Lowest New Price: USD $329.00
Features :
- 363-square-inch charcoal grill with Touch-N-Go gas-ignition system
- Rolling steel-frame cart; work table; 3 tool hooks; lid-mounted thermometer
- 2 charcoal fuel holders; charcoal storage container; One-Touch cleaning system
- Requires disposable LP cylinder; Weber cookbook included
- Measures 28-1/2 by 50-1/4 by 40 inches
The Weber Performer Charcoal Grill features a Touch-N-Go gas ignition system that ignites charcoal briquets with the push of a button. Organizational features enable you to keep your focus on the food, including an attached work table, a weather-protected charcoal storage container, a wire bottom shelf and three tool hooks. This grill is built to last, as demonstrated by the heavy-duty steel cart frame, heavy-duty plated-steel hinged cooking grate, no rust aluminum vent, a glass-reinforced nylon handle, two crackproof all-weather wheels, and two locking casters. Its One-Touch cleaning system with a removable black aluminum ash catcher allows for easy clean-up. Comes in black, green, and dark blue.
Customer Reviews
Great grill, but color not what I expected (2010-08-16)
I bought this grill on recommendations of others who love it. It works well, great size for grilling. I ordered the "Dark Blue" one which looked like a nice royal dark blue color in the product pictures. The actual color, however, is more like a pastel violet. I thought at first they sent me the wrong one, but the item # and model # match up. Of corse my wife likes the color and so I decided to keep it, but I would have liked a real dark blue one.
Although there is no need for lighter fluid, I am not sure if there is real cost savings as you still have to pay for the small disposable propane tanks, which cost just as much as lighter fluid would. I have read about kits you can get to convert for using the larger tanks, but have not looked into that yet- sounds like more hassle than it is worth. Also, I naively thought that without lighter fluid, there would be less smoke, I was wrong.
The grill was easy to assemble, except that my grill was missing a part necessary for attaching one of the smaller wheels. I called Weber directly (the "Grill Line") and spoke to a representative immediately. Within a few minutes the representative had registered my grill and ordered the part that I needed, no questions asked- good customer service.
All in all great grill. But be forewarned about the color of the "blue" one.
One of the best grills ever made... (2010-06-12)
I say this is ONE of the best grills ever, only because I already said that the Weber One-Touch Gold is the best grill ever in a previous review. These are both fantastic grills, but now that I have a Performer, with its added features, I will have to say it might be better than my Weber Gold. Why? Here are my reasons...
It has a gas ignition system. So I no longer have to use my Weber Chimney Starter which works great, but 5 minutes of gas burning under my pile of charcoal is much easier. Plus its one less piece of equipment I need cluttering up my garage.
It has a decent sized work area. The tabletop area on the Performer is very handy. My Gold does not have a shelf, so I keep it near a small table and use that as a work area. Thats one less piece of furniture I now have cluttering up my deck.
It has a thermometer on the lid. I love that feature! Normally I remove the lid, hold my hand over the coals, and start counting seconds to try to figure out what my temperature level is. Since I no longer have to heat up my hand to check temperature, my beer stays colder when I hold it. How can you put a price on a feature that important?
It has a wire lid holder instead of a small hook welded to the inside of the lid. I was okay with the hook lid holder but my wife always had a problem getting it lined up. I know, why is my wife even touching the grill? The Performers wire lid holder hangs the lid much higher, and is actually pretty handy if it is windy because it blocks the wind much better than the hook type lid holder which hangs the lid pretty low down on the kettle.
It has a storage area. I know the storage area is designed to hold charcoal, but I store my charcoal in the garage because when it is stored outside it tends to absorb moisture from the air. In the garage it stays nice and dry. I use the storage area to store some tools and I roll up the grill cover and store it there when I am cooking.
There is only one negative comment I have about this grill. Weber should have stayed with the 5 lb propane tanks. I am not a fan of using the 1 lb disposable propane tanks. There are two ways around this problem, the first is to get a hose and adapter so you can connect to a 20 lb propane tank. Or you can get a Propane Tank Refill Adapter and then use it to fill up the 1 lb disposable bottles from your 20 lb propane tank. That is what I do and I am able to reuse the disposable bottles over and over again.
In my opinion a Weber charcoal grill is superior to any other charcoal grill I have ever used. Maybe something even better will come along one day, but I cannot imagine what they could do because the Weber is already charcoal grilling perfection.
Now all I need is to get a Weber Kettle Rotisserie and I am all set. Fathers day is coming, are my sons paying attention???
Very pleased (2010-05-26)
I have long wished that we could have the taste of charcoal grilling with the convenience of gas barbecuing, but I hadn't heard of this "hybrid" possibility until recently. We are very pleased with what we got, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the same desires. One caution...Read the directions carefully about when to have the lid on, and when to have it off. It's counter-intuitive.
A great buy (2010-05-26)
Just what I needed. I have had weber kettles for years, this is the second one I bought, the old one is just fine, just needs to be cleaned up. However I really wanted the table, the tripod is nice but wheels are better. The built in starter works great, the charcoal bin is fantastic and with the table I have a place for the wireless thermometer and drink.
The best part I was able to get a color other than black (all the local home stores had to offer) and it was delivered right to the door. Assembly took about half an hour, the instructions were clear and easy to follow.
Wow! Charcoal made easy again (2010-05-14)
Decided to go back to charcoal after 6 years with a gas grill. I finally bit the bullet and went with the Weber Performer and oh my - steaks are now better tasting than some fine restaurants! Clean-up is great with the collector pan. Cleaning the grill just takes a quick wipe down while the pot cools. Even though the build on this model may seem a little less robust from the previous generation grills, I still find it very sturdy and tough enough for everyday San Diego heat/weather. The charcoal storage area is big enough to store two or even three different (smaller) bags of charcoal. Sometimes I mix up my charcoal...having matchlights at the bottom of a mound of hickory. I also store spare propane bottles in this area. I was surprised how small the Performer actually is, the grill itself takes up very little real estate on my balcony. Assembly was about 35 minutes with some very basic tools. The manual had big pictures for making installation a snap.
So far I am very pleased with this grill. It was packaged very snug and amazon got it to me in two days flat, even indicating it would take an addition 2-3 more days to process the order. Ive only had this grill for a few weeks, but been grilling every week since owning it and so far the results have been consistent. I guess the downside to grilling this much is that you make more trips to the store to buy more charcoal. A slight inconvenice since I dont like handling charcoal bags at all.
SEE Weber 1428001 Performer Charcoal Grill, Dark Blue at Amazon.com Now