‘Smokey’ - Thomas Michel, team boss with Smokey and The Char-Grillers, current North German grill champion in 2008/09, has tested the Monolith grill for several weeks:

"The result of my Smokeytests over several weeks of the monolith-ceramic grill:
Monolith had asked me for an objective test. So I accepted the offer and a Monolith was sent to me. I’ve been testing this ceramic grill for weeks now. Although I’m trying to remain reserved and neutral, I’m having difficulty containing my enthusiasm. This grill is brilliant. Good heat storage, quick fire ignition, super low coal consumption, ability to maintain very accurate temperatures, very good and solid manufacturing, all metal fittings are made of high-grade stainless steel. The high-grade steel fittings are very important for me as a ‘non-maintenance’ griller because nothing can rust. In the end, nice details such as the unique system for smoking, which enables you to replenish the wood chips without opening the lid?

As far as versatility and ‘grill precision’ is concerned, I haven’t worked with a better grill. In particular the possibility to directly grill almost anything without turning it into charcoal, it is unbelievable. .........

Weighing nearly 80 kg the Monolith can’t be transported easily. For exactly that reason nothing can knock it over, even in the stand......

Over the past weeks I have barbecued almost exclusively with the Monolith and have hardly missed any of my other grills. With such a ceramic grill one only needs a second grill to take out with you and for bigger parties. The Monolith has a diameter of slightly less than 50 cm; the grill rack is a little smaller. Opposed to the normal kettle grill, you can use the whole grill rack surface directly and indirectly to barbecue. In addition there are different height settings. If needed, you can stack two normal grill racks on top of each other with a lifter, comparable to nearly 3 Kettle grill racks. This is an enormous amount of cooking surface. With the standard Monolith a grill rack and a grill rack lifter is provided. An extra grill rack and a lifter can be bought additionally. In my opinion the accessories and spare parts are very moderately priced. It is good to know that the importer can deliver all spare parts immediately, even a broken lid is no problem.

By the way, I haven’t needed an additional grill rack to this day. The provided grill rack and lifter in the all-inclusive offer from Monolith are more than enough. To sum up, I can say that over the past weeks the Monolith has grown on me. This grill is absolutely convincing and makes such a solid impression, that it could be part of the inheritance.

My overall mark for the Monolith grill in the Smokeytest: A 1

In my opinion ceramic grills are the insider tip! "

Source: mybbq.net/forum