Hi Mark - Don't have time to share my successes right now, but will say EVERYTHING has been a success.

I'd like to ask a few questions tho'. Are you using an internal thermometer? Yes - right?

Also, what position are your dials in to get the 300 degree mark? I know it will be different on an individual basis - but I was thinking of making a roast soon and would like to get in the realm a bit.

Sounds yummy - I pretty much intend to do most of my cooking on the grill.

What I'd LOVE to be able to do is Stirfry. I'd think that one of those 20k BTU burners could do the job properly far more than my current stove. However - I'd have to rig up something to get the wok lower towards the flame. Haven't quite thought it through yet but was thinking if I could somehow place a grate of sorts right over the burners but not supported by the burners themselves? LOL I'm taking suggestions!

1. Yes I have an portable digital therm.

2. Burner 1 all the way low
Burner 2 off
Burner 3 all the way low
it was a breezey day helped with the low temp.
During my test, i put a single burner @ low, I had 260-270.
take care

Hello msephens86.
I am glad to hear you arble to reach a variety of temps with the VIRCO, and not have any hot/cold spots.
What is the max temp you can reach with this unit? is 260 the lowest sustained temp you have? (not that it needs to be lower)
I like what I am hearing about the VIRCO, I just want to make sure it has a good heat variation ~250-600+ degrees is the range I am looking for. A good hot grill to sear a steak, and then low temps for some inderect cooking.
Do you have any trouble with hot/cold spots? How much area do you loose around the edges of the cooking grids? I know some grills excel in this area, while other you loose a good amount of cooking area.

Thanks for any information you might have on this.

Hi,

Max temp has been just over 550, that with all three burners on high for 30 mins. Maybe if I turn on the rotisorie burner I could get higher.

NO HOT SPOTS OR FLARE UPS- very happy

I'm sure there is some loss around the edges, but I dont know how much. Minimal.

good luck.
mark

I cooked a huge batch of wings for appetizers and had them placed on the edges - the VERY edges. Almost touching the side walls.

I wouldn't say they were EXACTLY like the ones in the middle, but certainly close enough where I was able to avoid rotating things around the grill.

I'm sure if they were perhaps an inch or 2 away from the endwalls, there wouldn't have been any difference at all.

I was worried about that also because with our old grill, we had to constantly rotate/move everything around to both avoid hot spots and deal with the diminished cooking around the edges. It's certainly not fun to have to babysit the BBQ every second.

Costco didn't have the remote digital thermometer. I'm pretty dissapointed as well as perplexed they don't have them right now.

FYI for all you Costco/Virco skeptics.

First, thanks for the info on the temp! I appreciate it. I would assume that temp is from the hood thermometer, so the actual grate temp would vary slightly.

Last night I wanted to check this grill out first hand, so I went to my local costco where they had 6 on hand (hawaii, if you are wondering). I have been looking at grills from Weber ($400) to high end DCS ($4000). For $879 (locally in Hawaii, little P'od that it isn't $799 like on the mainland but that is life in Hawaii) I am not sure you can get a better bang for your buck. People have been worried about the name brand, and the availibility of parts down the road. So I asked Costco about it, and they said "Just return it to us." I said what, just return it to you. The manager of the store specifically told me it is a indefinate return policy, so 5 years down the road if a burner goes bad and you can't get replacement parts, bring the whole grill back and we will return your money. They said the stand behind their products 100%. Now can that beat the Samns club MM? Not sure, not a member of Sams, but if they back their product like Costco does, it doesn't matter if Virco only lasts a year to 50 years, Costco will always be around, and will back you up 100% no matter the time.

So needless to say, I am getting a Virco!

Yipee! We just made an impulse buy today at our local Costco, brought home a Virco 'Classic'.
Whoa, what a BBQ.....glad to have read such positive posts about this product.

On the note about Costco's warranty: We purchased a television that went bad after 3 years. We took the TV back to Costco and received a complete refund. No fuss, no muss. They told us that Costco will back any major purchase for the life of the product. Gotta' love that!

Congrats!!! :)

I have a success I can share. Had the most perfect (could have taken a photo for a cooking magazine) baby back ribs tonight.

Bought the Costco ribs. Cooked up 2 slabs. Each slab was placed on each side of the grill with those burners off. The center burner with no ribs was turned about 80% ? full blast. The rotissarie burner was on. This created a great indirect cooking temp of about 375-380 degrees per the dial on the lid.

I cooked the ribs for about 1.5 hours and they were absolutely amazing, even, & perfect.

Yes, Costco's return policy is fantastic! As long as you have the receipt, no questions asked. W/o the reciept, they have to do some inspection and you may not get the full price you paid back (they'll give you whatever their computer system lists the current price at). I recently returned a 1 year old KA stand mixer, unused, so I could "upgrade" to their latest model. No problem. Generally I try only to return things that are in like-new condition, with all original packaging, or that are clearly defective. However I've seen the return desk take back obviously used stuff that the customer hasn't even attempted to rebox.

The hardest part is keeping track of all those receipts. I'm still trying to think up a system to sort them, but when you have multiple items on a single receipt, it can be difficult. And sometimes what the item description is on the receipt is a bit cryptic (such as "LX35XG") but generally I can figure it out.

I love Costco. I just wish they were a little less popular with less crowded stores!

Yes on Costco. Actually, I wish we all could have a Costco board (OK Sams too). :)

Been cooking shrimp on it alot for some reason. About 1.5 pounds per shot. Put it on the lowest heat and they are coming out perfect. Everyone cooked exactly like the other - even.