watched the video, and I must say, these guys are full of crap.
They're only discussing the superficial differences. They don't even breach the subject of shape, thermodynamics, ventilation, overall quality. They try and net the causal idiot with culinary chrome and asinine jabs such as:
- Height. A Webber is the same height as a BGE, do three inches make such a difference? If so, how hard is it for the owner to elevate their grill?
- Assembly. Is it Really a PITA to put a charcoal grill together? This isn't rocket science. You're setting a ring onto a rim. Personally, assembling something out of the box is the most thrilling aspect to ownership.
Plus the ring not being permanantly set into the grill makes it safer to transport (you can remove the lid) safer in terms of cross-contamination (how else are you suposed to get meat juices out from under the ring?) And safer in terms of longevity (say your egg gets rained on. What now? You can take the lid off, slide the ring away, and hand-dry the water before it starts rusting.) It also means that damaged metal parts can be removed and replaced. Or are we expected to never repair anything, merely to discard?
- High-carbon steel VS Stainless. First off what kind of stainless is it? Did they tell us how much chrome and nickel is in the mix? For all we know, it could just be shiny pot-metal, or plain steel that's been brushed and anodized to "look" stainless. Furthermore, the less crystaline shape of high-carbon steel makes for better insulative properties than "stainless". Since this metal forms the sealing "lip" of the grill, I would appreciate a product that would waste less of my good hardwood char and smoke.
- The hinge. Really? Is this a breach-loading cannon we're talking about? General Motors makes more pathetic hinges than the BGE, and I would argue that a car door sees much more use than a grill's lid. Stop wasting my time.
So these two clowns do the "great and mighty Oz" routine over some underwater-basket-weaving nonsense and leave the average moron to decide how to spend a fair chunk of change on semantics?
Where are the real concerns? How does the quality of cermaic compare? What of the increased depth of the Big Green Egg versus the shallower draft of the Grill Dome? Doesn't this mean that it would be easier to control the heat in the Egg because one has more options for elevating their coals? Or should all grilled meat be scorched? What kind of aftermarket support is there? What about warranty and replacement parts? Options and accessories? Quality of the glaze that comes in five different amazing colors they never bother to elaborate on?
I must say that I approached the subject as objectively as possible. I do not own an Egg or a Dome, but in fact own a Webber Kettle Grill I found at a yard sale. I just get frustrated when people spoon-feed me bull**** and have the nerve to tell me it's ice cream.
I'm gonna post this on their comments for the video.
edit: couldn't. Youtube doesn't expect people to be able to reply in the form of a concise, verbose reply, but rather in a childish slur of vowel-less nonsense clipped to a mere handful of syllables. Plus BBQ guys are soup-nazi about their comments, and only allow one reply post-approval, which means I couldn't freight-train all my paragrpahs onto my initial post as comments on my comments.
