Weber 22 Performer Smart Charcoal Grill Review

First Impressions of the Weber 22 Performer Smart Charcoal Grill

Out of the carton, this reads as a kettle that took a job. Bowl and lid carry the hand-applied porcelain enamel Weber describes as scratch and rust-resistant. Below them sits a cart. It carries two wheels, a bottom storage shelf and a broad painted steel side table.

Weber publishes no build time and no step count for assembly. It does sell a professional assembly through Angi for $99. That offer covers qualified Weber grills from $399 up. At 72 pounds finished, getting it upright wants two people, and rolling it afterwards wants one.

Your eye goes to the controller. An LCD panel faces you at the front edge. The fan housing tucks under the bowl, beside the ash system. Set a number, close the lid, and the fan starts breathing on your behalf.

First cook here was chicken thighs, skin down to start, then indirect. The skin rendered gold and stayed there, because nothing spiked and nothing sagged. Charcoal smell with gas-grill steadiness underneath it. That pairing is the entire pitch, and it lands.

Key Features of the Weber 22 Performer Smart Charcoal Grill

Almost everything here is a Weber kettle you would recognise blindfolded. The list worth reading is short and sits at the front of the bowl. Weber has added parts that charcoal grills never used to carry. Read it as two grills sharing one chassis.

• LCD Wi-Fi controller: Weber’s panel sets grill heat, watches food probes and runs timers. It is the only control surface that reports a number back to you.
• Digital fan: It answers the controller and pushes air into the coals. Weber describes it as regulating the heat, not merely stoking it. The moving air is also said to brown and crisp food evenly.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, through the Weber Connect app: Weber puts remote monitoring and remote control on your phone. The alerts it names are food alerts, fuel alerts and flip-and-serve notifications.
• Two probe ports, one probe: The grill ships with a single food probe. The second port is a slot Weber has already priced.
• Rapidfire Assist, described two ways: One Weber passage says the mode stokes coals after you light a fire starter. Another says the fan ignites coals with no chimney starter needed.
• Adjustable dampers, still fitted: Weber states plainly that the grill works manually without smart features. The vents did not leave when the fan arrived.
• Hinged plated steel cooking grate: Either side flips up. Fuel goes in under a cook without moving food off the grate.
• Improved One-Touch cleaning system: Weber’s sweeping ash mechanism carries over, and the warranty gives it a row of its own.
• Weber Works side table and rail: The table takes XL drop-in accessories, or two regular ones side by side. The rail takes snap-on accessories, all sold separately.
• Tuck-Away lid holder: The lid nests against the side of the bowl. No hunting for clean ground while the cook runs.
• BBQ cover, sold separately: Weber’s Premium Grill Cover is listed at $64.99 alongside the grill. Nothing in the box protects this cart through a wet week.

Heat and cooking performance

The claim worth testing is that a fan makes charcoal behave like gas. On what Weber publishes, it half does. The controller takes a setting. The fan feeds the coals until the reading arrives, then holds it.

What it will not do is climb past 600F. That ceiling is Weber’s own printed figure, and for most kettle work it stays invisible. Ribs, shoulder, chicken and anything cooked indirect live nowhere near it. A hard steak crust is the exception, and the number gives a flat answer.

The 363 square inches underneath are ordinary kettle acreage. What changed is that you now argue with the fire through a screen. One Weber bullet beats all the app copy. The grill works manually, without smart features, dampers and all.

Build, handling and durability

Everything below the controller is familiar kettle hardware, which is meant as praise. Porcelain enamel over steel is the finish that keeps these bowls alive through winters. Weber puts a 10 year promise behind that enamel, against rust through and burn through. The grate is plated steel and hinged, so fuel goes in from either side mid-cook.

Buyers stare at the bowl and skip straight past the cart. Width matters most on a patio, and this one needs 40.25 inches of it. Depth is 28 inches, height 45 with the lid down. Lift the lid and height goes to 47.5 inches, width to 42.25.

Two wheels and 72 pounds set the handling. It crosses flat stone happily and stops dead at a step. This is patio furniture, not something you slide in behind a bin. Pick the spot before the first cook, not after it.

Running costs, upkeep and value

Charcoal stays the cheap fuel, and the fan does not change that arithmetic. Upkeep is the improved One-Touch system. A few turns of the handle sweep ash out of the bowl. Plated steel grates want a brush while warm and an occasional wipe of oil.

The money conversation is about what the smart half includes. $599.00 buys the kettle, the cart, the controller, the fan and one food probe. Two ports are fitted. Weber sells the second probe, a triple-sensor wired unit, at $29.99.

A cover is a separate line too, at $64.99. A painted steel cart living outdoors genuinely wants one. A round griddle insert for the 22 inch grate is offered at $149.99, down from $169.99. Weber ships free on orders of $99 and above, so the grill clears that bar alone.

Then the warranty, where the value case turns uncomfortable. Weber’s bullet list says 10-year limited warranty. The table underneath splits that figure four ways. Those two statements are not the same promise.

The row to read is the last one, all remaining parts, at 2 years. Plastic components and the One-Touch system are held for 5. Nowhere in that table does a row say controller, fan, probe or port. You are paying $599.00 for parts Weber declines to list by name.

Possible Weber 22 Performer Smart Charcoal Grill Complaints

• The warranty never names the electronics. Four categories are listed, and every one of them is metal or plastic. A buyer meets this in year three, when a fan stops answering the panel. Nothing softens it except keeping the receipt and the packaging.
• Weber tells two stories about lighting. The product description has Rapidfire Assist stoking coals after you light a fire starter. A feature panel has the fan igniting coals with no chimney starter needed. Keep buying starters until you learn which page was right.