I have a Char Broil "Commercial Series" 4 burner grill. This is about as "Commercial" quality as a Ronco pocket fisherman. I'm never getting another pit if it says Char Broil on it.
I know this doesn't answer your question but I'm commenting on the brand and quality of it.

Checked out the grill at Lowes and felt kinda of flimsy. Still wondering if anyone use the TEC infrared yet?

A good friend of mine bought the larger model a month or so ago. He really likes it. Says that it heats up fast, the IR burner is fantastic. I'm going to see how it goes for him this summer, and may buy one at end of season for myself.

We have had a TEC grill for many years and really like it. We do not use it on the high setting very much, as that is really hot. I use it on medium most of the time. The rotissery is great. It comes with a strong motor that keeps the speed constant even with heavy food. We use ours all the time, and it still looks great after many years.

DP

dalepar,

Cook's Illustrated did a review of gas grills a few years ago, include a TEC. They did not like the infrared, very hot but also lots of flame ups. Their experience was that the grate system of moveing the drippings away was not that successful.

How's your experiences? Do you get flame ups? I presume you do but not that bad, else you would not be happy with the grill.

Since my first post, I have figured out that the Char-Broil's TEC burner is a newer design, not the one tested by Cook's Illustrated. It may work very well in terms of delivering the heat and sear with less flare-ups.

I replaced my Sam's "Grandhall" grill with the TEC Char Broil this weeek. The grill seems to be well made. It is all stainless. For $560 (Lowe's 20% off sale) you will not beat it.

The TEC burner is impressive. I grilled my first steak on it and the taste and grilling control was impressive. I did a rib eye and did not trim it. There was no flare ups.

The TEC burner has a glass cover over it that goes just below the grate. It actually touches it. They indicate that you can sprinkle wood chips on the glass if you want more smoke taste.

Cleaning the glass is easy. I brushed the grate and then removed the glass (easy) and scrapped it.

So far I am very happy with it.

I tried 85% ground beef hamberger. No flare ups! Taste is much better (more charcoal cooked taste) than any gas grill I have ever tried.

I am going to put the natural gas conversion kit in after a few weeks but want to see what it does on propane first.

Can you do "normal" grilling on the TEC burners or are they just for searing?

These grills have part TEC burners and part regular gas burners. You can cook on either side. The TEC burner can also be run at reduced heat. I have not tried the reduced heat TEC yet.

after reading the posts in here I decided to buy a Tec today. I am concerned about the overall quality but it seemed like the grill I wanted and the best deal for the money. I cooked a couple shrimp on the infrared grill and was pleased with the result but expected a much hotter grill. is this not the same as a searing grill? I didn't get any English instuctions with mine as it was a showroom piece. Anyway the shrmp took just as long as they would have on a regular grill but were very tasty.

Yahoo! I used the Infrared side of the grill to smoke up water soaked mesquite chips and the other side of the grill to roast my bacon-wrapped, shrimp-stuffed Jalapenos. They came out great. So far I love this grill. If works far better than my old cheap-o grill. Bring on summer.

I bought a TEC Patio grill in 1998. It was (and probably still is) the best grill for searing and grilling steaks, hamburgers, and chicken. However, after 10 years of intense use, it basically had burned itself up. I thought about rebuilding it, but TEC had phased out many replacement parts. Although my experience with my TEC grill was positive, by 2007 TEC's prices had climbed to well over $2,000. So I decided to look for a lower cost alternative. I stumbled on the TEC CharBroil grill at Lowe's about a year ago and for $650 decided to give it a try. At that price point the build quality is not anywhere near the same level as "real" TEC. But over a year later, I'm pretty pleased with my purchase. The TEC CharBroil infrared doesn't come close to the BTU output of a real TEC, but if I ignite the other burners and preheat for awhile, I can get the grill temp up to a point where I can sear and grill a steak nicely. I suspect this grill will last 3-4 years (with maintenance) and I am OK with that.

After reading posts in another forum I decided to take my Tec back yesterday. I hope I didn't make a rash judgement because I really liked the way it cooked. However, posts I read about screw failures and subsequent flare-ups put me on edge. When I went back to Lowes and saw all of the Tecs gone from the display area I decided it was the right thing for me to do. I still had time under their 30 day return policy so I decided to send it back. New technology can be risky and it can take a while to get the bugs out some times. Anyway I still want an infrared grill either way and Charbroil seems to be the best bang for the buck.

Last year I looked at the real TEC and was going to buy one until I saw my freinds stainless looked like after 1 month. That would drive me nuts! It turns orange on the inside. I bought MHP, Modern Home Products. This is the original Charmglow company and not the Charmglow you see in the Big Box stores. MHP is made in Antioch IL and is not an import. This has 3 infrared burners but you can purchase this with just 1 if you want and then add the other 2 if you decide to. Mine is MHP-WRG4DDPS. That is just the grill head itself. You then have to pick out a base, cart, or column so the price varies with your needs. The head was $925. It comes with reversiable grates with one side ridged an the other side is smooth for shrimp and veggies. I did buy a second BBQ Stainless Steel grates so I could clean them with Easy Off and just put the clean set of grates in the grill after it has cooled.

That sounds like a great grill. One of the things I like best about infrared is the ease of grate cleaning. You just crank it up and the heat does the rest. Stainless steel seems like an oxymoron to me. It shows every spot. That's a good thing in a restaurant but somewhat of a pain in the backyard, so to speak.

I had not posted that I like the MHP grill. It will be a year this coming June and have cooked on it all year around. I have yet to empty the grease cup. There is nothing there due to the fact that the infra-red vaporizes the grease. I grew up in Antioch as a kid so Antioch was Charmglow country. I now live in Inverness and Palatine is on the other side of the Main street through here. Palatine is where Webber is located and now it is just the business end and the factory has moved a few towns West. I hated my Webber from the first day and over the last 11 years I spent well over $1,100 on that thing and I could never count on the thing to work when I was having people over. I never used it to entertain as it would not get over 350 or the Rotiss. motor would freeze and a Leg of Lamb would be toast and I was sending out for pizza or KFC in the dining room with sterling silver, fine china, and Waterford Crystal. The $1,100 was just for service calls and I replaced all of the guts in this 3 times with all of the SS replacements. It never worked in Chicago in the winter. The infra-red does not seem to be affected by temp or wind. It still maintains 1,300 to 1,400 degrees. The Webber reaches 550 to 600 no matter what you purchase. I don't have any idea what the sizzle burner is all about. I would just never purchase another Webber product. In my former home I think the grill was Broil-Master by Early-Morning. The people are still using it and that is 22 years old without a problem.

I replaced my Tec with a Red. it's wonderful. The searing function works great and even the none pink steaks are juicy. It cooks fast too and is a breeze to clean.

I agree, the Char-Broil's TEC is awesome. Great resulting taste! Although for conveniance, have to say personal favorite is weber q 320 as still packs a punch, plenty of space and portable. I guess it comes down ultimately to what your requirements are. As an all-rounder, for me the Q 320 is the best!

Here is a link that might be useful: Weber Q 320