I was born and raised in the USA and I've been barbecuing for over 25 years but am only now starting to get serious about it. I've used both the Weber and
CharGriller in the past. I purchased my first Weber over 20 years ago and my first
CharGriller about 10 years ago. Shortly after buying my
CharGriller, I ended up moving to Australia and had to leave them both behind. I was able to find a Weber here in Australia without any problems but it is only recently that I have been able to find a
CharGriller. I purchased my CharGriller 6 months ago and have not looked back.
I admit that I'm a noob at this but would like to share my opinion. If for no other reason than to encourage additional discussion about the pros and cons of both.
At this point, if I could only have one, I would choose the CharGriller hands down and here are my reasons:
1) I prefer the heavy duty cast iron grill that come with the CharGriller. When grilling, I admit that much of this is cosmetic. I can't say why I like the thicker grill, I just do. For indirect and smoking however I feel that the extra mass acts as an additional heat sink to level out the temperatures. Also, if I need to add additional fuel on a long cook, it's easier to lift out the grate.
2) I love the ability to raise and lower the coal bed. This is something that I don't see many people talking about in forums. They are always talking about regulating temperature solely via the air vents. When I cook an Ahi steak, I'll start with the coals close to the grill for a minute and then lower the grill for five minutes. Then when it's time to flip the steak I raise the coals to the highest level for another minute and repeat the process. For me, an adjustable grill is the best way to make sure you only have to "flip the steak once".
3) I love the extra grill space. My last Weber was 22.5 inches and for most things this was quite sufficient but it does not compare to the CharGriller. I could go on and on here, but just having the warming rack allows you to crisp up 8 burger buns while finishing up the burgers. And indirect cooking is certainly possible in the Weber but it is a little bit cramped whereas I can do a whole indirect chicken on the CharGriller and cook a full plate of veggies on the side as well. Another thing I do on my CharGriller is pizza. The CG is wide enough to have two pizza stones so I set up a system where I have one stone on indirect and one on direct. I start my pizza on the indirect one and finish it off over the direct one. And basically, this is the best pizza I have ever had in Australia.
4) As far as the Weber being more durable, I can't comment too much on that. Other than the fact that my last Web rotted out in less than 5 years. I should say at this point that I don't know for a fact where it was made. As far as I know, this model could have been made in China.
Having said all of this, the best meal that I have ever cooked was on a Weber. It was a whole chicken that I cooked for 3 hours indirectly. It was perfectly smokey, moist, and falling off the bone tender. The problem is, I have never been able to reproduce that perfect chicken and I have to reiterate, that if we are just talking about grilling, the CG is more versatile.
And lastly, I think that there was something mentioned about needing the firebox to smoke with the CG whereas the Weber could smoke right out of the box. This is not accurate because you can also smoke using the basic CG model without the firebox.
In conclusion, if I had to choose just one, I'd pick the CG because I feel it is much more flexible than the Web.
I welcome your replies.