Another Weber gimmick. Did Weber jump the shark? They've missed on everything they've done lately.
Their Big Green Egg competitor, Weber Charcoal Grill Series, was overpriced and marketed wrong, so much so that they had to completely revamp it a year later to introduce the Weber Kamado Series for less money and with an appropriate name.
Then their pellet smokers, the Weber Smokefire Series, rolled out with huge problems to horrendous reviews (I think there may have even been a recall on them). They're now offering a "2nd Generation" version less than a year in and it looks like they've somehow padded the shit out of their own reviews. Over 100 glowing reviews in the last 4 months - a lot of the standard grills on their site don't have 100 reviews over several years.
Now this shit....
Introducing Weber Smart Grills...no room for error, only perfectly grilled food
Cool, set it and forget it technology like a pellet smoker, only for a grill?
No. It's just a regular grill, but it has a meat thermometer mounted on the front. For an extra $250. What. The. Fuck.
It's not a smart grill. They don't even do a very good job of trying to hide what it really is. That must be one hell of a meat thermometer.
I've always loved Weber, but that kind of shit drives me crazy. Talk about insulting your customers. Not sure what's going on over there, but they need some new decision makers.