On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 18:43:16 -0500, "fatsam"
> wrote:

>Just looked at a BGE it seemed pretty cool.
>
>There doesn't appear to be a Kamado dealer anywhere in town (Minneapolis)
>and I was wondereding how they compare for size, function, etc
>
>There is also a Primo dealer in town , but I haven't gotten there yet.
>
>fatsam
>

I have both a Kamado #9 and a Primo egg-type ceramic cooker. They are
both quality products and you can certainly make nice barbecue on both
of them.

The Kamado #9 has a significantly larger grill area (other Kamado
models would be closer to the same size). This is a big advantage for
me since I don't cook BBQ often, but when I do I always seem to be
feeding a couple dozen people. The Kamado is thicker and it seems to
me that it is easier to control the temperature. Perhaps the thicker
ceramic stabilizes the temperature somewhat. YMMV. It is a heavy-duty
unit and appears built to pass on to my descendants. It is physically
beautiful to my eye and would make an interesting piece of yard art
all on its own.

It took about six months to get the Kamado. It arrived with a critical
part missing. The replacement part that arrived a week later didn't
fit. The side table wouldn't fold down properly until I gave it the
business with a power grinder. Ultimately everything got straightened
out and the Kamado works great.

If you decide to order the Kamado, go in with the expectation that
there will be service problems. Think of them as stories you'll
ultimately be able to tell your friends while you barbecue. The
problems seem to have more to do with bumbling execution than poor
attitude (e.g., the Kamado people I have spoken to have been uniformly
courteous and seemingly anxious to resolve my problems). For some
reason, this makes me (a little) more willing to cut them some slack.

At the time of your order, Kamado may make a prediction as to when it
will be ready. It's best to disregard this information. At some point,
you'll probably feel compelled to call them up and ask if they lost
your order. (BTW, when I say "call" that's what you have to do. Merely
leaving a message on their answering machine will only get your hopes
up. I left three messages, each of which they ignored, before I
figured out that you have to call repeatedly until a person answers
the phone).

In my experience, they have not lost the order and will in fact offer
a revised shipping estimate, which you should also disregard. In my
case, I waited what I thought was a suitable interval and called a
third time, whereupon I was told that my Kamado was sitting in the
warehouse ready to ship on the following Tuesday. I believed this,
which was a mistake, but I didn't take any action based on the
statement being true, which was prudent. The unit did not actually
ship for another couple of months. The right attitude is: The Kamado
will arrive when it is time for the Kamado to arrive, in some karmic,
Zen sense. Apparently there is nothing either you or the Kamado
Corporation can do to change this.

There were a variety of screw ups on the billing, but these were all
ultimately resolved. I had to write some letters and make some phone
calls, but in the end I was charged the agreed-upon amount. The way it
works is that you pay half the bill at the time you place the order
and the other half when the Kamado is delivered. Delivery can take so
long that you've pretty much forgotten about paying half up-front and
the final bill makes you feel like you are getting the Kamado at half
price. Sort of.

I seen other owners suggest that dealing with Kamado was in some sense
Kafkaesque. To me, Kafka suggests an underlying indifference to human
concerns, perhaps even some sort of malevolence. I think that
exaggerates the case with Kamado. After some consideration, my
preferred metaphor is the Three Stooges. Imagine if Moe, Larry and
Curly were put in charge of a factory that mysteriously turned out the
world's best BBQ units. Sit back and enjoy the experience. Take notes
so that you can tell the stories better.

I have never had the kind of customer service problems I had with
Kamado. If I had these problems with, say, a computer manufacturer,
I'd be going to some trouble to warn everyone else off doing business
with them. I really don't feel that way about the Kamado, however. I'm
glad I bought it, and I'd probably buy it again. I'm greatly relieved
that I probably won't need to.

I bought the Primo before the Kamado and have had good experiences
with it. The main reason I ultimately also bought the Kamado was the
size of the grilling area. The usable cooking area on the Kamado #9
with three levels of grills is perhaps five times that of my Primo. I
still use the Primo sometimes for smaller BBQ burns and it produces
good-tasting food. I have nothing bad to say about the product, which
was on my back patio the day I decided I wanted one. The store that
sold it to me was located nearby and I feel certain that had I
suffered any problems with the Primo (I didn't), they would have
helped me get them fixed.

I have never used a BGE myself but I've seen them in some of the local
stores. They appear to me to be approximately comparable to the Primo
in size, composition and quality. Perhaps a BGE owner can provide more
information here.

Good luck to you. You should be able to get fine results out of either
of the cookers.