No. There is no paid placement on SmokyHQ. Brands cannot buy a review, a ranking position or an early look at a verdict, and we do not accept money to change what we publish.
Table of contents13 sections
- 1Is SmokyHQ legit?
- 2Who pays for the grills?
- 3What we do on every review
- 4What can you check yourself?
- 5What won’t we do?
- 6Do commissions change scores?
- 7Do we publish the cons?
- 8What if we get it wrong?
- 9How often are reviews updated?
- 10How to spot a fake review
- 11How can you hold us to it?
- 12Common questions
- 13More about SmokyHQ
In brief
Is SmokyHQ legit? The short answer
Yes, and you don’t have to take our word for it. SmokyHQ buys every grill it reviews, cooks on it for weeks, and publishes the measurements, the cons and the names of the two people responsible: Marcus Reilly and Tom Bricker. No brand pays for a review or a score, and affiliate commissions don’t change scores.
You shouldn’t trust any review site on its word, including ours. Trust should come from evidence you can check. So every SmokyHQ review shows who tested the grill, who checked the work, what we measured, how it scored in each category, what we didn’t like and who should buy something else. If any of that is missing or wrong, you can tell us and we’ll fix it on the page.
The rest of this page explains the safeguards behind that: how the testing works, the lines we won’t cross, how we make money without letting it touch a score, and how you can hold us to all of it.
Independence
Who pays for the grills we review?
We do. Every one of the 39 grills reviewed on SmokyHQ, from small tabletops to flagship cookers, was bought with SmokyHQ’s own money at retail. We don’t accept free samples, loaners, long-term review units or discounts from brands.
That matters because a free grill creates an expectation, even an unspoken one. Paying for it means the only people we owe a verdict to are readers. It also means we see what you see: the same packaging, the same missing bolts, the same assembly manual.
Our commitments
What we do on every review
We buy what we test
Every grill is bought with our own money. No free samples, loaners or review units, so we owe no brand anything.
Every grill is hand-tested
All 39 reviews come from several cooks over a number of weeks, never from spec sheets or other people’s reviews.
Barbecue credentials
Our head pitmaster, Marcus Reilly, is a KCBS Certified Judge with 15 years on the competition circuit.
One protocol for every brand
The same temperature mapping, cook rotation and six-part score for a small tabletop and a flagship.
A named fact-checker
One tester writes, the other checks the numbers and the verdict. Both names are on the page.
Disclosed affiliate links
Every review, guide and best-of list says near the top that retailer links may earn us a commission.
Verify it yourself
What proof can you check on every review?
These aren’t promises on an About page. They’re visible on every review, so you can check them on the article you’re reading right now:
| What to look for | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Author and fact-checker names | Two named people stand behind the article. Each name links to a profile listing everything they’ve written and checked. |
| Last updated date | When the content last changed in a way that matters. It isn’t moved without a real change. |
| Six-category scorecard | Where the overall rating comes from, so you can weigh the categories you care about most. |
| Test results | What we measured and cooked, not a copy of the spec sheet. |
| Cons and a “skip if” line | Who the grill is wrong for, and what we’d suggest instead. |
| Affiliate disclosure | A plain statement near the top of the page that retailer links may earn us a commission. |
What a score means
Every overall score out of 5 falls into one of these bands, so a number means the same thing on every review:
- 4.7–5.0 · Outstanding: We’d buy it ourselves at this price.
- 4.4–4.6 · Excellent: Trade-offs matter only to some buyers.
- 4.0–4.3 · Good fit: Right for the right buyer — read the “skip if”.
- < 4.0 · Hard to recommend: Better options exist at the price.
Red lines
What won’t we do?
- Accept payment for a review, ranking or score
- Accept free grills, loaners or review units
- Show a brand a review before it’s published
- Recommend a grill we haven’t cooked on
- Bump a “last updated” date without changing the page
- Hide a flaw because a product earns more commission
- Publish guest posts or sell links
Independence
Do affiliate commissions change scores?
No. SmokyHQ earns a commission when a reader buys through a retailer link. That’s a real incentive, so we’ve built the process to keep it out of the testing and scoring:
- The score comes first. A grill is tested, scored and ranked before any retailer link is added to the page.
- Commission isn’t a scoring input. None of the six categories, and nothing in the overall rating, considers what a grill pays us.
- No sponsored content. We don’t run paid reviews, sponsored posts, guest posts or link placements.
- Brands get no preview. Nobody outside the two testers sees a verdict before it’s published.
The details are in our affiliate disclosure.
Honesty
Do we publish the cons, even on our #1?
Every review has a real cons list and a “skip if” line naming who should buy something else. A site that never finds fault is advertising, not reviewing.
From our top-rated review: Weber Original Kettle 22"
Skip if: Anyone who wants push-button convenience or long overnight smokes
When a cheaper grill cooks as well as a pricier one, we say so, even though it earns us less.
Corrections
What happens when we get something wrong?
We’re two people cooking on a lot of grills, and we will sometimes get a number or a detail wrong. When that happens:
- The report is checked against our test log and the manufacturer’s current documentation by both testers.
- Confirmed errors are fixed on the page within 48 hours of confirmation.
- If the fix changes a score, a ranking or a recommendation, a dated correction note on the article says what changed.
- The person who reported it hears back with the outcome.
The full process, including what counts as a minor fix, is in our corrections policy.
Freshness
How often are reviews updated?
- When a model changes. A revised burner, controller or grate triggers a re-check of the review against the manufacturer’s documentation.
- When a newly tested grill wins. Category rankings and best-of picks are revisited each time we publish a new review in that category.
- When long-term use shows something. Wear, failures or better-than-expected durability are added to the review, and the score moves if the evidence does.
- When a reader reports an error that we confirm.
The “last updated” date on a page changes only when the content does. Our long-term checks explain what we look for after a review goes live.
Reader guide
How can you spot a grill review you shouldn’t trust?
Whether you’re reading us or anyone else, these warning signs are worth knowing before you spend serious money on a grill:
- No named author, or a name with no profile and no other work
- Every product gets four or five stars and the cons are trivial
- Specs and marketing claims, but no measurements or cooking results
- Rankings that reshuffle with no new testing behind them
- No “who should skip this” — every grill is right for everyone
- A date that changes every month while the content stays the same
We hold ourselves to the opposite of every item on that list. If you ever find one of them on SmokyHQ, we want to know.
Accountability
How can you hold us to it?
- Read the full testing methodology and editorial standards.
- Check who wrote and fact-checked any article on our testers page, and read about SmokyHQ.
- We reply to every correction report within two business days.
- Disagree with a verdict or found an error? Use our contact page. We’ll explain how the review was done, and correct it on the page if we got it wrong.
FAQ
Common questions
01Can a brand pay for a better score?
02Why do your reviews include so many cons?
Because every grill has trade-offs, and knowing them is what helps you choose. Each review lists who should skip the product and which alternative fits them better.
03Who checks the articles?
Every review and guide names its author and a second team member who fact-checks it before publishing. You can read about both on our testers page.
04What happens if you get something wrong?
Tell us. We check the claim against the manufacturer’s information, fix confirmed errors and note material corrections on the page.
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.
- How we testThe routine and scorecard behind every grill score.
- Editorial standardsAccuracy, sourcing, updates and our corrections policy.
- How we’re fundedHow affiliate links work and why they never change a score.
- Contact & correctionsEmail the testers, report an error or suggest a grill.
- Privacy policyWhat data the site collects and how it is used.
- Terms of useThe rules for using SmokyHQ content.