Member's Mark Pro Series


 
I always bought Weber due to product support, warranty and parts availability.

I owned one, and only one, CharBroil propane grill. It lasted 2 seasons.

I bought my first Weber gasser after than and the rest is history.

I'm pretty sure this product review says a lot of what one is getting. Even cheap grills appear overpriced today.

★★★★★4 out of 5 stars.
FL Bill
· a month ago

works ok, I do not expect it to last a long time.​

Works well enough. The fit of all the parts is very cheap feeling. For instance, when cleaning the grills with a brush, they fit so loose that they bang into the fire box, this is a minor thing, but shows poor engineering. Also the inner cover on the lid was all dented up and damaged. This is 100% poor production issue. Over all it works fine, but I feel it was still too expensive. Next time I will probable get the Weber they compares it to. I will try and review it again in a year. Assemble was easy enough, and had no missing parts. The included cover is nice.


Recommends this product
✘ No
 
The one like Larry referred to that I saw at Sam’s looked solid enough to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect. Just like the newer Genesis grills, the firebox seemed thin. And like the Genesis the cabinetry has plenty of rust-prone regular steel. It is also, to my personal taste, a little bit homely. I have not looked at the black one at Sam’s very closely. Seems to have more compromises, but I could be wrong.

But on the nicer one for the price you get a cast aluminum firebox and a good bit of stainless internals that I believe are 304.

If you want better, than you need to go upmarket like the one Bruce posted.
 
Scott Smith said:
To be completely fair, any grill will have loose fitting parts because stuff has to expand and contract.
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i won't disagree but i can say i have no issues on my Weber Summits, NG and Charcoal. Rock solid builds. Not that the Summit NG cookbox is going to last forever, because it won't. But who will you call for parts in 5 years on a MM grill?

I am not starting a debate on quality/vs price. As in buying a car, not all cars are created and wear equally. The same applies to grills.

I will stop here. I am not seeking to create or engage in any argument(s). I have a chicken to cook tonight and that's more important to me than a grill I will never own, nor buy.
 
LMichaels said:
Also to be fair you will always find more than one review of ANY product that will have "sour grapes" to pick. It's why I never look at the worst or the best reviews. To me they're both usually a little "suspect"
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I have a feeling that a lot of 1/5 reviews are simply because the person submitting the review is uninformed (for lack of a nicer word). Like someone leaving a bad review of burner tubes because the bought tubes for a Genesis Silver B when they needed tubes for a Genesis 1000. "THEY DON'T FIT".
 
I think my Weber Genesis is about 12 years old (new in about 2010 or 2011) and is holding up just fine. When/if I replace it, I might just buy a pellet pooper instead of a gas grill.. Gas grills with good sear burners seem to be really pricey, and I've got a WSK for searing meat. Of course, this is just my angle, there is no right or wrong in my opinion

That being said, Napoleon has some nice looking gas grills starting at about $650... Broil King (made in USA with "globally sourced" components is also something to check out. I have no idea if either are any good. I would rather not buy anyone's private labeled grill... that's just me/my opinion. I'm sure some folks are happy with the Costco and Sam's Club brands..
 
Bruce said:
I have a feeling that a lot of 1/5 reviews are simply because the person submitting the review is uninformed (for lack of a nicer word). Like someone leaving a bad review of burner tubes because the bought tubes for a Genesis Silver B when they needed tubes for a Genesis 1000. "THEY DON'T FIT".
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I couldn't agree more, Bruce. Sometimes this is embarrassingly evident in the text of the review and you wonder "Is this person really that stupid?"
 
Bruce said:
I have a feeling that a lot of 1/5 reviews are simply because the person submitting the review is uninformed (for lack of a nicer word). Like someone leaving a bad review of burner tubes because the bought tubes for a Genesis Silver B when they needed tubes for a Genesis 1000. "THEY DON'T FIT".
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I have read many reviews that give a poor rating based on delivery issues...which these days is a common issue. It speaks nothing to the quality of the product.
 
Here is the nice thing about stuff from Sam's or Costco. I cannot speak to a Costco product though as the only products I have seen there are Weber and Traeger.
"But who will you call for parts in 5 years on a MM grill?"
Sam's has the their Member's Mark guarantee. If you can produce the receipt it goes above and beyond the product's warranty. They stand behind it. MANY years ago I did buy a Member's Mark gas grill. (I think called a Baker's and Chef's) And well beyond warranty there were back of the fire box issues with it. (this was before they used cast aluminum). I asked and they said bring it back if you have receipt. I did and I did. They refunded/offered to replace it with a brand new one every dime. I bought the Summit a short time later.
As for getting parts the distributor does get you parts either under warranty or out of warranty. Besides, was Weber any better to me? Those who know me know how things turned out with the Summit. Rusted out firebox and getting told "it's under warranty but too bad so sad we don't make the parts anymore you're SOL" At least I have a Member's Mark guarantee to fall back on.
IMO (at least Sam's Club) has really done their homework and upped their game. Truly I am not sure if I am going to pull the trigger on it or not but I have to say after looking at the competition, the HUGE price difference, and at least equal quality, I feel a lot more confident plunking down $699 than $1500 plus and getting the ball dropped again.
If I do everyone who knows me will know I will report both good and bad with all and brutal honesty. Again IF I pull the trigger on it. But, given the quality I see in my pellet pooper I don't feel too worried
 
LMichaels said:
Here is the nice thing about stuff from Sam's or Costco. I cannot speak to a Costco product though as the only products I have seen there are Weber and Traeger.
"But who will you call for parts in 5 years on a MM grill?"
Sam's has the their Member's Mark guarantee. If you can produce the receipt it goes above and beyond the product's warranty. They stand behind it. MANY years ago I did buy a Member's Mark gas grill. (I think called a Baker's and Chef's) And well beyond warranty there were back of the fire box issues with it. (this was before they used cast aluminum). I asked and they said bring it back if you have receipt. I did and I did. They refunded/offered to replace it with a brand new one every dime. I bought the Summit a short time later.
As for getting parts the distributor does get you parts either under warranty or out of warranty. Besides, was Weber any better to me? Those who know me know how things turned out with the Summit. Rusted out firebox and getting told "it's under warranty but too bad so sad we don't make the parts anymore you're SOL" At least I have a Member's Mark guarantee to fall back on.
IMO (at least Sam's Club) has really done their homework and upped their game. Truly I am not sure if I am going to pull the trigger on it or not but I have to say after looking at the competition, the HUGE price difference, and at least equal quality, I feel a lot more confident plunking down $699 than $1500 plus and getting the ball dropped again.
If I do everyone who knows me will know I will report both good and bad with all and brutal honesty. Again IF I pull the trigger on it. But, given the quality I see in my pellet pooper I don't feel too worried
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I agree with this. Weber does not have the market cornered in parts availability. In fact, I would submit that most gas grills with an aluminum or stainless firebox can be made functional with generic and readily available aftermarket parts...burners, flame tamers, knobs, igniters. Amazon has made this extremely easy. Grill cabinets, carts...perhaps not so much. That's where the ingenuity and effort comes in.
Manifolds, valves much less so, but they are less prone to rust or deterioration. Additionally, I would submit that most folks on this forum are experienced enough to repair or rebuild such grills. Yes Weber grills...especially those older, more classic models are built for the long haul. That doesn't mean that all others are not.
 
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Costco offered a really interesting unknown brand stainless grill back three or four years ago when I was still in Florida. Lots of stainless and actually more stylish than some all stainless grills. The odd thing was that it had a huge shield between the burners and grates very reminiscent of what most pellet grills have. This was also decent stainless. I was actually impressed, but I quickly realized that something would have to be done to replace that shield. Early reviews said it couldn't produce high enough heat (not all that surprising as the setup they used would be much more conducive to lower temperature barbecuing).

tvwbb.com

Grills I saw at Costco

Well, tax season is finally over:D! So, I had time to go with my wife on a trip to Costco. We had to patrol almost all the aisles, but I was at least able to take a brief look at the grills being offered. I was especially interested because of several posts here about grills others had looked...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com

I mention this grill because I have seen low prices on one or two used ones here in Indiana. My looking into it found that it is pretty much a "good luck" scenario keeping one of those going. There seems to be little or no support now. So, while I agree that Costco and I guess Sam's are great if you keep your receipt in a safe deposit box, you should not expect that most grills they offer are going to be well supported 5 years from now. Weber has let down Larry and some others, but they have helped plenty of users. Also, there are many non-OEM options for consumable parts due to the high volume and visibility Weber has.
 
LMichaels said:
Yes and I did look at that one in GREAT detail last summer. And other than no rotisserie burner I cannot find anything to dislike about it. Other than it being made in China but then much of that argument can be made for Spirit and Genesis as well. But, if it performs as well as the pellet grill? I'm sold. Though oddly there is still a part of me that really wants to grab a Smokefire. Call me crazy. I know my wife does
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I'm the same way Larry every time I see a Smokfire, which is very rare now I still want one even though my Camp Chef is 100% flawless, I still want a Smokefire.
 
Well, it seems like the SmokeFire has finally arrived. It was a shaky launch, but it seems to have hit it's stride now taken it's place in the pellet grill market.
 
I have a few Webers,18,Performer,and a 2004 Silver C, which I got used and just cleaned up and changed out the regulator warranty from Weber. But I still look at smoke fires and E6s and drull.
 
I would buy a used Weber grill over any grill made in China, and it doesn’t matter how good the deal is.

It’s because I can’t in good conscience support a totalitarian regime bent on destroying the US.

But that’s just my opinion.
 
Bruce said:
Well, it seems like the SmokeFire has finally arrived. It was a shaky launch, but it seems to have hit it's stride now taken it's place in the pellet grill market.
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The tough thing for Weber is that in the bumpy process they lost access to the most popular big box stores and pretty much even Ace. I haven't seen a SmokeFire in any store for almost a year now. I know they sell directly, but they have to be losing sales and definitely awareness among consumers.

Rich,
I know the feeling. Even reading about people who have not had Dave's success I still want one!

Dave,
Gorgeous SmokeFire. Your beautifully executed idea is another thing Weber should do to raise the SmokeFIre's attractiveness. In a sea of black smokers, a red, blue or some other cool colors could really stand out.
 
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