Sams Club Hybrid Grill

[Oldyote]

I picked up one of these at Sams Club last week and finally got around to putting it together. Other than being a bit of a PITA (lots of parts) the overall quality seems pretty good for a $250 grill. As a hybrid it has the gas side and a charcoal side but also includes an infrared surface. I've never used one of those so I'm excited to give it a try. It also has a bottle opener .

I posted this in the "I recently bought myself" thread and was asked for a review. I don't want to hijack that thread so I'll put my thoughts in this one.

I have a Brinkmann Combo at our cabin so I have something to compare it to. I like the flexibility of the Brinkmann and this grill is very similar except for a couple of changes that I think will improve upon the functionality.

The gas side is pretty straight forward but does include porcelain coated grates. I'm not sure what I think of that as I actually think I like the cast iron ones better.

The infrared burner is interesting to me and I will give that a go sometime soon but so far all I have done is fire it up and can tell you that it gets blazing farken hot in a hurry.

The charcoal side is where the improvements are over the Brinkmann. I like the door for adding wood/charcoal without having to remove the grates. I also like the gear shifter for raising the coal bed. I can do that on my Brinkmann as well but its a two handed process and often requires gloves.

The overall construction is absolutely lightweight metal. This will not be a low and slow cooker but I have my eggs for that.

Cooked up some lamb chops tonight over a bed of coals and really liked the gear shifter. I started them out with a nice sear and then moved the coals down to the second position. Hit 140 in no time and turned out great.

I'll post more as I use it. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has this grill.

[StellaBean]

that's a nice looking grill and the food looks great! keep the reviews coming!

[Johnny_Crunch]

Looks pretty good. The chops look great too.

On the other hand there is no way I am putting anything together that has that many pieces. How long did that take?

[Oldyote]

I had rain and a helpful 4 year old so its a little hard to say on the time. I'd guess 3 hours if you could do it without interruption. The hardest part honestly was matching up the pieces to the instructions. The boxes were all labeled but the labels didn't necessarily match the instructions. The infrared unit was a little tricky. The reviews on the Sam's Club site suggested being very careful while hooking up the thermocouple so spent some extra time on this step as well.

[Smokin Ribs]

Nice lookin grill. perfect fit on the deck too

[Johnny_Crunch]

That is a damn nice looking deck!

[gasAintGrillin]

As you can tell by my handle, I'm no fan of gas, but it does have its applications. If I was going to buy anything that used any fuel other than wood or charcoal, it would be one of these hybrids.

I'm with you on the porcelain grates. Hopefully they're something close to a standard size so you can swap them out for cast iron when the coating starts to chip away.

Thanks for sharing!

[Oldyote]

Originally Posted by gasAintGrillin

As you can tell by my handle, I'm no fan of gas, but it does have its applications. If I was going to buy anything that used any fuel other than wood or charcoal, it would be one of these hybrids.

I'm with you on the porcelain grates. Hopefully they're something close to a standard size so you can swap them out for cast iron when the coating starts to chip away.

Thanks for sharing!

Once I had a BGE I thought I'd never use a gas grill again. We bought the first hybrid thinking we would just use the gas side to make pancakes or bacon and eggs. We ended up using it a lot more than we thought we would and it is a very nice addition to the egg. I feel like with a big green egg and this kind of grill there are very few things I can't do and we have space to make a ton of food.

[J_Don]

I'm not really sure if it was made by the same manufacturer but I remember seeing a hybrid (I think it was at Sams) that looked just like the one you have but it also had a square firebox/grill added to the charcoal side. It was priced at a little over $300.00 and I almost bought it just for the novelty. The do everything grill of all grills. I'm also like you with that being that there are times when I am rushed and I want something grilled quickly that I will fire up a gasser and add a woodchip box to get a little smoke flavor in my food. Anything cooked outside beats the kitchen IMHO. Congrats on the new toy and keep us posted.

[sullysQ]

Originally Posted by J_Don

I'm not really sure if it was made by the same manufacturer but I remember seeing a hybrid (I think it was at Sams) that looked just like the one you have but it also had a square firebox/grill added to the charcoal side. It was priced at a little over $300.00 and I almost bought it just for the novelty. The do everything grill of all grills. I'm also like you with that being that there are times when I am rushed and I want something grilled quickly that I will fire up a gasser and add a woodchip box to get a little smoke flavor in my food. Anything cooked outside beats the kitchen IMHO. Congrats on the new toy and keep us posted.

Fiance bought me the one you are talking about for Christmas last year, It has the typical leaks and other issues that you get at that price range but for a do-all in a small area(townhouse for me) it is awesome and haven't had any complaints on the food yet. Haven't even bought a propane tank yet for the gas side so can't say much about that side except I'm itchin to try out the searer. Ribs is about the longest cook so far, will have to do some gasketing before trying to do butts or have a bunch of charcoal on stand-by. I did build a basket for it though.

[Frank Grimes]

Nice score for $250.

[bbqbandit70]

Looks good, I like the adjustable charcoal level.

[mallorjc]

Just bought mine this past weekend and agree witheverything you say. Parts labling vs. instructions was an obvious translation failure from Hong Kong. Easy enough to intuit, nonetheless. Infrared was a particular pain, and that ignitor didn't work. No worries. Be sure to follow the curing instructions. (Well, I think it may help prevent interior corrosion. I plan on keeping some rustoleum hi-temp paint on hand. The infrared baffles me. Yeah, hot as can be, but won't that burner just fill up with crap? Also think we'll be replacing the porcelain grills asap. And a shelf instead of the side handle is coming soon!
All I've done so far is cureing it and doing some veggies on propane side to accompany the pork butts from the smoker.
For $250, it's one of the best toys yet! My daughter's boyfriend called it the most manly thing he's ever seen. (Kids! Whatta they know!)
This being an old thread, do you have any news?

[Oldyote]

I've been very happy with the charcoal side. I really like the height adjustment. I've not used the infrared much have had no problems with it. The gas side is pretty even and does a nice job when I want it. My only complaint is the knobs. They are all going bad on me and the only one that is a striker is the center one. For the price I'm still pleased but I can see that I will need to find replacement controls pretty soon.

Good luck. BTW I didn't call the company until after I had it for maybe 9 months. I think if I had contacted them within the first six months they would have covered the controls.

[mallorjc]

Thanks for the good news. I've never had a commercial gasser that didn't have crap knobs like these. Recognized them right out of the box. Imagine the studs are kinda standard. Please let me know what you find for replacements. Should be some steel ones out there. Know channel locks work from past experience. Thanks for the heads-up on the 6 months. I may exercise them, but why bother for replacement garbage?

As for the charcoal side, I, too am happy with the adjustments at first look. Looks small for offsetting, though. I'm thinking of adding an offset box later, or a larger bottom grate.

Rust? Did you use any sort of thread sealant? Any loosening?

Now I've gotta see what the zeros club is! Sounds like something I could excell at!