Char-Broil has released the Kamander Charcoal grill and it looks to be a big green egg killer.
It’s a double walled steel insulated “kamado style” charcoal grill that crushed the price of it’s green counterpart. The cost at amazon is around $350 but assembly is definitely required with the Kamander Charcoal Grill.
Construction was easy. But recommended for two people. It took about 90 minutes with just me.
I think you cant beat the price of the Kamander Charcoal grill compared to the ceramic cookers that seem so heavy and – perhaps – fragile with ceramic construction.
The Kamander Charcoal Grill’s best features:
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It’s not too heavy (easy to move)
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cool to the touch (even when approaching 800 degrees inside)
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good looks and heavy duty latch / handle
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held a nice low steady temperature
Take a look at the accompanying video and I time lapse unboxing and initial firing. I was also impressed at how well the Kamander Charcoal Grill held a stable low 250 degrees. Plus even at high temperatures (I got it over 700 degrees f ) the steel exterior remained relatively cool to the touch.
If you hate the thought of piecing together a grill like this I did discover Amazon has a service offering expert assembly for under $60.
The materials are solid. The wheels on the Kamander are a nice, heavy, solid rubber. The latch and front handle are also “heavy-duty” and chunky. Nice seal on the rim too.
Still, the weight of the whole grill is said to be 115 lbs and easier to handle than i imagined for double walled steel.
We liked the sturdy stainless steel shelf and the stand are are included in the model. With the Big Green egg a lot of the extras – like a drip pan – are additional purchases.
A quick search of prices for Big green Egg vs others shows that the price for most Big Green eggs were close to a thousand bucks except a tiny version that was priced at approximately $650. Other brands like Kamado Joe are a bit lower priced vs Big green egg.
I was surprised to read such a positive review for a Charbroil product. They usually do not inspire confidence in regards to longevity and effectiveness but you have convinced me to consider it when I finally replace my old smokey mountain. It sounds like it is fairly well insulated too which I considered to be a big plus for the ceramic cookers.
Since I didn’t want to spend a fortune on my first entry into a Kamado style cooker I decided to give the Kamander a try. Assembly was a breeze and didn’t really take that much time. I just laid out all the parts and followed the directions. It does help to have someone give you a hand in a few places.
This issue with the grill as it stands is the use of bad fitting plastic parts for the air intake. Air control is key to proper Kamado style cooker and this is where this product falls way short of hitting the mark. On mine the plastic duct work that goes from the control in the top to the bottom of the grill leaked so much air that it was impossible to control the heat. I ended up having to fabricate a set of gaskets to seal it all up. Once that was done it worked great. But it won’t last, if you only cook low and slow then it may survive but if you like to search up some steaks it will get far to hit and deform the plastic and then it just runs away from you.
If all you want to do is grill burgers, steaks and meats then it may not be an issue for you. However, if you want to cook low and slow and do some smoked meats then this will not work as it should.
If they get rid of the cheap plastic in this key area then they will have a fine product but for now this one is a serious miss. There are better options out there for low cost Kamado grills and I would recommend you get that one instead.
Charbroil has updated the intake assembly to all metal components and anyone who has the original setup can call them for the new parts as a kit,for free
Thanks for that update Mark!