I understand the convenience of gassers and love mine. We use it almost everyday... veggies, steaks, fish, chicken breasts, appetizers. It helps to add some wood chunks in a smoker box for a bit of flavor.
I bought a Weber Genesis EP-310 (the "P" includes stainless cooking grids and stainless flavorizer bars). Doing some research, I found a coupon code for Rainbow Appliance (
http://www.rainbowappliance.com/EP310-Genesis.html). After shipping, I paid $100 less than I would have for the standard model with porcelain grates from HD or lowes.
Its a great grill! It's very efficient and holds temp forever. It puts out even heat and I find it hard to burn something on it. I don't know why but even when I forget to check to the food, it comes out great!
Almost any brand of grill you buy, other than weber, will only last a few years. A weber will last 10 or more. If you pay $300 for a grill, you will likely need to replace it in 4 years or so. If you buy a quality weber, you get to enjoy a nice grill for much longer. In the end you will probably save money buying the weber after adding up replacement parts or replacing a grill every few years.
+1 for checking CL. You can get weber gassers for great deals on there too, especially now since people are moving more and its the end of summer.