Could this new SNS be my new Kettle grill?

G'day fellas,

I've been watching with interest on youtube mostly at this stage of the new SNS Kettle grill. It's been available in the US for a couple of years now and it's now available here. Urbangriller is one of the 2 retailers and BBQ Spit Rotiseries.

SNS Grills – Slow ‘N Sear Kettle BBQ - SNS Grills Australia

Anyway, it looks as though SNS sat down and considered, the Weber Kettle is a great popular and worthy grill, how can we make this more user friendly and possibly better.

I think they might've achieved just that.

They arn't cheap though, dearer than the Master touch plus but only by 70 bucks. But it wasn't designed as a cheap knock off of Weber but as a premium designed version of a Kettle grill and from what I've seen online of these and the youtube reviews, they may have well succeeded.

The SNS Kettle grill has 304 stainless steel food grates, it has a hole in the underside to place an electric fire controller but many use it as a vent when doing low n slow, it has a 5 arm sweeper to get rid of coals but the arms of those sweepers are shorter than the Master touch, it has a temp gauge on the same side as the exhaust vent which is something I think Weber stuffed up on because your vent is usually on the side of the food and is where you want the more accurate reading with the gauge probe closer to the food grate. And talking about the food grate is that it's designed to work with the SNS charcoal basket and you get full access to the basket because almost half the grate flips up so you can fill the entire basket and add water without hindrance.

It also has a small table on the side and is screwed by 4 screws and looks reasonable strong, it's not designed to hold a lot but better than nothing, it also has a hole to place probes in rather the wire being stuck in between the lid and bowl. and the kettle grill has 4 stainless steel legs making it possibly more stable than a 3 legged Kettle.

So yeah, those who've known me over the years will know my love of the Weber Kettle and it's what I always cook on these days but jeez I think these could possibly sway my loyalty to the W brand to looking at a new model....is this classed as Adultry?

I was considering to buy another bullet smoker later or a pellet grill when I move into my new place but one of these could easily change my mind for the amount of meat I'm likely to cook and besides, when I had the 18.5 inch WSM, I never used the bottom grate anyway. and 2 kettles full of coals wouldn't be much different than using a WSM charcoal ring.

Anyway guys, what your thoughts? have anyone bought one, seen one or thought of buying one....from what i can see so far, Weber has a solid Competitor.

Davo

Quote from Urban Griller

I don't stock them, you have to buy too many of them in one shipment.

Maybe it's an improvement on the standard kettle, I just can't see the market for it.

Oklahoma Joe Blackjack kettle is also out there but, I can't see see the point in trying to market that against the Weber either.

Yes I can understand your point of view too Chris, but there's no market more congested than the US Market when it comes to outdoor BBQs. I don't know what their actual sales are in the US. I too am skeptical when it comes to Weber Copies or knock-offs but the SNS Kettle has some good features that Weber have not bothered to include. I can also see Ian's POV about buying a Komado type grills rather than another kettle type. I guess I may have to have a trip up to BBQSpitrotiseries to have a look at these in the flesh. It's like Pro-Q make a good bullet smoker but after comparing both in feel and features, I still think I would buy a WSM rather than a Pro-Q, they just feel more solid. However I do like the Fornetto Razzo version of the bullet smoker.

N o I really haven't looked any further into it so I can't really comment now. I was going to check them out at Spitroast rotisseries in Sydney but have since moved away to Albury. The Weber Mastertouch plus I do have and love it although i do tend to use my old Performer a lot more coz I don't want to tarnish the newer one....crazy eh.

If a Kamado Joe is one special for that much....might be worthy of consideration...my next BBQ will be a gasser, either a new Q3200 or a Flat plate griddle...haven't decided yet.

Yeah I've been told how cold it gets here in Albury but they say it's not as cold as Canberra so that's something I guess

Yesterday I went and had a good browse in Barbeques Galore in Albury and they are very well stocked with so many different varieties of BBQs from Offsets to Ziggys, Traegers to Those quartz covered Gassers and the amount of rubs and sauces they have sauced (get it ) from the USA, that place is a haven with very knowledgeable staff.

It's also interesting to note how much the bigger Gas BBQs are today, averaging around $,2500 but getting up into the $5K and beyond range so yeah, it's kind of making premium Weber Grills like the 4 Burner Genesis and even the Summit look like they are no longer premium priced in the market.

They even had a Heatlie SS Griddle there for $1,800, not really cheap and not overly attractive in my books even though there's great reviews about them.

The staff told me that the Albury store was in fact a Company Store and not a franchise and there's no real Competition in the area as the closest Weber Authorised Premium Dealer is in either Wagga Wagga and Wangaratta.

The accessory line up for the Ziggys, in particular the triple burner model, priced around $100 lower than the Q3200 is pretty impressive but i think in comparison, the lid on the Ziggy is rather flimsy.

I'm also rather attracted to the new Blackstone Griddle from Bunnings (another store that is getting a better selection of stock, only a 2 burner plus airfryer available under $800 but I don't think the 4 burner is available here.

So many options, so little money

I've got 3 charcoal Webers, don't really want to go down the Komado path.

cheers

Davo