A little less than a year ago a built a nice redwood deck on the side fo my house. Since I had the new deck I decided I needed a nice new grill to finish my outdoor living area. To Lowe’s I go.
Before I went to the store I had searched online for grill reviews to see what the best buy for my price range would be. Almost everyone suggested the Weber Genesis line. Built like tanks and able to sear your steak to perfection, the Weber is considered by many to be the “Cadillac” of grills. Of course, since Lowe’s is a dealer of the Genesis grills, this is what I went to buy.
Being a normal American male, when I got to Lowe’s I couldn’t simply go to the Weber grill, pick it up and walk out. I had to look around and see all the shiny toys. In my perusal I found a grill called theSonoma by Altima. This grill looked really cool. Stainless steel grates, infrared (IR) burner, side burner, brick lining and more grilling area than the Weber. Oh yeah, it was about $50 less as well.
Normally $50 wouldn’t keep me from buying what my internet research had led me to believe was the superior product. However, after dropping about $5000 on the deck I was trying to keep all additional purchases at a minimum. Since the Sonoma seemed like a really well built grill and it had a couple things I liked better than the Weber, I had to go for it.
Sonoma by Altima (Surheat)
To make this story shorter, overall I am extremely happy with my purchase. This grill is very stout, looks great on my deck and cooks like a dream. Once I get the natural gas kit installed and the grill plumbed into my house I will be in grilling nirvana.
I have had only 2 issues with this grill. About a month after I bought it the control knobs starting having issues. The knobs are solid plastic and are prone to deformation because of the heat of the grill. A quick email to customer service and I have 4 brand new metal knobs that not only funtion much better than the original but look better as well.
The second issue is that about a week ago the electronic ignition went out. I changed the battery but still no go. Again, a quick email to customer service and a new one is on the truck to me.
Sureheat customer service is fantastic and the grill is awesome!! I highely suggest that anyone looking for a good grill but balk at the cost of the Weber Genesis, look at the Altima line. You won’t be sorry.
