not better products and made in US. Otherwise keep searching CL for a good used product that rather than needing a full "restore" just needs some elbow grease.

I think the Summit would be a fine grill, but I have to get it at a good price. It might be new and still wrapped, but it is still a 12 year old model. Weber will probably drop support soon on it. It even looks dated compared to the modern models. But I believe the quality is certainly there. It will still sit outside in the Houston elements until the time we actually get a covering on our back patio. I just don't know how low the seller is willing to go. He's held onto it for 12 years and is asking $700. An offer of $200 is crazy low, but probably more accurate. I just don't want to insult the guy. I'll have to go all Pawn Stars on him...

As far as getting a different brand, I haven't really considered it. I am a Weber loyalist/snob/fanboy and seem to default to them. I saw the Member's Mark grill in Sam's quickly yesterday. It seemed nice enough. think we had a Broil King when I was growing up. I think and that was a solid grill.

As far as getting a different brand, I haven't really considered it. I am a Weber loyalist/snob/fanboy and seem to default to them

I was too but you have to realize the profit mongers that are now running what had been a solidly run family owned company are selling their souls to the gods of Chinese production so they can now sell a unit that may have cost them $200 to import for over $1000. Weber as we came to know and love it is gone. Even the units they tout as "made in USA" really are not. the parts are all from China and the grills are "assembled/packed" here in Illinois. But true "production" is not here. Frankly it saddens me as I believed in the products I had bought and paid dearly for as being the best. No such aspirations now. When a company sells it's soul (like Weber did, Charmglow, CharBroil, and a number of others) the product is no longer worth the sacrifice any more. Take that Sam's unit I pointed out. Is it up to what a Weber (used to be)? Heck no. But from my observations of what I have seen of the new Weber product(s), it's AWFUL darn close MUCH closer than the price difference would lead you to believe. At least with the Sam's unit you're not buying a "pretender". They don't try to hide what you're buying under what had been a top notch name and company. They're also not raping you on the cost. Compared to a 6 burner Genesis you could buy 3 of them. Figure it lasts 7 to 8 good years (honestly see no reason it would not with minimal care) and again the Genesis II perhaps 8-9 before anything really needed at $499 you're WAY ahead of the game IMO. I mean heck Weber is asking $549 for the 2 burner version of the Genesis!
On another note I am frankly puzzled by grill pricing anyway. Honestly I don't see where a company (any company) gets off charging so much for a metal box with some tubes for flame and some bars to hold food out of the flame. Truthfully after seeing much of the Weber lineup I scratch my head trying to understand where they justify more than $500 for their stuff (especially in light of the Chinese slave labor building it and drop in quality of material(s)).

Scott P. said:

I think the Summit would be a fine grill, but I have to get it at a good price. It might be new and still wrapped, but it is still a 12 year old model. Weber will probably drop support soon on it. It even looks dated compared to the modern models. But I believe the quality is certainly there. It will still sit outside in the Houston elements until the time we actually get a covering on our back patio. I just don't know how low the seller is willing to go. He's held onto it for 12 years and is asking $700. An offer of $200 is crazy low, but probably more accurate. I just don't want to insult the guy. I'll have to go all Pawn Stars on him..

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I skimmed over your mention of it being up for months. He ain't budging. When looking for performer I saw the same tired MSRP used sales up in craiglist month after month. That guy will wait for the right sucker...I mean customer to come along. For many CL sellers time and storage is money so they'll negotiate. This guy doesn't seem to mind waiting and storing it, so you are at disadvantage.

I'll disagree with LMichaels on the Sam's Club model. I have a good friend that has one. It looks nice but it flares up like crazy. And the firebox is sheet metal NOT cast aluminum so it's not going to last. The one LMichaels is referring to could be a different model? But my friends is a recent model.

The spirit the other friend of mine has despite being made in china seems like a well made product. In fact consumer reports recently had it as their best buy in grills. I've helped cook on both the spirit and the Sam's grill and there is no comparison. The grate spacing just doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

Just an FYI on the Summit in question here, the firebox on this generation is sheet steel with cast aluminum sides (think the way a Weber lid is put together). I restored one of these last year and after 12+ years outside in coastal RI the top lip of the steel firebox was crumbling. There's (I believe) a 25 year warranty on the box, but that assumes Weber has them in stock...

That being said, it was an awfully nice grill that I nearly kept...but I had too much invested in my redhead Genesis (rcplanebuyer flavorizers AND grates) to get rid of it.

KevinG said:

Just an FYI on the Summit in question here, the firebox on this generation is sheet steel with cast aluminum sides (think the way a Weber lid is put together). I restored one of these last year and after 12+ years outside in coastal RI the top lip of the steel firebox was crumbling. There's (I believe) a 25 year warranty on the box, but that assumes Weber has them in stock...

That being said, it was an awfully nice grill that I nearly kept...but I had too much invested in my redhead Genesis (rcplanebuyer flavorizers AND grates) to get rid of it.

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To me a sheet metal firebox is a deal-breaker. They just won't last. I had forgotten some of the summit models were not cast aluminum.

A 10+ year old "never used" Summit, who'd have thunk it? It would be nice to have, but $700 would probably kill my interest too. Good luck with whatever you end up with. I'd agree with LMichaels, the Spirit is probably something to avoid

If I were shopping for a new grill and wanted to stay under $500, I'd give the Traeger Junior Elite a good look. It's $408 at Home Depot, and looked pretty decent as near as I could tell

The mention of CR makes me kind of chuckle. They take brand new products. Test them and they're done. You don't know how it does a year, 2, 3, 4.........down the road. Usually if I ever see CR recommend a product I buy the opposite and find I usually have a much better product

Scott P. said:

I am curious about the age, so I attached a picture.

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This design was new for the 2003 model year and was discontinued at the end of the 2006 model year.

LMichaels said:

The mention of CR makes me kind of chuckle. They take brand new products. Test them and they're done. You don't know how it does a year, 2, 3, 4.........down the road.

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Can't expect CR to test grills over a 20 year period. No different than "JD Powers Initial Quality Awards" for cars which says nothing about how cars will fare 5 or 10 years down the road. These tests only tell you something about a product at a point in time, and that can be valuable. I've always found CR recommendations to be useful, as well as recommendations from Cook's Illustrated, which has given top ratings in the past to Spirit and Performer and the WSM.

Chris Allingham said:

Can't expect CR to test grills over a 20 year period. No different than "JD Powers Initial Quality Awards" for cars which says nothing about how cars will fare 5 or 10 years down the road. These tests only tell you something about a product at a point in time, and that can be valuable. I've always found CR recommendations to be useful, as well as recommendations from Cook's Illustrated, which has given top ratings in the past to Spirit and Performer and the WSM.

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Funny this came up, sometime around 2003-4 CR came out with a grill test and stated that a four burner grill that Sears sold was the best of the best. Well I was working at Sears in the tool/lawn and garden dept. and could get a nice discount on one, so I bought it. I also had my 1999 genesis 1000 I moved the genesis down to the lower deck and placed the new Sears grill on the upper deck.
What a pile compared to the genesis, the Sears grill had hot/cold spots all over it and the flare ups were unbelievable. So I took it back, my boss wasn't to happy about it but I did get my money back. Because of that article we had a lot of people coming in to buy one it was really hard to keep my mouth shut, but I did. About two to three weeks later in a staff meeting our boss told us that Sears had stopped selling that grill....to many returns.
Not bad mouthing CR for it, I've used their guidance many times with great success. Just thought it was funny this came up.

Me, I have never had luck with much of anything they recommend. I have foolishly followed their advice on tires, car batteries, appliances and such and been so horribly disappointed. Which is why I joked around about always buying the opposite of what they recommend. Though, honestly it's not far from the truth. I.e. one thing I always wondered. For a VERY long time Kenmore appliances came out on top consistently (even against the parent company that made them). I found out it was because one of the people on BOD for Sears also sat on CR BOD. Then it made sense to me

I've trusted consumer reports for years. My father taught me that. I always look at a products performance rating and also that brands past reliability. And in roughly 35 years as an adult of buying appliances, cars etc I can't remember a single time I was steered wrong.

Not a bad track record. I think I'll continue to trust them.

LMichaels said:

For a VERY long time Kenmore appliances came out on top consistently (even against the parent company that made them). I found out it was because one of the people on BOD for Sears also sat on CR BOD. Then it made sense to me

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Unlikely that a single board member could exert such pressure on the testing dept. and risk the reputation of CR to fix results in favor of Sears. I don't buy it.

Anyway, apologies to original poster Scott P. for taking the bait on CR and derailing his thread. If we want to debate the merits CR, let's start a new thread in the Just Conversation forum.

I got my question answered, so it's all good. Besides, I brought this home yesterday. I will start a new thread soon enough to discuss it.

Sure, I bring home that beast and something else showed up on cl this morning. It was stock photo of a six burner Summit Platinum, same generation as the one I just bought. He said that this was what it looked like new and that you had to contact him for details. When I did contact him, I ended up with pictures of a 2005 or so Genesis Platinum C, three burner. He replaced the bars and grates with stainless ones five years ago. It needs a good cleaning, but looks to be in solid shape. I might just take the 45 minute drive with my three year old "helpers" tomorrow afternoon to look at that one too.







I am curious to see how it looks in the light and what a good clean up might uncover.

That too could be a great find