Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation BGE vs Primo

Looking at these 2. Neither has a dealer really close so that’s not a deciding factor. I know some of you guys have eggs, but I haven’t heard about the Primo. Anybody have one? I’m looking at the L or XL models. Mostly do pork butts, brisket, and then handle the grilling duties. I have a pellet smoker and Weber kettle as well. I’ve cooked on offsets, uprights, electrics, and about everything in between, but never a ceramic.

I'm very happy with my Primo L Oval. Sears steaks like no other. Since getting a pellet grill, that's my Primo's primary duty.....grilling Don't get me wrong, it worked really well as a smoker, but I prefer the pellet pooper for low and slow. I didn't care for the smoke profile of a charcoal burner that has to be choked way down, and basically smoldering for 225-250 temps. I was considering getting rid of the Primo, but the pellet grill will never get to the 600-700 temps that the Primo will do. I can't see much of a performance difference between the Primo, and the BGE. I went with Primo because they continue to be made in the USA. While BGE made their rep initially being made here, then quietly outsourced the ceramics to Mexico, but continue to charge the made in the USA price point. I have a problem with that.

Jeff

I wanted to try out a Kamado type grill but didn't have the grand (after you buy the necessities), so i bought the Pit Boss K24 @ Costco for $389.99. It came with the nest, side tables, main grate and 2nd level grate, smoking stone and ash tool. It i great. I haven't used my gasser since May of 2017. Out Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys were roasted on it. Best turkeys! Have made pizza, chuck roasts, pork shoulder, burgers, steak, cornbread, biscuits, you name it.

The K24 is in between the BGE L and XL in size.

I don't have a dog in this fight, since I bought a Kamado Joe. However, I would go with the Primo, as I HATE the hinge on the XL eggs. They are an abomination. If you are going with the large, I would still go with the Primo since it comes with most of its accessories already. The egg is like eating at an expensive steak house. Everything is ala carte.

Now that I’ve found a place that sells Kamado Joe I’m kinda leaning that way. I like the Big Joe.

That is what I have. I really like it. Especially now that they have the airlift hinge. Pretty sweet setup.

I'm about sold on them at this point. They've made some really nice improvements over most of their competition.

You can’t beat the BGE lifetime warranty. The Joe has a 20year warranty on ceramics but where they get you is charging 50-75 bucks to ship a warrantied fire ring. If I had to do it over I would pick BGE or Primo, Primo makes a damn good cooker. No problems with hinges on my BGE, never even noticed them? Not sure what that’s about...

There are a lot of guys on this board that know I am a BGE fan. At one time I owned five of them from the XL down to the mini. Things change and eggs go away, but you will never find a better warranty ever!! I've had fire boxes and even a complete bottom replaced on my large with no questions asked. Primo makes a damn nice grill, but I want to here from some people that have had warranty claims. BGE has never let me down.

The warranty on the Joe has changed to lifetime as well.

As to your original question, I just bought the Primo. One of my hunting buddies has used the BGE for a couple of years and swears by it. My son has had his BGE XXL for about 6 months and is also very happy with it. They have both used several different ceramic cookers, and find very little difference in using them. The biggest difference seems to be is in the price point and cost of accessories.

I live in Georgia where Primo is made, and it is a high-quality built unit. The oval shape lends itself to two different zones of heat with the divider. Directly grilling your meat on one side and using indirect heat for the vegetables on the other seemed like an advantage. I'm working on a table/dolly for it now so I can store it on the covered porch, and use it on the back deck. I'm really looking forward to using it soon.

Good luck with yours.