Long Distance TVWBB Grill Swap - Weber SSP, Napoleon Prestige 500, and initial impressions.

[Joe Anshien]

Lust
About a year ago I watched an Embers Fireplaces & Outdoor Living YouTube video Weber Genesis II vs. Napoleon Prestige 500 vs. Broil King Regal. When I saw that the P500 had a cast aluminum firebox like Weber , rotisserie burner, and Side IR Sizzle Zone burner I was sort of hooked.
I bought my first one last spring. It was a few hours away for $300. It was in great shape but natural gas. I planned on converting it to propane. I did a major tare down and clean up and after a lot of research, I decided it was better to just flip it for a decent profit and hope another comes along.

The Swap
I found another P500 propane that had been sitting on FBM for a while in NJ for $300, but it was a 6 hour ride and just book marked it. I posted a red SSP about 2 hours from me under the "I'll just leave this here" thread and Chuck from NJ said he wanted it but it was too far for him to get. I contacted him and we made a deal. I would go and pick up the SSP for him and he would get the P500 for me and we would meetup in a month or so in Philly when I visit my son.

Build
Last week we met up in Philly and did the swap. When we got home I did a tear down and cleanup and started cooking. These are my impressions. Grill is very well made except for the drip tray and pan. Unlike Weber's percaline coated drip tray, Napoleon use SS for their drip tray but it is not 304. It had pin holes throughout after grinding off the rust. This led to grease dripping through to the cabinet, but not long enough to rust it out yet. The rest of the grill I am very impressed with. Heavy duty 8MM SS rod grates, real heavy SS flavorizers and burners. I like that each burner has its own jet igniter that starts with the gas knob like a stove. It has very nice cross overs between burner unlike the newer Genesis II grills, so if a burner went out it would relight automatically.

Warranty - Customer support
Weber's Customer support is the best I have ever dealt with. No long hold times, get a human on the line. Some humans you get are better than others, some shipping mistakes but all together great.
I did register my new-to-me P500 and even though the grill is the same as they newer ones the warranty on the grill changed in 2020. I waited on hold for well over an hour for a customer support rep. Napoleon changed their warranty to Bumper to Bumper, life time in 2020. My parts were not covered but they did give me a 50% off discount. I will see how long they take to get here. In the mean time I have covered the parts with aluminum foil.
Cooking
I am very impressed with how it cooks so far. I LOVE that infrared side burner. I was able to cook 2 10oz steaks at the same time on only that burner without heating the whole grill. I waited about about 1 to 2 minutes for the burner to turn red and put the steaks on. I started flipping them about every 2 minutes and after a total of about 6 minutes they were done perfectly. Crusty outside and juicy, medium rare on the inside. Just cooked another steak with some sausages and that IR burner is all it is cracked up to be.

I cooked eggplant parm on it last night and noticed that this grill gets hot fast. I think the back gets hotter than the front so I will have to do more testing on the evenness of cooking. Maybe I will pick up a loaf of white bread and test it out.

Future Options
Napoleon make a cast iron charcoal/ smoker insert tray that replaces the flavorizer bars on 1/2 of the grill. I would like to get one and try it out as it looks really nice and could theoretically replace my performer that I do not use it that much but would hate to part with.

What is up Weber?
Why is Weber not making grills with these options? I don't care if they have a built in thermometer. I want versatility. The ability to use IR, charcoal, maybe even wood between burners. Make a gravity feed! Make a gas grill with an automatic thermostat like an oven. They seem not to be innovating in the places I think they should. This grill new, comes in at the price of a Genesis 435 but loaded with extras.

Some pics and vid

 

[Brett-EDH]

Nice write up. When I finally do sell my Weber Summit gasser, I’m thinking I’d love to do a Blaze built in. I’ve looked a Napolean but think I just want 304 all over for my next gasser. And considering I haven’t fired up my gasser since early June, the entire project is on hold now. Charcoal has me very occupied.

 

[Colin]

Really nice write up Joe!

 

[A Lee]

Before and after photos of the guts in the firebox box?

 

[Joe Anshien]

Before and after photos of the guts in the firebox box?

Here you go.

 

[LMichaels]

No IR under grate burner on my Wolf but I do have the rear IR. But honestly the damn thing gets so fearsomely hot I see no need for an IR sear station. Unlike your Prestige my Wolf runs hotter in front which at first I tried hard to correct until I found out it was designed that way. It's not a HUGE difference. I would say maybe 75deg at full tilt. Wolf told me it's simply designed as a way to move something "off the flame" as needed. But I spent many hours trying to "fix" it LOL. So your Prestige may have a similar design. One thing the Wolf gives me is so much room (as much front to rear as a whole Genesis side to side) that once you have your "zones" mastered it's really quite pleasant to use. Front or back it's dead even side to side though. I think I reported back here about 2 years ago or so how the Napoleons were cast aluminum and how impressive they were when wife and I saw them while looking at new fireplaces. We got new fireplace though not new grill LOL
Anyway as for Weber not making a more well designed Genesis? They don't have to. Just like the Cubs. They can fill the seats even with a sub par team

 

[Bruce]

One question about the grease tray. Are you sure it was stainless steel? I would think it would hold up fine since it isn't exposed to high heat. Have you tried a magnet on it.

I don't think it is fair to compare the Napolean P500 to a Genesis II unless it is in the same price range. I don't know what the Napoleons go for new, but I would guess they are north of what the Genesis II sells for.

 

[JSaus]

When i replaced my 20 year old Silver B early this year, I considered the Napoleon Rogue XT with the infrared side burner. Ended up with a Spirit E-330 with the sear station. Hard decision but with my previous experience with Weber not to mention the $2-300 price difference, I stuck with Weber. I agree that Weber needs to step up their game, especially after the last couple price increases.

 

[Joe Anshien]

One question about the grease tray. Are you sure it was stainless steel? I would think it would hold up fine since it isn't exposed to high heat. Have you tried a magnet on it.

I don't think it is fair to compare the Napolean P500 to a Genesis II unless it is in the same price range. I don't know what the Napoleons go for new, but I would guess they are north of what the Genesis II sells for.

Bruce, I mentioned in my write up "This grill new, comes in at the price of a Genesis 435 but loaded with extras". That was one of the reasons that I did the comparison because they are almost the same exact price depending on store, internet, sale etc. Here is a pic of the grease tray. It is stainless but not 304. A magnet does stick to it. You can see all the pin holes where it corroded / rusted through.

 

[Joe Anshien]

When i replaced my 20 year old Silver B early this year, I considered the Napoleon Rogue XT with the infrared side burner. Ended up with a Spirit E-330 with the sear station. Hard decision but with my previous experience with Weber not to mention the $2-300 price difference, I stuck with Weber. I agree that Weber needs to step up their game, especially after the last couple price increases.

The Rogue is a very nice grill. Made in China like the Spirit line. The Rogue comes with a longer warranty than the Spirit. I love Weber but am really happy that they have some real competition to hopefully step up their game.

 

[Bruce]

Hmmm, that is interesting. It makes me wonder what a SS grease tray for a Genesis Silver B or 1000 would look like after a few years? Would 304SS make that much of a difference?

 

[Joe Anshien]

Hmmm, that is interesting. It makes me wonder what a SS grease tray for a Genesis Silver B or 1000 would look like after a few years? Would 304SS make that much of a difference?

Grill drippings I find are very corrosive. Look at the pitting that 304 SS rod grates eventually get when not cleaned. Even the porcelain coating on Weber drip trays get eaten through and rusted after a while, and that stuff is as non reactive as glass. I would would think that it would be a toss up between thick 304 SS and porcelain which would hold up the longest. Even though we know that Weber was smart, as it's trays are also way less expensive to produce.

 

[Joe Anshien]

No IR under grate burner on my Wolf but I do have the rear IR. But honestly the damn thing gets so fearsomely hot I see no need for an IR sear station. Unlike your Prestige my Wolf runs hotter in front which at first I tried hard to correct until I found out it was designed that way. It's not a HUGE difference. I would say maybe 75deg at full tilt. Wolf told me it's simply designed as a way to move something "off the flame" as needed. But I spent many hours trying to "fix" it LOL. So your Prestige may have a similar design. One thing the Wolf gives me is so much room (as much front to rear as a whole Genesis side to side) that once you have your "zones" mastered it's really quite pleasant to use. Front or back it's dead even side to side though. I think I reported back here about 2 years ago or so how the Napoleons were cast aluminum and how impressive they were when wife and I saw them while looking at new fireplaces. We got new fireplace though not new grill LOL
Anyway as for Weber not making a more well designed Genesis? They don't have to. Just like the Cubs. They can fill the seats even with a sub par team

Mine has a conventional rotisserie burner (pic below during my tear down when I pulled and cleaned it) and I have found the IR side burner is very adjustable. I put some sausages on last night and had it turned to low and it barely glowed. I will have to get the IR thermometer to test how low, low is. I know high is above 1000 as my IR just reads hot after 999 degrees. I agree that an IR rotisserie burner is probably overkill. But maybe you can use the top rack if you have it to cook on.

 

[LMichaels]

I actually like a conventional rotisserie burner rather than IR. Years ago I rebuilt a grill (old Ducane) with conventional rotisserie burner. I really enjoyed spinning food on that thing

 

[Joe Zoots]

Hmmm, that is interesting. It makes me wonder what a SS grease tray for a Genesis Silver B or 1000 would look like after a few years? Would 304SS make that much of a difference?

I had a neighbor when I was growing up who used to cover the grease tray and drip pan with aluminum foil. Changed out every other use. Needless to say, they outlasted him.

 

[Joe Anshien]

I had a neighbor when I was growing up who used to cover the grease tray and drip pan with aluminum foil. Changed out every other use. Needless to say, they outlasted him.

I have my old one covered up now so it does not drip and it seems to be working fine. The new one should be here today, and I am going to try that with heavy duty aluminum foil. I think cleanups will be much easier and the tray last much longer.