How good (or bad) is the Summit Kamado E6


 
Already earning from the first cook on Sunday (indirect set up for half chicken) that it needs less fuel than kettle!
Took a few briquettes out to help bring it back down.
On kettles I've always had the top vent either fully Open or Closed and controlled the temp with the bottom vent.
Had the Summit on smoke setting and top vent half open. Still loads of fuel left and that was on a cold day.

It definitely needs me to relearn.
It might look like a big kettle but it's unique. I think that allows them to keep the price high.
It's like moving from the old family car to a new sports car, it's going to need more finesse.

I really like the extra space. It looks great and I can see it is going to be flexible - good at grilling and smoking.
Surprised how heavy it is, nice solid feel but still half the weight of a ceramic.

Couple of gripes getting the wheels on, lining the pins up. Couple of bolts in the stand didn't line up as well as they should but a little patience and adjustments it all came together fine.
The lid doesn't sit square on the bowl but it doesn't leak. The rim of the bowl is wide enough to compensate. Not sure what adjustments are possible to move it over slightly.
Minor issues but for the price it shouldn't have any.

Very pleased with it so far.
 
I really do love my S6, but I hated the experience of getting it and setting it up. To make a long story short, Weber's QC and logistics leave a lot to be desired. Grill shipped with a defective lid with two divots where the paint was missing. I really don't think it could have been shipping damage. Took 5 replacement lids to get one where the enamel wasn't chipped AND/or missing parts.

Snippet ignition still doesn't seem to be routed right, but I'm just going to live with it. Weber's solution is just to throw parts at the problem and leave it up to you to do the actual fix to address factory issues. And if you read the directions they give you to replace any parts, they basically start by telling you to take the whole grill apart.

I finally got a supervisor on the phone who said they'd set up an appointment for a tech to come out and do the fixes for me. Guess what never happened.

Grill is great. I use it way more than my other grills. Weber, not so much. Hate to say it.

Edit: I should give you more experiences with the grill itself,

- I love using it compared to my other major smoker - my pellet grill. I’ve cooked a brisket, a couple butts, chicken wings and steaks, all have been excellent on it.

I still haven’t dialed in overnight cooks without having to use by FireBoard drive, but it does seem to settle in and hold fairly steady if I use a water pan. I think my grill just wants to run a bit hotter than the 225 I’m shooting for and I probably just need to embrace that.

This thing is efficient. Easy to get a 20hr cook ona load of KBB.

Love having the the room that 24” gives you. It just opens up so much opportunity to throw other stuff like veggies on the grill while you’re cooking.

Chicken and Wings using the vortex are amazing.

The snap jet ignition is nice in kamado mode but I would prefer it be positioned to be on the upper grate level so you could use it for grilling mode. That would probably be more useful. But you can use the charcoal basket and just move them when ready if you want.
 
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My E6 had 1 major defect, and one very minor. Major defect was that one of the brackets that forms the triangle at the base of the e6 was packed incorrectly (wrong part). Luckily, I bought local, and the retailer robbed the correct part out of another box and swapped it out. The more minor defect was that the Logo on the front of the unit is a little crooked. I'm living with that for now, but will probably have it fixed before too long. I had no other problems assembling, and have not noticed any other issues over the past month or so of owning the grill. So glad I didn't buy my E6 on-line or from a chain retailer because that bracket issue would have taken a few days to correct.

I agree with others... For a grill that retails over $1000 it really should be "perfect". In the end, "Quality" starts with the people who build and pack the products and their supervisors. Considering labor shortages/turnover and etc.. I would imagine quality is probably trending down on a lot of things.. Thinking about this makes me especially glad I don't work in Quality Assurance anymore. I'm still responsible for helping resolve quality issues, but it's not my primary job and I'm thankful for that.
 
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on an E6 but can't find one in-store to evaluate. I see they have a fan port, but no probe port to be found. How are you current users handling the probe wires?
 
Brian Millin said:
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on an E6 but can't find one in-store to evaluate. I see they have a fan port, but no probe port to be found. How are you current users handling the probe wires?
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probe goes under the lid across the gasket. which part of NorCal you at? i bought from a local Ace store an was/am 100% satisfied.
 
I buy a LOT of stuff online, but I would definitely buy from a local store with a good reputation for customer service. Weber reps have good attitudes but are clearly limited in their ability to address the issues from afar. Having somebody local to help resolve issues is worth whatever extra $ it costs but it probably won’t cost anything. There’s standardized pricing.
 
Very interesting. There are clearly some quality issues. Not just minor ones. What a shame.

I thought the E6/S6 was 'Made in the U.S.A.' (using globally sourced parts). Does anyone know how much is really made in the U.S. or do they just bring the parts over from China and box it?

One of the things made my gears grind was the alignment of the logo. Maybe the same issue that @John K BBQ mentioned.

You have one job on the production line - stick two labels on an enamelled metal box. Take pride in your small role in producing a good looking product. Make sure you get them straight :oops:



Not my best photography but hopefully you can see that neither of the labels are straight.
I guess once you stick these on they are hard to remove and they'd end up with a load of rejects.

I went to a vitreous enamelling factory a while back. Had a couple of experimental drums coated to make a UDS. They could apply special transfers of any images and 'bake' them on. Such a great material. That's what Weber should do. The logo will last forever and you can slide it to exactly the right position before firing. It's an additional firing process at a lower temp but the outcome would be so much better. Shouldn't have any cheapskate shortcuts on these grills.
 
I found the Black Friday offer online. The website included an address of a Garden Centre 30 minutes drive from me. I went to take a look, even though I knew I would still buy one. The display model had no wheels. The assistant told me he had removed them because a customer had problems with the one they had bought. Maybe the same alignment issue I had. At least I have somewhere to go and talk to someone if I have problems.
 
Gary London said:
Very interesting. There are clearly some quality issues. Not just minor ones. What a shame.

I thought the E6/S6 was 'Made in the U.S.A.' (using globally sourced parts). Does anyone know how much is really made in the U.S. or do they just bring the parts over from China and box it?

One of the things made my gears grind was the alignment of the logo. Maybe the same issue that @John K BBQ mentioned.

You have one job on the production line - stick two labels on an enamelled metal box. Take pride in your small role in producing a good looking product. Make sure you get them straight :oops:



Not my best photography but hopefully you can see that neither of the labels are straight.
I guess once you stick these on they are hard to remove and they'd end up with a load of rejects.

I went to a vitreous enamelling factory a while back. Had a couple of experimental drums coated to make a UDS. They could apply special transfers of any images and 'bake' them on. Such a great material. That's what Weber should do. The logo will last forever and you can slide it to exactly the right position before firing. It's an additional firing process at a lower temp but the outcome would be so much better. Shouldn't have any cheapskate shortcuts on these grills.
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Yeah, the logo on my s6 isn’t straight either. I wonder how many are actually straight out there and how many Just shrug it off. I guess I’m in the latter although it still irks me when I notice it. I just still have bigger fish to fry with Weber.

Honestly I just don’t think Weber had the QA capabilities to play in the $1000+ Space for these grills. If the summit was $700 and the c set version was like a $1,100, I’d be irritated but less so. But approaching 2k, it’s a lot harder to stomach.

It’s a shame because it is really such a good design and good performing grill.
 
I can live with the wonky logo if I don't look too close but it's those small quality issues that can undermine the Summit experience. Those little things are easy to fix if someone could be bothered to address it. If you pay £1,000+ for a steel grill it should be best quality and very easy for the customer to assemble.

If the price came down they would sell so many more. They had to reduce the price significantly on the S6 and E6 because people would go for the BGE or KJ which gave bigger bang for buck. However that's not an excuse to let the quality slide.

In the Kettle market the SNS and Napoleon products are better quality. They've copied Weber kettle and improved it.

It is a great design, very few grills are as good at grilling and smoking and I haven't found anyone who doesn't enjoy using it. Perhaps there is some complacency on Weber's part. It'll cost them in the long run.

On a positive note I bought a Traveler and although it could benefit from a second burner I think the design and build quality is excellent. Maybe it's different teams within Weber with different standards or budgets. I'd love to know.
 
Rick Petillo said:
Yeah, the logo on my s6 isn’t straight either. I wonder how many are actually straight out there and how many Just shrug it off. I guess I’m in the latter although it still irks me when I notice it. I just still have bigger fish to fry with Weber.

Honestly I just don’t think Weber had the QA capabilities to play in the $1000+ Space for these grills. If the summit was $700 and the c set version was like a $1,100, I’d be irritated but less so. But approaching 2k, it’s a lot harder to stomach.

It’s a shame because it is really such a good design and good performing grill.
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Not entirely sure I agree. Weber has made high end gas grills at higher price points than this. They are well known for these and are far more complex with many more parts.
 
Brian Millin said:
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on an E6 but can't find one in-store to evaluate. I see they have a fan port, but no probe port to be found. How are you current users handling the probe wires?
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Brett is right, with the E6 and the lid gasket, you don't need (or want) holes to run probe wires thru. I hope you can find one to look at before you buy. I hand funds to buy a green egg or kamado joe, but I bought weber instead because (1) no ceramics to crack and fail and (1..5) bigger grilling area for < $$$$ and (2) weber's paint system is better vs BGE and KJ - I understand the exterior paint (or coating or whatever it is) on the KJ and BGE will crack and fade regardless of how well you keep them covered and clean, etc.. I know the weber paint system will stand the test of time, and (4) finally there are several forum members here that love the E6 which was a big factor for me.

Hopefully I get a little break between meetings/work activity tomorrow and I can call Weber to discuss the logo alignment problem and hopefully they'll send me a new one with the logo aligned correctly. I have no reason to believe they will not. I shouldn't blame them for a problem (or complain to others) if I haven't given them a chance to fix it. I will come back to this thread and let you know how that call goes.
 
Gary London said:
Very interesting. There are clearly some quality issues. Not just minor ones. What a shame.

I thought the E6/S6 was 'Made in the U.S.A.' (using globally sourced parts). Does anyone know how much is really made in the U.S. or do they just bring the parts over from China and box it?

One of the things made my gears grind was the alignment of the logo. Maybe the same issue that @John K BBQ mentioned.

You have one job on the production line - stick two labels on an enamelled metal box. Take pride in your small role in producing a good looking product. Make sure you get them straight :oops:



Not my best photography but hopefully you can see that neither of the labels are straight.
I guess once you stick these on they are hard to remove and they'd end up with a load of rejects.

I went to a vitreous enamelling factory a while back. Had a couple of experimental drums coated to make a UDS. They could apply special transfers of any images and 'bake' them on. Such a great material. That's what Weber should do. The logo will last forever and you can slide it to exactly the right position before firing. It's an additional firing process at a lower temp but the outcome would be so much better. Shouldn't have any cheapskate shortcuts on these grills.
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i respectfully disagree. i just keep my expectations in line with reality. does the technology work? yes. are there software or hardware operational issues affecting final cooked product results? no.

for this grill's price/performance/usability, there's nothing close to it in the market.

to each their own, but in no way does a misaligned logo tweak me or get me out of shape. there's much larger battles ahead in life.

the E6 keeps us well fed, happy, and the list of friends that want me to cook for them on the E6 continues to grow. that's all success in my book.
 
Brian Millin said:
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on an E6 but can't find one in-store to evaluate. I see they have a fan port, but no probe port to be found. How are you current users handling the probe wires?
Click to expand...

I run my probe wire right at the location where the gaskets meet up...there is a perfect little notch there for the cable....
 
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