Pros:
Pleasantly surprised with the weight & mass of the griddle top (truly thought it would be lighter gauge and flimsier).
There were no sharp edges, no problems with the grease tray, light enough to be moved around easily, cleans easily and relatively stable temps across the griddle surface, albeit too high at this point.
There is ample room for 6 burgers and both halves of the buns (not at the same time), a pound of bacon, a tube of sausage or a full pepper and onion and a few sliced potatoes on it's surface and starts smelling like breakfast.
The above item quantities don't crowd it at all.
The sides and back of the griddle are sufficiently tall enough to keep the goodies corralled but not too high that you have to stand on your tip-toes to get down the sides and to the griddle surface.
I truly wasn't expecting a whole lot for $66.00, we were pleasantly surprised and as you will see below Blackstone is responsive and I feel did a great job in customer service.
Cons:
Runs too hot on low, in excess of 400 degrees and over 550 degrees on high.
I have spoken with Blackstone and asked them what the norms are, I was told that 325-350 degrees on low and over 500 degrees on high. I can live with that and asked them to send me a regulator, the one gal I spoke with does not seem to think it will help but is sending one anyway.
The second gal I spoke with said that seemed like a logical place to start and if that does not remedy it, to request a new gas valve, which I will do. I should have it this week and will report back either way, pleased with how they handled this and how they are willing to help further if this is not it.
Impressions:
I used my infrared temp gun to test the temps, they were as above and do vary in different areas of the griddle as you would expect but not a huge disparity, it seasoned very easily and it is surprisingly non-stick. We have cooked several different things on it. Burgers, sausage, bacon, grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, eggs, pancakes and have used it to crisp biscuits we have cooked on the pellet grill once sliced in half, we love them like this fir Biscuits and Gravy.
It is well thought out, simple and straightforward and should handily do what it is designed to do once we have a handle on the temps.
Would I recommend this:
Yep, I sure would.
It really is a pretty neat little unit and I think a lot of things can be done on this and when I get this resolved I am going to buy a few more, I had initially had them on order but canceled the other 2 as I was having trouble with this one and did not want to deal with 3 of them at this point.
I honestly feel you can't go wrong with this if you have a need or desire for something like this, going to make a good addition to the Davey Crocket at the lake for the early AM breakfasts as well as for toasting buns, grilling onions, etc. for all our burger and dog cooks.
I will post pictures of some of the cooks very soon, I wanted to get this posted.
(Edit was just to highlight certain words)