Testing smart grills sparks philosophical debate about what "grilling" is: Must all grilling involve real fire (or just heat, like infrared)? Is it assumed that all barbecue joints also smoke? Finally, a specific question gave me clarity on these issues. The current Model G dual-zone smart grill is definitely not a grill. While it's designed for the outdoors, requires outdoor-sized space, and will leave grill marks on your food, this electric grill is just that - a grill. In short, it's like putting a giant George Foreman grill on your patio.
While I appreciate the connectivity and size of the grill area, I don't like the flimsy physical structure. While the grill does get very hot and is very efficient at cooking food, it does take longer than a gas grill and about the same time as a charcoal grill. Despite the self-cleaning feature, cleaning is a chore. Ultimately, it's not worth the $999.99 price tag to stand on the patio to get the same effect on your food as standing on the stove, so even if you're prohibited from using gas, charcoal, or a real fire on your patio, I'd probably choose Different electric grills.
It has a modern design but is flimsy in construction
If it's been a while since you bought a rotisserie or grill, the first thing to know is that all grills arrive in your hands in multiple pieces and take several hours to assemble. I spent two hours making Current and needed an app to provide directions, which isn't as useful as a printed manual when you're out in the sun and squinting to see details on your phone's video. Still, the directions are clear and the individual parts are well labeled. However, some parts of the grill are inexplicably flimsy, while other parts, like the grilling tools (tongs, spatulas), are over-engineered to be sturdier than any grilling tool I've ever used before, and come with interchangeable rubber grip.
The metal of the grill is held together by screws in most places, but there are metal clamps, but these proved to be worthless. In particular, the side panels that make up the cabinet beneath the grill refuse to stay on. Once you clip the panel in, the slightest breeze will cause it to slip off again. We paid a lot of attention to creating a sturdy two-sided food staging area in the cabinet, which I really like. However, the entire grill is very light, and even when fully assembled, it doesn't feel sturdy—in fact, simply rolling the grill ten feet from where I assembled it caused enough vibration that the grill lost all of its panels . It's time for it to reach its new location.
The grill has a large digital touch screen that displays the temperature on both sides of the grill. It has 330 inches of cooking space, which is the largest of any grill I've tried, and the whole point of the dual-zone is that you can turn on just one side of the grill, or use both sides at different temperatures. The top half of the grill also has a heating grille and two temperature probes to monitor your food. The grill has enough ports for two additional probes.
Other electric grills to consider:
Char-Broil 22652143 Edge Electric Grill, $584.99
Char-Broil® Patio Bistro® TRU Infrared Electric Grill, $199.97
Weber Pulse 2000 Cart Electric Grill, $1,068.98
Difficult to pair with app
The Current Grill app is very simple, with recipe tabs and videos on how to use the grill. Through the process of testing products for reviews, I probably pair five to ten new ones with my phone every week, and I can hardly remember having the same trouble doing so as I did with the Current Grill. Apparently, I'm not the only one: Bluetooth and WiFi issues are #3 on the phone menu when you call support (they actually answer the phone, even on Sunday).
After a day of troubleshooting, I was finally able to pair the app, but luckily the grill doesn't require the app to function. You can turn it on simply by touching the screen. The app has limited benefits compared to other smart grills. You can't turn any grill on remotely - which is a safety issue - but other grills offer more functionality, even when the grill is off. Current won't let you access any information if the grill isn't on, and when the grill is on and connected, you can only view and set the temperature of the grill and the temperature of any probes connected. While the recipe section isn't unlimited, it does contain enough recipes for any basic meal you can throw on the grill.
Slow heating speed and high power consumption
This business is all about grilling food, and in that regard, Current does a great job. The sides of the grill can reach temperatures up to 700°F, which sounds exciting because most electric grills can't reach that. But even with the lid on, it took almost 20 minutes. Since it's electric and you don't create any smoke or charring, you might as well turn on the stovetop - it will take less time to heat up a stovetop griddle.
This leads to another problem with the Current: When the lid is open, it loses a lot of heat. I observe the same thing over and over while grilling steak, chicken, corn, salmon, broccoli, and pork tenderloin. If your grill is very hot, you can get a good initial sear as long as you immediately close the grill top, but if the lid is closed, the grill will take a long time to adjust to a lower temperature to cook the item pass. However, you can solve this problem by just leaving the grill lid open for a minute, as the heat loss is so great that you can't actually cook with the grill lid open. Since the lid is solid metal, this means you can't see what's going on on top of the grill unless you open it, at which point the temperature drops 150 degrees. All the while, the electrical load used by the grill is not the minimum 1750 watts. Current recommends using a dedicated circuit, but I don't have one on my patio, and if you don't have one either, you'll need to flip some breakers along the way.
Smart barbecue grills (non-electric) to consider:
Masterbuilt® AutoIgnite™ 545 Digital Charcoal Grill and Smoker, $499
Kamado Konnected Joe, $1,699
Disappointing self-cleaning
Cleaning any grill is a chore, so I'm excited about the self-cleaning feature on the Current grill, which takes thirty minutes. At the end of every grilling session, despite pre-seasoning the grill and using lots of oil, there will still be a lot of gunk stuck to the grill plates, as is the case with any grill. Scrubbing with a brush that works on other grills doesn't do much for the Current because the stove isn't an open grill but a series of corrugated metal plates. Sadly, the self-cleaning feature seems to have the opposite effect of what you want. No matter how many times I run it (see above), the grill looks worse after self-cleaning. Completely removing your grills and scrubbing the inside is the only way to truly clean them.
Bottom line: There are better options
I think people who buy electric grills do so to avoid messing around with charcoal or open flames. The food I cooked with electric current certainly worked well, and while it lacked the smoky and burnt flavor a flame would give you, the food otherwise worked well compared to its grilled counterparts - but I'm also well aware of grilling The whole point of this is what fire and smoke does to food? Still, even at a much lower price, I would have issues with the Current's construction, and I'd be concerned that it wouldn't be able to withstand severe storms after a long and complicated build.
Connect doesn't offer enough features to take the pain out of establishing a connection. You end up spending nearly $1,000 to cook on your patio, which is less efficient than a stove but achieves the same results. If you had to use electricity, I'd go with a much cheaper grill, and I'd probably be willing to sacrifice the size of the active cooking space for more consistent heat.
