I absolutely love my CF9080. I recently purchased it to replace my Weber Gold. The VC has all the features and durability of the much higher costing name brands...Vermont Castings makes an excellent BBQ...my parents have had theirs for going on 15 years... I would recommend this one highly over the Weber simply because I have had both now and really enjoy the VC. I find it maintains a more consistent and even heat...wait until you try the rotisserie on the CF9080...WOW... Email me and let me know what you think - jajohnson@sympatico.ca Best of luck!

I agree on the VIrco. I was going to buy the JennAir version of the Vermont Castings grill at Lowes, but all the local stores were sold out on July 3rd. So that made me do some more research and I came upon the Virco. I started calling around the different Costco's in my area and none were available, but were on the way. Finally got one yesterday. WooHoo. Comparing the $799 Virco to the $599 JennAir. Adding the side burner and rotisserie puts the JennAir at $750. The Virco is ALL SS, Bigger, Hotter, and Costco's liberal return policy puts way above the Vermont Castings. TRY TO FIND A VIRCO IF YOU CAN.

Thanks for all the input. Decided on the Landmann sold by Costco, less than $400 in the store. It went together easily and I need every one of the 577 sq inches. I don't feel good about the fact it is made in China and I am unlikely to be able to get parts if necessary - but I think it is a great value and I do feel good about buying from Costco. The current Weber Genesis was much smaller and more than twice the price. Here is a link that might be useful: Landmann stainless grill at Costco

The thermostat is a pretty simple mechanism. There is a bi-metallic coil inside the housing that expands and contracts with temperature change in the stove. A bead chain or another type of chain attaches to the coil at the top and the sheet metal flap at the bottom. (I can't recall any VC stove that used an adjusting rod instead of a chain, but it's possible) As the coil moves it opens or closes the flap against the air entry port beneath it. You can manually set the thermostat with the lever for greater or lesser heat. The most common problem is probably having the chain reversed from the way it should be set up. Try it in the opposite configuration. If you move the lever in one direction the chain should become tighter. If you move it in the other direction it should become more slack. This is harder to describe than do. There's hardly anything that can go wrong with the thermostat if all the parts are there and the connections are correct. More detail, maybe even a photo, would be a big help in giving you a better answer.