We got this littl egrill as a gift from my mother in law. I bet she got a pretty good deal on it becaus eshe is a frequent shopper and can find a bargain on anything. We are both used to gas grills but everyone says the flavor is better over charcoal so we buy the charcoal and drag the  thing out. It took like an hour to get the coals hot but not in a massive fiery blaze and then i felt like our steaks took forever to cook. The flavor was good but I don't think it is worth all the extra time to get it set up and going. Plus charcoal costs way more to cook with than gas tanks. If I had to choose...