Napoleon vs Weber


 
They overlooked the BTU output of the sear burner of the E335 in the comparison.

I'm not sure I would have an E3xx front control without a sear burner.
 
This is nothing more than pulling published data and using them for a talking point.

No cooking. No using. Just numbers.

Local retailer carries both Weber and Napoleon. I’ve looked the Canadian grills over and will 100% pick the Weber every single day of the week.

Weber is still tops.
 
Meh, looked at them both side by side. Would grab the Napoleon hands down. Have not cooked on one sadly unlike cars you cannot test drive them :D THe Napoleon just offers far more. Especially in versatility
 
TimA said:
This is nothing more than pulling published data and using them for a talking point.

No cooking. No using. Just numbers.

Local retailer carries both Weber and Napoleon. I’ve looked the Canadian grills over and will 100% pick the Weber every single day of the week.

Weber is still tops.
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I have cooked on and restored about every Weber gas grill and now own a Napoleon P500RSIB. I can honestly say it is my favorite grill and use it all the time.
Build well - Cast aluminum firebox, Flame thrower igniters on each burner + cross over tubes!
Rotisserie Burner with enough rotisserie bar clearance so you do not have to take off the grates and you can cook on both at the same time.
IR side burner that I use all the time without even using the main grill.
Basically what a Weber Summit gas grill should have been. I am a big Weber fan and still recommend them to most people but honestly Weber has to up their game a lot to beat this one.
 
Pretty much every comparison out there says the same thing.

These guys in Denver have hundreds of videos, a lot of them comparing Weber to Napoleon. One point they make is that Weber is made overseas. Napoleon in Canada.

Napoleon Grills Cart Models (Are They Still the Best and Worth the Price?!)


Another point they make is a longer warranty with Napoleon. Calling Weber to check on the status of parts to rebuild my Genesis I discovered while on hold and clicking on my grills is it says the cookbox only has a 10 year warranty instead of 25 like the manual says. I asked her about that when she came on. Even though she is in Columbia and they are all fairly new to Weber CS she had the answer off the top of her head. Said that as of January 2015 Weber changed warranty from 25 years to 10. I bought mine in May of 2015.

Knowing what I now know I would have just tossed it instead of rebuilding it. All in counting paint, Eastwood encapsulator, and parts I am getting close to half the cost of a Costco new one. Not counting my time which is considerable. The only saving grace is the replacement GrillGrates I already have and still going strong. They are the only thing making it worth it. To me.

Joe Anshien said:
I have cooked on and restored about every Weber gas grill and now own a Napoleon P500RSIB. I can honestly say it is my favorite grill and use it all the time.
Build well - Cast aluminum firebox, Flame thrower igniters on each burner + cross over tubes!
Rotisserie Burner with enough rotisserie bar clearance so you do not have to take off the grates and you can cook on both at the same time.
IR side burner that I use all the time without even using the main grill.
Basically what a Weber Summit gas grill should have been. I am a big Weber fan and still recommend them to most people but honestly Weber has to up their game a lot to beat this one.
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That is the exact one I would get if I could do it over again. And when the time comes what I will end up with, depending on what models are available from them at the time. Hopefully it will be quite a few years yet. And I will still be alive LOL.
 
This is an interesting discussion. Napoleon, as a division of Wolf Steel shares certain similarities with Empire Comfort Systems...the parent company of Broilmaster. Both companies produce a variety of gas heating appliances. Empire is truly a dyed-in-the-wool American corporation. Don't know enough about Wolf Steel Ltd. beyond that they're a Canadian company based in Barrie.
Their Napolean grill products all go head to head with Weber...including charcoal grills.
Seems they take a very steady, consistent approach and as a result, now have gained a substantial foothold in Weber's market with Lowe's carrying several of their model lines.
A warranty comparison would be interesting. Napoleon's are not lifetime across-the-board. The warranties are tiered by model line. Not sure how that stacks up vs Weber.
Should Napoleon gain a foothold into a Costco, Sam's Club or Home Depot, Weber would have serious issues.
 
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Yah, it is those big box store outlets that really make Weber a mainstay. Menards doesn't carry Weber. I wonder if that might be an outlet for Napoleon since I don't think they really have a higher end name brand anchor for gas grills. And they are a more northern located franchise.
 
Had no clue you could buy Napoleon at Lowes. Never really go in there. Menards is my "go to" for nearly everything, I buy my Morton Wave softener salt at HD only because no one else anywhere in the area carries it, otherwise I would not bother darkening their door.
One thing I noticed about Sam's is in the grill lineup nothing they carry in the stores carries anything but the Member's Mark name.
 
Also interesting is while Weber is shortening their warranty, Napoleon lengthened it. Unfortunately my grill being a 2017 model I think does NOT have the Lifetime warranty as that came out in 2020. But then again I paid $300 vs about $1500 for a new one. They did send me a complete set of new burners even though only 1 rusted out. I did have to purchase a new drip tray as that is the only weak part I have noticed on the grill. It should be porcelain coated (like Weber) or 304 SS not a 400 series Stainless. I now keep it covered in foil or liners, but it is not a quality part.
 
LMichaels said:
Had no clue you could buy Napoleon at Lowes. Never really go in there. Menards is my "go to" for nearly everything, I buy my Morton Wave softener salt at HD only because no one else anywhere in the area carries it, otherwise I would not bother darkening their door.
One thing I noticed about Sam's is in the grill lineup nothing they carry in the stores carries anything but the Member's Mark name.
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Lowes isn't my first choice. I'd pick Home Depot over Lowes in almost every case...I try the local Ace first and buy all my dog food there. But Home Depot for most paint and all lumber.
 
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I used to be a big Lowes fan when I worked as the manager of our community in Florida. Since we were a regular customer and bought a fair amount every month, the Pro Services desk treated me like a king. The ladies there would move Earth and sky to help us out. After moving to Indiana I am just a schlepper now, and I find myself using Menards more - but still not exclusively.

One thing for sure is that Weber is steadily losing floor space at Lowes, Home Depot and maybe even Ace. I know things are more online these days, but I have to believe that this still very much hurts them. They are really in a tough spot. Low price competition fills the floors (and front parking lots) of the big box stores and then companies like Napoleon are taking them on in the upper middle market. They have given the Summit such a bad rep that I don't see Weber ever being taken seriously in the high-end market.

All that said, I am still a Weber guy and personally would buy a Weber over a Napoleon just because. I cooked on a gorgeous built-in Napoleon in February. I would have needed more time to master it, but it was certainly a very fine grill.

IMG_1532 (1).jpeg

Weber doesn't have anything in that one's league, but for more moderate sized grills, I would still take a Genesis - even with all its deficiencies we have bantered about quite a bit here. The new style has grown on me, so I wouldn't mind having an Ace indigo one:cool:! But not if I had to give up my 1998 Weber Summit!
 
Brand loyalty is a tough nut to crack.

I have two Weber grills and I am happy with both of them.

So I would probably buy another Weber, despite some of what I read here.

Around 2009, my mother in law was in the market for a new car. At that time I had read that Ford was producing some decent vehicles, so I suggested she take a look.

“I bought a Ford Fairmont in 1978, and it was nothing but trouble”.

30 years later and still mad about it.

I know some here have had bad experiences with Weber- sometimes that’s all it takes.

My $.02
 
Jon Tofte said:
I used to be a big Lowes fan when I worked as the manager of our community in Florida. Since we were a regular customer and bought a fair amount every month, the Pro Services desk treated me like a king. The ladies there would move Earth and sky to help us out. After moving to Indiana I am just a schlepper now, and I find myself using Menards more - but still not exclusively.

One thing for sure is that Weber is steadily losing floor space at Lowes, Home Depot and maybe even Ace. I know things are more online these days, but I have to believe that this still very much hurts them. They are really in a tough spot. Low price competition fills the floors (and front parking lots) of the big box stores and then companies like Napoleon are taking them on in the upper middle market. They have given the Summit such a bad rep that I don't see Weber ever being taken seriously in the high-end market.

All that said, I am still a Weber guy and personally would buy a Weber over a Napoleon just because. I cooked on a gorgeous built-in Napoleon in February. I would have needed more time to master it, but it was certainly a very fine grill.

View attachment 73157

Weber doesn't have anything in that one's league, but for more moderate sized grills, I would still take a Genesis - even with all its deficiencies we have bantered about quite a bit here. The new style has grown on me, so I wouldn't mind having an Ace indigo one:cool:! But not if I had to give up my 1998 Weber Summit!
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That is one nice setup and some great looking steaks! You are looking pretty happy being grill master there!
Brand loyalty is great up to a point. Sometimes going over to a better brand product is the only way to make that brand better, or relinquish it to history, as the Oldsmobile's I was raised on. My sister was the first in our family by getting a VW Golf. My mom was the second to buy 82 Toyota Supra. They when we were amazed that the cars did not have be in the shop every few months, we never looked back.
I just watched the movie Blackberry. I ran mobile communications for government agencies. 2007 they had 49% of the cell phone market. Today 0%
 
Funny how we can draw parallels from grills to cars. Basically when the top brass at companies can not pivot with the market or inovation they tend to go away. Company's I have worked for or heavily with include Wang Labs, Banyan Networks, Blackberry all fell victims to that. It was so clear to the rank and file employees where the world was headed but not to top management. Reminds me of Weber and the Summit gas grill.
 
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