Best July Fourth Sales on Grills

The Weber Spirit E-210 is one of the best gas grills in CR’s ratings. With just two burners, this is a spiffy, well-polished grill in a small package. While it’s a bit slow to heat up, it earns a solid rating for heating evenness, our most crucial performance test, plus strong marks for convenience and indirect cooking. As a brand, Weber is near the front of the pack when it comes to owner satisfaction and predicted reliability for its gas grills in CR’s member surveys, with outstanding ratings for each. This is the model to beat if you want solid all-around performance in a small gas grill.

The Kamado Joe Classic II is one of the best kamado grills we’ve seen. It offers countless features that make grilling and smoking easier than with other models. For starters, it has a spring-assisted lid that holds in place at any height, whereas most grill lids are either open or closed. The lid also locks, helping control airflow and, in turn, temperature. The upper and lower dampers are easy to adjust, and it has split racks that allow you to cook foods at different heights, so you can sear a steak and cook chicken with indirect heat at the same time. And it’s one of the few models that features a pullout ash tray, helping it earn an above average rating for cleaning.

The Traeger Ironwood 650 TFB65BLE is a top-of-the-line pellet grill offering lots of bells and whistles, plus stellar performance. This is the first time we’ve seen a discount on this model this year. It earns ace ratings for both heating evenness and indirect cooking, two of the most important attributes of a grill. You can count on it making perfectly charred burgers no matter where you place the patties on the grate, as well as turning out tender chicken without burning it. This model has two wheels and two locking casters, and a 20-pound pellet hopper. Traeger claims this grill cooks at a temperature range of 165° F to 500° F.

The midsized Weber Spirit Smart Series SX-315 46502401 offers very good overall performance across its three main burners. It has a smaller grill area and less shelf space than some other Webers we’ve reviewed, but it still performs respectably across all our tests—from evenness and indirect cooking to temperature range to convenience. The Spirit grill features Weber Connect WiFi functionality and a temperature probe.

Blackstone all but built the category of outdoor flat-top grills. This entry-level model proves you don’t need to spend a ton to get great performance from its products, either. It’s the fastest of the top models we tested to get hot. It maintains even temperatures across the surface on both low and high heat. And it’s one of the few to feature only two burners, not three; as a result, you might have a slightly harder time maintaining two drastically different temperatures on the surface at once.

The griddle is built on an unassuming open cart, and it features only one side shelf. Still, while this grill is light on features and lacks the finish or polish of pricier picks, it’s a strong performer at an unbeatable price.

One of the lowest-priced models in all of CR’s midsized gas grill ratings, the four-burner Even Embers GAS2400AS aces our heating evenness and sturdiness tests. It also earns very good ratings for preheating and indirect cooking, though its temperature range is middling. This model is light on features, but it’s equipped with coated cast-iron grates, which sear meat better and keep grilling temperatures more consistent than porcelain-coated grates.

The Monument Grills 77352 is not only a good large grill for the money but also one of the highest-scoring gas grills in our ratings. It earns top marks across our performance tests for heating evenness, temperature range, and preheating, as well as a solid rating for indirect cooking. It comes with an electronic ignition, stainless steel grates, and four casters to make it easier to move around. And while the grill itself has a typical one-year warranty, it includes an eight-year warranty on the six burners.

The Cuisinart CGG-306 is a tabletop propane gas grill with two separate 10,000-Btu burners that offer a wide range of temperatures. It preheats faster than most of its kind, and it’s quite solid at spreading heat evenly across the surface. Weighing just 24 pounds, this compact grill easily fits in any car, making it great for camping trips and picnics. Cuisinart offers a generous three-year warranty.

The Weber Genesis S-335 35400001 grill really shines as far as convenience goes. It comes with a handy electronic igniter and stainless steel grates. It has great indirect cooking performance and does a capable job of heating evenly and reproducing a variety of temperatures across its range. However, it receives only adequate marks in preheat performance and sturdiness.

The Coleman RoadTrip 285 has everything you need (sans propane) for an all-in-one grilling experience. This totable gas grill’s integrated stand folds up like an ironing board with wheels, so you can roll it to your ideal cooking location with ease. There are also collapsible side tables to keep tools and condiments within reach. All these factors add to its unbeatable convenience. As for grill performance, it heats evenly enough in CR tests for a competent cooking experience, and with three burners (20,000 BTU overall), you can dial in the perfect temperature with more than acceptable accuracy.