The Saber Cast 500 grill is all stainless steel construction, includes 3 infrared burners and a side burner and comes at a reasonable price point of $999.
There’s a new luxury grill company in town and they’re making “luxury” more attainable at a lower entry level price point that doesn’t skimp on the bells and whistles, and most importantly quality.
Saber Grills asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing their Saber Cast 500 grill and I was more than happy to oblige. When it arrived at my house, my husband and I put it together (well, he mainly put it together and I supervised) and it took him less than an hour. It was very easy to put together, primarily in 2 main parts- the “cart” it sits on and the top grill part. Note, you will need two people to put this grill together, at least in the assembly when you must lift the actual grill, which is quite heavy, onto the bottom part.
Construction:
This grill is totally made out of steel- there is no plastic in sight. Where as I’ve seen other grills in this price point use plastic wheels and skimp in places average users might not notice, I didn’t find any “skimping” on materials on this grill. Everything is metal, down to the wheels it rolls on.
The grill itself has built infrared burners/grates that make the grill heat very efficiently as well as offering nice char marks. It doesn’t take long at all to get to a high temp on this grill (500++) and I had no problem searing meat after only a few minutes of heating up.
I’m really digging the grate level temp gages. This is a great feature for someone who likes to create different temp zones such as cooking on direct and indirect heat.
One thing I really like about this grill is the grate-level temperature gages. Initially I thought these would be inaccurate and were just a cool looking feature, thinking they would automatically register the temp of the overall air temp in the grill, not at grate level. Much to my surprise, the thermometers actually do register temp at the grate level. I use different zones for cooking direct/indirect on my grill so I find this very helpful!
The infrared burners resemble built-in grill grates and come with a cleaning apparatus. I’ve used this grill about 12 time so far and think a proper cleaning will involve taking the grates off, though the average use will probably not do this very often.
I find that this grill cooks pretty evenly, heats up quickly, can sear as well as cook at low temps. As my weber Genesis needs some work/replacement parts currently, I’ve been using the Saber as my go-to gas grill and have really gotten to like it.
I like that this grill comes with a very sturdy looking side burner. This is the first gas grill I’ve gotten with a side burner and I’m really excited to have one. I haven’t used it yet but plan on getting a lot of use out of it in the future as I like to cook everything outdoors as possible to eliminate the back and forth into the kitchen.
The only negative thing I can say about this grill is that it is built for taller people. I am a small female and am only 5’1” so this will not be an issue for most people. However, because of my height and it’s relation to the handle, whenever I open or close the lid my inner wrist has hit the HOT surface of the lid of the grill and created burn marks. I’ve done this one both wrists in the same spot which is why this was clearly called to my attn. But, I’m shorter than most so this will not be a problem for most people.
Retail Price:
$999.00
Where can people purchase Saber Grills?
Home & Hearth Retailers; BBQ Specialty Retailers; Patio and Deck Retailers
What is Saber’s relationship with Charbroil? According to Saber’s Spokesperson:
“We are a wholly owned (stand alone) subsidiary capable of leveraging fantastic things like freight, logistics, credit etc. However, we are independent from a research and development and product etc. It is similar to the Honda and Acura relationship and Toyota-Lexus relationship. Very different product and consumer but we use the combined knowledge to make great products.”
How does infrared technology work?
According to Saber, It is all about efficiency and heat transfer not using convective air. See the attached infographic for a visualization of this:
This infographic gives a visual explanation on how infrared heat works on this grill.
Summary:
In summary- I think this is a great grill for this price point and would definitely consider buying this if I was looking in this price range for a gas grill. I believe the contstruction is higher quality when compared to other grills at this price point, and I feel that this grill cooks really evenly. I’m very impressed with its ability to get to super hot temps very quickly which makes it great for searing. The only drawback would be that placement of the handles and that I’ve burned myself on this grill because of it numerous times, however I don’t think this would happen for most. I would definitely recommend this grill to others.
Is this the same one that John Patio Daddio Dawson reviewed with the cool grate system? These seem to be quite the gas grill and capable of very high heats.
I have recently purchased the Saber 500 cast and I love it. The fact that it doesn’t flame up is what I like the best. I have found that it does cook much quicker due to the very high temps it produces. I have cooked chicken, steak, burgers, hot dogs and even biscuits for breakfast. It does a wonderful job and it DOESN’T flame up. This is exactly what I was looking for in a grill. I would recommend the Saber 500 cast to anyone.
HI Darrin- I’m enjoying this grill too. It has really turned into my go-to gas grill in the backyard.
Where can I find a barbecue island for the drop in models?
Greg, I would reach out directly to saber I know they have ones that can be built in but not sure where you can purchase- you may need to go directly with them.
Robyn…we are currently replacing our Dukane 5 burner grill with natural gas hook up. For the price of the Dukane I have not been that impressed.
I have narrowed down my choices to the Weber (the name in grilling) Genesis or the Saber—both with the porcelain-enameled grill lid.
I noted you have the Genesis too. If you could only keep one of the grills which one would you keep and why? Which one would you recommend and why?
The Saber seems the way to go overall, but it is a little scary to invests so much in a fairly new product and cooking design. We have never used IR cooking.
Thank you so much.
Lilly
Hi Lilly,
I would go with the Weber Genesis. First of all, Weber has been around a long time and what is great about their grills is that they last forever and you can replace the parts over time. On my first weber genesis I’ve had it for 6+ years and have replaced the gas starter and it is still running like a champ.
I just reviewed the 2014 Weber Genesis Here: http://grillgirl.wpengine.com/2014/05/2014-weber-genesis-ep-330-review-grill-kicks-ass/
The saber is not a bad grill but there are things on it that I don’t like. I am pretty short (5’1) and the placement of the handle on it means that everytime I lift the lid I risk burning my wrists. When i was using this grill a lot I had two matching burn marks on my wrist.
Also, while both grills have home base in us but have some parts made in China, I feel like Weber has a history of being made in the USA and does support assembly and USA base as much as they can (at least more so than I feel that Saber and their sister company Char-Broil do).
Just my two cents- hope it helps!
Robyn
My next door neighbor just bought one of these. I’m a little skeptical. I looked it over, and can see that the main idea is that the air convection over the food is reduced while the heat is maintained, because of the stainless steel plate between the burner and the upper grate, mounted just underneath the cooking surface. This means you’ll get a lot of heat but not much airflow, which in theory, I guess, is supposed to make the meat juicier. My biggest issue with the design is that it looks like an absolute bear to keep clean. The special scraper for the uper grate, and the tiny slits in the lower grate seem like they would be very difficult to clean if clogged. I wonder how long all this fancy stuff will last before it becomes clogged up and useless. I’ve got a 10 year old Genesis that works fine and is easy to maintain.
Been using a friends ceramic burner infrared grill and can attest to how much better IR grilling is.
I would certainly consider the Saber IR grills. . . maybe do a little hack by replacing the emitters with hard anodized aluminum emitters and grillgrates hard anodized aluminum cooking grids — the aluminum cooking grids on my friends IR grill are what really make it all happen, as aluminum conducts the head so much better than other metals thus you can get a sear or char in seconds. . .
Nonetheless, anyone telling you IR grilling is hype hasn’t tried a good IR grill IMO.