Jeepster47 said:

@Eggzellent ... you've got to stop looking back at what you paid for something years ago.  Two points:

1)  If you include the nest, the MM has the same number of parts as the XL ... almost the same labor costs to produce them ... almost the same cost on the BGE truck to ship them.  The only savings is a little on basic materials ... not much in the scheme of things.

2)  Bought a Valentine's day card for my wife earlier this month.  Told the gal at the counter that the card cost about what my marriage license cost.  Stuff just plain costs more today than yesterday.

Cheers ...

Eggzellent said:

"..If you can get the Conveggtor thrown in with the MM at what is a $100 list difference (without it) it seems to me that you are getting your money's worth for the price difference (YMMV).... like it a lot yet it's hard to believe what I paid for my XL (years ago) as compared with what the MM is going for now..which I will instantly forget the first time I fire it up." 

"Hard to believe" yet and still. "Instantly forgotten" should have been emphasized.
Again, we aren't seeing to date (and I may have missed them) detailed side-by-side reviews of the MM/Jr. in terms of heat retention, ceramic quality. weight/mass or any other physical factor. I believe that the BGE is a superior product to the Jr. (save the size of the firebox) regardless. Do I believe that it is  a $600 plus tax (w/o PS) value over the jr.?..probably not until those comparisons are reliably made. As far as equating the MM and XL to support an even near equal cost of raw materials, shipping or showroom cost/space between the two?..I understand the basic premise yet feel that the MM price reflects more of a "we can do it because we can" reality.
Thank you for your opinion as I'm a big fan of the "it just does" and the real world. I just wish that more physics-based side-by-side comparisons were made at the (basic) XL and MM level to put some of these comparisons to rest as even more designs/price points flood the market. 

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

Ha!  Not yet Brothaman!  But maybe someday....

Yes, we bought one and the cuteness was a factor. 

1move said:

HeavyG said:

westernbbq said:

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

I'm betting you're one of those BGE fanboys that has an Egg tattooed on their arm yes?

You don't have a tattoo of BGE yet? What is wrong with you @HeavyG ???

On a serious note my reasoning was simply because of quality! If you felt the ceramic of the others you can tell its grainy allowing more space between the ceramic material itself. BGE has been around forever and to me the rest are knock offs. I rather fork up the money and get the best of the best and be happy, it's how I was raised and learned over time I guess. 

Always ask yourself this if they were both free which one would you pick? 

You can tell by the feel of the ceramics the one which is superior to another? I'm guessing you must be a materials scientist/engineer then.

If you wanted to buy the best of the best ceramic cookers why didn't you spring for the Komodo Kamado?

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

westernbbq said:

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

I'm betting you're one of those BGE fanboys that has an Egg tattooed on their arm yes?

You don't have a tattoo of BGE yet? What is wrong with you @HeavyG ???

On a serious note my reasoning was simply because of quality! If you felt the ceramic of the others you can tell its grainy allowing more space between the ceramic material itself. BGE has been around forever and to me the rest are knock offs. I rather fork up the money and get the best of the best and be happy, it's how I was raised and learned over time I guess. 

Always ask yourself this if they were both free which one would you pick? 

You can tell by the feel of the ceramics the one which is superior to another? I'm guessing you must be a materials scientist/engineer then.

Funny story.... I actually am

1move said:

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

westernbbq said:

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

I'm betting you're one of those BGE fanboys that has an Egg tattooed on their arm yes?

You don't have a tattoo of BGE yet? What is wrong with you @HeavyG ???

On a serious note my reasoning was simply because of quality! If you felt the ceramic of the others you can tell its grainy allowing more space between the ceramic material itself. BGE has been around forever and to me the rest are knock offs. I rather fork up the money and get the best of the best and be happy, it's how I was raised and learned over time I guess. 

Always ask yourself this if they were both free which one would you pick? 

You can tell by the feel of the ceramics the one which is superior to another? I'm guessing you must be a materials scientist/engineer then.

Funny story.... I actually am

Cool.

So give us the skinny on the physical properties/characteristics of the ceramics used by the major kamado makers.

From what I've seen/read/heard there doesn't seem to be any significant real world usage difference between the ceramics used in BGE/KJ/Primo/Vision.

They all seem to crack fire bowls/rings with about the same frequency. 

Komodo Kamados are a quite different beast as they use refractory cement and not ceramics. 

Would be quite interesting to learn about some of the specific materials used in these things.

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

westernbbq said:

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

I'm betting you're one of those BGE fanboys that has an Egg tattooed on their arm yes?

You don't have a tattoo of BGE yet? What is wrong with you @HeavyG ???

On a serious note my reasoning was simply because of quality! If you felt the ceramic of the others you can tell its grainy allowing more space between the ceramic material itself. BGE has been around forever and to me the rest are knock offs. I rather fork up the money and get the best of the best and be happy, it's how I was raised and learned over time I guess. 

Always ask yourself this if they were both free which one would you pick? 

You can tell by the feel of the ceramics the one which is superior to another? I'm guessing you must be a materials scientist/engineer then.

Funny story.... I actually am

Cool.

So give us the skinny on the physical properties/characteristics of the ceramics used by the major kamado makers.

From what I've seen/read/heard there doesn't seem to be any significant real world usage difference between the ceramics used in BGE/KJ/Primo/Vision.

They all seem to crack fire bowls/rings with about the same frequency. 

Komodo Kamados are a quite different beast as they use refractory cement and not ceramics. 

Would be quite interesting to learn about some of the specific materials used in these things.

Your hypothetical would suggest that the BGE is far superior as the rate of uaage if exponentially greater. Thanks for the support to his argument. Nice job pointing that out. 

pgprescott said:

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

1move said:

HeavyG said:

westernbbq said:

The MiniMax is, simply put,  the COOLEST grill around.   The rest of the market has pretenders and wannabes.   I cant wait to fire up the MiniMax tonight!

I'm betting you're one of those BGE fanboys that has an Egg tattooed on their arm yes?

You don't have a tattoo of BGE yet? What is wrong with you @HeavyG ???

On a serious note my reasoning was simply because of quality! If you felt the ceramic of the others you can tell its grainy allowing more space between the ceramic material itself. BGE has been around forever and to me the rest are knock offs. I rather fork up the money and get the best of the best and be happy, it's how I was raised and learned over time I guess. 

Always ask yourself this if they were both free which one would you pick? 

You can tell by the feel of the ceramics the one which is superior to another? I'm guessing you must be a materials scientist/engineer then.

Funny story.... I actually am

Cool.

So give us the skinny on the physical properties/characteristics of the ceramics used by the major kamado makers.

From what I've seen/read/heard there doesn't seem to be any significant real world usage difference between the ceramics used in BGE/KJ/Primo/Vision.

They all seem to crack fire bowls/rings with about the same frequency. 

Komodo Kamados are a quite different beast as they use refractory cement and not ceramics. 

Would be quite interesting to learn about some of the specific materials used in these things.

Your hypothetical would suggest that the BGE is far superior as the rate of uaage if exponentially greater. Thanks for the support to his argument. Nice job pointing that out. 

Not sure how you derive that from what I said but hey... if it helps you deal with your confirmation bias I'm glad to have helped.

Eggzellent said:

HeavyG said:

Eggzellent said:

Jeepster47 said:

@Eggzellent ... you've got to stop looking back at what you paid for something years ago.  Two points:

1)  If you include the nest, the MM has the same number of parts as the XL ... almost the same labor costs to produce them ... almost the same cost on the BGE truck to ship them.  The only savings is a little on basic materials ... not much in the scheme of things.

2)  Bought a Valentine's day card for my wife earlier this month.  Told the gal at the counter that the card cost about what my marriage license cost.  Stuff just plain costs more today than yesterday.

Cheers ...

Eggzellent said:

"..If you can get the Conveggtor thrown in with the MM at what is a $100 list difference (without it) it seems to me that you are getting your money's worth for the price difference (YMMV).... like it a lot yet it's hard to believe what I paid for my XL (years ago) as compared with what the MM is going for now..which I will instantly forget the first time I fire it up." 

"Hard to believe" yet and still. "Instantly forgotten" should have been emphasized.
Again, we aren't seeing to date (and I may have missed them) detailed side-by-side reviews of the MM/Jr. in terms of heat retention, ceramic quality. weight/mass or any other physical factor. I believe that the BGE is a superior product to the Jr. (save the size of the firebox) regardless. Do I believe that it is  a $600 plus tax (w/o PS) value over the jr.?..probably not until those comparisons are reliably made. As far as equating the MM and XL to support an even near equal cost of raw materials, shipping or showroom cost/space between the two?..I understand the basic premise yet feel that the MM price reflects more of a "we can do it because we can" reality.
Thank you for your opinion as I'm a big fan of the "it just does" and the real world. I just wish that more physics-based side-by-side comparisons were made at the (basic) XL and MM level to put some of these comparisons to rest as even more designs/price points flood the market. 

Why do you think the BGE MM is superior to the KJ Jr.?

Brand loyalty? Just because it costs more? The color? Because it's made in Mexico and not China?

Since we can't seem to locate a forum member with a thermal engineering or materials background to compare apples to apples...I made my $100 MM decision (PS incl.) on something pretty simple..weight ('hopefully' mass as related to material as well). The Jr. is significantly taller in such a squatty cooker. Whether it is 'less squatty' (diameter-wise; all the way to the top) I have no idea. The weight difference for a shorter/squattier Kamodo with known performance and (from what I could see) even a better gasket was 18%.

18% was worth $100 to me when my dealer threw in the PS and even more when someone (finally) comes on here and explains what !8% (also) really means in relation to materials and/or thermal mass as related to heat retention.

Mexico vs China vs US (even) means little to me anymore unless I know what the owner of any company will settle for...and there are a lot more 'settlers' around this country and elsewhere than ever before.

Ahh...so you're of the "if it is heavier it must be better" school. Gotcha!

Not sure about your 18% weight difference. KJ Jr. = 68lbs vs BGE MM= 76lbs. I also have no idea (and couldn't care less) whether those published weights reflect the total weight in the cradle with all parts inside, the ceramic parts only, whatever.

The gaskets on KJ's do seem kind of thin which I'm guessing is the opposite of your "a thicker (heavier) gasket is a better gasket" school.

Don't really think the BGE gaskets are better tho. Everyone that I know that owns or has owned both BGE and KJ (myself included) think the KJ gaskets hold up better. Not really that important tho cuz they all need to be replaced eventually.

There is one thing about the KJ Jr. that is clearly far superior to the BGE MM - the handle. I hate that crappy little wooden grip on the MM.

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Chill folks.  Be happy we have so many cool options out there.  Good time to be into kamodos right now.

Not trying to butthurt anyone about this. I wouldn't say one is superior to the other in any practical physical/performance measure. I think the KJ Jr. is clearly a better value and am just curious what would lead one to believe a BGE MM is superior to aKJ Jr.

Apparently a MM weighing more is definitive for someone. That's cool - we all have our own decision matrix.

^^^^^^^That.

DoubleEgger said:

Four pages of posts and nobody picked up on the fact that the OP's wife gave him cash for Valentines Day? 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aQlhrrqTQmU

She must be his uncle too? I got a bad, bad feeling, the worst is yet to come.

westernbbq said:

Allmi can say is that i am very happy with the MiniMax.   It is great for pizza, camping, tailgate parties and the beach.  I haul it around on a little cart from harbor freight and it is always a hit.    Id probably have almost as much fun with a kj jr but then it wouldnt be a Big Green Egg and it wouldnt have a name as cool as MiniMax


On a side note i did get the platesetter and the CGS woo and small stone setup.  I use the woo with the platesetter and also have a two level cooking system when smaller diameter rimg is up top.    The minimax continues to help uncover creative ways of arranging amd usimg cooking space.  

MiniMax is a much cooler name than "Jr.".

Smh