Porcelain-enameled, cast-iron cooking grates retain even heat for the best tasting food. The porcelain-enamel coating is easy to clean and built to last. As the family sits down for dinner, or a couple of friends come over for a bite – char broil performance this three burner grill will do its magic. With the spacious cooking area you can sear steaks on one side while grilling an appetizer on the other, and the convenient open-cart allows you to keep your tools and equipment within reach.
You’ll need a large shed to accommodate it, but due to the aforementioned cumbersome portability, it might be better to store it under a cover. The Weber branded covers are expensive but essential to protect the barbecue from the weather if you’re going to leave it outdoors. While the two wheels are large, strong and robust with very little wobbling, it takes a little practice to move it around. However, this two-wheel design did mean the barbecue felt very secure when planted on its two non-wheeled legs. The Spirit II has wheels on one side, which means you have to tilt it to move it around (this isn’t the case with the more expensive Weber Genesis range, which has products with four wheels). In total, it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to put together, from opening the box through to full construction.
Although Spirit II is Weber’s entry level full-sized gas grill line, it is still more expensive than many popular low cost brands. However, most Spirit owners feel that Weber’s quality, durability, performance and customer service are worth it. Many cheapo gassers only last three to four years while Spirits can keep grilling for decades. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices on weber spirit 2 Spirit II 3-burner and 2-burner grills are $599 and $499 respectively, but the street price is about a hundred bucks less. Those who take the long view on purchasing decisions could consider Spirit’s $500 (3-burner) and $400 (2-burner) street prices a bargain. Primary cooking grates made of porcelain-coated steel will resist rust as long as their porcelain coating isn’t chipped.
You no longer have digital access to ratings and reviews. Most grills have a mechanical igniter of either the push-button or rotary design. More convenient is a battery-operated electronic igniter, which usually ignites the gas on the first try. Some grills also have lighting holes, on the side of or beneath the grill, that can be used with a match should the igniter fail. Located on the propane tank or the grill itself, this reveals at a glance how much propane remains in the tank. While burners remain the grill’s most-replaced part, most are warranted for only 3 to 5 years.
While this style of grease dish is standard on a gas barbecue, it’s not in-keeping with the high quality of the rest of the Spirit II. The food we cooked had no excess fat and the grease had effectively dripped into the silver tray, meaning there was no grease overspill the the finished food was crisp. However, the parts that lead into the fat receptacle Blackstone Adventure are a little finicky and more difficult to take apart and clean than on other barbecues. Even if you’re brand new to the art of using a gas barbecue, the Weber Spirit II is intuitive from the start. Moreover, since Weber is such a leading brand, there are plenty of online resources, including video guides to set-up, connecting gas and cooking.
Not having an entry level grill and essentially relegating that market share to the CharBroils of the world is a questionable strategy. 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. 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.