unbiased reccomendations

It's just the two of us. Bought a large bge just on the reputation and can't believe we didn't do it earlier. Just Do It!

We didn't buy our medium egg, we won it at a company Christmas party (we were the only people in the company that didn't own one). I hadn't even heard of them before then. Before the Egg, I couldn't have cared less about grilled food. Now, I wouldn't trade my egg for anything. There is very little that I cannot cook on it. On July 4, my stove died. I haven't missed it. Last night I even made chocolate chip cookies on it. Every day is a new adventure.

Hope this helps

...and I was going to say...

but your assessment, let alone BGE count said we should hear you out...


all I'll say is - just 2 of us here after 8+ years and we have 4 BGEs. Just tonight I used 2 of them for what I call a simple Tuesday night meal...being a flat iron steak and a baked potato.

I would highly recommend you check this site out.

www.nakedwhiz.com

P.S. if you get anything else you probably will be green with envy :laugh:

Caution: Buying an egg may cause a life long addiction to good food and make eating out seem like punishment :silly:

Pushing 2 years ago I was looking for something else. Had bought many gassers, most of which were rusted and gone. Had many smokers at the time 4 on the patio and still not happy. I was kind of looking as a barrel cooker or a pellet smoker. Had no idea what ceramic cookers were.

I heard third hand of a round looking green cooker and the owners were rather weird on a forum. Googled and eventually found the egg page and noticed the forum.

Didn't look to much at the BGE page but spent a day and half reading the posts. Googled for other ceramic cookers and looked at 2 or 3 other forums. The forums were completely different and at that time not very active. Not like this forum.

Found a local dealer and that night had a large on the back patio.

Fast forward to current time. Two of us most of the time and now have 4 BGE's. I don't need 4 eggs and only once in a while will I have 4 going at once.

I love the large and love the mini.

Back then these folks here on the forum sold me on getting the BGE, period!!! Today, the forum sold me on the BGE and BGE's incredible warranty service. I have needed the warranty and BGE has more been fair to me and from reading the posts to many other folks.

Now I am biased.

GG

Do you have any specific questions?

This is kind of like going to the Ford dealer and asking about a Chevy LOL! But we have 5, yes 5 and there are two of us Crazy HUH?? but we started with a large and then got a small to go camping. got a Med for the FL house as we could not stand to use the gasser when we went down for the winter, got a med for the studio and ended up taking in the lg instead and keeping the med at home. went to the NH egg fest and came home with a mini. parents have bought two since we got ours and two sets of friends have gotten med and another is saving for one! Do we love them? yup! will we ever go back to gas? Nope! do we recommend them YES! So much that we have seriously discussed becoming a dealer. Like has been stated check out the other forums. that will sell the egg.

Steve brought home #4 recently....

...that's like going to a peta meeting and asking about veggies or beef. You are going to get biased answers.

I will try to be impartial. Round ceramic grills are round ceramic grills. The primo ovals have a few featues that I do like. However it is not better than the support from a good egg dealer and from Atlanta. So fo me, it is the egg.

Just my 2 cents but in my opinion, the biggest difference between the ceramic cookers is your dealer and the service.

Ceramic cooking offers many advantages (and some disadvantages) over other grills/smokers and you can produce great results with any of the makes and models.

I am somewhat biased, but I think that BGE was the best choice for me. The company has the some of the best customer service I have ever experienced ... hands down. I may have paid a little more for a BGE than for another brand, but I have received every pennies worth if not more. What ever cooker you choose, it will last a looooong time. If your dealer or the manufacturer is not around, you're stuck.

Another issue is this forum. Think of it as a living user manual. Any question you have can be posted and you will get answers!

I know you will enjoy your choice!

Hulk1 - My experience, which started unbiased, ended at a LBGE. I started early this year researching BGE, Grill Dome, Primos, & Dragonfire. I was looking for a solid, dependable, cost effective ceramic that would have a good warranty and future support. That eliminated the Dragonfire. Not because it didn't have those things, but because I didn't feel comfortable that it had them. (ie: I didn't know, and still don't know) :blink: One down. Then I looked at the Primos. They were eliminated based upon the cost effectiveness, as they were the most expensive, and I didn't have an interest in the oval. Then there were 2! I made my decision, a large grill dome. I could choose my color, the support was supposed to be second to none. I went on the website and priced out what I needed. The GD was less expensive, even with shipping, than the BGE. I tried to inquire by email & phone but got no response. The owner was in India on business. That's fine. Then I found out that the website prices were outdated. Once I recalculated the cost of the large grill dome in comparison to the BGE, the BGE was more cost effective. I went to a dealer and picked one up, drove it home, set it up, and smoked a butt over nite.

That being said, there are minor differences between the ceramic cookers. Each has there benefits over the other.

For instance: Dragonfire - larger cooking surface (19"). Comes complete with nest & sidetables at a great price. Bands & hardware are stainless.

Grill Dome - hi-tech ceramics that are thicker than the others. (longer heat up, better retention) Machined lid & base surface for good seal. Stainless bands & hinge. Nice selection of colors and sizes (dome heights)

Primo - Sorry, the price eliminated them pretty quick, so I didn't do a ton of research on them.

Egg - great dealer network, great accessories, great forum support, great warranty support.

IMHO, they will all burn similar amounts of lump, produce juicy, tasty food, and very easy to learn and use.

You won't go wrong with any of them, but be sure how the warranty works, just in case.

I have never cooked on/eaten from/or even seen any other type of ceramic cooker so I will leave those comments to those who have. What I will say is that the egg is a a great conversation piece, "An unusual object that arouses comment or interest". Every time I say to someone I'm cook'n on my egg, I get the usual :huh: barrage of questions and interest & people want to see it for themselves. I just don't believe I would get the same reaction by saying I'm cook'n on my (fill in the blank...)

As you see the egg is very good. That said; if this forum was pushing cooking in the trunk of a Chevrolet, just buy a Chevrolet and follow this forum.
The people in the forum will hold your hand all the way on any question or cook. The egg is make outstanding because of the forum.

Flashback Bob wrote:

Good points! But I would add that I don't think the others offer the same level of accessories which enable the diverse cooking possibilities on the Egg.- Did you notice whether or not when you were researching?

Definitely not. Knowing that I didn't have to rig something up with a pizza stone/firebrick/flower pot as a heat deflector for my first low & slow, definitely played a part in my decision.

unbiased... like looking for a virgin in a cathouse! lol

I grew up where the ONLY grilling was open pit over oak wood. Was ridiculed by family & friends when I tried a Weber kettle grill out 20 years ago, but have been using them ever since. Still cook open pit when I go back "home", and use gas grills when I cook at a few friends homes. I can pretty much cook anything, anywhere - with no complaints on the fruits of my labor.

Been eyeballing kamado style cookers for a year, and just bought my Large BGE last month.

For me, picking the BGE came down to three things: support, support, support (okay - one thing, support). More dealers carry the BGE (discounting that a main competitor is avaiable via internet - not going into the internet verses dealer only issue). Like pretty much everyone is saying here - this forum is a huge marketing pitch, what... a hundred posts a day, or some sufficiently large and impressive number.

You have a question - you post it here - you'll get an answer immediately, if not sooner. YOn average, you'll get an answer here faster than the police can respond to a 911 call!