Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Pros: - Thermometer - Three independent burners - Tool Storage - Easy propane tank attachment - Price - Excellent customer service Cons: - Structurally deficient, see photo - Cosmetic damage - Defective Ignitor, not true see edit * I started looking for a new gas grill late summer 2011. I had problems with ground squirrels getting into my grill and tools. All I could find at various big boxes were monster contraptions costing many 100's of $$$. So when the 463722311, catchy model name, showed up on one of the bargain sites for $94 shipped, I jumped on it. THE GRILL: Fundamentally this is a very solid gas grill with flaws in design of the support frame and numerous quality issues getting a perfect product to the customer. The basic gas grill was preassembled and it slid into the frame you assembled from the many parts using a well-illustrated manual. Both the top and bottom of the firebox were heavy gauge steel shells. The burners, tent flame shields, upper wire shelf and grill racks are then inserted inside the shells, all exhibiting a been there - done that before professionalism. All the steel pieces were coated in porcelain, easy to clean and durable. I've yet to fully master all the subtleties of grilling on the 463722311, but I'm convinced that with the thermometer and 3-burners it won't take me long. * Since I started using the 463722311 2-months ago I've grilled steaks, chicken, brats and burgers at least twice each and the combination of the three independent burners and the thermometer allows repeatable control. Some things just need fast grilling whereas other need baking. I always grill in the center with a single grate, this allows me to move the grilled item over the flame tent, away from direct flame. I then adjust the outer burners for the interior temperature. Easier to do than explain. BBQ ** Before I got this grill I was clueless how to BBQ, I only grilled. BBQ is grilling first, then baking to finish. For BBQ three burners and a thermometer are crucial, I cook in the center and leave that burner off for baking, use the other two burners for temp control. BBQ has tripled my menu options and I now use the grill ~100 times per year. Surprisingly easy on propane, maybe three bottles per year. STRUCTURE: The frame that supports the firebox lacked basic structural elements to prevent parallelogram collapse on the right side. A simple triangular brace is all that would be required. Instead, Char-Broil wasted three pieces of wire to exclude a propane tank from being placed under the firebox. Any of those three wires could have braced the frame from collapse. I added a steel strap, crude but functional, see photo. DAMAGE: The grill had numerous dents, dings and bends in many of the thin gauge steel parts. The worst dent was in the upper firebox shell. It had a large dent from the inside out. It's as if someone took a ball peen hammer with full force struck the shell. The dent fractured the porcelain coating inside and out. In addition, the control panel was heavily scuffed in the right corner leaving a thumb size area with the paint removed. Everything was well packaged in cardboard and/or Styrofoam. The outer carton had almost no damage when it arrived. None of the packaging material showed any damage. All this leads me to believe that the damage occurred prior to shipment and were packaged that way by Char-Broil. IGNITOR: The piezo crystal push button ignitor didn't work. I saw one blue spark in one hundred attempts. I used the interactive PDF ignition questionnaire and ended up at the 800 number. I called customer service and except for the accessory up selling the process was smooth and painless. New ignitor should arrive in a week. Installing it into the tight space above the gas manifold will be non-trivial. * After receiving the replacement ignitor which also didn't work, I figured out the problem. I assumed that the ignitor had two parallel circuits for the side and main burners . . . wrong. The two electrodes are in series. By not installing the side burner, I defeated the ignitor function, I should have grounded the side burner wire to the frame. MORE: While the 463722311 has no designed in tool storage, I had no need for a side burner, so I converted that compartment into tool storage, see photo. I purchased a 1/8" pipe plug to block the gas port for the side burner. The propane tank has a hook and v-notch attachment over the axle, quick and simple. I deducted 2 stars for the defective ignitor, weak structure and all the damage. The 463722311 could have easily earned 5 stars except for those problems. My spell checker likes igniter, but Char-Broil spells it ignitor in their manual? *Edit 2-15-12 I bumped my rating one star. **Edit 7-8-14 Added BBQ paragraph