Customer Reviews

Char Broil Judge Charcoal Grill

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Don't pay too much. I've seen this grill up to $299. I paid $89 and it is well worth the money. Big cooking surface, very flexible heat adjustments... could have a better grate, but otherwise a nice grill.

I've used mine for almost three years now. When I bought it, it was the largest commercial charcoal grill I could find in central Virginia; now I live in Louisiana and have found larger grills that seem better made. Then again, I only paid $79 tax-free for mine, and the ones down here start at twice that price. I've cooked for a dozen people on mine, smoked briskets all day, cooked hamburgers in short order for lunch, and loaded it up so much I couldn't fit another hot dog on the rack. To be blunt, this thing can cook just about anything and any quantity.

One of the wood slats on the side tray broke after the grill fell while being transported. Some of the finish wore off and one of the legs vibrated loose while moving from VA to LA (1100 miles, easy fix for the leg). I've noticed some rust that I quickly countered with vegetable oil. The front of the rack is not really supported and will bend with a lot of weight on it (it sits on the front of the grill but slides back easily). The temperature gauge is not very accurate and does get condensation and even grease built up inside it. I've yet to keep it reading "ideal" after the fire dies down but, really, who trusts any gauge when cooking out?

In conclusion, this grill is well worth paying less than $100 for, provided you like charcoal or wood (wood is actually recommended in the manual) cooking. Is it perfect? No. But few commercial products are and, short of making your own barrel cooker, you will be hard pressed to find this much grill for this little money. Mine is probably the best small investment I have made. Time to go check the barbecue.

What a piece of garbage! Very poorly made. Metal parts were scraped in several places and not machined correctly to fit right. Plastic feet for the legs did not fit properly and fell out.

Screws inside the lid caught on the retention rods making opening and closing difficult until I adjusted the rods with needlenose pliers. After that adjustment I was rewarded by the sides of the lid catching on the grill surface and pulling the grates out every other time it was opened. The lid fit so poorly and let in so much air there was no point in adjusting the vents.

The "thermometer" does not actually tell you the cooking temperature, just three levels: "cool", "ideal", and "hot". And after one night sitting outside the thermometer filled with condensation so it was unreadable.

Finally, the ends of the bolts holding on the wooden handle became very hot during cooking. Nice touch!

Looks so bad I was embarrassed to have it in my yard. Even purchased at half-price I felt ripped-off. May be worth a quarter of the price. . . may be.

Why bother?