BBQ reviews and reliability scores

Probably (w/or without the cart)

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comparing to

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Thanks Brendan and PhilT. The one I am looking at is the one shown by PhilT - it is a very similar price to the Weber.

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The Ziggy wins on design. It looks so much happier than the Q !

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Just getting back to you on this. Thereā€™s been a number of items this year that have been affected by supply chain issues, so unfortunately we couldnā€™t get this one at the time of the review. Although we do update these periodically and Iā€™ve passed the comments on to the testers for consideration.

Without testing the new model, I canā€™t give you a firm indication on how it stacks up. Visually, it looks similar to previous models and BBQ tech and engineering typically moves differently than say electronics. If you go into the review and use the filter on the left, youā€™ll see the previous model under ā€˜discontinuedā€™. Check out the good points and bad points and measure it with what you find on inspection.

Apologies we couldnā€™t give you the review you needed this time around.

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Thanks Brendan. I have seen the previous reports and they werenā€™t too complementary to the Ziggy. I was curious as to whether later models have improved, but if you canā€™t get one you obviously canā€™t test it. All other comparos Iā€™ve seen just go through the features of the two, which the Ziggy wins, but donā€™t actually cook on them to tell you which produces the better finished product. My feeling is that the Ziggy has better features but the Weber is the better BBQ

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Itā€™s an observation that applies to many online review sites. All they are genuinely offering is a product guide that may or may not be a reliable cross-section of the available brands and models, IMHO.

Most rely on purchaser feedback to supposedly offer genuine appraisal. It may be well intended comment by many. However each purchaser experience will differ. Individual comments often prioritise different things, while few can genuinely compare using the product recently purchased with the ones they did not.

The benefit of a Choice product review for those products assessed, is the impartial objectivity and for testing a genuine side by side comparison. Based on the previous Choice BBQ reviews we purchased a Weber after also looking at Z&B as well as Weberā€™s alternatives in store. How many features does a great BBQ need? Two - great cooking and easy to clean. Durability could be a third?

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Hi all,

Iā€™ve obviously missed something in the BBQ test dated January 2023. If you compare the Weber Q3100 and Weber Q3200, while both are recommended, there is some significant differences in the ratings. The Weber website and the Choice comparison tool both state that the 3200 is $10 more expensive for the addition of a slightly higher hood cover, a temperature gauge and electronic ignition.

If the testing is subjective, itā€™s easy to believe that they were tested at different times and the ratings reflect this. If the testing is objective, as Choice claims, why the discrepancies?

Some time ago, Choice went away from a description of why certain products rated better than others and the information was generally useful. Today all we get is a list of numbers and a generic ā€˜how we testā€™ (which in this case suggests they have a number of BBQā€™s) without any meaningful commentary on why two closely related products with minor differences can be given significantly different ratings.

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Hi @mcziel2, I merged your post into the existing one about BBQ tests.

Yours is an interesting observation and question about the testing, and the specific issue you raised with the Webers.

Perhaps @BrendanMays can get a response for us?

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@PhilT @BrendanMays Waiting, waiting . . .

Iā€™m still curious why to apparently near to identical BBQs have such a different rating.

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Hi @mcziel2, apologies for the delayed reply. If you use the ā€˜compareā€™ function by clicking the blue button under each model in the review, it might be a bit easier to see why the scores are different. The two models scored differently in ā€˜evennessā€™ (how the heat is distributed across the hotplate), Evenness with high fat cooking, Roasting and gas consumption among some other things.

Thanks for your comments about the description, I will pass this on to the product testers. Within the more-detailed ā€˜compareā€™ view, there is some additional comments and some good points and bad points noted by the testers that hopefully helps here a bit too.

If you have any follow up questions, please let me know and apologies again for any confusion we may have caused.

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With the shift to electric devices I was looking to replace a Weber Q that needed just about everything replaced except the shell after 10 years usage. I considered the Breville Smart Grill and the Weber Pulse but the cleaning and fat fire issues with Pulse had me looking further afield. Ended up going with a Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker because of its flexibility. It seems a solid alternative to a Weber Baby Q (at nearly twice the price), but has the added flexibility of being an air fryer and smoker as well, so will be worth adding to the reviews if this list gets updated. Much easier to clean than a Weber Q, but aside from sausages havenā€™t used it enough to comment on it overall.

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Welcome @hedgeddown

It will be useful to hear more of how the Ninja performs vs your needs. To note it is rated at 1760W. Approx 6.3MJ.

A Weber BabyQ is rated at 9MJ. Both options appear to better suit a small family meal.