The Meteor BBQ – Great Value?

The Meteor Barbecue from Outback was introduced in 2011 and is designed to fill the gap in the Outback range between the Omega gas barbecues and the Excelsior and Spectrum at the high spec end of the range. With more features than the Excelsior 3 burner but for a lot less money, something has to be missing from the Meteor right?

The Outback Meteor barbecue includes;

1, Main cooking area: 61 × 44.5 cm.

2, Porcelain coated cast iron grills x 2.

3, Porcelain coated warming rack.

4, Stainless steel burners x 4

5, porcelain-enamelled ‘flavorizer’ bars.

6, Built-in thermometer.

7, Electronic ignition.

8, Front panel with storage tray

9, Gas side burner.

10, Wheels.

11, Dimensions – 130 × 21.5 × 121 cm.

12, Recommended fuel: Propane gas (not included)

So what’s great about the Meteor barbecue?

The Meteor barbecue is quite sturdy and solid so with a little maintenance will last for many years. The large cooking area and warming rack can accommodate a large amount of food making the Meteor barbecue a great choice for entertaining at large parties and functions. After all the guests have gone home, the cleaning is done easily and quickly as the barbecue contains no lava rock and instead uses the new ‘flavourizer’ bars which vaporizer all the juices sending the flavour back onto the food, in a similar but cleaner way than old fashioned lava rock. The grills are coated with porcelain which is much easier to clean than the cast iron on offer on cheaper barbecues.

OK so we know it’s good, but what’s the catch?

The first down side of the Meteor barbecue has got to be building the thing! Lots of parts and an instruction manual that seems to be in a foreign language may have you screaming if you’re not used to building flat pack furniture. You will find it easier to build the Meteor barbecue with a little help from someone else and I would certainly advise not tightening up any nuts and bolts until you’ve finished putting it together to allow some movement for lining up parts. Take care when screwing the nuts and bolts together as the threads are low quality and if not square and true may easily strip. The biggest negative of the Meteor is the build and finish quality. From new, most barbecues have scratches in the paint and missing enamel from the hood and cooking parts. Sometimes you may find small dents in the metal work that could have happened during transit but I have seen dents on models which could have only happened pre-transit and not picked up on the quality control post manufacture. The Meteor barbecue could also do with a pull out tray under the burners to aid cleaning like some of its counterparts from the Outback range.

Worth the money?

The Meteor barbecue is certainly a bargain, that’s for sure. Voted best buy by ‘Which’ magazine, the Meteor offers what many models don’t for a lot less money. Ok so it’s not perfect but it’s certainly well worth the money.

Looking for more info? Meteor barbecue product page for great prices.