WE RATE BBQs & HOT TUBs (Our Opinion)

ALFRESCO: We used to sell this grill, and initially, the product was completely USA-made. But recently, the company went to China to produce it's accessories (doors, drawers, etc.) and the stainless is NOT 304 outdoor stainless. (Of course, Alfresco still says USA-Made, but it's not true...). They also recently went to China to build some of their grills without telling their dealers... Their ignition systems are our number 1 repair in the desert, they don't honor warranty's (we've sued and won twice!!), and you can't cook in even the slightest wind with their products... And they still use the inexpensive stainless steel burners that do NOT radiate heat like a cast piece from Jade or FireMagic. Big dollars for a grill that is built inexpensively, and that's our opinion!! STAY AWAY!!

AMERICAN OUTDOOR GRILL: This is a low-cost, American made product that absolutely works perfectly. It's made by FireMagic, and because their costs are fixed, they can make this inexpensive grill for a very low price. This grill doesn't break, it is used by all the Pool and Landscape contractors, and it's a great value for anyone who does a little cooking in their backyard! Nothing else to add; a great grill at a great price.

BEACHCOMER: These spas are from Canada, and the reviews on these spas seems to be good. They are a quality company in Canada and feature a long list of useful innovations. Unfortunately, being Canadian made represents a large shipping/delivery cost, and getting parts may be a hassle. Otherwise, we cannot say anything bad about this brand. People like it, so that's that!

BIG GREEN EGG: This smoker has a MAJOR following of people who absolutely love it. There is also no dispute that it cooks very well.... IF you learn how to use it. It's extremely heavy, has a very poor quality hinge system and stand/rolling cart, uses dangerous charcoal (bad for your health), and can crack easily. And spending $1,100 or more on a big piece of ceramic pottery is just foolish - we recommend a gas grill with a smoker insert - you'll be happier, it will last longer, and you won't need a PhD. to use it....

BROIL KING: This is a Canadian-manufactured grill that is a very inexpensive way to enter the residential grill segment. They cook well, use a new hybrid stainless-steel burner system (it equalizes the pressure from the burners - very nice idea, actually), and have a nice look to them. Their basic Signet versions are the Best Buys. The upper-end lines get pricey for what you get, and we'd stay away from the side-burner options... very ineffective. But the Stainless Steel Signet line is a great grill for everyday use, and it's not that expensive. For under $1,000, you can get delivery, the Natural Gas hook-up with all fittings, a cover, and we'll even build it for you! This is truly a wonderful deal...

BULL: We would rather you buy a Bic lighter and some metal chopsticks than purchase this 'grill'. This is low-cost junk. STAY AWAY!!!

CAL FLAME: This is probably the worst grill we've ever heard about. We used to carry it, and when we got rid of it, a competitor of ours took it on. It sold well because they put lights in the hood and showed people pictures of the grill lit at night. (We're suckers for pictures...) But when it came down to using the grill, it did not perform well for us or our customers. This grill line, and the JennAir and Bull grill lines, are the WORST grills for anything over a dollar bill. Listen, don't be hooked because of low price - low price means low quality, and that's just the fact. STAY AWAY!!!

CAL SPAS: Okay, we won't even go there. Trust us: this is the spa brand to stay away from. They typically sell at Swap Meets and County Fairs, and if you really want to waste your money, buy one of these bad-boys... they are horrible, like their grill line, and you will always remember what we told you.... it will haunt you! :) STAY AWAY!!!

CAPITAL: We don't have enough information on this grill manufacturer to give any opinion on it. We do know, however, that this company uses the residential-quality stainless steel burners in their grill, unlike Lynx, Jade or FireMagic, which use the real commercial-quality cast H- or U-shaped burners.

CHARBROIL: A Home Depot / Lowe's grill - made in China, built cheaply and made to stay that way. STAY AWAY!!!

CHARMGLO: A Home Depot / Lowe's grill - made in China, built cheaply and made to stay that way. STAY AWAY!!!

DCS: This was the very first outdoor grill to offer stainless steel as an option. They basically created the outdoor kitchen market, and rested heavily on their earlier design until early 2003, when they introduced a newer design that still used their dated internals. They were eventually purchased by Ficsher-Paykel and made the move to China to manufacture their products (Read: wrong choice). Apparently, they have made another bad choice recently and went to Mexico... do yourself a favor and buy something else. This grill may LOOK good, but you are not cooking on looks... :) Their corporate offices and manufacturing plant (of what they make here) is in Huntington Beach, but the parts are all made in China, and the quality is indicative of their choice. STAY AWAY!!!

DIMENSION ONE: These spas are wonderful. We do not carry this brand, but we hear from fellow dealers that these spas are truly exceptional units. The only problem for our area would be warranty and servicing, but make no mistake; if you can get one, you will have a very nice product we hear.

ERGOSPAS: A great line that we had here, made by Southwest Spas, and they proved to be very good products with little warranty issues. They moved to Kansas and started being made there, but because of delivery delays, we decided not to stay with this brand. Southwest and ErgoSpas, however, are good products and relatively inexpensive. They have NO warranty that pays for labor (which is a bummer), and while inexpensive, they are not a bad product!!

FIREMAGIC: What can we say but this: Great bbq, bulletproof, a major following, and now; they have the new cast commercial burner systems!! A truly wonderful grill line. We hate the computer on the front of the grill, but besides that... you won't be unhappy with this grill at all. The price, however, is high, but then again, the engineering is truly wonderful.

HOT SPRING: This spa line is truly unique; not only do they have FIVE different line-ups, they have a model for each customer!! Sundance and Hot Spring are the worlds' number 1 and 2 brands, and we've got both at All Valley!! Hot Spring build quality is second to none, they have a fabulous warranty, the have been building their spas for almost 30 years, and they full-foam all of their spas for rigidity. A true performance line. You can not go wrong with a Hot Spring!

JADE: This grill hasn't changed much in it's many years on the market. In fact, besides being called Delta, then Dynasty, and now Jade, the grill has only added electronic ignition and a temperature guage. Besides that, it's basically the same grill that it once was when introduced. This grill is a no-nonsense, commercially rated, ETL-Outdoor approved grill that's still made by Jade Industries. Jade makes commercial kitchen equipment, so it's nice to know that they also make grills of the same caliber. MANY Pool and Landscape contractors buy the Jade because their high-end clients want something dependable. It uses cast-brass burners, the briquette system (like Lynx and Twin Eagles), and offers an exceptional price for what it is. The other manufacturers offer high-polished pieces, some with lights, etc., but only Jade offers a commercial-quality grill that won't break the bank. An exceptional value, and nothing goes wrong with these grills. When price is an issue, this is the least-priced commercial grill we sell with the high-end briquette and cast burner features.

JENN-AIR: This is a low-quality brand made by NexGrill (Chinese) for everybody and their mother. We do not recommend the purchase of this grill line at any price. And if you have one, keep our number handy... you'll be replacing it soon... STAY AWAY!!

KITCHEN AID: Okay, we used to think this brand was low-quality, and it was! :) But then Whirlpool decided to take matters into their own hands and ship the Chinese the parts, so all they had to do was build the product. Well, it's a system that is working, and the quality is very nice. We have verified this with Whirlpool and in fact, right on their boxes, it states that the product is ASSEMBLED in China, not manufactured, so they are telling us the truth. What this means is that it's American 304 stainless and good American-made parts that the grill line is made with, and that's all we needed!! The price is still rather high for what you get, but it's a nice grill. :)

LYNX: We believe they are overpriced and have seen many with electrical and/or ignition/lighting problems. We have gotten to the point that we now write directly to Lynx with customers' information and have Lynx contact the customers directly. Why? Because we want Lynx to explain to the customer why their $5,000 bbq is not igniting, or why the blue LED lights are not working. We're NOT an authorized Lynx dealer any longer (probably because we have voiced our opinion, perhaps?), but you trust us to give you honest reviews, so that's exactly what you'll get. And if we feel that Lynx has addressed the issues, then we'll be the first to jump on their bandwagon and report to you that they have taken care of them. Remember; we love the way they cook, but we don't like the way they are designed. Our Opinion? STAY AWAY FROM LYNX GRILLS!!

OCS: We don't know enough about these grills to formulate an opinion. We hear it's a nice grill and built decently.

PGS: We have had these grills for some time, and so far, they've been okay. They are Chinese grills and the old design (K40 and K30) are basically grills that cannot be destroyed. The newer Stainless grills are 'okay', so.. We think that if you're in the market for a cart model grill in this price range, look at the BroilKing line...

ROYAL: Man, we love this grill... It was built to compete with the Vintage line of grills, and instead of being made overseas, it's made right here in Mira Loma, California. True 18/8 burners, all 304 Stainless Steel construction, infrared rotisserie, ETL-approved, Class 85 Commercial Restaurant Equipment certification, NSF, etc.... for the money, this grill is a real value. Oh! And they polish the edges, it has a light in the grill area (which is not exactly a plus, but...), and our customers have said nothing wrong or bad about this product. We are hooked! :)

SOLAIRE: This grill line used to be made along side the original Alfresco line, before Alfresco went to China to produce some of it's grill parts/bodies. When they were American-manufactured, the grill line was nice. Currently, the grill is Chinese-produced, and we understand the quality has really gone down. We have worked on a few of these grills and they are relatively easy to fix. If you have one of the earlier models, you're probably very happy with it. If you have a recent model, you may have experienced some ignition problems. We would say that if you get a close-out on one of these units, great. But don't spend the real dollars on something that may end up costing you money to rip out and replace.

SUNDANCE: Sundance Spas are manufactured here in Southern California. Sundance is a high-end brand of hot tub with TONS of innovative features, one of which is their new jet system that has NO moving parts but yet still oscilates the water... truly remarkable!! Sundance was purchased several years ago from Jonathan Clark, and Sundance spas have a tremendously long warranty. They have three series of spas to choose from (for every budget) and are industry rated as a ISO 2001 Certified (not just registered) company. They full foam their top of the line spas, and they also wet-test each and every product. This is one of the two top brands in the world!!

TEC: This is the grill manufacturer that started the Infrared push on all the grill manufacturers. Thermal Engineering Corp. (TEC) produced some really awesome units when they were just starting out, and all their grills used infrared main burners. Then, they made them a little more 'mainstream' by adding glass above the burners to make them more usable, but less hot. We have never worked on these grills, but we did tour their manufacturing plant, and we can say that they are built very well. We have never worked on these grills, so... But if you have one, you probably like it a lot.

THERMADORE: This is another indoor company trying to go outdoor, and the grills are not the best. Very inexpensive stainless steel burners are used, the metal is rumored to be thin and not real 304 stainless, and we've tried to work on these units and had to give up - they are simply not well made and Thermadore should have stayed with what they know best, which is indoor appliances. We highly encourage you to do your homework on this grill... we have, and we don't recommend it.

TRAEGER: This WAS one incredible grill line, but they recently made the move to China and... well, the grills fail all of the time and the quality went right out the window. We are SO SAD!!! We LOVED this grill manufacturer, but now, we cannot ethically recommend it, as it's cheaply made, the metal used is super thin, the electronics are not functioning correctly, and it's being made for PRICE rather than QUALITY. If you can find an older model (new), then buy it - it's the last of the breed... but do not buy a new one unless they're paying you to take it - nothing but problems... STAY AWAY!!!

TURBO: This grill line used to be made in Australia, then in China. Reportedly, BBQ's Galore is the only one who sells this grill, and for good reason; it's a terribly-made grill. At one time, a Palm Desert community had purchased Turbo grills for their community, and then when one exploded (at the HOA Presidents' home!), they quickly got rid of them and replaced them with American-made grills... we know, we were the ones who replaced them all! With BBQ's Galore going out of business, we don't recommend you buy a Turbo, or for that matter, shop at a business that's about to close it's doors. Also, very important: they don't make many of the parts anymore for these grills, so.... STAY AWAY!!!

TWIN EAGLES: Here is a success story - this grill line has come up through the ranks in recent years, and it's very well made. It features some unique ideas, and we have heard nothing negative about this grill. We will say, however, that with the money that you're spending on this grill, it should have a cast burner system, but our customers love the look with all the polish, so... It uses the briquette system like the Lynx and Jade, and we think the hood design is wonderful. This is the ONLY grill that features a double wall on the hood, both top and sides. Also, the flow of air on this grill keeps the front cool - a feature only found in this grill and the Jade. Come in and check out our prices - you'll love 'em!! :)

VIKING: We have had more customers replace their Viking grills than most people replace their under garments. (Okay, that's not true, but honestly, people don't stay with Viking outdoor grills once they've used them.) This grill line is marketed by a California-based company and while the Viking indoor products are superior products, it's not that way with their outdoor line. If you want to have the name VIKING outside, that's fine; buy this grill. But if that is secondary for you, buy a real bbq from one of the other companies. STAY AWAY!!!

VINTAGE: Another made-in-China product. Our competitor sells these grills to landscapers, and the grills look good. But again, just like the PGS grills, these are Chinese-built, and unfortunately, these grills do NOT use all 304 stainless construction, but a less-expensive 400-series stainless that corrodes after some time. If you want true 304 stainless that will withstand the test of time, then get another grill. A customer of ours recently acquired one of these grills and we replaced the ignition system on it, and we must admit - even being Chinese, it looks like it's made nicely. So, make up your own mind! :)

WEBER: We were recently contacted by Weber and were told that while they DO manufacture their Ducane and less-expensive Weber grills in China, their more expensive grills are made in Chicago, IL. We used to carry this line but out opinion is that they were not built that well and we decided to divest of this grill line. They are NOT the Weber grills that you used to remember... We highly encourage you to check out the Broil King line if you're looking for a well-made grill that is American made.

WOLF (SUB ZERO): These grills feature red knobs and high-quality stainless steel hoods. We have never worked on a Wolf so we cannot tell you anything about these grills. We have had some customers swap-out their Wolf for a Lynx or Dynasty product, but in reality, we don't know enough about these grills to rate them. Additionally, we have not had any service calls for these grills.