New KJ review by Baby Back Maniac

SemolinaPilchard

 I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

Did you see where that put the kids face? Directly in the flashback zone. Of course I believe the point was that the hinge works so well with the weight that a 6 year old can lift it with one hand. But yeah,not a good idea.

Ozzie_Isaac

SemolinaPilchard said:

 I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

Did you see where that put the kids face? Directly in the flashback zone. Of course I believe the point was that the hinge works so well with the weight that a 6 year old can lift it with one hand. But yeah,not a good idea.

Teach kids to not touch **** their not supposed to.  Life lesson and a grill.

SemolinaPilchard

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Teach kids to not touch **** their not supposed to.  Life lesson and a grill.

Depends on the kid. One of my brothers apparently believed being told not to touch something was a dare.

Lit

I would get the Weber before another egg or KJ. They don't crack, 25 year warranty is as good as life to me, and they aren't a silly green or red color. I'm really gonna push for one soon probably gonna cost me the XL and mini max. 

DoubleEgger

I've got two green eggs with lifetime warranties. Doesn't matter to me what anybody else is doing. I'm a lifer. 

Ozzie_Isaac

What happens when everyone who wants an egg has one?  How will BGE stay in business and support our warranty?

Photo Egg

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

So KJ includes the extras and with BGE you have to purchase them as add on extras.
KJ has a safty latch to stop you 6 year old from just lifting the lid.
I'm having trouble seeing your points.

HeavyG

Photo Egg said:

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

So KJ includes the extras and with BGE you have to purchase them as add on extras.
KJ has a safty latch to stop you 6 year old from just lifting the lid.
I'm having trouble seeing your points.

It's not a "safety" latch. With the new gaskets (which are kinda squishy) and the airlift hinge the latch is to lock the dome in place to ensure a tight seal.

Photo Egg

HeavyG said:

Photo Egg said:

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

So KJ includes the extras and with BGE you have to purchase them as add on extras.
KJ has a safty latch to stop you 6 year old from just lifting the lid.
I'm having trouble seeing your points.

It's not a "safety" latch. With the new gaskets (which are kinda squishy) and the airlift hinge the latch is to lock the dome in place to ensure a tight seal.

Would it also stop a 6 year old from from walkng up and just lifting the handle?
To me, that would be a safety feature even if KJ is not calling it by name.

GregW

I'm pretty much cooker agnostic. I enjoy all types of cookers.

I really must say KJ is definitely coming on strong. If I needed another ceramic style cooker I would seriously consider it.

As they say a rising tide raises all boats.
I bet BGE will soon bring innovation to their product line. 

Ozzie_Isaac

I want a Karubeque

DMW

Ozzie_Isaac said:

I want a Karubeque

I want a Meadow Creek TS250

HeavyG

Photo Egg said:

HeavyG said:

Photo Egg said:

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

So KJ includes the extras and with BGE you have to purchase them as add on extras.
KJ has a safty latch to stop you 6 year old from just lifting the lid.
I'm having trouble seeing your points.

It's not a "safety" latch. With the new gaskets (which are kinda squishy) and the airlift hinge the latch is to lock the dome in place to ensure a tight seal.

Would it also stop a 6 year old from from walkng up and just lifting the handle?
To me, that would be a safety feature even if KJ is not calling it by name.

Well the six year old in the video knew to release the latch before lifting but I'm guessing that not only is she super strong she is also super smart.

blasting

Photo Egg said:

HeavyG said:

Photo Egg said:

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

So KJ includes the extras and with BGE you have to purchase them as add on extras.
KJ has a safty latch to stop you 6 year old from just lifting the lid.
I'm having trouble seeing your points.

It's not a "safety" latch. With the new gaskets (which are kinda squishy) and the airlift hinge the latch is to lock the dome in place to ensure a tight seal.

Would it also stop a 6 year old from from walkng up and just lifting the handle?
To me, that would be a safety feature even if KJ is not calling it by name.

Cookbook_Chip said:

And @blasting this is not marked OT that I can see with my blurry bourbon eyes. 

I see what you're doing here, lol

Eoin

Divide and conquer is good, I bought a half circle kiln shelf that fits the XL perfectly for 25 quid and does that job. Everything else just looks like fluff.

4Runner

My divide and conquer is my Large BGE and my Weber Kettle.  Works perfectly together.  Plus I get the extra benefit of lighting 2 fires so that is an extra beer to drink.  

Focker

I feel like the folks at KJ are taking the ceramic cooking experience to the next level.  Eggheads who got tired of the outdated grid setups, DFMT, bands, gasket, firebox, etc.

And I also feel like, the administrative folks at BGE, don't even use the product.  These KJ innovations have been issues with the BGE, for years!

KJ clearly has their finger on the pulse, while BGE has their finger checking a rectal temp.

odie91

Focker said:

Selling an egg at an eggfest is already a difficult sell, which now will get harder and harder.  My heart hurts for the dealers out there who cannot compete.

In my region, all those dealers have switched to KJ.   I think there's one dealer left within 20 miles of me (I live in a densely populated area too).   Why the heck would I buy another BGE when it's likely I will have nobody nearby to warranty it with in 5 years?   For some it's worth the 100 mile drive to get an Egg or get service, but for me I have better things to do with my gas.

[edit:  having trouble with formatting.  Words in bold are mine; not bold are Focker's]

Jeepster47

SemolinaPilchard said:

@Cookbook_Chip, you have a point. In the real world, even as BGE owners, we would have conversations about the advantages of a different brand. But it is pretty rude to have conversations such as this on a BGE forum. Not that different than having friends over for a meal and having someone say that brisket tastes better cooked on Kamado Joes than my eggs. 

@Semolina Pilchard  ... I would suggest that this thread presents a low cost opportunity for BGE to gather real world feedback on what features kamado users believe are important.

Without this forum and discussions like this one, here is a quick outline of what they would have to do to understand their product and how it is doing in the BBQ world.

1) Out of the thousands of egg buyers, they would have to weed out who really uses their BGE enough to have an honest opinion.  And, among those users, who's opinion is important vs. simple BS.  That would be a complicated and expensive process.

2) Then they would have to contact those folks to query them.  E-mail is nice; but cold.  Snail mail; same coldness. Phone interview; better, but still, not the best. Face-to-face interviews; really the best, but very expensive ... 20 good interviews a week in one state is pushing it.

3) Then collate the feedback ... weigh the validity of the input vs the interviewers impression of the owner, sort through for current problems, as well as, recognize new ideas and features desired.

The last project I was involved in took one full year with five full time individuals and about 20 others off-n-on to gather customer data for our next product.

BGE gets more than half the necessary info from a quick read of this forum.  And, item 1 above is completed ...

As long as we are respectful in our discussions, there should be no problems ... after all, it's not like we're discussing our new girlfriend in front of the wife.

tjv

blind99 said:

So what's the price on this new thing? $1200 new? doesnt seem like a great value anymore. 

I really like  the divide and conquer system. All the other features are nice but not game changing. I certainly don't need a 6 year old raising the top of a hot grill. 

MAP/MSRP:

classic  $1199/$1299
big joe  $1899/$1999

so far I have no takers comparing  adjustable rig/woo with kjoe's divide and conquer.......

t

blasting

So, a guy could buy a BGE XL, a complete CGS rig, a Smokeware cap, and a Rutland from Ron and be ahead by about $200-250.

Maybe BGE has some stuff in the works, or maybe this will be the kick in the pants they need.  Or maybe, this will just allow them to raise prices and do nothing.

edit - so my thread got sunk.  I guess they don't view things as jeepster mentioned.
 

GregW

blasting said:

So, a guy could buy a BGE XL, a complete CGS rig, a Smokeware cap, and a Rutland from Ron and be ahead by about $200-250.

Maybe BGE has some stuff in the works, or maybe this will be the kick in the pants they need.  Or maybe, this will just allow them to raise prices and do nothing.

edit - so my thread got sunk.  I guess they don't view things as jeepster mentioned.
 

That's a good point, they could just keep their head buried in the sand, or ashes as the case may be.

Hans61

@Lit my dad has the summit grilling center and really likes it. its not as temp stable as eggs are though. if you had one of those blower temp regulators that would solve it, plus theres a built in port for that.

Photo Egg

blasting said:

So, a guy could buy a BGE XL, a complete CGS rig, a Smokeware cap, and a Rutland from Ron and be ahead by about $200-250.

Maybe BGE has some stuff in the works, or maybe this will be the kick in the pants they need.  Or maybe, this will just allow them to raise prices and do nothing.

edit - so my thread got sunk.  I guess they don't view things as jeepster mentioned.
 

Once the market settles and all the stores have new stock, we will see what the street price of KJ really hits.