they're great - We got one last year, so the older model - We were having a weekend party, and were feeding 75 people among other things breakfast for 3 days - The result was, it got nicely seasoned in a hurry - I really like what they did with the new one with the lowering of plate - that was a good move. The larger side tables were also a good idea - The tables on last year's model were weird in the sense that can get really hot from about 6 inches out from the unit on either side - sort of rendering that real estate partially useless. For example, you wouldn't want to put anything plastic in that area. Looking at the Weber page, you can still get the older one, but if the $ isn't a huge concern, the new one certainly looks like the way to go.
The biggest concern for me getting one was of course the griddle top and what would happen to it in between usage - We live in the Northwest part of the US, and its cold and wet for a good portion of the year - we leave it in the garage and have to say it did *much* better than I anticipated- if you have any experience with caring for cast iron (like Lodge stuff) you'll have leg up on the required care - Mine developed a rust spot at one point, but just a minute of light brushing with some steel wool cleaned it up nicely. (A side note - Your paper towel consumption will go up immensely as well. lol...) Currently we use it about once or twice a month -I heat it up a bit, wipe it it off and its ready to go. When we're done with it, I clean it up and still whipping about a 1/2 tablespoon of oil on it before closing the lid - I hope I won't have to do that by the end of the summer, but we'll see.
When the new one came out, like others, I thought the griddle top was the stuff they make the wok and other accessories from - What Weber refers to as 'porcelain-enameled cast iron' but now I don't think that's the case- Maybe its just pre-seasoned carbon? Regardless what it is, it will need some level of care, so be prepared for that. Last years model required the top to be de-oiled, and seasoned prior to the first use - maybe that step was giving some folks fits, so they preseason them now somehow? Don't know.
I think the best advice I could provide is cook a ton of bacon on it after you get it. We did about 20lbs of bacon that second time we used it and the top winded up looked like grandma's ancient cast iron skillet after the smoke cleared. Have fun, you'll love it!
