How We Test Grills: Our Step-by-Step Testing Protocol

Why it matters

What rules does every test follow?

A score is only useful if it means the same thing on every page. A 4.5 for a $45 tabletop grill and a 4.5 for a $1,699 pellet flagship should tell you the same thing: that each one does its job very well for its price. That’s only possible if every grill goes through the same routine, so we built one and we stick to it.

• Buy it ourselves. Every grill is bought with our own money. We don’t accept free samples or loaners.
• Cook first, write later. No review is written until the full cook rotation is done. First impressions on delivery day aren’t a verdict.
• Measure what you’ll feel. We measure the things that change your food and your evening: hot spots, preheat time, recovery after the lid opens, fuel use and cleanup.
• Test in real weather. Grills live outside. We cook on cold mornings and windy evenings, not only on mild, still days.
• Same rules for every brand. A well-known name gets no head start and a budget brand gets no excuses.
• Two people sign off. The tester who did the work writes the review, and the second tester checks every figure against the test notes.

Tools

What do we measure with?

Protocol

How do we test each grill, step by step?

Every grill runs through the same 10 steps, in the same order, by the tester who leads that category. Each step lists what gets recorded, so you can see where the numbers in a review come from.

1. 1

   Unbox, inspect and time the assemblyDay 1

   We note shipping damage and missing hardware, then build the grill from the printed manual with a running timer. We log total minutes, unclear steps and whether a second person was needed.

   Recorded: Assembly time (minutes), solo or two-person, parts missing or misaligned.

2. 2

   Burn-in, exactly as the manual saysDay 1–2

   Before any scored cook we run the manufacturer’s own burn-in or seasoning routine (pellet augers primed, griddle tops seasoned, kamado gaskets cured). Coatings and machining oils burning off would otherwise skew the first readings.

   Recorded: Burn-in completed per manual; any smoke, odor or paint issues noted.

3. 3

   Timed preheat and ignition logEvery cook

   Lid closed, burners or controller on high, timer started at ignition. We record minutes to cooking temperature and, where the grill can get there, to 500°F. Every ignition attempt is logged on every start, including cold mornings and windy evenings.

   Recorded: Minutes to set point and to 500°F; ignition success on every start.

4. 4

   Grate temperature mappingWeek 1

   Calibrated probes at five grate positions (center and the four corners) log readings every 90 seconds to 2 minutes once the grill has preheated. On griddles and electric plates we use an infrared thermometer across the surface instead. The lid gauge, dome gauge or controller readout is checked against those probes.

   Recorded: Spread between hottest and coolest positions (°F); gauge or controller error versus probes.

5. 5

   Sear testWeek 1–2

   Steaks on the hottest zone or sear burner, judged on crust and how quickly the grate recovers after the lid opens and cold meat goes on. Fatty cooks show how well the grill handles flare-ups.

   Recorded: Crust quality, recovery after loading, flare-up behaviour.

6. 6

   Low-and-slow testWeek 2–4

   On smokers, pellet grills, kamados and charcoal grills we run at least one long cook such as ribs, pork shoulder or brisket at smoking temperature, much of it unattended. On gas grills we run an indirect two-zone cook such as a whole chicken.

   Recorded: Drift from set point over hours, smoke flavor and bark, number of adjustments needed.

7. 7

   Fuel consumptionThroughout

   Pellets, lump and briquettes are weighed in and out. Propane tanks are weighed, and on portables we count cooks per 1 lb cylinder. Where a manufacturer publishes burner output we also show the expected run time on a tank.

   Recorded: Pounds per hour or per cook; cooks per cylinder.

8. 8

   Cold and windWeeks 2–4

   Grills live outside, so cooks are spread across cold mornings and breezy evenings. We note how far the grate drops in wind and how long it takes to recover.

   Recorded: Heat loss and recovery in real weather; ignition in cold.

9. 9

   Cleanup and grease or ash handlingAfter each cook

   Grease trays, ash pans and griddle channels are emptied and the grates cleaned the way an owner would. We time it and note anything that pools, clogs or spills.

   Recorded: Cleanup minutes; grease or ash problems.

10. 10

    Long-term checksAfter publishing

    Grills we keep using get re-checked for rust, coating wear, loose fasteners, gasket wear, app or controller faults and transport wear on portables. Findings are added to the review, and the score changes if the evidence does.

    Recorded: Wear and failures over months of use.

Testing runs for 2 to 6 weeks per grill depending on type, with 39 grills through the protocol so far. Every figure goes into a shared test log that the second tester checks before publishing.

Real food

Which cooks do we run, and why?

The rotation is built so that each cook exposes a different strength or weakness. Together they cover almost everything a backyard grill is asked to do.

Food is checked with a probe thermometer against USDA safe minimum internal temperatures, and the same cuts are used across grills of the same type where we can, so results compare fairly.

Scoring

How is the score calculated?

Each review ends with a Final Score table: six categories on most grills (five on some portables and specialist cookers), each scored out of 10. The categories are chosen for the grill type, so a pellet grill is scored on smoke flavor and app control while a griddle is scored on zone control and grease handling.

How the /5 score is calculated

1. Equal weights. Every category on a scorecard carries the same weight. With six categories each is worth one sixth of the result; with five, one fifth.
2. Average, then halve. The category scores are averaged and divided by two, which puts the result on a 5-point scale. Example: categories of 9.7, 8.9, 8.3, 9.5, 9.9 and 10 average 9.38, which becomes 4.7/5.
3. Round to one decimal. That figure is the overall score in 34 of our 39 reviews.
4. Downward adjustment only when justified. In the remaining 5, the tester has lowered the result by 0.2 or less because one weakness matters more for that grill’s main job than equal weighting shows (for example, slow overshoot recovery on a kamado). We never adjust a score upward.

What a high and a low score look like

What the overall rating means

Scores in practice

Here’s how the scorecard looks on the top-rated grill in three different categories. You can check the arithmetic yourself: average the category scores, halve it and round.

Category tests

What do we test on each grill type?

The 10-step protocol applies to every grill. On top of it, each grill type gets its own criteria, because what makes a great pellet grill isn’t what makes a great portable grill. Here’s what we check and why it matters.

Evidence

Where are the test logs?

Every grill reviewed on SmokyHQ is listed below with the tester who led it, how long it was tested and one key result from the test. Each row links to the full review, where the rest of the measurements and the scorecard are published.

Using a review

How should you read a review?

Every review is laid out the same way, so you can find what matters to you quickly:

• The verdict and score at the top give you the answer in a few lines, including who it’s best for and who should skip it.
• The test results show what we measured: heat evenness, preheat, searing, fuel use and the cooks we ran.
• The scorecard breaks the rating into the six categories above, so you can weigh the ones you care about most.
• Pros and cons are written from use. If a con only matters to some buyers, the review says which ones.
• Alternatives point to the grill we’d choose instead if the reviewed model isn’t right for you.

If two grills you’re comparing score closely, read the “best for” and “skip if” lines first. They usually decide it faster than the score does.

Freshness

Do reviews get retested?

Models change. Manufacturers revise burners, controllers and grates, sometimes without changing the model name. We revisit reviews and best-of lists, update specs, add long-term ownership notes, and change a ranking when a better option arrives.

• Spec changes are checked against the manufacturer’s current documentation and corrected on the page.
• Long-term notes are added when a grill we’ve kept using shows wear, a failure or holds up better than expected.
• Re-scoring happens when that evidence changes the picture: ratings go down when a problem appears and up when a manufacturer fixes one, with a note on the review.
• Ranking changes happen when a newly tested grill beats a current pick for the same job.

The “updated” month on a page changes only when the content does.

Limits

What don’t we test?

• Lab-only figures. We don’t measure burner BTU output, steel grade or coating thickness. Those come from the manufacturer and are labelled as theirs.
• Unit-to-unit variation. We buy and test one unit of each model, so we can’t tell you how consistent a factory is.
• Decade-long durability. Long-term checks add months of evidence, not ten years. Warranty terms and build quality stand in for the rest.
• Accessories and add-ons sold separately, unless the review says we bought and used one.
• Customer service and delivery. We buy like any customer but don’t score retailers, shipping or warranty claims.
• Grills we haven’t bought. If a model isn’t in our test logs below, we haven’t reviewed it, and it won’t appear in a ranking.

When we can’t measure something

Some things can’t be measured in a backyard, such as exact burner output or the steel grade inside a firebox. For those, we use the manufacturer’s published specs and manual, say clearly that the figure is the manufacturer’s, and never present it as our own measurement. When our result and a confirmed spec disagree on a fixed fact like cooking area or warranty length, the confirmed spec is used and the review explains any difference you’d notice in use. Marketing figures, such as total BTUs or total cooking area including warming racks, are explained rather than repeated, because they often overstate what you actually get.

If your experience with a grill we’ve reviewed differs from ours, tell us. Owner reports are one of the ways we decide what to re-check. The people who run these tests are on our testers page, and how results become articles is in our editorial standards and why trust us.

FAQ

Common questions

Transparency

More about how SmokyHQ works

• About SmokyHQWho we are, what we cover and why the site exists.
• Our testersThe people who write and fact-check every review and guide.
• Why trust usThe safeguards that keep our verdicts independent.
• Editorial standardsAccuracy, sourcing, updates and our corrections policy.
• How we’re fundedHow affiliate links work and why they never change a score.
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• Terms of useThe rules for using SmokyHQ content.