Weber Original vs. Premium in 37 Seconds

The thermometer doesn’t give you a good temp reading on the grate, i.e., where the food is. Also, the hinged grate is harder to spin if you’re cooking something delicate and need to get it away from the direct zone without picking it up. Nonetheless, the ash catcher on the Premium alone is worth the higher price over the Original. The jump between Premium and MasterTouch, on the other hand, is completely unjustifiable. I do like the lid holder and the stay-cool vent handle, but not enough to pay $80-100 more than the Premium (lucky for me my MasterTouch is secondhand).

Very good points! ive had my weber premium for 9 years now. The ash system does need to be replaced, as well as the grates, but its held up overall through heat and rain.

To be fair the thermometer is misleading. You still need a probe down on the grill. That said I just bought a Master Touch even though my compact is still absolutely fine. Why did I buy it then? Well...it was blue, wasn't it. 😂

I like my original

Basic Weber kettle + Spider Grills Venom = Super Premium

Thank you Ethan Hawk!

The thermometer is useless in most situations. Not a good sale argument in my opinion

Plus it's slightly taller.

I have the premium but my only issue is the placement of the thermometer which should be on the side with the vent if you are using 2 zone method cooking. Otherwise I like all the other options. Thanks for sharing!

Lid thermometer is garbage. Do you cook food on the underside surface of your lid … or the grate? Heat rises; get a grate-level thermometer. Lid thermometer temp is ALWAYS 100-150F hotter than my grate temps. Hinged grate and ash can are worthwhile.

Those installed thermometers on those Weber premiums are not nearly as good as the ones that you could just pull out of the handle. I've replaced three of those on my Weber Smoky mountain and I've had the same thermometer that you slide in the handle of my Weber deluxe for 10 years and it still works flawlessly. And you can replace that Weber handle thermometer for 10 bucks. I've literally given up on my Weber Smoky mountain thermometer. I just let it read 500° all day and all night because that's what it does and that's the third one. So yeah, NO!

Thermometer is trash.... I still own the premium and love it for small cooks or sides when maxing my LSG. And a green egg.... and a Lone Star Grillz offset... and a gas grill when I just need to get er done.

So, the black one will blow my ash out. Got it!

Problem is they have a special edition Stars and Stripes version of the original, but not the premium

I have the gold am still trying figure it out

There is two different prices for the premium weber? Do you know the difference between the $309 and the $389?

what kind of catcher????

How about quality of the materials?

I got a weber kettle grill and love it since day one. Over 10 years and still going strong. I wish Web er would make a larger version without costing an arm and a leg.

Everytime I hear ash catcher, I think of pokemon 😅