That is a wonderful write-up. Thanks for taking the time to write it. We have a Viking cooktop and your observatoins match ours in using it for 7+ years. Alas, we don't have a grill so nothing to add here. We do have a portable infra-red grill we bought for our boat. And our experience matches yours. It is great for stakes but everything else will get torched from below, but no heat from above. They should call this steak grills and be done with it. BTW, we don't have the boat and never use it. FYI, we have a cermaic cooker now which we use for slow smoking (e.g. 12-18 hours). I have used it rain and shine including in snow. It will use only one single bag of charcoal for 24 hours. It has an automated controller for temps and I am able to manage it from the PC inside our house (through a program I have written). It is able to maintain its temp within 2% or even better! Not saying you should go that way but it is worth considering what you can do with an outside unit for at least slower cooks. You only have to put up with the weather when you load and unload it. And of course, it will create a BBQ which rivals or betters more restaurants. Again, much appreciate the feedback.

I have cooked on all three and the TEK IR is the only gas grill that cooks as well as charcoal. It's advantages over charcoal are that it is quick to set up, easy to clean up and does an excellent job of creating the charcoal taste. As many here know, the flavor is created by the smoke from the fat striking the hot surface be it charcoal or something else. The higher the IR energy (from gas or charcoal) and the less the flame, the more smoke generated rather than being turned into additional flame. The TEK creates a great deal of smoke because the IR glass sits between the flame and the dripping grease. On older style IR burners there is still an open flame to ignite the grease drippings reducing the amount of smoke to add flavor. With charcoal, once the embers are glowing red, it is emitting a lot of IR and much less to no flame and hence produces a lot of smoke and flavor. I have owned the FireMagic and I would not purchase another. The burners are cast SS but they still do rust over time and the flavor grills wear out too. They are very hard to clean and the heat was not anywhere near as good as the advertisements. If you are the type that never clean a grill and don't mind a gritty looking grill it may not matter. I am the type that wants it to look clean and inviting each time and the self cleaning feature along with the dishwasher removal panels makes the TEK a breeze to clean and keep looking nice. For me that was worth a lot. The more conventional grills like the Firemagic, even with their ceramic infrared burner are not even a close match.

I see you created two threads for this. I'll repost what I wrote in the other thread for continuity. ------ I have the Weber Performer. It's an awesome grill. I used a Weber kettle for years with great success, but in a moment of weakness I retired it for a Weber Genesis gas grill. Gas grilling is convenient, but it's not the same. Last year I purchased the Weber Performer to get the convenience of gas starting, but the cooking flavor/performance of charcoal. First, the propane assist is just a charcoal starter. I stack the charcoal in a compact pile over the starter and ignite it. Of course the bottom vents are wide open and the lid is off at this point. After about 3 or 4 minutes, I can hear the charcoal snapping, popping, and smoking to indicate it's "lit." I turn off the propane and let the charcoal burn down until nearly all sides are covered with fine layer of ash. Then, I knock the pile down and spread it evenly across the bottom grate for cooking. Now, I put the top grate and the lid on and open the top vent wide open. I watch the temperature climb to >400 degrees, then open the lid and brush the top grate to clean it. Close the lid and use the upper and lower vents to control the airflow and thus the temperature. After some experience, I know just about how much to close them down to hit a temperature range I'm after. This assumes you're using good quality charcoal and not using too much of it. I prefer the hardwood "lump" charcoal. The old standard Kingsford briquets don't seem as high quality as they once were. If, for instance, I'm cooking hamburgers, I'll have just enough charcoal to cover the bottom grate with the chunks spaced 1/2" to 1" apart. Hamburgers cook pretty quickly. Don't use the little half-round trays Weber includes to hold the charcoal for normal grilling. Those are for special circumstances when you want indirect heat. When I'm done cooking, I close all the upper and lower vent to extinguish the charcoal. I use the leftover charcoal from the previous grilling as the base of for the next cooking and add a little more from the bag to make the pile I want. One more tip, use the lower vent control lever in a back-and-forth motion BEFORE you begin to sweep the ashes into the built-in collection can. Clearing out any build up debris in the bottom of the kettle helps the airflow. Return the lower vent to full open position before lighting the new charcoal. If you aren't getting to the temperature you want, you may have crappy charcoal, inadequate airflow, or impatience. ------ After reading the additional information you posted in this thread, I'd want to reemphasize the need to mound the charcoal tightly on top of the propane igniter for the initial lighting and burn down. Turn the propane ALL THE WAY ON and leave it that way for the 3-5 mins it takes to light the charcoal well. It should sound like a weak torch with a touch of whistle to the outlet flame. Let the charcoal burn down in its mound before spreading it. Lid off and bottom vent fully open for the initial burn down. The propane igniter works great.

We researched grills for a year before we bought, and basically thought Weber is the best in that price range (didn't think the high-end grills were that much better or would get that much more use to justify going up to that level, in the multiple thousands, even though we did splurge on high-end indoor appliances) Our previous grill was a Weber that lasted about 12 years before it finally rusted apart - but it still worked! We had it propped up for months before we gave it up. Of course we use the grill often where we are only grilling the meat and the rest of the meal is indoors. We use the side burner pretty much every time we plan to eat outside for whatever the side dish is (beans, vegetable, rice, whatever) - prep inside and cook it outside. We also use the rotisserie pretty regularly for chicken and pork roasts. We always have a spare full propane tank handy. The next door neighbor just changed it out last night while he was cooking his dinner, and you're going to think this is crazy, but we took down the fence and we share the giant grill and tiki hut with our neighbors. The arrangement works beautifully.