Tough decision - keep 16 yr old Silver B or get E470 or S670

[Jeff Padell]

I am trying to made a tough decision. We grill about 4 times a week year round. I have a 16 year old Silver B 3 burner that still works and is in good shape and I know all the hot spots and have a rotisserie for it. My wife says that since we ONLY grill 4 times a week even in winter we don't need a new grill as long as this one is working.

I am looking at the E470 or the S670, the 670 is really more than I need since there are only 4 of us in the house, but is like my 22.5 WSM, better to have it an not need it... of course I also have the 14.5 WSM that I do most of my cooking on.

Has anyone gotten the 670 and what do they think of it?

I am going back to Lowes to drool over them again. If I decide to do this I will hit my 401K or cash in a gold coin.

Another thing is that it is a matter of pride to be cooking on a 16 year old grill and keeping it going well - even if I get a new one the old one stays! I am not sure what to do and will have to sit outside with my babies and contemplate

 

[DaveW]

Personally, from a finance standpoint, I wouldn't dream of dipping into my 401 in order to purchase a grill. Would be different if you had cash just laying around burning a hole in your pocket, but I'd stick with what you have or see about picking something up off of CL.

 

[Bob Correll]

Sage advice from Dave.
Personally, I think you're a little over grilled as it is.
Buy meat instead, and be happy!

 

[Jeff Padell]

If I decide to do it I might sell a few guns ( I am more overgunned than overgrilled), that would make the wife happy, then I could get rid of a couple of my gun safes.

I think the thing that is going to hurt is having to buy a new snowblower, this winter, over 100 inches of snow, killed the blower.

There is just so much you can do with the Summit's! Although with the CB rotisserie, my rib-o-ator, the oil-less fryer etc. I guess I can do everything already.

BUT, BUT, they look so cool

 

[Chris Conro]

Just out of curiosity, what do you have going on in that aquarium on the patio next to all the grills?

 

[Jeff Padell]

Raising crawdad's for BBQ, actually my son killed his goldfish by neglect and that as close to the trash he had gotten it at that point.

Bob,
You can never have too many grills! Not shown are my SJS and SJG and the Brinkman went to the trash already, replace by the Char-Broil Oil-less fryer. The old Hondo off-set was my first grill/smoker - a real piece of junk but I like the looks of it. I often fire it up to get rid of trash wood and want to see alot of smoke while I am getting thin-blue from the WSM's

I use the OTG about 3 times a year, more used for pizza as I bought a real cheap OTS and scrapped it for the top and cut a hole in it. I bought another Silver B and scrapped it to build a patio BBQ table.

 

[Bob Correll]

Ah, and I see you have the Coleman lantern collecting bug too.
I had it bad a few years ago, but have since cured myself. (never got into the stoves much)
here's a few of several:

 

[Jeff Padell]

Nice! They are like potato chips, you can't have just one! The full size stoves just happened with 3 boys (one an Eagle Scout) all in scouting and lots of camping. I am trying to put together a small collection of backpacking stoves and of course birthday lanterns in each type and color made in 7/53

 

[Jeff Padell]

 

[Greg Y]

I have a used and abused 2007(?) Summit S-650. I like the Genesis models better.
The Summit's firebox is porcelain coated sheet steel, and mine was rusted through by the time I got it. The smoke burner is not good for much, the smoke rolls out of that side no matter how much I jack up the other side. The infrared rotisserie is nice, but I would be happy with a rotisserie on a Genesis. Those fat stainless steel rod grates are nice, but you can get nice grates for a Genesis.
I do not feel that the Summit is worth the extra cost over the Genesis EP-330.
Now that huge cooking space is NICE, but I didn't mind the space on my Genesis when I had that.

I don't know if you were serious, but I would not go into my 401K for any reason except retirement. I have sold some of my excess guns to buy some things that I wanted more though.

 

[Jeff Padell]

Yes the 401K was sort of tongue in cheek. I sold a M1a to pay for car repairs
I also sold 6 handguns, including a Colt 1911 Gold Cup to buy a matched set of 3 sequentially numbered Colt Officers Models from 1932 that are Boston Police marked!

check out my website www.bpdguns.com

 

[Jeff Padell]

Greg
I am glad to hear of the problems with the Summits. I do like my old Silver B and have a rotisserie for it and always liked the side to side burners, I take the middle flavorizor out and then turn off the center burner and it does a great job. I will bet it does as good a job as an infrared thingy as you can crank the other 2 burners

THey just looked nice

 

[Greg Y]

The other thing I've seen on the newer gas Webers is that the bottoms, back, and side frame panels tend to rust through. I've passed on several used Summit's because of this. All the panels really add up.
I have to wonder if there are better options in the $2500 range than the Weber Summit. I wonder, but I don't know, because I am in no position to spend $2500 on a grill.

Don't get me wrong, though. Those new Summit's are BEAUTIFUL!

 

[Brian Thomas]

I'd pass on a new Summit. I took a look at one in Home Depot a couple months back and was not impressed with the quality. The hood seemed lighter than the one on the Genesis, and they cut back on the number of bars on the grates such that you can easily slip a finger through them now.

Why not just get a Genesis EP-330? That grill will provide you with plenty of cook space for the four of you, and you'll save yourself $1000 versus buying a 470 Summit.

You won't find the Genesis EP grills at the big box stores. So you would have to get one through Ace Hardware or one of the online dealers.

 

[Jeff Padell]

Brian
I agree, I looked at a Genesis, I assume the 330, it had the sear bar, they wanted $850. Mentioned it to the wife and she said NO, actually it was more like HELL NO, you don't need a new grill while your Silver B from 2000 is still working.
That is the problem with the older Webers they last for ever! My Silver B is 16 years old and looks like new and works fine!

I am looking at creating a second cooking deck for it, a grate held on stainless bolts about 4 inches above the other one to increase capacity for indirect cooking

Guess I will have it for the rest of my life (last year I had to replace the crossover pipe but the rest of the tubes are in good shape and I have extras from the grill I scrapped to make a table out of

 

[Greg Y]

Brian,
The hoods on the Summit feel lighter, but they aren't. The pivot point is much farther forward, making them counterbalanced and easier to open.

 

[Brian Thomas]

Brian
I agree, I looked at a Genesis, I assume the 330, it had the sear bar, they wanted $850. Mentioned it to the wife and she said NO, actually it was more like HELL NO, you don't need a new grill while your Silver B from 2000 is still working.
That is the problem with the older Webers they last for ever! My Silver B is 16 years old and looks like new and works fine!

I am looking at creating a second cooking deck for it, a grate held on stainless bolts about 4 inches above the other one to increase capacity for indirect cooking

Guess I will have it for the rest of my life (last year I had to replace the crossover pipe but the rest of the tubes are in good shape and I have extras from the grill I scrapped to make a table out of

You'll really like that second cooking grate. I made a raised cooking grate for my Genesis EP-320 about 4 years ago and it is still going strong. Really comes in handy for baking. During the hot summer months, the Genesis becomes our ooutdoor oven. We've baked all sorts of stuff in it. The E/W burner configuration really works well when baking.

It won't cost much to make a raised grate either. I made mine with an el cheapo Charboil grate that I picked up at Home Depot. Total cost for the grate plus four 8" carriage bolts was about $30.

 

[Rich Dahl]

I've got two gassers, two smokers, two performers, one 18,5 kettle pizza kettle and a smoky Joe and there is just two of us 99.9% of the time. So I'm in no position to say your over grilled. My two gassers are a 1999 Genesis 1000LX I bought new and refurbed about 5 years ago and it is never going anywhere now that it's regulated to roto work only.
The other is an E320 NG which I picked up from CL in mint condition for $200. I got the E320 because in the Summer we have charcoal restrictions during the fire season plus I got tired of filling propane bottles. The difference between the E320 and the Genesis 1000 is night and day, they both cook very well but the E320 is so much nicer to work with and is a little bigger.
My friend has a Summit S-650 and he wishes he had bought a genesis E330, it's just way to much grill for what he does. Like said he could have bought a hell of a lot of meat for the difference in price.

 

[Jeff Padell]

That is exactly what I did today with some stainless steel hardware and an old porcelain grate

With all I can do with the Silver I don't know why I was thinking of another grill! With the money I am getting for my 25 year work anniversary I may look into that shelf system they have, not sure if it will fit the old Silvers or not and no idea what it costs just saw it in the catalog

 

[Jeff Padell]

Came out well, both levels