Press Release: Weber Trailblazes New Experiences in Electric, Griddle, and Pellet-Based Outdoor Cooking with Innovative Product Portfolio For 2023

[TimA]

I hadn’t even considered grease fires. My head was in the George Foreman type mentality. Difference being the GF is isolated from the elements. May have to reconsider, really didn’t even think about that

 

[LMichaels]

You don't grill burgers and chicken wings on your "Stove". Or do you?

I do

 

[Bruce]

You grill them? Like over open flames on a grate? Or in a pan?

 

[LMichaels]

You grill them? Like over open flames on a grate? Or in a pan?

On a cast iron grilling pan. The big Lodge 2 burner model. Bottom line, I can get that Lodge as hot or hotter than that little electric thing. I've had plenty of "flame" on it when grilling a lot of burgers. Face it any time you have heat, and fats you can have fire.

 

[Jason-Jayjay1976]

I agree that the ~1600W limitation makes electric grills in US more of a novelty than a real cooking tool. I took a quick look at the Lumin specs, it comes in two models, standard and mini though both are 1560W, which at 242in^2 and 180in^2 gives the mini a 35% higher watt density at 8.66W per square inch. Not that I plan to buy one, but if I did it would be the mini.

 

[Bruce]

Jason, I think you are right on there. I have used the Q140 but not the Q240. The 140 could use a bit more oooompf. So, it stands to reason that the Q240 and hence the Standard Lumin might suffer from lack of power as well.

 

[Jon Tofte]

That makes sense and is not really too different from comparisons some have made between the propane Q 100/1000 series vs. the 200/2000. Some feel the middle size Q, with one burner just like the small model, is underpowered. I actually really liked my Q 200, but the little 100 is hotter.

I think the big thing here is whether Weber has engineered ways to get more heat out of those 1560 watts vs. on the older electric Qs. If not, then it is just a prettied-up grill with nice color lids. I am waiting for Tom Horsman or others to give a real user review of the Lumin to make my own judgement.

 

[Bruce]

I agree on the Q200. Mine struggles to get to 400 on the lid therm. I was thinking about maybe slightly drilling out the orifice. Just a couple 1000ths of an inch.

 

[Jon Tofte]

My 200 always did fine for me, but I have to admit it didn't have a thermometer. Restoring this little Q I got for ten bucks from my non-profit organization's thrift store was my first restoration post here. I didn't have a grinder or the wealth of knowledge members here have shared with me since joining TVWBB. I used SAND PAPER to clean the inside of this hood!


After plenty of use, I had this hood sand blasted a long time ago. It is now just another project that sits waiting for time. It would be nice to give it a 2nd run and sell off the Q100. Having cooked on a 100, this 200, and a 3200, I honestly liked the 200 best.

 

[LMichaels]

Grate surface temp is the important thing here. Because the grate in a gas Q is so large and dense (heavy cast iron being that way) it takes a long time to heat, and since the design of the grate blocks a bit of air flow to the thermo probe it has to wait until all that mass has heat soaked so it takes awhile. I notice much the same thing on my Q320. But there is no shortage of ability to put a nice char on a piece of protein

 

[MikeLucky]

I have pretty much every griddle option for all my Weber grills and they are all decent, but just not great. We have a small single burner griddle that came with our camper that I got an adapter for and use in my normal grilling.

It is pretty fantastic and I had already been thinking of ways to possibly convert a Genesis to a Blackstone type dedicated griddle. Then BAM! this announcement came out the next day. There's just nothing like the full sized flattop griddle for large amounts of veggies, fried rice, and especially breakfast. I won't do much meat on it, other than bacon for breakfast, but for the other stuff I mentioned it's great. Oh, and my favorite Oklahoma fried onion burgers. I've done them on my hunsaker griddle for my 22, but I just don't feel like it imparts any extra flavor than a gas heated griddle, and it uses a lot of charcoal that can be used for better things.

I am so excited for the griddle and will be as early of an early adopter for that model as I can. lol. Already saving my allowance for it.

 

[Jon Tofte]

I haven't had the griddle bug as of yet. I think Weber is going to find it a more challenging market than might be obvious. My Sam's Club flyer has their Member's Mark version (that doesn't look much different from the new Weber) marked down to $149.99.

 

[MikeLucky]

I haven't had the griddle bug as of yet. I think Weber is going to find it a more challenging market than might be obvious. My Sam's Club flyer has their Member's Mark version (that doesn't look much different from the new Weber) marked down to $149.99.

Well that's the cheaper version that doesn't have a lid. The larger version with the lid is normally $399



And, of course the true competition for the new Weber griddle is the Blackstones

 

[LMichaels]

I was looking at the larger one yesterday. Seems to be a very well made solid piece for a decent price

 

[Scott Smith]

Speaking of improving the quality of a griddle, the next step is to cast a "reverse heat sink" on the underside of the griddle, facing the flames. This resembles a large grid of stalactites pointing down toward the burners. I have seen this on fixed restaurant griddles, but never in homeowner equipment.

 

[Bruce]

That is certainly an interesting idea and seems to have some logical merit.

 

[EricV.]

I’m shocked it’s taken Weber so long to get in this game.

 

[Brian Thomas]

If the new weber griddle fits the genesis models (E-310, 320, etc) with the E-W burners, I'll have to give some serious consideration to buying one.

 

[MichaelLC]

I had a Char-Broil electric grill at our 4th floor condo.

Certainly was not as good as a nice gas or charcoal, but could cook up some burgers, sausages, etc. outside just fine with no mess indoors.

Did I see that the cover was not yet available? Seems like company based here in Chicago would have a winter cover ready to go.

 

[MichaelLC]

All the photos I have seen, seem to hide the size of the grill interior. If they show the grates, they either don't show the grates in the entirety as in the photo above or they don't have anything in the photo to use as a size reference.

If you zoom in on one of photos from the product site, you can get a good look. Also where their graphic artist failed to seamlessly merge the two images.