Broil King vs Weber: Baron 320 Against the Spirit II 210

I saw an intriguing grill display at Lowes the other day that really caught my attention. They had put a Broil King 320 right beside a a Weber Spirit II 210 and they were identically priced at $399. The grills were just about the same size but the Broil King was sporting three burners instead of the two inside the Spirit II 210.

It looked like we had a serious Broil King vs Weber Head to Head challenge going on! If you wanted to spend $399 on a grill which would be the better buy, the Spirit or the Baron?

While everyone knows about Weber the brand recognition of Broil King is not as wide spread. If you are not familiar with Broil King then the sort story is that they are a high end subsidiary of the Onward Manufacturing Company . They are a Canadian company and Broil King is a serious outfit making serious grills. Their tagline is “The Best Grill You Will Ever Own”. These are not cheap knock off Chinese disposable products. This is real deal quality,

Both of these grills are attractive and would great on your deck. Let’s take a look at the details that make them different.

Broil King Barron 320 Specifications

Grilling Area: 330 square inches
Heating Power: 30,000 BTU
BTU/Sq In: 90
Weight: 124 lbs
Warranty: 10 Years on burners, 2 years everything else.

Weber Spirit II 210 Specifications

Grilling Area: 360 square inches
Heating Power:26,500 BTU
BTU/Sq In: 73
Weight: 103 pounds
Warranty: 10 years on all components

The two grills are roughly the same size with the Spirit having just a little bit more grilling area. The Spirit also has the better warranty.

One rough and inexact, but interesting, measure of build quality is the weight of the grill. In general a heavier grill uses more metal and should last longer. The Baron outweighs the Spirit by 20 pounds. This doesn’t mean that the Baron is a better grill but does suggest that the Baron is in the same league as the Spirit as far as build quality is concerned.

The biggest difference between these two grills is that the extra burner on the Baron gives it a lot more searing power than you get with the Spirit. The Baron can throw down 90 BTU/hr per square inch of grill space compared to 73 for the Spirit.

Another difference between these grills is that the Weber is made in China while the Broil King is made in Canada and the United States. That detail is important to some folks.

Both grills come with porcelain enameled cast iron grates. While the grates on both grills have a “pointy side” for grill marks the flip side of the grates on the Baron have grooves for catching juices and “self basting”.

The flip side on the Spirit grates are simply flat.

I was curious as to what actual owners of these grills were saying so I grabbed the reviews for both companies websites (Broil King Reviews, Weber Reviews).

Some observations about the reviews include:

The Spirit has a higher overall rating (4.8 vs 4.1 stars).
While the Spirit has more reviews (455 vs 136) the Baron has three times as many 1 and 2 star reviews (27 vs 8).

The main complaint about the Baron is that the cast iron grates have serious rust issues. It looks like Broil King doesn’t have the porcelain enameling process down as good as Weber does.

If you are interested in a Baron do not let the rust worry you. It is easy to re-season cast iron and even if you don’t re-season them the rust isn’t harmful.

Which One Should You Buy?

I like the extra searing power of the Baron but when it comes time to put my cash on the line I would buy the Spirit. The large number of 1 and 2 star reviews for the Baron makes me nervous and the warranty for the Spirit is simply better.