Consumer Reports Highly Rates This Best-Selling Weber Gas Grill — And It's Under $500

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Charcoal and smoker devotees may scoff, but it's hard to beat the ease of and convenience of the best gas grills. While other types of outdoor cooking may be superior for low and slow barbecue cooking, a lot of us just want some burgers or chicken cooked outside over an open flame, and gas grills deliver. But like any piece of cooking equipment, not every gas grill delivers equally, with varying temperature ranges, reliability, and ease of use. Thankfully it turns out that one of the biggest names, Weber, offers one of the best bang for your buck gas grill models, according to Consumer Reports testing.

That grill would be the Weber Spirit E-210, which scored a 71 out of 100 per CR, and it's one of the brand's best selling models. And it turns out consumers know what they're doing, because in Consumer Report's rankings of small gas grills, it was beat out by only two other models. One, the Napoleon Freestyle 365, surpassed it in overall performance, but it's more expensive. The second, the Even Embers GAS4256AS, is actually a budget model, but while it performed well cooking, it scored quite low in customer reports for durability.

This grill, however, is the total package. The Weber Spirit E-210 is normally priced at only $450, and sales on it sometimes drop it below $400. The Weber gas grill does this while featuring strong durability, the largest cooking area among Consumer Report's top models, and a 90 out of 100 satisfaction score from the publication's customers surveys, which measures how many owners would recommend the brand to others.

Outside of customer satisfaction ratings, Consumer Reports scores gas grills and four areas of performance: the evenness of heating, ability to cook indirectly, preheating time, and range of high and low temperatures. The Weber Spirit E-210 scored particularly well in the first two, which are most directly related to cooking, while scoring well, but not great, on preheating and range of temperatures. Consumer Reports particularly praises its ease of use, noting it is made of quality materials, has four easily maneuverable wheels, and sports great features like durable burners and an electronic igniter.

You just won't find many grills with that combination of features and performance at that price. Even with fully extended shelves, the Weber Spirit E-210 is also only four feet wide, making it very versatile for people with a lack of outdoor space for cooking. And while there are a decent amount of larger  and mid-sized gas grills that perform well in Consumer Report's testing, the larger size also makes them more expensive, with most going between $600 and $1,000. It may not be the kind of grill for people who are looking to prepare a whole table of barbecue recipes for a party, but if you love the taste of some flame-kissed meat and veggies, give the Weber Spirit a look.