Downsides to the XL?

Higher lump usage and slightly fewer accessories are the only things that come to mind.

It all depends on the type of usage you need. I have a XL, LG and Medium and my preference is the large. With the ability to have multi-tiers of food on it, it can handle as much or more that a 22" grill.
As mentioned by others you will have more lump usage and less accesories with the XL. If you just have an occasional use for large quantity cooking a large can handle it for you.

Yep. They did. My problem with the XL is that with the lower profile may not allow me to stack the food as much as the lg. The xl has a bigger grill for direct cooking though. To me it all goes back to the type of cooking. For what I do I get more bang for the buck with the large. For others I'm sure the XL is the only reasonable choice.

RogeM,

There is talk of a new XL to come out next year that has the same dome geometry as the others. I don't know for certain that is true but if I were buying right now
I would give that serious consideration. I need another egg like I need another hole in my head but I will order one when they come out.

STeve

for some of us the lump usage does factor in. first few years with the large cooking most days of the week, was over 400 pounds lump per year for me, you may find you use the egg more often than those webbers. you will probably also find that what you egg is diffent than what you typically cook on the weber, i think most of us found that we dont need as much grill space as we used to. an example is 7 unsplit chicken breasts fit in a large in one layer, enough for 7 to maybe 10 or 11 people, you need to grill more you can double it with another rack or you can just threow 6 or 7 chickens in the large and feed a good sized crowd, bigger crowd gets 30 or so pounds butt and brisket in the large, more in an xl. something also to consider is that second egg your going to buy down the road

Weight of the XL is an issue but I don't think you are going to pick up a Large and walk away with it either - like you can a small or a mini. I have moved my small and mini around a lot. To move the XL, it needs to be taken apart - done that too.

I can't really compare to a large because I have only cooked on them a few times. I suspect a large would satisfy most of you requirements and you would be happy with either one. Lots of folks will suggest getting a large along with either a small or mini (flexibility in cooking at two temps/set ups) for the same cost as an XL - I think that is an eggcelent suggestion.

Not trading my XL in for a large though.

It is heavy, but with the gts removed and the dome taken off. It can be moved around by one person.

I hope this reaches everyone on the thread... if not, one XL egger will do, I suppose.

You all will be helping me settle a bet of sorts.

A friend got an XL after experiencing the wonders of my medium (I have much less space). He has been using briquettes most of the time, and using a chimney starter to get all the coals going. I was skeptical, saying that the first thing I read was no briquettes (unless desperate) and that all eggs were the same, one starter in the middle, vents open, boom- 10-20 later you've got you're temp. Maybe a few starters if you are going for high temp. But grilling (getting some char), smoking, fish, whatever... adjust the vents and top closed.

I feel like my buddy was essentially making the XL a $1200, 200 pound weber.

He said the XL was different, and my medium wasn't the same. I didn't say anything because I know the etiquette of one man and another man's grill.

For the record, what he made was delicious, but I wanted to know if there really was that great of a difference in the eggs.
Also for the record, and regarding the question of this thread, I feel like the Large is what I would get, as a family of three that BBQ's a lot for friends. The XL was just huge. Awesome, but huge. Although if used correctly, perhaps the lump charcoal would last longer.

Any insight would be great.
I'm going for al pastor this weekend.

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