Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Honestly speaking - I don't typically do reviews or endorsements because quite simply most products just don't do that much to impress purchasers. You buy a car and expect it to work, and it does work - done. A product performing the way it's supposed to isn't overly impressive, where as a product not performing as expected certainly gets a rise out of purchasers. Now - when it comes to the Char Broil Magnum 340 - OMG! I bought a grill and I expected it to cook food, but boy were my expectations set way too low. Others have written how well this grill performs, and I'm a believer now! I had a smoker grill designed to convert to a standard grill for cooking steaks and chops, and it wasn't worth a dime. I had owned standard full-size grills in the past (most recently one of the Charm-Glow grills from a national home improvement store but it went under national recall and parts weren't readily available), but thought the convertable smoker would be ideal. Since realizing the smoker was no good, it was time to buy another standard grill - besides, I don't really have a need to make too many pulled pork sandwiches or my own bacon). I spent a lot of time doing research, reading reviews, and talking to employees of local home improvement stores until I found one that owned one of the larger Char Broil infrared grills. He swore by it. My only decision was how large a grill to buy. Since I mostly cook for 4 people and fewer, this grill became the perfect choice. First off - the fit and finish of this grill are great. Build time is approximately 1 to 1.5 hours depending on how fast you're moving, if you've laid the parts out ahead of time, and you're working alone (time would be less with another person assisting). One suggestion to purchasers - don't fully tighten bolts until toward the end of assembly. There are certain connections that are easier to accomplish if the parts already on the grill have some give to them. As for the performance: There's plenty of real estate on the grates to easily cook medium size steaks, potatoes, and grilled vegetables enough for four people all at the same time. The dual burners allow you to create a fast grill on one side and a slow grill on the other in order to cook at different temperatures. The warming rack enables you to move plenty of food off the cooking surface as things are done - enabling you to take all the food to the table at the same time (there's little worse than hot vegatables and a cold potatoe on the same plate). As for the way this grill cooks meat - be sure to read the little grey book that comes in the box. It will tell you that for a 1.5 to 2 inch steak, cook it on high for between 4 and 6 minutes on each side. For the inaugural grilling session, I bought a 2 inch thick boneless ribeye (steakhouse cut), and followed the directions exactly by cooking for 4 minutes on each side. The steak came out perfectly. After cooking and resting the meat for a minute or two, I sliced the steak across the middle and the juices ran freely. While resting the meat, hardly any juice at all formed on the plate, which attests to the searing ability of this grill. Looking at the steak across the cut - there was 3/8ths of an inch of full cooked steak around all edges, and a perfectly pink warm center everywhere else within the steak. Excellent! If you're in the market for a new grill - please do yourself a favor and take a look at the Char-Broil Commercial Infrared line. It's well worth your consideration. Born-Again-Griller, John