- What's up guys? It's Trevor with Embers. Today we are doing a versus video. Versus videos!
(knives clanging) Do you like versus videos, Chris? - [Chris] I love 'em. - I do too. They're fun. They're fun videos to do. And they're the most popular. People watch the versus videos the most. So today we are... We have the brand new
Weber Genesis 2022 edition, new and improved versus our number one and best selling grill, hands down. And in my opinion, one of my favorite grills, tried-and-true the Napoleon Prestige 500. Which one's gonna be the winner? Only one way to find out. Let's review 'em.
(knives clanging) See what we choose. Let's go. (upbeat music) All right, don't forget if you guys are in the Denver, Colorado area and you're in the market for a grill, come to our showroom. You're not gonna find a better selection anywhere in the state than right here at Embers, in my opinion. I'm biased though. I own the store. So that's what I think. You can see the Weber's on display. You can see the Napoleon's on display, along with a bunch of other products. But the Weber and the Napoleon are our two best selling
grills as far as volume and meaning we sell the most of them, because they're really
strategically well priced. They're on the nicer side, but they're not into
like our luxury products, or our luxury categories
like you can see over here. So they're more for like
the everyday griller and they're reasonably priced. And that's part of the reason why they're our are two best selling grills. Also they have a really good name. So both of these grills have
exceptional customer service, exceptional warranties. Weber's been around forever. Napoleon actually has
been around forever too. People just don't think that they have. They just in the last four or five years have made a much bigger
splash in the barbecue market, and have been gaining ton of momentum. But these are two of the upper end brands when it comes to warranty and service, which is why I would recommend them when you're in this sort of... I don't talk pricing in my videos, 'cause pricing changes all the time. Both these girls are under 1500 bucks. For the under the $1,500 price range. These are top two brands, in my opinion, in that lower category, until we go up into like $2,000 grill, which is for another video. We'll include links for that by the way. Smash that like button,
(notification chime) follow our channel, do all the things. If you like this video, help us out. Throw us a bone popping
that thumbs up button, helps us out a lot. All right. So I'm not gonna go crazy in-depth on all the new stuff
for the Weber Genesis, because I just shot a video
explaining all the differences of the upgrades. If you wanna know all the
upgrades or what's new with 2022, I'll touch on 'em slightly. But go watch that video, we'll include a link for it. What I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna start from the ground up and I'm gonna tell you
what features I like better about what each grill. Now, this is as close as I
can get apples to apples. What do I mean by that? Weber Genesis has so many skews, way too many skews, way too many models. This is the closest grill to
the Napoleon Prestige 500. So this is the S-335, the stainless steel version, because the Napoleon
grill's stainless steel I figured that would be
the appropriate one to do, to keep it as apples to apples. It's the closest in physical size, closest in cooking space, closest in price. There are some variations of this grill, which I'll talk about as we review it, but this was the most
apples to apples comparison I could get to them to
our best selling grill, the Prestige 500. And that's what I wanted, to really see how it stacks up against it. All right. So part of their 2022
upgrade was better casters. So you can see, we have metal casters. Looks like they all... Or the front two casters lock. And they're just a little bit beefier. The Napoleon has solid casters too, and they lock and they all four swivel, But the Napoleons are all plastic. So I'm gonna tell you right now, I like these casters better. So we're gonna give the vote to Weber, when it comes to the casters. By the way, little side note. I get accused of being
a Napoleon fanboy a lot. And that's just 'cause I think they make really, really awesome products. I feel my reviews are super
honest and straightforward. But in general, when I've done comparison
videos between the Napoleon and the Weber, in general, not in every video, the Napoleon always
mops the floor with it, in my opinion. With this new model, it's closer. So you're gonna see some things I actually like better on the Weber. I don't think I've ever
said that in a video. Have you ever heard me say that Chris? - [Chris] No. - No. (chuckles) So with these new upgrades, I think it's gotten closer. Before the old model, I don't even need to do a review, I'm just going to tell you
to buy the Prestige 500. Now that this new model's come out, it's a closer race. So that's why we gotta
go through these things. So you know which one to get. So we're giving the vote to Weber when it comes to the casters. Pedestals, functionality wise are very similar. You can see now, Weber puts the propane tank inside, which I think was a huge improvement. The Napoleon also keeps it inside. Doors seem about the same to me. Pedestal seems pretty close
to me as well on that. The Weber does give us this
cool little storage drawer, which you know, any little bit helps. But what I think is really
cool with the Weber, they've come out with
this side storage drawer, which I actually think is super
handy and super functional. So we can't really... Or we can store vertical thing in here, whether that's cooking
accessories, baking sheets, you could just jam up your cover and probably chuck it in
there if you wanted to. Got some condiment trays. So from a functionality standpoint, I like the Weber pedestal better. So Weber's two for two. What? You kidding me? Trevor, what's happened to you? We watch your channel all the time. You don't say Weber stuff is better. You're right? That's why this new grill's really cool. I think it's pretty neat. Anyways, pedestal and casters
are better on the Weber, in my opinion. Stay to the end of this video, 'cause we got a lot to talk about. You can't just now go by the Weber 'cause I said that, because Napoleon's gonna
come back swinging, I have a feeling. All right. Control panels. So, Weber, pretty basic control panel. Napoleon is a little more flashy. I do like the Napoleon knobs. So they do light up and then when your burners are on, they are red. So on this model, the 335, we have no lit knobs, which isn't the end of the world. That's just kind of more for fun. But when you upgrade to their smart grill, which we'll have reviews on
those coming out as well. The smart grill does have lit up control knobs as well, as a fuller function meat probes and smart controller in the grill itself, which is pretty cool. I'm gonna have to give the
control panel to Napoleon 'cause I think, although this is just
more flashy than anything. The fact that you can easily
tell when your burners are on is helpful. I'm going for functionality here. That's a functional feature
that makes it better. So that's why we're gonna
give that to Napoleon. All right. Side shelves. One of the new redesigns
of the Weber Genesis is this is a mega shelf. Kinda like a Dodge, like a mega cab. I call this the mega shelf. So, this mega shelf is bigger. So we can set more stuff on it, and it's more functional
than the Prestige. So I like that better because it's bigger. But, hold the phone. But hold on, hold on. If you're tight on storage, the Napoleon's retractable. So, that's a personal thing. That's only better if
you're tight on space. So that's specific to
your individual needs, but that's kinda cool that it does that. The Weber does not retract, however. So, not that big a deal. All right. So that's cool. So Weber's coming out strong. I'm liking what I'm seeing with the Weber. Like I said, they've gotten that gap
closer in my opinion. All right. Side burners. If you guys watch my channel, you know I'm not a huge
fan of side burners. I don't think they're super functional. This is just your standard boiler plate. Boiler. 'Cause it's a side burner. Get it? Just your standard side burner. I've reviewed these a lot. And in my other videos, I test how hot they to get and it's solid. You know, it's a solid side burner, but it's nothing I'm overly excited about. Now let's talk about side
burner with the Napoleon. Now to me, this is huge and a mega, mega game changer. So the Napoleon side burner is going to be cast iron cooking. Great. And then a ceramic infrared burner. Much, much more functional. So here you can set this in two settings. So, our cooking grate can set up. So you set it up high. And then when we do that, we can see her. So we got cool little TikToks where we mess around with this thing. This thing is insane. If you want to sear steaks and searing steaks is important to you, I promise you nothing is gonna sear better than infrared heat. It just won't. So it is far, far superior side burner because it allows so
much more functionality within the grill itself and then you set it down like this and then use it for
basic pots and pans too. That's huge. If you're a red meat guy, I'm a red meat guy. I love myself a nice tomahawk, a steak. I only... When I'm cooking with gas anyway, I will only use infrared for searing. It's the only way to do it. Maybe I'm a snob, because I'm in a barbecue
shop all the time. But Chris you've tasted the
steak difference, right? - [Chris] Yeah.
- Tell 'em at home. - [Chris] It's so good. - Is it better? - [Chris] I think so. - It's juicier, it's better,
better sear, better flavor. This is an absolute game changer. So, this to me is... It's not like, "Oh, it's
better than that side burner." No. This changes the whole
way you're gonna be cooking. This is a huge, huge deal. And Napoleon's one of the really, the only ones that offer it
in a side burner feature. Some of them offer it inside the grill. But that's huge. That's a really, really big deal. I cannot overstate that enough. This gets the victory over Weber when it comes to the side burner. But, if we doing like a weighted scale, it's not just like a one for one. That takes the Napoleon way up, in my opinion. Again though, I'm a red meat guy. So you have to think about
your individual needs. Huge, huge, huge feature. Probably one of my favorite
features on this whole grill, easily. All right. So that's the
outside of the grill. Let's get inside the hood here. So when you do the stainless
steel version with the Weber, you get stainless steel cooking grates. All the Napoleon Prestige models, you get stainless steel cooking grates, no matter what. So Napoleon has their
iconic wave rod technology. I don't know how iconic it is, but it's iconic. So this is specific to them. This helps with a couple things. One, more surface area
is gonna be on your meat. And then also, it helps
with like veggie spillage, things like that. That comes standard. Solid 304 stainless. Weber's no different. Solid 304 stainless steel, but just straight. So cooking grates are about the same. Now I will mention this, both of these machines, as we get into the firebox here, fundamentally, they're very, very similar in how they cook and how they cook evenly. I'm not gonna do a toast
test or anything like that. I've done it on both of these grills. This is the new model, but the cooking system's the same. So there's no need to retest that. I'll tell you both of these are leaders when it comes to even cooking distribution between the grills. They both do an awesome, awesome job. So there's no need to do that. You're getting upper end in both products with how they cook. So Weber's done something a little bit different though this year, is they've come out with
their WEBER CRAFTED. That's what it's called. So essentially you get this
little insert with the Weber. And you sort of have a 60, 40 split and this insert comes standard. And then, you can buy cool little fun
accessories for your Weber. You can do like wok bowls, pizza stones. Like, cast iron sear stations with really thick cooking
grates for searing. Like, some veggie baskets that insert and drop into this thing. So it's really cool. So from a functionality standpoint, I think you can have a little
more fun with the accessories, with the Weber. There are still really cool
accessories for the Napoleon. Two that I'll talk about. Well, while we're on accessories, let's just talk about it. They have their cast iron charcoal tray, which is awesome. And, well, spoiler alert. Now I'm talking about the rotisserie. I'm getting ahead of myself, but they have the rotisserie wing basket. That thing's awesome. So you can put like wings in there. Veggies, french fries. So both you can trick out
and kinda have some fun with accessories. And I think both do a great
job with offering accessories for this grill. But this sort of WEBER
CRAFTED is like a new thing that make it simple and easy. Just a boom, boom, accessory. Oh, I wanna cook a pizza. Oh, now I wanna sear some steak. Oh, now I wanna to do wok veggies. Oh boom, boom, boom. It's easy. Easy peasy. So that's kind of a
cool little fun feature that they've done. So, let's see if there's a
difference in our burners here. I wanted to weigh them. By the way, I haven't
talked about warranties. I was gonna save that for the end. But now that we're talking burners, I should probably talk about it. So Weber, made in Chicago, has a 10 year warranty, which is really good. Napoleon is made in Canada, just north of Toronto. So either way, you're not buying a overseas product. These are made in North America, both of these grills. But the Napoleon has a lifetime warranty. What? Lifetime warranty? So you go from 10 years to
as long as you're alive. Only you can decide that. So, (chuckles) the warranty's subjective
to you personally, but this is lifetime warranty. So that's better. So we have to give the
warranty to Napoleon because lifetime versus
10 years is simple math. It's better. Okay. Let's weigh these burners. So, our Weber, you can see the difference. So here's our burner port. So we got a singular burner port going down our Weber and then two burner ports
going down on Napoleon. Let's see here. Let me just zero this out. So Weber is 11.2 ounces. That's what our Weber is. Napoleon, 15 ounces. So our Weber or our Napoleon burners are four ounces heavier. Now I'm no scientist or anything, but it feels heavier in my hand. So I would assume it would
be a little more durable by being heavier. Just my assumption. Just a little more
heavy-duty with the Napoleon. Just my guess. So, even though they have
a very similar firebox, Napoleon has better burners
and a better warranty. So we gotta give the burners to Napoleon. Now again, on a weighted scale, I think that carries more value because the burners are one of the most important parts
of the grill, right? Wouldn't you say it's one of
the most fundamental pieces of the barbecue? - [Chris] Yeah. - Now also the way the burners operate. There's a difference there. So the way the burner system works or the ignition system
works on the Weber is, you gotta hold this in, then hit this igniter and
then there your igniter goes. We must be running outta propane. Huh? - [Chris] Looks like it. - [Trevor] Let's check this one out. (stove clicking) Oh, there it goes. Just took a minute. Okay. So there's our burners here. Now one thing we forgot to mention is, you know how the Napoleon
has a sear system? Well, these guys do too. So this is their sear station, but it's not like an
infrared heat or anything. What it is is basically
the exact same burner, but if they add a extra one in the middle. So you have more condensed
heat in one spot. Now we've test fired this. It gets about 700 degrees or so, which is good. You can definitely get a sear with 700, but it ain't no infrared heat. I promise you that. So, I still think the Napoleon's gonna
give you a better sear. So if you're after a sear, go with the Napoleon. So that's how those igniters work. So, each individual unit
has its own igniter, but it's sort of a two step process. You have to use two hands. Now, a lot of guys
ripped me apart for that, that that's not a big deal. But with the Napoleon, which I'll show you in a second, you only need one hand. So the idea you could
just quick turn it on, is a better thing in my opinion. But also none of your
burners are connected. So let's say the wind
blows out this burner here. (blowing) Look at that. So once that burner's out, it's not reigniting itself, but your knob is still on
and we're still using fuel. So, that's not good. Now let's check out the burner
system with the Napoleon while we're over here. By the way, this has four burners with the sear, all tight together. The Napoleon also has four main burners, but they're evenly spread
throughout the grill, which I think they do that on purpose because they don't need
'em condensed together because we have a sear station over here. Now here's the fundamental
difference with the Napoleon. Okay. So here's how
the Napoleon is better. So, one, each burner has it's
own individual igniter and see how it's like
a Piezo spark igniter? So what's that called Chris? Do you remember? - [Chris] The-
- [Trevor] Jet fire. - [Chris] Jet fire. - [Trevor] Jet fire ignition system. So you just turn that on. So each one has its own igniter, So, it's basically you can do one hand, one step versus two people and people are like, "It's not that much of an upgrade." And I'm like, "And it's
completely unnecessary, it's just as easy to do
with two hands versus one." You know what my rebuttal to that was? "It's still better. Why would you not rather have it? It's like a car with cruise control. You don't need cruise control, but it's cool that it's there, right? It makes it easier. Why would you not want it to be easier? This is a better ignition system. Why would you not want it to be better?" But, to each his own. All right. Now let me show you what
else is cool about this? So these grills have... The Napoleons are connected
by this little burner here. So check this out. Let's say the wind blows out this burner. (blowing) (continues blowing) Boom. It's gonna
automatically reignite itself. So it has that little coupler
in between each burner. So that's better. So from a functionality standpoint, it's better. Now, here's a huge thing that the... We can't even say which one's better 'cause the Weber just doesn't have... The Napoleon has a rotisserie kit. So, you can see here, not only do we get a
rotisserie kit and a motor and a spit and the forks standard. But we also get another burner. So, we actually have a
dedicated rotisserie burner. Now let me show you what that looks like. There is an igniter on here that you have to press separately, but it's just for your side burner. Let me just put this down. It's just for your side burner and for your rotisserie burner, the separate igniter. The main burners each have
their own independent igniter. So that's an independent
rotisserie burner. Check this out. Weber Genesis says we
don't got, we don't... There is no burner. Period. So, you can buy a
rotisserie kit separately, but you're dependent on these burners. Now, I don't know if it's gonna
make a huge difference. I think it will. But your burners, you wouldn't want these on, the middle one on because then you'd have
a hotspot right here. So you would just turn on your three. So it's not gonna give you
even cooking all the way across whatever you're cooking this way. So it's better if you can have, look at that, look at this sucker. That's what I'm talking about. That's infrared heat right there. So we just have an infrared burner that is gonna be kinda doing its thing while your rotisserie's going to town. Obviously that's much better because it exists in this grill. (chuckles) So we gotta give that to Napoleon. You can buy a rotisserie
kit for the Weber, but you have no rotisserie burner. There's no way to add one. Nothing. So far, far superior on the Napoleon. Okay. Man, I got these grills torn apart. Let's do a conclusion real quick and I'm gonna give you my final thoughts on which one I would buy. So they're about the same price. So at the time of shooting this video, the Napoleon's like a
$100 more than this grill. However, if you do the
smart grill version of this and you have the smart features and then the interior lighting, then this grill's a little
bit more in the smart version. So they're fairly close in price. So for about the same price, which one's gonna give
you more functionality and better value? Well, there was a lot, I
liked better on the Weber, but really all those features that I liked better on the Weber were outside of the firebox, which is not as important. The Napoleon, all the features I like
better are inside the firebox, which carry more weight. So in summary, which one do I like better? Well, there are things I
like better about the Weber and there's things I like
better about the Napoleon. Let me recap 'em because not all features
that I like better are created equal. For example, All the features that I
like better on the Weber are outside of the firebox, outside of cooking. What do I mean by that? I like the casters better. Doesn't affect the cook. I like the side shelf better. Doesn't affect the cook. I like the storage on the pedestal better. Doesn't affect your cook. The things I like better on the Napoleon are gonna be the heavier burners, the better ignition system, the ability that we can
infrared sear 1800 degrees, the Weber doesn't get that hot. All those are features that
affect the way you cook. So because of that, I think those features
are weighted more heavily. And that's why I like the Napoleon better. For me, the Napoleon is
still the clear winner. Like I told you before,
(audience applauding) the old Weber Genesis, there really wasn't
anything I liked better on the old Weber Genesis. (chuckles) Every single thing I like
better about the Napoleon. I can't say that anymore. So this race is closer. It is definitely, Weber has definitely stepped
up their game lately. I think the Genesis was
long overdue for an upgrade. The upgrade is here and
it is a better product. I'm not saying that. The Napoleon for me is the clear winner. Here's why, like I said, 10 year warranty. Lifetime warranty, No rotisserie. Rotisserie. Infrared heat. No infrared heat. Two handed ignition system. One handed ignition system. Lighter burners. Heavier burners Choice is clear. Still gotta be Napoleon for me. That's me. If you're a Weber fanboy, if your Dad cooked on Webers, your grandpa cooked on Webers and you just love Webers, I'm not telling you not to buy this grill. I still think it's an awesome grill. And you can upgrade to
some of those features and get some of the
rotisserie stuff like that. If you upgrade into the Summit, which by the way is also
long overdue for an upgrade and is not being upgraded in 2022. All the upgrades went into the Genesis. I'm assuming we'll see that
in the Summit next year. That's for another video. But we'll be comparing
the smart grills versus some other Napoleons. The Napoleon's still the better grill, in my opinion. It's still top notch. It's still the way to go. If you're in under the $1,500 price point, there's no grill I would buy for under $1,500 than the Prestige 500. You heard it here first.
Stay tuned for more videos. Make sure to subscribe to our channel. We'll see you next time.
