What Grill Equipment Reviews and Experiences Are Covered on Grilling Companion?

Grilling Companion covers gear through first-person experience posts rather than a formal, scored review section. Based on the site's own featured and recent content, the equipment-related material falls into three areas: a charcoal lighter review (Looftlighter), a thermometer review (Thermoworks Smoke), and a personal account of switching to a pellet grill. These sit alongside the site's recipe and technique content, so if you are looking for a systematic, spec-by-spec buying guide, this is not that — it is a working cook's notes on gear he actually uses.

The equipment posts that are actually listed

The site's "Featured News and Tips" area names these gear and experience items directly:

Two of these are reviews of specific products; the third is a narrative about changing cooking equipment entirely. That mix is the pattern to expect: the site pairs a named product with the author's own use of it, rather than publishing isolated star ratings.

What the reviews are likely to help you decide

Because the reviews are written from the author's own cooks, they are most useful for questions a spec sheet does not answer:

• Looftlighter — whether a plug-in charcoal lighter is worth it compared with a chimney starter, and how it behaves in real lighting sessions.
• Thermoworks Smoke — how a dual-probe setup fits into an actual cook, and what monitoring two temperatures at once changes in practice.
• Pellet grill switch — what actually changes when you move from charcoal or gas to pellets, told as an experience rather than a feature list.

If your question is "which thermometer has the best accuracy rating" or "what does this lighter cost," treat these posts as one cook's perspective, not a lab comparison. The site describes itself as two self-described technology and food geeks sharing recipes, news, and tips from their own outdoor cooking, so the reviews carry that personal framing.

How to use these posts alongside the recipe content

The gear posts are not isolated. They connect to techniques elsewhere on the site, which is where the practical value shows up:

• The Thermoworks Smoke post pairs naturally with the site's steak and rib content, including "How to Grill Filet Mignon," "Tri-Tip Roast on the Grill," and "How To Cook BBQ Ribs" — all cooks where probe temperature matters.
• The pellet grill experience connects to recent recipes like "Beef Jerky on a Pellet Grill" and "Smoked Beef Short Ribs," so you can see what the author actually cooked after switching.
• The Looftlighter review sits with the charcoal side of the site's chicken and steak recipes.

Read the gear post first for the decision, then follow the linked recipes to see the equipment in use. That is a more reliable signal than the review alone.

What this coverage is not

Be clear about the limits before you rely on it:

• No pricing or purchase links are indicated in the site material, so do not expect current prices or "where to buy" guidance from these posts.
• No scoring rubric or comparison table is presented — the reviews are experiential, not ranked against competitors.
• The equipment list is short. Three named items is a personal shortlist, not a category survey. If you need to compare five charcoal lighters, this site will not do it for you.

A practical way to use the site for gear questions

1. Start with the "Featured News and Tips" section to find the gear and experience posts.
2. Read the review for the author's actual use case — what he cooked, what changed, what he noticed.
3. Cross-check against the recipe it connects to (steak, ribs, jerky) to judge whether your own cooking matches his.
4. Treat the conclusion as one experienced cook's preference, and verify current specs and prices with the manufacturer before buying.

The value here is judgment from repeated backyard use, not exhaustive testing. If that matches how you choose gear, these posts are worth reading; if you need head-to-head data, look elsewhere and use Grilling Companion for the recipes and technique instead.