Weber SmokeFire - anyone get it yet

[sandyut]

I just checked the weber site and this can be added to your cart and says its available. but nothing about what the second generation BS means... It hard to see a recovery here unless someone didnt research the release faceplant.

 

[forktender]

I was thinking the same thing @sandyut
Boy, some of the youtube fan boys sure had to eat crow after brag'in it up at the prerelease deal at the Weber testing site.

 

[bill1]

They're "back in stock" at Lowes and HomeDepotCanada but not at US Home Depots or Walmarts.
Lowes shows two videos. The newer one shows it with the replacement pellet hopper insert. Grease still appears to drain to the center drawer. Same prices.

 

[sandyut]

I still believe this to be unrecoverable. Maybe over along enough timeline enough newbs wont see the bad press from the release or not research it. but start to finish it was a joke. not sure if weber just bought some product already made by someone else and BS'ed the research and all but still cant get over the tremendous fail.

 

[bill1]

I'd LOVE!!!! to hear from a Weber insider as to what the product development was like on the SmokeFire. Was it even done domestically?

James C Stephen had a prodigious number of patents under his belt since this iconic one put the Weber-Stephen Company on the map. It appears from Google Patents that his output dried up in 2008 so I assumed he was an old man or passed away. Alas this article shows him younger and healthier than I...he merely sold majority interest in his company 10 years ago. I suspect Goldman Sachs banker Byron Trott, who put together the BDT Capital investment firm that bought Stephen out, is a lot better at reading balance sheets than performing engineering calculations. So it's no surprise their latest product is higher in price than it is in performance. But it has the Weber name and that's worth a lot. For a little while longer.

 

[kstone113]

Besides the pellet hopper insert(which I'm guessing makes it less than 20 lbs. capacity), seems like they haven't done anything.

They do need a whole new redesign which I doubt they will do right away.

To me, it is a simple as this. This is a grill first and a smoker second. I don't think asking users to put a drip pan is a big deal however when you market that it doesn't need it and then you say use it....basically people got...got!

I do not own one of these Weber SF but I've seen them in the store. They are not made of quality materials but does seem better build than a Traeger.

I would suggest any of you to look at RecTeq. The smoke fire (not the design) reminds me of the RecTeq Bullseye. I say that because you can use the Bullseye as a smoker but highly recommended to use a drip pan.