Backyard cooking is full of strong opinions and thin marketing copy. We built Backyard Embers to cut through both — with genuine research, honest trade-offs, and zero pretending.
We’re research-led, not a testing lab
We don’t run a warehouse full of grills and smokers, and we’re not going to pretend we do. What we do instead is dig deep: manufacturer specifications, owner reviews and forum consensus, and the published testing from outlets that do run hands-on labs — names like Serious Eats, America’s Test Kitchen and Wirecutter, alongside the specialist BBQ publishers who live and breathe this niche day to day. We synthesize all of it into a clear recommendation, and we tell you when we’re leaning on someone else’s hands-on testing rather than our own.
How a pick earns a spot
For every product we recommend, we check:
- It’s real and currently sold. We verify every product against the manufacturer’s or a major retailer’s own listing before it goes anywhere near a page.
- The specs check out. Cook area, temperature range, hopper capacity, BTU output, fuel type, materials, warranty — every claim is checked against the manufacturer, not copied from somewhere else and hoped for the best.
- It isn’t subject to a safety recall. We screen every pick against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall database before publishing, and again whenever we refresh a page.
- It holds up against real owners. We weigh owner-review patterns — not star ratings, but what people actually say after months of use.
What we don’t do
We don’t fabricate “as tested” claims, we don’t imply an in-house expert reviewed anything, and we don’t display scraped or static Amazon prices — pricing shifts constantly, so you’ll see a plain price-band ($–$$$$) and a link to check the live price yourself.
We take food and fire safety seriously
Outdoor cooking involves live fire, propane and raw meat, so even though this isn’t a medical or financial topic, we hold ourselves to a high bar on internal cooking temperatures, safe handling, and basic fire and propane safety. If we get something wrong here, tell us — see our Contact page.
Always current
Every guide carries the year it was last checked. We revisit our picks on a regular cadence — availability changes, models get discontinued, and prices move — so a page marked “2026” reflects what’s actually true in 2026, not a stale post from years ago. See it in practice on our newest guide, how long to smoke a turkey, alongside best charcoal grills under $200, propane & charcoal grill safety, best gas grills for the money, how long to smoke ribs, best charcoal grills for beginners, best grills for small spaces — our fuel decision guide covering charcoal, gas and pellet — best charcoal grills for small spaces, how to start a charcoal grill, our guide to best kamado grills, or browse the fuller size range in best pellet grill & smoker combos.
Want to know who’s behind all this research? Meet Michael Probert.