Napoleon Professional Freestanding Charcoal Grill

I brought the charcoal pro , 6years ago now . Great bit of kit ,I bbq almost every weekend ,with family and friends, have cooked for over 30 people befor on the pro. It's so well built, in the 6years nothing has gone wrong ,works as well as the day I brought it .the hight adjustment is the key part to this great bbq . I would definitely recommend it if you like cooking on coal .

I have been very happy with this grill; it is quite large so there is plenty of space for both direct and indirect heat. To the complaints from others about the grill running hot, I find it very easy to manage by using only the center section for charcoal. You can then control the heat on the rest of the grill easily with a combination of changing the level of the coals and moving food further from or closer to the center. Coals can easily be added from the top by removing the smaller center grill section. I agree that this is not a good product for smoking, but if you are serious about smoking I think a separate dedicated smoker is a much better option than trying to use the same product for two very different purposes. Overall I'm very happy with the grill; it's well built, easy to control, and very spacious.

TLDR version: Great for direct grilling, and short duration indirect grilling. Bad for long duration indirect grilling. Good quality materials that look like they will last for many years. The Good: Excellent bottom half of the grill. The coal trays and adjustment rack work great. The design of the mechanism to raise and lower the rack allows for over 90% of the cooking area to be covered by the coal rack, whereas those crank handle types are more like 65% of the cooking area. Creates a much more even cook over the whole area. Been working fine for almost a year now, so hope it maintains it's durability. Cooking racks are great, provide good sear marks, had no problem with food sticking, and don't seem to rust like cast iron racks. Ash tray seems to be of a durable material, and no sign of corrosion yet. The Mediocre: The door in the front to add coals is pretty useless as it's too small. The only time I typically would add coals is for long term indirect cooking (more below) and the door only really allows access to the center coal rack. The ash tray could be a bit deeper so you are not cleaning it out so often, and no reason from the design that is couldn't be a bit deeper. The bad: Complete inability to manage the cooking temperature because of the lid! After what looks like a thoughtful design on the charcoal rack, they just put what looks like a typical gas grill lid on a charcoal grill. This lid lets so much air into the cooking chamber you have no ability to control the cooking temp by managing the air flow, which is critical for cooking with charcoal over a longer period. If this grill had a tight fitting solid lid, with adjustable air vents then it would get 5 stars. Even if you are looking to roast a whole chicken you either start off with it too hot to begin and let the temp come down as the coals burn down, or you're trying to add small amounts of fuel during the process which creates a hot/cool/hot/cool/hot cycle during the cook instead of a nice even temp for the whole duration. I wouldn't even think about attempting the Thanksgiving turkey on this. Huge disappointment for this price.

1 user found this review helpful

TLDR version: Great for direct grilling, and short duration indirect grilling. Bad for long duration indirect grilling. Good quality materials that look like they will last for many years. The Good: Excellent bottom half of the grill. The coal trays and adjustment rack work great. The design of the mechanism to raise and lower the rack allows for over 90% of the cooking area to be covered by the charcoal rack, whereas those crank handle types are more like 65% of the cooking area. Creates a much more even cook over the whole area. Been working fine for almost a year now, so hope it maintains its durability. Cooking racks are great, provide good sear marks, had no problem with food sticking, and don't seem to rust like cast iron racks. Ash tray seems to be of a durable material, and no sign of corrosion yet. The bad: Complete inability to manage the cooking temperature because of the lid! After what looks like a thoughtful design on the charcoal rack, they just put what looks like a typical gas grill lid on a charcoal grill. This lid lets so much air into the cooking chamber you have no ability to control the cooking temp by managing the air flow, which is critical for cooking with charcoal over a longer period. If this grill had a tight fitting solid lid, with adjustable air vents then it would get 5 stars. Even if you are looking to roast a whole chicken you either start off with it too hot to begin and let the temp come down as the coals burn down, or you're trying to add small amounts of fuel during the process which creates a hot/cool/hot/cool/hot cycle during the cook instead of a nice even temp for the whole duration.

I bought this 6 months ago as it seemed perfect for cooking long skewers of chicken, beef, etc. which I do about once a month. The cooking surface is huge and much better suited for long metal skewers vs round charcoal BBQs. Kabobs aside, I use this about 3 times a week. If you are cooking something quick, it works well, provided you time things right. The temperature slide (to increase/decrease air flow) does absolutely nothing - there is just too much other air flow into the coal bed, meaning this thing runs hot! You need to control the temperature by limiting/arranging the charcoal, and constantly watching it. This is quite difficult through the little door - I need to leave one of the grates off and place charcoal from the top. And add to much charcoal, this thing can shoot past 700 degrees in no time and you will have to wait out the inferno. Raising/lower the coal bed helps control temp/sear, but always lower it before opening the lid as the slightest breeze will blow ash all over the food. This thing sounded totally amazing as advertised, but in reality just does not deliver.

I love this BBQ. Huge cooking area, well built, adjustable coal bed, worth the money. I did a 30lb pig on the rotisserie no problem. I usually do two chickens at a time, but could easily do 3.

1 user found this review helpful

I bought this last year thinking I was getting a professional BBQ. I am not a professional cook but I have bbq'ed a fair bit. Thought I was moving up from a kettle to a great bbq. I was wrong. The bbq is impossible to control the heat other than small amounts of charcoal and having to tend it constantly. I was hoping to slow cook and I can't. When I went to the store they tried to help but the only suggestion was to use less charcoal. It seems to me that this is a propane bbq converted to burn charcoal. The only thing is the quality of the bbq(it's stainless) it should last. I am so disappointed because I felt the price I paid would ensure a great bbq. Now I am stuck with it.

3 of 7 found this review helpful

Well the price seemed high I have only used charcoal my whole grilling life I had one of your kettle grills sadly the bottom rotted out. This grill surpasses my expectations so far I've already grilled about 5 times even though our weather hasn't been ideal I'm looking forward to many years of grilling with this beast.

1 user found this review helpful

I have owned this for over a year Honestly I can say this is the best BBQ i have ever owned. I use it more than my Napoleon 525 propane grill You can just not replace the taste of food cooked with charcoal The rotisserie is amazing and I love using the coconut charcoal for a slow and even cooking process If you love Charcoal this is your BBQ I have even been asked to take this to friends houses to cook for large crowds Love Love Love