I personally am not a buyer but am interested to see how it fares.
Another thing we are not taking into consideration is this isn't a kettle replacement. They are NOT going to mass roll these out to every home depot and lowes across the country. I believe they said they are going to roll it out in select independent BBQ stores etc. These are going to be presented at BBQ stores next to Eggs, kamandos etc. These aren't going to be in walmart next to a $20 square knock off grills. I don't think Weber has the intention of being the every mans grill. They may sell 1,000 kettles to 20 of these summit charcoal cookers but that is to be expected.
And from Weber's perspective this makes a ton of sense. At this stage of the game, Weber isn't going to expand it's brand and market share in the charcoal kettle market, they already command the top spot in that arena. For the company to grow it's about expanding into new markets. This does that.
One of the reasons I think we are seeing the reactions we are seeing is because their build up campaign seemed to be targeting the existing
charcoal grill community and not the
kamado grill/smoker community. They hyped the product to the wrong audience.
In the end, people who don't see the value in it won't buy it, but I suspect those who walk into a BBQ store to look at a BGE and see this sitting next to it will give it serious consideration. Easy ash removal, lighter to move around, no danger of cracking it and making it useless. I foresee the Summit Charcoal Grill being a successful product for Weber, and just like they sell a bunch more Spirit and Genesis grills than Summit gassers, they will sell a ton more traditional kettles than they will SCGs.
I do suspect the SGC will outsell the Ranch Kettle.