The Electactic G41 Pro is a four-burner stainless steel gas grill with a 10,000 BTU side burner that runs about $300 - roughly half what the Weber Spirit E-435 is priced at. After putting one together for a Mother's Day gift and running it through a Michigan spring storm, I can tell you exactly where the corners get cut and where they hold up better than they have any right to.
For around $300, you get a four-burner gas grill producing 42,000 BTU from the four main burners and 10,000 BTU on the side, real stainless construction, and 545 square inches of cooking surface, making this a backyard BBQ workhorse for guys looking for an ultimate grill at a great price.
- Four main burners pushing 42,000 BTUs more than enough to make this a great backyard workhorse for backyard bbqs grilling up chicken, burgers and sausages.
- Cast iron porcelain-enameled grates that hold heat for proper sear marks, not the thin stamped grates you usually see at this price. * Packaging arrived complete, including an extra-long Phillips screwdriver that turned the awkward interior screws into a non-issue.
- Built-in lid thermometer, lockable caster wheels, removable grease tray, side shelves with hooks - the practical bits budget grills usually skip.
- Makes a credible graduation, housewarming, or first-house gift without putting you on the hook for $700-1000 from the more well known names in grilling like Weber or Napoleon.
- Out of the Box and Onto the Deck
- I Love My More Premium Grill's features, but this is Perfect For Guys Just Starting Out
- Build Quality at the $300 Price Point
- First Burn: Heat, Sear, and the Side Burner
- Who Should Actually Buy This
- I Can't Say Enough Good Things About This Grill ... I Almost Feel Like a Schill!
Out of the Box and Onto the Deck
The G41 Pro arrived in a single carton and came complete - no missing hardware, no scavenger hunt for the right bag of screws. Electactic even includes an extra-long Phillips screwdriver specifically for the awkward interior screws that would have had me digging through my toolbox otherwise. That's the kind of detail that tells me the engineers who designed this actually built one before shipping it out.
Total assembly was almost exactly two hours with three people working together - I had Heather's cousins on it help. No real "what now" moments. If you're solo, plan on three to four hours unless you can channel Bob the Builder but having a second set of hands for some of these steps is very helpful.
I Love My More Premium Grill's features, but this is Perfect For Guys Just Starting Out
The math on this one took some convincing. A few years back, I was forced to buy a "cheap grill," and that's exactly what I got. I bought it to cook outside instead of being stuck in the kitchen all summer. It was a cheap big-box special and it did a good job for me that summer. It was exactly what I paid for and absolutely nothing more. That experience turned me into a price-point snob.
So when Electactic offered to send a G41 Pro for review, I almost passed. My daily driver is a Weber Spirit E-435 and it sits at more than double the price point of this one. It earns that price point and is a bit more powerful - but not by much 48,000 vs 42,000 BTU for instance. Based on that, I was initially concerned, "how could this possibly be any good?" ... what I found though was that this does almost everything right to hit a fantastic price point without making it "crappy" like my other one was.
Build Quality at the $300 Price Point
The knobs feel solid, not hollow. Cooking grates are cast iron with a porcelain-enamel coat, heavy enough to lean on with a spatula full of burgers without flex. The stainless panels are real stainless with a brushed finish - it'll clean up fine after a season of cookouts. Lockable caster wheels, a removable grease tray, and side shelves with hooks cover the practical bits budget grills often skip.
You can tell you're at $300 instead of $700 because it misses features like a "sear zone" or "infrared burners" details most guys won't notice for basic backyard grilling but it does have a griddle attachment for searing steaks so that was cool. The only really noticeable weakness is that the cabinet sits a little lower than more premium grills, and so taller guys might want to put this up on a brick platform or something so they can avoid leaning over while cooking. Additionally, the cook box is more open than other grills that I've used but no worse than others in the same price point - this is a grill, not something suitable for baking, smoking, or long temperature stable cooks.
First Burn: Heat, Sear, and the Side Burner
Sear marks came up fast. The four burners get hot quickly and the cast iron holds heat well enough to put a proper crust on a steak after a proper preheating for twenty minutes or so. Worth knowing: like a lot of grills in this layout, the back burner runs a touch hotter than the front, so plan your steak placement and your hot dog placement accordingly.
The 10,000 BTU side burner does what a side burner should - a simmer station for baked beans or melted butter while the brats finish on the main grates. The built-in lid thermometer lets you watch the cook without lifting the hood and dumping all the heat - a feature plenty of $300 grills cheap out on.
Who Should Actually Buy This
If your current grill is a sub-$200 special that you bought because you needed something to cook on, or you are looking for an inexpensive grill to see if you like cooking outside ... the G41 Pro is a real upgrade - more heat, more cooking surface (545 square inches counting the warming rack), better build, and a side burner that makes it easy to cook a side dish or even to be used for frying up chicken or potatos without worrying about making a mess in the kitchen with hot grease splatters.
If you're already running a Weber, Napoleon, or Broil King in the $700-plus range, this isn't the right upgrade path unless you are looking for a second grill to be used for parties when you simply need additional cooking surface. On the other hand, this is a fantastic grill to have at your lake house or hunting cabin, and in this case, that's exactly what it's become for Heather's grandma's Mother's Day gift ... replacing her 20-year-old Char-Broil.
I Can't Say Enough Good Things About This Grill ... I Almost Feel Like a Schill!
This grill truly impressed me because I didn't think it was possible to produce a grill this good at this price. It's well designed, good quality, a complete package, well designed, including a nice manual and excellent packaging. This is definitly one to check out if you're looking for a housewarming gift or for a family member struggling with an older grill that is ready to be replaced.
The G41 Pro made Heather's grandma's Mother's Day, and that's not a small thing ... at 90+ years old she deserves something nice and now we can help her cook without heating up the kitchen this summer!
The only thing this package was missing is a grill cover (luckily, you can add a good grill cover to your cart easily when you buy this Electatctic G41 Pro on Amazon). One add-on to budget for at the same time: grab the grill cover. The more open cabinet means you don't want this thing taking on snow over a Michigan winter. For most guys standing in the gas grill aisle trying to decide between $300 and $700, the G41 Pro proves you don't have to spend the extra $400 to skip the junk.
