Fire changed us. Controlling fire changed us more. The backyard rig used to be about guesswork, calloused hands, and waiting for the smoke to behave. Now? Tech has a say in the matter.
I’ve been burning coal and meat for WIRED Reviews for over ten years. Rain or shine, steak or brisket, we’ve tested it all. My current obsession isn’t a brand-new box from the factory floor. It’s retrofitting the classics. Take my trusty old Weber kettle. I slapped a Spider Venom controller ($280) on it. Now it holds temperature like an oven. You turn the dial. The fan spins. The charcoal behaves. It’s simple. And honestly? Charcoal just makes everything taste like bacon.
“The power to control fire, not the discovery of it, defines us.”
Check the list below. Or skip straight to our guides on flat-tops and firepits if you’re feeling adventurous.
Best Charcoal Grill: Weber Original Kettle
Price: $139 (22-inch model is $149 on Amazon, but Weber starts at $99)
The Pitch: The Honda Civic of grills. Simple. Unkillable. Cheap enough that hacking it up feels cheap too.
Weber wins because the ecosystem around the Kettle is absurdly robust. It’s not fancy. It’s durable. And it takes mods like a champ.
- WIRED: Near-infinite smart upgrades. Portable. Affordable.
- TIRED: Wheel nuts are garbage. Save them if you value your dignity. Also, the mods cost more than the grill itself.
Here is the strategy. Buy the plain Weber Original (save the $80 Premium asks for a thermometer you won’t trust and an ash pan that barely improves the experience). Put that money toward tech.
I run the Spider Venom. It tracks cook data. It modulates airflow with a fan. It keeps temps within 30 degrees of the target. That is precision grilling. The catch? It plugs in. Buy a power bank. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Scott Gilbertson, my colleague, swears by the Weber Connect Smart Hub ($70). It has probes. It alerts your phone. He loves it. The USB-A cable makes him feel like he’s living in 2012. That’s the only downside.
Weber is also launching the Performer Smart Ring ($280). Seems like another Venom competitor. We’ll see.
If you aren’t into screens, you still have options. Spider Grills sells a Webcraft ring ($249) for adding rotissaries and pizza ovens. Weber makes their own rotisserie kits too ($180). The point is: the base unit is a canvas.
Runner Up: The PK 300 ($700). Cast aluminum. Heavy as sin. Lasts forever with a 20-year warrant. Cooks like an oven. It loses to the Weber on price and hackability. But it is a tank.
Best Pellet Smoker: Recteq Flagship 1600
Price: $1,600 ($1,350 at BBQGuys)
The Pitch: Big hopper. Even heat. Bug-prone app that actually works most of the time.
Recteq is the Georgia-based wildcard. They throw money at engineering and weird ideas. The Flagship 1600 lives up to its name. It holds 40 pounds of pellets. That is days of cooking without reloading.
The tech here is serious. Wi-Fi. An app that stores 30 days of data. You can graph your cooking failures and learn from them. The interface glitches sometimes. You’ll click a button and wonder if it worked. But when it does, it’s magical.
Heat distribution is the headline feature. Most smokers get hot in the center and lukewarm on the edges. Not this one. Brad Bourque tested it. Only 7 degrees difference from center to edge. Across a massive cooking surface. That is insane engineering. The fire pot sits in the middle, flanked by symmetric spreaders.
- WIRED: Consistent heat. Huge space (1,600 square inches). Low maintenance.
- TIRED: The app bugs out occasionally. You have to empty two drip buckets.
It goes from 170 degrees (perfect low-and-slow smoke ring on pork belly) to 700 (searing). The smoke quality is top-tier. Usually pellet smokers struggle with flavor here. Not Recteq.
Budget Pick: The Brisk It Zelos-450 ($370). Yes, it has “AI recipe guidance.” Martin Cizmar thought it was useless theater. But the core tech works. The app is clean. Simple. It connects. The temp control drifts by 30 degrees. It’s small. But for the price? Steal of the year.
Best Smart Charcoal: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1150
Price: $1,100
The Pitch: It does everything. The setup is a nightmare. The food is worth the pain.
This thing is a monster. 300 pounds. Over 1,000 square inches of grate. It smokes at 225 and sears at 700. It fits a brisket, a pork butt, AND ribs at the same time. The digital controller manages the airflow. Set it. Leave. Come back to dinner.
- WIRED: Massive capacity. Accurate temps. Great results.
- TIRED: Assembly will make you quit. No electric starter. The app is touchy.
Do not try to build this alone. Martin hired a TaskRabbit. The guy quit after two hours. Pieces were missing. Confusion reigned. Another buddy spent three hours from scratch. Then you have to season the grill for two hours. No electric starter means you are lighting charcoal by hand initially. If the fire catches slow, the app screams at you via beep codes. It is high friction.
But. Once you are set? The ribs Cizmar made were the best of his life. The optional $200 pizza stone works great. It is a Ferrari engine in a tractor chassis. Expensive, loud, hard to start. Drives like a dream.
Best Gas Grill: Weber Spirit E-210
Price: $449 ($399 at Home Depot)
The Pitch: Just works. Always works.
We’ve said it before. The Spirit 200 series is reliable. Porcelain-encased cast iron grates. Propane burners that adjust smoothly. It cooks evenly. It cleans with soap and water.
It is compact. Two burners. If you are feeding an army, this isn’t it. But for two to four people? It’s the standard. Weber is rolling out smart gas lines now (like the Genesis 325), but the analog simplicity here remains unmatched.
Crowd Pick: The Char-Broil 6-Burner ($600). Side burner. Massive capacity. No nonsense.
Best Hybrid: Char-Broil Gas2Coal
Price: $710
The Pitch: Gas convenience. Charcoal flavor. No argument required.
Stop arguing with your guests. Just use this. The Gas2Coal switches modes.
Want gas? Pull a lever. Bars distribute the flame over a cast-iron grate. Works perfectly.
Want charcoal? Remove the bars. Slide in a charcoal tray. Light the gas burner below to ignite the lump or briquettes. Close the lid. In 15 minutes, you have glowing coals.
- WIRED: Two grills in one. Side burner for sides. Best of both worlds.
- TIRED: Only one layer of charcoal. Good for sears. Terrible for smoking.
You can’t slow smoke a brisket here. You don’t have enough fuel depth. But for steaks and burgers where you want the char without the chore of managing vents all day? It’s a genius concept.
Best Portable Grill: Nomad
Price: $695
The Pitch: The Yeti of grills. Expensive. Undeniably cool.
Scott Gilbertson called it the Nomad. It looks like a high-end suitcase. Anodized aluminum shell. Cast-aluminum internals.
- WIRED: Insane build quality. Insane heat retention. Exterior stays cool enough to touch. Easy to carry.
- TIRED: A second burner costs extra. The bespoke charcoal costs a fortune.
It holds heat longer than anything else on the market. You dump the coals out cold. You pack it up clean. It survives a trip without dents.
Is it worth $700 for a grill that cooks burgers and steaks? Probably not, logically.
Did Scott buy it anyway? You tell me.
