No temperature control

I just bought this two weeks ago, and I can’t control the heat. With the vent full closed it is running at 450 degrees. And it has been at this temperature for 40 minutes. I will not be able to do any low and slow cook with this BBQ. I wish I had kept my 22” kettle.

Professional Charcoal Grill

(This review was collected as part of a promotion.) I received the Pro Charcoal Grill for an early Christmas present, I have been able to use it 3 times so far, it has been great! I love all the features it has on it.

Expensive but worth it

The only one I found to check all the boxes for me: big and solid SS, adjustable charcoal bed, high quality crates

Direct n indirect

Bought this 11/2019 it has been excellent for grilling. Just make sure when you use direct or indirect cooking to be careful on the amount of coals. Sometimes I over do it as it gets over 500 degrees. Indirect is great for baking pies or potatoes. Roasting a turkey today so far so good.

Love it!

Used it a few times and it's awesome! Stability and power in order to cook anything!

The beast

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I brought the charcoal pro , 6years ago now . Great bit of kit ,I bbq almost every weekend ,with family and friends, have cooked for over 30 people befor on the pro. It's so well built, in the 6years nothing has gone wrong ,works as well as the day I brought it .the hight adjustment is the key part to this great bbq . I would definitely recommend it if you like cooking on coal .

Great quality but not for beginners or slow cooks

+ Great quality grill. I purchased this due to its size / ability to do large cooks. So far have done about 10 various cooks on this. - Hard to control temperature / airflow with no top vent(s)...slow cooks close to impossible. 3 charcoal trays does not allow for snake method charcoal layout - No test cook videos / tips on using this beast whether by Napoleon or youtubers. I cannot make sense of this and it is particularly disappointing but probably an indication of how many Charcoal Pro units Napoleon sells per year. - Access door to top up charcoal way too small. - Napoleon grill cover cannot handle extreme (Dubai) heat. + Overall happy with this grill for fast cooks, but unfortunately will definitely need to by a smoker and/or a smaller charcoal grill where I can control temps.

Very good control, well built

I have been very happy with this grill; it is quite large so there is plenty of space for both direct and indirect heat. To the complaints from others about the grill running hot, I find it very easy to manage by using only the center section for charcoal. You can then control the heat on the rest of the grill easily with a combination of changing the level of the coals and moving food further from or closer to the center. Coals can easily be added from the top by removing the smaller center grill section. I agree that this is not a good product for smoking, but if you are serious about smoking I think a separate dedicated smoker is a much better option than trying to use the same product for two very different purposes. Overall I'm very happy with the grill; it's well built, easy to control, and very spacious.

Half a Pro grill

TLDR version: Great for direct grilling, and short duration indirect grilling. Bad for long duration indirect grilling. Good quality materials that look like they will last for many years. The Good: Excellent bottom half of the grill. The coal trays and adjustment rack work great. The design of the mechanism to raise and lower the rack allows for over 90% of the cooking area to be covered by the coal rack, whereas those crank handle types are more like 65% of the cooking area. Creates a much more even cook over the whole area. Been working fine for almost a year now, so hope it maintains it’s durability. Cooking racks are great, provide good sear marks, had no problem with food sticking, and don’t seem to rust like cast iron racks. Ash tray seems to be of a durable material, and no sign of corrosion yet. The Mediocre: The door in the front to add coals is pretty useless as it’s too small. The only time I typically would add coals is for long term indirect cooking (more below) and the door only really allows access to the center coal rack. The ash tray could be a bit deeper so you are not cleaning it out so often, and no reason from the design that is couldn’t be a bit deeper. The bad: Complete inability to manage the cooking temperature because of the lid! After what looks like a thoughtful design on the charcoal rack, they just put what looks like a typical gas grill lid on a charcoal grill. This lid lets so much air into the cooking chamber you have no ability to control the cooking temp by managing the air flow, which is critical for cooking with charcoal over a longer period. If this grill had a tight fitting solid lid, with adjustable air vents then it would get 5 stars. Even if you are looking to roast a whole chicken you either start off with it too hot to begin and let the temp come down as the coals burn down, or you’re trying to add small amounts of fuel during the process which creates a hot/cool/hot/cool/hot cycle during the cook instead of a nice even temp for the whole duration. I wouldn’t even think about attempting the Thanksgiving turkey on this. Huge disappointment for this price.

No heat control, not for slow cooking, needs constant attent

I bought this 6 months ago as it seemed perfect for cooking long skewers of chicken, beef, etc. which I do about once a month. The cooking surface is huge and much better suited for long metal skewers vs round charcoal BBQs. Kabobs aside, I use this about 3 times a week. If you are cooking something quick, it works well, provided you time things right. The temperature slide (to increase/decrease air flow) does absolutely nothing - there is just too much other air flow into the coal bed, meaning this thing runs hot! You need to control the temperature by limiting/arranging the charcoal, and constantly watching it. This is quite difficult through the little door - I need to leave one of the grates off and place charcoal from the top. And add to much charcoal, this thing can shoot past 700 degrees in no time and you will have to wait out the inferno. Raising/lower the coal bed helps control temp/sear, but always lower it before opening the lid as the slightest breeze will blow ash all over the food. This thing sounded totally amazing as advertised, but in reality just does not deliver.

Best charcoal rotisserie

I love this BBQ. Huge cooking area, well built, adjustable coal bed, worth the money. I did a 30lb pig on the rotisserie no problem. I usually do two chickens at a time, but could easily do 3.