Are they worth getting? I was intrigued. Is the expandable one worth the extra price?
I have one you can borrow and test out if you want.
I haven't used mine in years.
I enjoy my Rib-O-Lator.
For most cooks (chicken, brats, etc) the thing is just a goofy gimmick.
Where it earns it keep at my house is when I want to cook four slabs of ribs at once. It makes cooking multiple slabs EASY. I do not foil ribs when using the Rib-O-Lator...I spray with apple juice pretty regular to keep them moist.
Is it worth it? I enjoy mine; not sure I would buy one again...but it sure comes in handy when cooking big piles of ribs!
I use one for my comp chicken.
I really like using mine. It's not going to make your cook taste a whole lot different than without it. Sometimes it's nice just to load it up and then sit back and relax and let the rib-o-lator do the work for me. You'll pay for that relaxing at clean up time though. Things like cheese, bbq sauce, and marinates tend to burn on the racks and make clean up harder. I've learned to pull the whole thing off the grill when I'm done cooking and let it cool somewhere out of the way. If it's left to cool down with the grill it's a real pain to clean up.