Best Propane Grill Under $500

Best Propane Grills Under $500 – Description

Brands

This is a great price range for first time gas grill owners, or those looking for a replacement as you have access to the full spectrum of grill brands to find the right one for you. Do you go with a starter 2 burner Weber E-210 for their great support and long history, or do you try a more feature-rich Monument Grills Clearview? The answer of course depends on the customer, but the choices are all here. Brands like Weber and Char Broil will often bring better coverage along with nice additions at affordable rates due to mass production. Lesser known brands might make you wait a few more weeks for repairs but offer more value tailored towards specific customers.

Materials

Here you want stainless steel in the burners, side tables, and hood because it shouldn’t be too hard to find. Around $300 dollars is where you start to see primarily stainless steel builds. Stainless steel brings easier cleanability, along with lifespan, and a overall superior look to other materials. For the cooking grates look for at least porcelain coated iron grates if you can though once again stainless steel leads the pack. This is a great price range for grills because ample stainless steel is common without making too many sacrifices for other capabilities.

Storage

If you can’t find a grill in this range with at least a cabinet for storage you could need to see an eye doctor, still there are things to keep in mind. The majority of grills will have single doored storage while a select few have double doors that will offer you more room and usually with that room better specific features. These can be anything from storage for grilling tools, refreshments, or even useful tools like bottle openers. Every grill should have side tables at this range usually in stainless steel, however whether they are collapsible of not is another option to look into.

Burners and Cooking Surface

Things get interesting here as this is where things really open up for grills in this range as opposed to lower priced grills. You will want to factor in how large the heating area is along with the cooking surface are because manufacturer will blend them together so it seems like you have a large grilling surface, when half of it is actually a heating rack. You can find grills with anywhere from three to six burners here so that will key you in on value a bit. We also start seeing alternative heating methods such as infrared grilling which will give you superior cooking in exchange for the number of burners and grill space usually. Make sure to look for at least 12,000’s BTU’s out of each burner so you get good value along with your power.

Mobility

At the very least here you want to find four wheels because it is pretty common. Beyond that you will see a few different setups to keep in mind. The most common use four small caster wheels which should work great for a while, though they might need replacement quicker than the option that uses two larger heavy duty wheels along with the smaller ones. At the end of the day though the difference is relatively marginal however since the locking wheels are often the smaller ones anyway.

Special Features

This is another area where the competition will make it a bit easier to find the right grill for you. Most grills in this range come with side burners of varying power, though some come with rotisserie back burners or flat top burners that bring more variety to your cooking experience. You also want to look for a variation of the Flavorizer bar as it’s called by Weber. This implementation sits between your burners and your grates, so its relatively easy to identify regardless of the brands chosen name for it. These will vaporize your juices and feed them into your food for more flavor. Infrared burners are a similar yet more refined version of this. On the other hand, we would highly recommend looking at grills under $1000 before you make your final choice.

Warranty

This is a big section that will be one of the main reasons for choosing a more well known brand. Their warranties simply offer better coverage. Where as you might find a two year warranty in most brands, the top of the line provide expansive warranties from five years, to ten years, to lifetime depending on the model and piece. So make sure you are well aware of your coverage as an extra $50 bucks makes a load of difference when something breaks a month after the coverage ends.

Best Grills Under $500 Conclusion

The big dogs on the market start coming out to play here and they bring excellent models with a variety of features at pretty affordable prices. On the other side we have lesser knowns that pack more features or special capabilities in comparison to the popular kids. The great thing here is you are spending enough that you probably won’t get a piece of junk anyway. This gives you the choice to whether you want six burners, or infrared cooking, or just a nice grill with some cool features that give you all the space you need from a trusted brand with a great warranty.

We hope this best propane grill under $500 review was helpful in making your purchasing decision.