Char-Griller® Outlaw Charcoal Grill and Smoker with Cast Iron Grates, Warming Rack, Premium Wood Shelves and 950 Cooking Square Inches in Black, Model 2137

Love this BBQ griller-smoker! The quality of this grill is outstanding with it iron grill plates and adjustable charcoal rack makes grilling a breeze. The design was thought out with the ability to connect a side box to convert the griller to a smoker top notch!

Though the shipping box was nearly destroyed during transit, the grill displayed no damage. A few discrepancies exist with the directions and the pictures. A visit to the Char-Griller website will show you a current picture of the grill which will be helpful.The directions are incorrect in some parts and leaves out information in others:The instruction states:"Insert all four corners of the BOTTOM WIRE SHELF in to the four holes located near the bottom inside of the four LEGS. See Fig. C. Next, rotate the LEGS upward until vertical. Important: Make sure the two Long Legs are on the same end."No bottom wire shelf exists; it's a solid metal shelf. You must also attach and finger tighten four bolts and nuts through the holes at the conclusion of this step.WARNING....No instruction exists in the Outlaw manual for preparing you to place an external firebox on the Outlaw. If you completely assemble this grill, you will need to partially disassemble much of the grill to remove the cutout for the external firebox!! This cutout proved difficult to remove.Recommendations on assembly:Purchase four (4) three-inch bolts and nuts to place through the legs into the bottom shelf. The bolts supplied barely are long enough to catch the nuts.This grill will weather, so I purchased all stainless steel bolts and nuts to replace the factory cheap bolts. It cost about $20, but in the event of eventual repairs if the Outlaw needs to be partially disassembled removing the bolts will prove much easier.One person can assemble this grill, but it won't be a particularly easy assembly if you add the external firebox.Seasoning the grill:I "seasoned" the grill as the instructions indicated and let it warm properly and seasoned the grates. It's best to coat the grates with vegetable oil before every use and clean the grates after every use and again coat them with vegetable oil. Coating the grates with vegetable oil after use and while warm causes the grates to "absorb" the oil. Doing this makes the grates function fairly much as non-stick.Using the Grill:After seasoning the grill, it works great. It's large enough to keep one area warm and the cooking area much hotter simply by adjusting where you place the food on the grill and the amount of coals you use.If you place the coals in the middle of the cooking area, you can utilize the sides as the warming area. It comes with a thin metal rack for warming, but I find that thin rack bends under little weight and gets in the way when smoking meat.The Outlaw works much better and feels substantially better than other charcoal/wood grills I have owned. It's sufficient enough to forgive being placed outside in one area, as long as you cover it. It takes little time to heat coals if you use a chimney.Good to know:The grill does have an ability to lose some paint, but any big box store carries paint specially manufactured to repaint effected areas.

To start off, I'm an avid charcoal griller for past ten years and though gas offers convenience, I'm still of the opinion that charcoal provides me with best results and at fraction of cost for propane gas. I have a Castinox Barbecook grill, went through several of Webers of different sizes, but Outlaw is a fantastic grill for fraction of the price. Outlaw provides twice the cooking surface area of 22-1/2" Weber and the heights are adjustable to insane hot to typical Weber hot. Love the hinged cover and the ability to control heat.Product is made in USA and very well constructed, definately will last for a long while. It took me a bit less than an hour to assemble and though instructions were not great but adequate to assemble without disassembly and I did it all by myself (though it would be helpful to have someone lending a hand with putting on the lid). Warming rack was bent out of shape which I couldn't fully straighten, which I've already contacted Char-Griller for replacement. I really like the temperature gauge, heavy duty cooking grate, tons of cooking area for both direct and indirect grilling (at least two very large turkeys or three smaller), warming rack for warming buns and keeping cooked food hot, easy grid removal for adding more charcoal by using a hefty removal tool which was provided. Nice feature is that I can get Weber Chimney starter on the charcoal rack and close the cover with the warming rack in place. It's great for getting the charcoal going on windy days.Contrary to posted photograph, the bottom rack is solid metal and wood surface on the front is the full length of the grill. Also, they provided hooks for hanging grilling accessories which is a definate plus. They also provided a hook for hanging a soda can for collecting grease drippings which would be helpful for smoking. All in all, I really can't find any faults with the grill and appear that it was engineered throughly. Construction is solid and total weight is is over 100 lbs. I can see that wheel may be a bit weak, but it'll be easy enough to replace if it breaks and readily available at any hardware store. I haven't had any problems yet as I wheel it to my back and forth from yard to garage which is about 50 yards from my garage.I haven't been so excited about grilling until I've purchased this grill. Fantastic value, though I've seen other similar grills on the market, Char-Griller is clearly a winner. Happy grilling and smoking!!!One more item to add is that I plan to disassemble to transport to outdoor picnics, though not as portable as a Weber, it should work out fine.