Terry,

You are in the same boat I am/was. The Costco in St. Peters, MO just got their first six. The manager is holding one for me through today. So I've never seen a Virco Classic in person. There is one on eBay with a BIN price of $1100 or so.

I know that the smaller MM grill has/had ceramic flame tamers. I have been looking at the big one and can't remember. But size and feature-wise all three are very close. The smaller MM is about 31.2 by 19" deep. The big MM is 33 by 19" deep so you don't gain that much primary cooking space. From what I've read on this forum, that is about the same amount of space as the Virco.

The smaller MM doesn't co stock with the warming rack either. The size difference is that the $1500 MM has a shelf added on to the side burner shelf. So yes you get extra width and a couple of drawers instead of just two doors, but is it worth the extra 9 bills? My father just picked up the $600 MM. He said it took him about two hours to put together and he likes it so far.

I'll add my two cents on the Virco later. I am hoping that the hood is all double walled SS instead of the single wall like the MM.

If you don't care about having the rotisarie then check out the Kenmore Elite at Sears. It has a list of $1200, but you can find it on sale for $999. It is basically the same as the big MM with the extra toys (rotis, back burner, cover, smoker box/burner). Grand Hall makes several other grills for Sears as well.

Personally, I am going for the large primary grilling surface as my main criteria. Followed by hopefully longevity. As far as SS burners go. I currently have a 5 year old Char-Broil 8000 and it's on third set of burners. But I usually grill three time a week year round.

Hi. I had answered ?'s regarding the larger MM Y0660 in a previous post (See page 2 of this forum, Pictures of Larger MM Y0660) Basically I've had mine now for about a month and love it. For me it was worth the extra money. The unit is double walled SS throughout including the lid which helps keep it from discoloring. In answer to your ?'s:

1. Mine gets to 550/575 within 10 minutes of lighting it with all burners at high. It may reach 600 if I left it on longer but why would you ever need that high a temp? At the grilling surface it is probably a good 50-100 degrees higher and will sear steaks, etc. really well. I always reduce the temp to med/low while cooking.

2. The flame tamers are ceramic brick 8 inch squares. They rest on the SS rods and cover the burners. Incidentally the burners are very thick cast iron and appear to be much heavier than the smaller MM model. There is also a seperate SS burner with a smoker box over it for wood chip smoking. I have used this a few times and it works great.

3. There is nothing on the grill that is cheap. The extra money clearly went into addtional SS as even the drawers, back and sides are double walled. The hinges are solid brass and the propane bottle is on a locking pull-out slide. The cooking grates are solid SS and well made.

That's it. I really like the unit and coming from a $100 Chrabroil BBQ that I had to basically rebuild every year there is no comparison.

Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of my MM Y0660

Thank you both for the replies.

Lgbstew, I had already looked at your fine pictures, thanks for taking the time to post them.

I am glad to hear that the temp will reach 550+. I can obtain that with my current grill and that gives me good results. I used to have a Weber that couldn't reach 450F. It was useless for me. Remember, if you go to the finest steak and chop houses they will be cooking with even higher heat to initially seal the steak during searing. To me, high heat is important. I know that others might feel differently. BTW, I use the same technique as you, sear first and then lower the temp.

What do you think of the ceramic bricks? I know that DCS uses ceramic rods to control flames on their $2500-6000 models. Does the grease flare up as it drips onto these bricks? Do you think this is a satisfactory design as compared to regular SS flame tamers?

Thanks again for the replies,
Terry

Terry:

Haven't had any problems with flare-ups even when cooking ribs which are notorious for flare-ups. They are perforated so most of the dripings either smoke or go down onto the front pull-out drip pan. To clean, I just leave the grill on about ten minutes after cooking and the excess burns off. I have heard you can just flip them over and the burners will take care of the rest but so far they are great. They do make for a very even heat distribution across the grill.

Hope this helps.

The burners on the yo66o are a porcelin coated cast iron and put out 18,000 btu's.They should last about five years but when you need to replace them they are about 16.00 each.The yo66o is the only grill by MM to come with a lifetime warranty on the stainless steel.All of the SS is double layed and a grade 304.The grill weighs 500lb
and includes a rotisserie kit and a smoker box drawer for smoking wood chips.Also come with a catalog full of accessories.