Thursday, December 17, 2020

The Original and Still Champion

 




12 comments:

  1. Sorry, NO! I talked my girlfriend into buying a Weber two years ago, well we found out that they moved production to China. In two years up on a deck, always covered from the weather; the thing totally rusted out.
    The days when the families Weber at the cottage on the Cape that took ten years a block from the ocean without a problem... are gone.

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    1. Manufactured in Huntley, Illinois, according to the Q/A section on Amazon.

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    2. After her's disintegrated I went to Lowes and got down on my hands and knees to examine the manufacturers plate on the Webers they had for sale; China.

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    3. OK, I stand corrected. I did a little research and discovered that most of the Weber charcoal grills are made in the USA, while just about all of the Weber Gas grills are made in China. The charcoal grills that I examined at Lowes said China on the plate, but maybe Lowes wanted a Weber charcoal at a price that the USA built couldn't be made for.
      I bought the Weber Charcoal with gas ignition and that was made in China. The gas ignition feature didn't last a year.

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    4. Maybe assembled in Illinois but stamped in China just like a lot of vehicles assembly components made elsewhere assembled in USA so they can say Made in America. I bet a comparison of metal thickness and or grade from the 70's would give you a decrease in quality like all things made today. The plastic shit really pisses me off. I pull out my old B&D circular sander a friend gave me many years ago and it makes me cuss all the other tools I have.

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  2. Mine is approaching 31 years of service. Every other year I pressure wash the inside and then hit it with a couple of coats of heat paint on the outside surfaces. It ain't pretty but it cooks like a champ.

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  3. Just replaced mine after 30 +/- years. Wound up using a tomato cage for legs.

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  4. My Webers:
    14" Smokey Joe, (Patio level), 1996
    22" Kettle Grill, (at Mom's house) 2002
    26" Kettle Grill, 2006
    22" Kettle Grill II, 2009
    14" Smokey Mountain, 2015
    14" Smokey Joe, (deck side) 2018

    And they all work great. I've never owned a gas grill and may not ever. My late father always busted my balls over not having a gas grill, but when he requested I cook 24 Wilson's Rib Eyes for my parents 50th Anniversary, he also asked me to bring my Weber, which I left for future uses, (see above).

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  5. I can get onboard with this one, a Weber & Lump Charcoal (real) is definitely the way to roll!!!

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  6. You'll find that Weber (along with many many other companies) has twin product lines. There's the "original" made in USA models that you can buy from specialty stores that cost twice what the Walmart/Amazon/Lowes/Home Depot version costs. Then there's the Walmart/Amazon/Lowes/Home Depot version that's a Chinese copy of the original, made under license and only sold at the cheaper outlets.

    I've been warned to never buy a "Honda" product from Lowes for this reason. It's not a true Honda lawn mower, but a China one with a Honda sticker. Same with Weber grills, certain power tools, so on and so forth. How the original brand thinks they'll survive undercutting themselves is a mystery. Short term profit at the expense of long term brand destruction.

    BTW, I have a true Made In USA Weber gas grill that's well over a decade old and still going great. Buy the original if you want quality.

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    Replies
    1. That's putting it clearly. The Weber brand used to be golden to me, now it's tarnished and I doubt I'll ever buy another.

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  7. Also todays charcoal aids in deterioration.

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