Spirit II discontinued in 2021


 
Jason Godard

Jason Godard

TVWBB Pro
It is rumored that the Spirit II is being discontinued this year and Weber is reverting back to the original Spirit line. So why bring it up? A few good reason I’d like to point out regarding this outstanding grill.

The open cart, or open frame design of the Spirit II doesn’t appear to be offered in the Spirit line. While the closed cart with doors design appeals to many, in my opinion, it is prone to rust. Once the cart is shot, grills tend to find their way to the landfill rather quickly. The open cart design allows for humidity to escape, keeping it dry. Weber seems to be leaning towards the closed cart design, as most of their gas grills, both natural gas and propane, are this type. Weber may have addressed the issue as well, as the newer closed carts have better ventilation. My last propane grill, a Genesis Silver B with an open cart has lasted over 20 years, and I passed it on to one of my kids. It’s still in use.

The Spirit II grills have most of the features, like the GS4 system, of their Genesis II counterparts for 30-40% less, with the same 10 warranty. I’ve heard how the Genesis is built like a tank, and it is. But the spirit II is no slouch, and holds its own in every discernable way. Yes the burners are less btu’s than on the Genesis, but it is also smaller, with lest bulk, and the closed bottom design of the cook box helps the Spirit II retain heat.

Speaking of the warranty, the Spirit II carries that same 10 year all parts warranty as the Genesis II. This is not true of the Spirit line, which has a 2-5 year warranty depending on the part. And that closed cart? Two years. One of my flavorizer bars rusted through in just over one year. As most know, flavorizer bars are the most abused part of the entire system, reaching temperatures in the four digits. I could not find replacements for the Spirit II line anywhere, not even on the Weber website. I called Weber, and they said the bars are not available for purchase, since all parts of the Spirit II are warrantied for 10 years. But they could send me a new set absolutely free. Talk about great customer service. I asked if the cast iron grates are also covered, and Weber said yes, the entire grill is covered. 10 years of replacement parts. On the house.

*** Update: Folks have pointed out in the comments the possibility that Weber may not have the parts available, as this has happened to some in the past. This is a very good point I had not considered. The lack of availability of parts through multiple sources is a concern, and makes rehabs more difficult.

For those wanting a smaller grill, the Spirit II comes in a two burner model. The Genesis II line does not carry one. Weber did offer a Genesis two burner model, the LX S-240 or B-240, but discontinued it a few years back.

Because the Spirit II is being discontinued, they can be found at a discount. A local farm store was offering an extra $100 off the natural gas models, bringing the price of a two burner down to $229.

For these reasons, I think the Spirit II is a bargain worth considering if you are looking to buy a new gas grill this year.

Note from Moderator: For those interested in buying what's left of Spirit II - https://amzn.to/3EFK8eB
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jason Godard said:
It is rumored that the Spirit II is being discontinued this year and Weber is reverting back to the original Spirit line. So why bring it up? A few good reason I’d like to point out regarding this outstanding grill.

The open cart, or open frame design of the Spirit II doesn’t appear to be offered in the Spirit line. While the closed cart with doors design appeals to many, in my opinion, it is prone to rust. Once the cart is shot, grills tend to find their way to the landfill rather quickly. The open cart design allows for humidity to escape, keeping it dry. Weber seems to be leaning towards the closed cart design, as most of their gas grills, both natural gas and propane, are this type. Weber may have addressed the issue as well, as the newer closed carts have better ventilation. My last propane grill, a Genesis Silver B with an open cart has lasted over 20 years, and I passed it on to one of my kids. It’s still in use.

The Spirit II grills have most of the features, like the GS4 system, of their Genesis II counterparts for 30-40% less, with the same 10 warranty. I’ve heard how the Genesis is built like a tank, and it is. But the spirit II is no slouch, and holds its own in every discernable way. Yes the burners are less btu’s than on the Genesis, but it is also smaller, with lest bulk, and the closed bottom design of the cook box helps the Spirit II retain heat.

Speaking of the warranty, the Spirit II carries that same 10 year all parts warranty as the Genesis II. This is not true of the Spirit line, which has a 2-5 year warranty depending on the part. And that closed cart? Two years. One of my flavorizer bars rusted through in just over one year. As most know, flavorizer bars are the most abused part of the entire system, reaching temperatures in the four digits. I could not find replacements for the Spirit II line anywhere, not even on the Weber website. I called Weber, and they said the bars are not available for purchase, since all parts of the Spirit II are warrantied for 10 years. But they could send me a new set absolutely free. Talk about great customer service. I asked if the cast iron grates are also covered, and Weber said yes, the entire grill is covered. 10 years of replacement parts. On the house.

For those wanting a smaller grill, the Spirit II comes in a two burner model. The Genesis II line does not carry one. Weber did offer a Genesis two burner model, the LX S-240 or B-240, but discontinued it a few years back.

Because the Spirit II is being discontinued, they can be found at a discount. A local farm store was offering an extra $100 off the natural gas models, bringing the price of a two burner down to $229.

For these reasons, I think the Spirit II is a bargain worth considering if you are looking to buy a new grill this year.
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All very good points, and that is why Weber is discontinuing the line. Why buy a Genesis II when the Spirit II has the same warranty, and is hundreds of $$ less.
 
Interesting. The Spirit II is rather stylish if not overwhelmingly solid, at least in my personal inspection. The "frame" is really just bent metal, and, unfortunately, those slats on the bottom are just painted steel. We have seen some of the same slats on the Genesis II already rusting in some posts here.

However, I agree that this grill probably did cannibalize sales from the more profitable Genesis II line, especially at first when some cool colors like ivory, red and blue were options. Weber already amortized the tooling on the earlier Spirit, so it wasn't very costly for them to bring it back. Reminds me of when American Motors - freshly born from the merger of Nash and Hudson - brought back the old style small Nash Rambler to sell as a compliment to its larger new Rambler. Just dig out the old dies and away they went. It proved to be very profitable as it came out at a economic downturn time where a smaller, inexpensive car was just the ticket.

As more of a collector than a rehabber, I would see this adding value to a nice ivory or maybe red or blue 3-burner Spirit II.
 
Weber needs to make up its mind. Didn't they DC some Spirit cabinet models a couple years ago only to reintroduce them? I think Weber has too many models right now and that leads to confusion. Earlier this year I replaced my Silver B with a Spirit E-330 because of the features, especially the sear station. I would have liked an open cabinet but it was not offered with those features. Now it looks like there will be no open cabinets at all in the line. Moves like this are going to have buyers look at competitors like Napoleon more seriously. Weber needs a good entry level option and a $600 level is not it.
 
A Lee said:
I can imagine parts for the spirit ii being hard to obtain after a few years. Even with a 10 yr warranty, you're still out of luck if weber runs out of parts.
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This is why I stayed away from the Spirit 2 lineup and bailed on a chance to buy a new but discontinued Genesis LXII. Zero aftermarket availability of the GS4 system parts at this juncture. Weber could abandon it and come out with GS5 or 10...with Bluetooth...too many unknowns.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Yeah, ask Larry Michaels @LMichaels about that!
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Yeah a warranty is only good if they actually support the product. Weber IMO is slipping big time. My personal take is they're making it better to simply buy the cheaper ones, and replace them every few years. I am all for keeping things out of the landfill but it just gets my goat when they decide to change things for no reason other than to make the previous product obsolete and have an excuse to not support it. IMO it's bad JUJU
 
You guys have me rethinking this. If parts are only available via warranty, these grills cannot be rehabbed as easily. I had the opportunity to pick up a used two burner for free, but if it needs parts, and I can’t get them under warranty, as that only applies to the original owner, my only option is aftermarket parts, if they are available. Hmm…….
 
LMichaels said:
Yeah a warranty is only good if they actually support the product. Weber IMO is slipping big time. My personal take is they're making it better to simply buy the cheaper ones, and replace them every few years. I am all for keeping things out of the landfill but it just gets my goat when they decide to change things for no reason other than to make the previous product obsolete and have an excuse to not support it. IMO it's bad JUJU
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Precisely the reason I'm running with the Broilmaster at our beach house and sticking with the 2015 E-210 at our primary house In fact I'm going to swap the enamel lid with the stainless lid from the now gone S-210 and get after what little rust there is. . I know I can always replace internals for both for decades to come. Even if Broilmaster/Empire Systems went belly up, generic H burners and ceramic briquettes will always be available as will igniters. I can't say the same for any of the newer Weber models.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
Precisely the reason I'm running with the Broilmaster at our beach house and sticking with the 2015 E-210 at our primary house In fact I'm going to swap the enamel lid with the stainless lid from the now gone S-210 and get after what little rust there is. . I know I can always replace internals for both for decades to come. Even if Broilmaster/Empire Systems went belly up, generic H burners and ceramic briquettes will always be available as will igniters. I can't say the same for any of the newer Weber models.
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I flipped between 6 and a dozen of the newer Spirit II and Gensis II line and I had not considered the lack of retail parts for them. Of course the Flavorizer, deflectors, and grates are available, but not the burner tubes (yet anyway). I love flipping these, as they are very easy to clean and the genesis tubes come out tool less. The burners are built very well and I have never had to think about replacing them.
 
Joe Anshien said:
I flipped between 6 and a dozen of the newer Spirit II and Gensis II line and I had not considered the lack of retail parts for them. Of course the Flavorizer, deflectors, and grates are available, but not the burner tubes (yet anyway). I love flipping these, as they are very easy to clean and the genesis tubes come out tool less. The burners are built very well and I have never had to think about replacing them.
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Well as the original poster stated... Weber allegedly has you covered for 10 years for most of those internals anyway. For many folks that's fine. But I believe there are quite a few folks on this forum who are skeptical about such things and take comfort in knowing that even the legacy Webers enjoy readily available aftermarket parts. Hence all of the threads discussing, rating, comparing burners, grates, etc...mostly from Amazon.
I think the Spirit line is underrated... at least the "older" style. I find that the E/S-210 to be extremely good cooking machines. At least both of mine were/are.
Not having an entry level grill and essentially relegating that market share to the CharBroils of the world is a questionable strategy.
 
I think what we are seeing is just the beginning of what we can expect since the company went public. A lot of decisions will be cost/profit based rather than feature/value based.
 
Jay D in Jersey said:
Well as the original poster stated... Weber allegedly has you covered for 10 years for most of those internals anyway. For many folks that's fine. But I believe there are quite a few folks on this forum who are skeptical about such things and take comfort in knowing that even the legacy Webers enjoy readily available aftermarket parts. Hence all of the threads discussing, rating, comparing burners, grates, etc...mostly from Amazon.
I think the Spirit line is underrated... at least the "older" style. I find that the E/S-210 to be extremely good cooking machines. At least both of mine were/are.
Not having an entry level grill and essentially relegating that market share to the CharBroils of the world is a questionable strategy.
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Jay - They may not have me and a lot of others covered since we get them second hand and the warranty will not apply to us. Especially if they have been registered.
 
Joe Anshien said:
Jay - They may not have me and a lot of others covered since we get them second hand and the warranty will not apply to us. Especially if they have been registered.
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That's unfortunate indeed. So the warranty is to the original purchaser of the grill. Is that the same for Broilmaster?
 
JSaus said:
I think what we are seeing is just the beginning of what we can expect since the company went public. A lot of decisions will be cost/profit based rather than feature/value based.
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That is what happens when you go public for most companies decisions have to be made if something is not selling or producing the required amount of profit you discontinue it. Private companies obviously have more latitude as nobody can drill down into the product mix and how much profit that product mix produces because they don't need to disclose that. They may decide for example that they are okay with an entry level grill any grill which produces less profits because they hope that customer decides down the road to upgrade. Public companies are judged by the quarter and forecasts for the year. You got to deal with analysts when your private not a problem.

I am really interested in, please not bashing the SmokeFire as I stated I would not do that again but the supposed sale with the 100 day return which ends early Sept I think around the 7th what they do, does the price go up the $200 back to a normal return policy? Grilling selling season is basically over Sept is generally when these various chains dump on sales all the cheapo gas grills to get rid of inventory before the fall. Do they leave the price the same then just cut back on the return policy? Hard to say what they do I get its a Pellet Grill and not a gas grill but stll they have to make decisions, could one be lets redesign this thing V3 or whatever you want to call it and be ready in February when most chains are probably making decisions on the product mix for the upcoming grill selling season.
 
Was in HD today I mentioned grill selling season is basically over they already cleared all the grills out of where they normally put them in the lawn gardern enclosed section where they have them for the winter. Replaced with a bunch of Halloween stuff still boxed about to be set up guess you make more money on Halloween junk then selling grills at this time of year. :)
 
Now you have me wondering if I should keep the Spirit II Mocha color I just got used for $180 or still plan on selling it.
 
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