What difference do you guy/gals see in the cheaper(50%) egg style cookers? Kamando, and Browning are 2 off brands.Is it worth it or not?

My friend bought the Costco store brand, calls it his big blue egg. He seems to be happy with it, and it was substantially less than an egg.

I have an Egg and love it. I know of one person who bought the knock-off at Academy and one who got theirs at Lowe's and both have issues with shutting them down after a cook. The charcoal never goes out and they burn it all up. That can get expensive, quick.

One does it every time, the other is intermittent. I can't remember which was which.

The Egg is airtight. After your cook, you shut it down and the charcoal goes out, waiting there for your next cook.

And price shop every dealer on their site that is in your area. Prices vary a lot at the different Egg dealers.

I think the BGG is completely worth the price. I would not go with an off brand ceramic cooker, I have heard tons of story's of them cracking and the company not fixing them. Another option is the big steel keg, I have cooked on one and they are up there with the egg. Also IMO a better option over the egg if you wanna travel with it.

My dad has a BGE and likes it a lot. He researched it and the "off brands" didn't have all the same racks,etc that the egg has from what I gathered. I will say it does a great job with just a couple handfuls of charcoal

Thanks for the info. I just wanted to make sure before I paid a $1000.00 for a cooker.

You should be able to do better than $1000. Be sure to call around.

Go here http://www.biggreenegg.com/locator/

Put in your info and call all the dealers in your area. Prices varied over $500 for the package when I bought mine. I got the large egg, nest, place setter, ash tool, charcoal, and I think a few other goodies for $725 brand new. That set up was almost $1300 at some of the more well known stores.

I got mine at elliott's Hardware in Mesquite. Joyce is the lady that sells them there, she is very very knowledgeable. Even if you don't buy it from them she is worth going and talking to about the egg.

I have BGE XL and can't comment on the off Brands. I assume they will Cook just as good. BGE has a good warranty if you buy from a good dealer. I would avoid BBQ Galore to purchase from.

Now, since you mentioned $1000, I'm assuming you're looking at the XL size. If I had to do it all over again, I would consider buying 2 Large BGE's vs. the 1 XL. reason is.. 90% of the time you're only cooking for 3-4 people, not 8. The reason I went with XL was because I wanted to be able to cook steaks for all my guest at the same time without having to alternate who eats first, etc.. The problem is.. the XL will EAT charcoal. Even if you're able to shut down after each cook, you'll still have to add more charcoal and when cooking for a few, you'll need to only put charcoal on one side of the pit. If you have 2 LARGE models, then you can cook different items at different temps. Brisket on one and say Chicken/Ribs on the other. Cost for 2 Large's will run more, but you have more options and paying $1000 for XL or say $600 for a large, you can get 2 for $1200. Also, I would suggest building your own table or buying on of these and having it shipped:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Big-Green-Egg-Ta...=item1c2760e9cb

Then have another hole cut for the 2nd LARGE BGE.

Also, you'll need to plan for the "accessories". Those will cost a few $ too.

If you plan to smoke, you'll need a "placesetter" and I would highly recommend this:

http://www.thebbqguru.com/
cyberQ or DigiQ
( this will make your experience so much more enjoyable and your BBQ will be some of the best for all your family & Friends ).

on another note, Not all Lump coal is the same. I've found that the BGE brand is the best with consistent size chunks and very few "varnish" type pieces. This makes a huge difference in how the food taste. It's not recommended that you use Kingsford type bricketts in a ceramic cooker.

Hope this helps.. sorry for the long post.

Enjoy,
JD


Here's Pics of my set up:
http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/jfdawson/BBQ/?albumview=slideshow

I was going to buy an XL and got talked out of it for the very reasons you mention. I'm glad I got the large. It's still plenty of space for most occassions. I can do 4 racks of baby backs easy, a very large brisket or turkey, and you can fit a lot of steaks and burgers on there. My plan was to eventually buy a second large or maybe even a medium, but it just hasn't been necessary.

What's the main difference in the charcoal you should use as opposed to say Kingsford? Great info by the way!

Charcoal is the most important part. There is a bunch of crap lump charcoal out there. I've tried kingsford, B&B, cowboy and BGE.. BGE performs the best, at a cost.

I cant get the cheaper brands to stay hot after a couple of uses, mainly because they produce a lot more ash clogging up the air holes.

You can use this database though I wont say it's 100% truth and gospel, it's a good starting point. I look for deals on BGE charcoal and that's all i buy anymore.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

I have one of the knock offs, the Char Griller Kamado Cooker, and I am happy with it. My wife bought it for me for Christmas and she didn't want to spend as much as the BGE.

As previously mentioned, mine is not completely air tight when I shut the vents down. I've only done two cooks on it and the first night, I cooked some ribeyes. When I pulled them, I closed the vents off. The next morning I went to start a new fire, I still had glowing, hot coals. I think I can fix this by putting some gasket material around the bottom air vent. I see this as pretty minor.

As far as cooking, once I get the temp to where I want it, it holds temp steady all day. My second cook was chicken quarters, a pork butt, and a brisket. I held temp between 225 and 250. Chicken was ready after about 4 hours, and the brisket and pork stayed on for a few hours after that. Here's a pic from when we took the chicken off.

Go get the high temp gasket and some 3m super 77. Apply to upper and lower. That will fix that right quick.

Ozark Oak Lump Charcoal is the best I have found. I like it soo much I just ordered 600 pounds of it to split with a buddy. You can get it pretty cheap if you find a place willing to order a pallet of it for you to buy.

The B&B stuff they sell at academy is absolute crap it burns fast and produces tons of ash.

This is the best stuff for the price I have found. 6.88 for a 8lb bag at Wal Mart.



Make sure the bag says Made in the USA. These folks make the BGE charcoal. I use either a propane torch or fire sticks to get them started. The BandB, HEB and other brands I have tried take 45 minutes to light.

I'm going to go with the BGE..Thanks for all the info.(priceless)

x2 on royal oak.

If you are feeling BBQ nerdy, check out this site's info on charcoal. http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

Yeah I might have a problem

We compete at BBQ competitions with BGE's and I can tell you that they are excellent products. Have placed 1st in ribs and brisket multiple times over the past 2 years, and would highly recommend them if you don't want to spend big $$ on a smoker. BGE also has a lot of accessories and enthusiast forums, etc.

Another good smoker is Pitmaker. Just picked up a BBQ safe a few weeks ago and it's incredible. Just depends on what you want to spend and how much you will use it.

If you aren't in a hurry and have a reason to be in Austin, our sponsor is one of the hardware stores in Cedar Park and sells ones we use for only a day or two at a pretty steep discount after each competition. He delivers new ones for each competition and we usually do about 6-8 of them from Fall-Spring. He normally has about 7 for sale each time. PM me if you want the name of the store.

Next BBQ cook off is Mother's Day Weekend, so if you are interested in an egg, there should be some available the following Monday.

Get the BGE. Worth every penny. I have great luck with Kroger lump.

Im a Primo owner, which is the BGE's closest competitor. I personally prefer it to the BGE because of the shape. However, the concept, quality, and cooking capabilities are very similar.

Primo's have some features that I feel are superior.

Only had my egg for about a month and I really like the Ozark oak as well , tried the HEB central market lump and that was trash, how much did you get a pallet for?