What is it that makes you love or not care so much for a CGA?

[dbhost]

Most of the knockoffs I've are propane
which is even scarier!!!
Most of the burners couldn't survive
more than 2 years of exposure to
the salt in meat drippings.

I mostly see the Char Broil knock off, and I think Walmart has one in their "Expert Grill" line, both go for about $30.00, and appear to be made with steel about half the gauge as the Weber, with terrible ceramic finishes. Generally speaking even with light / medium light use, you really only get a year or two use of them before they have rusted out to the point of being useless.

I have a Smokey Joe, and love it, but honestly, a CGA would be a better fit for me for camping, and trips to the beach when we aren't in a beach house... And if I knew about the CGA before I bought my Smokey Joe, my collection would be quite different! Like I mentioned previously, the CGA isn't commonly seen on store shelves. I know I can order them at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes etc... but they are not available for local pickup, nobody has one out to demo etc... unlike the kettle grills which are everywhere and everyone has several set up... Heck my local grocery store has Weber Original 22" Kettles pre assembled for $99.00!

I saw a guy on Youtube yesterday that kitted up a CGA for camping perfectly. Managed to get the coal grate to sit on the bottom, stashed his chimney, 2 chinmeys full of coal, paper, lighter, utensils, scotch brite pad, etc... and could close the lid. Although I KNOW I would go through more charcoal that what he shows, in one weekend, I also know I could cook every meal on a CGA, and have it come out fantastic!

Don't get me wrong. The Smokey Joe is great. I have a silver, which is a good grill, but no good way to hold the lid on. I typically dump and wash the bowl when cold, flip the lid, put the grates in the lid, and stow it all in a doubled up heavy trash bag to keep from getting soot on the inside of my trunk. Not the best arrangement, but again, like I said, when I bought mine, the options it seemed for a small, portable charcoal grill as I wasn't about to do propane. No disrespect to propane users, but just not my thing, anyway the choices were a Smokey Joe Silver, Smokey Joe Gold whcih I had one previously but for some reason the Gold was back ordered when I crushed my first one, and the knock off CGA grills which had the build quality of a Yugo. I went Smokey Joe...

[Kneab]

Not to change the subject, but the 14-inch WSM is also an underrated little cooker. This past Sunday I did two 9 pound pork shoulders for carnitas. A single load of Weber charcoal ran for 10 + hours.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[Foster Dahlet]

I love the CGA as a fuel miser and something to use occasionally when I am doing a cook for myself (which is an uncommon event).  I bought the heat diffuser back in March, but I've only used it once.  Truth be told, I use my GGA a lot more than the CGA (to either supplement what I am grilling on the Kettle, or to do small, really fast cooks).  When I am cooking on charcoal, I prefer to use the Kettle, even for small cooks.

[captjoe06]

I love the CGA as a fuel miser and something to use occasionally when I am doing a cook for myself (which is an uncommon event).  I bought the heat diffuser back in March, but I've only used it once.  Truth be told, I use my GGA a lot more than the CGA (to either supplement what I am grilling on the Kettle, or to do small, really fast cooks).  When I am cooking on charcoal, I prefer to use the Kettle, even for small cooks.

I could see that.  Part of the fun for me is seeing how far I can push the limits of it.   Like smoking ribs or lamb shanks.


The thing that really makes me curious is how they can be all the rage in Australia and rarely talked about in the US.  Some good responses here from folks explaining how the cheap knock offs have tarnished the form factor and how not many stores stock them on shelves.  I don't think many stores in Austrailia stock them though.  Maybe @bear or@Golly  can chime in with their thoughts.

[DrewZ]

I could see that.  Part of the fun for me is seeing how far I can push the limits of it.   Like smoking ribs or lamb shanks.

I only bought my CGA because it was $15 with 2 bags of charcoal included.  I expected to use it for small batch hot and fast cooking, but one of the first cooks I did was low and slow pork shanks.  It was so easy to set up, used very little fuel and kept steady temps like a champ.  Since then, my use has been pretty equally split among low/slow (lamb shank, salmon) reverse sear (tenderloin filets) and hot/fast (shrimp kabobs, burgers).  Still not sure I'd pay retail for one, but that's just because I'm criminally frugal. 

I did pay retail for the Weber mini chimney.  (well, almost retail -- I had some special Amazon coupon that knocked it down to $8.50)
I'd consider this to be a must-have for little cookers. 

[Poorfolks]

If the stores simply stocked them they would probably sell well. None of the stores stock them in my area.


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

This^ X2! Gave my SJ to my brother about a 6 weeks ago.

[Poorfolks]

This showed up yesterday. Paid $61.00 so the grate and handles are going up for sale.