Napoleon Prestige 500 Propane Grill

Keep up the chatter and I might have my 6th grill. I’ll have to tell my bride my Weber’s dead.
 
Keep up the chatter and I might have my 6th grill. I’ll have to tell my bride my Weber’s dead.
We’ll back you up, just have her get on the forum. We can be pretty convincing. In the mean time a couple of grease fires would really help the cause. Maybe fubar a meal or two and blame the grill. 😉
 
Keep up the chatter and I might have my 6th grill. I’ll have to tell my bride my Weber’s dead.
You could always say that your favorite grill just passed away and left you an inheritance that is just enough to buy a new Napoleon Prestige 500. It might work; who knows? :ROFLMAO:
 
Well, despite rather poor assembly instructions and a fair number of unneeded parts, the new gas grill is assembled and ready for testing and burn-in. It took about three times as long to complete the assembly as I had estimated, but at least the job was completed with minimal blood loss and/or muttered expletives. :rolleyes:

The parts list and wordless instructions (drawings but no words) cover five different (though related) models. As a result, there are about a dozen extra screws and a couple of minor parts left over. I’m pretty sure they were meant for one of the other models as I’ve checked mine over pretty carefully for anything I may have missed. I will call Napoleon next week and inquire about the “minor parts” and their possible applicability to my grill.

So, here she is (apologies for the “WAAAYYY-too-clean” garage; I tried to clutter it up with some cardboard ;)).

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Unfortunately, testing and burn-in will have to wait until late next week as I’ll be away from home for a few days on some personal business.
 
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For those betting on the “over/under,” :rolleyes: there were 11 screws and one wire clip (same as the one that secures the orifice assembly to the side burner) left over. The chain-and-wire thing that I couldn’t initially identify is actually a match holder for lighting the grill manually if the electronic ignition system were to fail.
 
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Thanks for stating this thread I hadn't realized I needed a gas grill. I have spent the last couple of days doing research on grills and Napoleon kept coming to the top of my list (I just can't resist that side burner.) So, I just put in an order for the Phantom Prestige 500. Can't wait to reverse sear after smoking on the RT-1250.
 
Thanks for stating this thread I hadn't realized I needed a gas grill. I have spent the last couple of days doing research on grills and Napoleon kept coming to the top of my list (I just can't resist that side burner.) So, I just put in an order for the Phantom Prestige 500. Can't wait to reverse sear after smoking on the RT-1250.
My apologies for leading you down the path to multiple grill addiction. 🤣. Unlike other addictions, however; I think this one will be positive. I’ve always felt that for searing, gas grills do a superior job. I’m sure others will disagree, but that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

While I had some issues with the assembly instructions (that I overcame by viewing a couple of U-Tube videos), I am very impressed by the build quality of the grill. It has a lot of stainless steel in all the right places, the controls are well laid out and the Wave Grill is just plain cool.

This is a quality grill; my first Napoleon grill has lasted 12 years and is still going strong. I just needed the propane version for the new house and converting my previous natural gas grill just wasn’t practical.

Hopefully, you will enjoy your new grill as much as I have enjoyed my previous one and look forward to experiencing with the new one.
 
My F150 is close to that, 20yrs and still going. Never had a grill last that long (yet).
Gassers have never lasted very long for me - I think it's a catch22 situation, where I never really liked gas - so I never spent good money on gas, so they don't last, so I don't like them. o_O
(current gasser is a $600 Kenmore - meh)
same, 2002 XLT and still going strong!

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I'd need a natural gas version of that, looks nice and DAMN those are some expensive machines!!!
I have the natural gas version. The BTUs drop significantly. As much as I like not having to fill tanks any more, I am a bit disappointed with the performance. The grill simply does not get hot enough and has a slow recovery time. They should add an additional burner for the NG version. The side IR burner is great though.

I often take the grates out and put my GrillGrate Sear plates directly on the deflector bars. Between the sear effect of the GrillGrates and being closer to the flame helps.
 
I have the natural gas version. The BTUs drop significantly. As much as I like not having to fill tanks any more, I am a bit disappointed with the performance. The grill simply does not get hot enough and has a slow recovery time. They should add an additional burner for the NG version. The side IR burner is great though.

I often take the grates out and put my GrillGrate Sear plates directly on the deflector bars. Between the sear effect of the GrillGrates and being closer to the flame helps.
Interesting! I have a natural gas version of the Napoleon at the other house (that we will be selling in the spring) and have no difficulty hitting 650-700F with it, even in relatively cold weather. It has been a great grill but I don’t have NG at the new house, so I bought a new one that is propane-fueled.
 
I have the natural gas version. The BTUs drop significantly. As much as I like not having to fill tanks any more, I am a bit disappointed with the performance. The grill simply does not get hot enough and has a slow recovery time. They should add an additional burner for the NG version. The side IR burner is great though.

I often take the grates out and put my GrillGrate Sear plates directly on the deflector bars. Between the sear effect of the GrillGrates and being closer to the flame helps.

Weird as I have a relatively high end Weber NG grill and it hits over 600 quickly and without issue.
 
Now we’re cookin’! Finally found the time today to do the initial burn-in of the new Napoleon grill. Yeah, I know: what held me up? Well, weather, a pet emergency, being away from the new house for several days, etc. And, I’m a pretty good procrastinator when the weather is cold, wet and windy. This is January/February in the Pacific Northwest after all!

So, this afternoon, the weather was pretty nice, so I followed all the instructions to check for gas leaks (using a soap solution), etc.; then, got serious! The main burners (4) fired right off and (as advertised), I have seen 700F searing temperatures on the OEM "wave grills" as measured by both the analog thermometer built into the unit and my infrared digital thermometer. So far, so good.

Fired off the infrared side searing burner that is supposed to get to 1800F within a few minutes. It did heat up quickly but I could not verify the 1800F temperature as my infrared thermometer tops out at 1400F and then displays “Hi,” which it did within five minutes of lighting the side burner. Until I get something that will measure higher temps, I’ll have to settle for 1400F+. :rolleyes:

Finally, I fired off the rear rotisserie infrared burner. It took two tries to get it to light due to a long gas supply line that took a bit longer to purge. Again, I could only measure to 1400F, so will have to settle for that on the rotisserie burner as well. All-in-all, everything went well.

So, tomorrow, I have a couple of nice filet steaks that will hit the new grill. Looking forward to that dinner already. ;)
 
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Enjoy @Jim6820 ! I too just fired up my Recteq for the first time in 2023. I need to start defrosting a SRF brisket when I see a forecast of sustained decent weather.

Looking forward to seeing the steaks!
 
I’m going to do a little experimenting with the new grill to see if I can reliably hold a relatively low temperature (180-200F) with just one or two burners. If so, I might try a brisket on it one of these days. I have a couple of smoke tubes to provide the flavoring.
 

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