01.Smart BBQ Cordless Power Grill Brush
SMART BBQ Cordless Power Grill Brush
Price Varies from $20 to $40
Contact Mitre 10 and various online stores
Barbecue grills and hotplates can end up very messy after a cooking session, with excess grease and food residue needing to be scrubbed off before the barbecue is covered up or packed away. We put the SMART BBQ Cordless Power Grill Brush, which claims to have “powerful brass bristle rotary brush action”, to the test.
We tested it on a barbecue hotplate and grill which were fairly grimy with greasy residue and some rust. The brush’s handle and controls are comfortable and easy to use, though the brush is fairly heavy as it takes eight AA batteries (not included). It’s good at removing grime and rust from a flat hotplate — in fact you could take the hotplate down to bare metal if you left the head going on one spot for too long — but it’s hard to get the brush head into corners and the rotating brush slows against raised edges.
The rotating brush is less effective on a grill plate as it only cleans the tops of the grill bars. Pressing the brush down to get at the sides of the grill bars causes the brush to slow or stop. Also, the built-in scraper was ineffective at lifting stubborn build-up.
The brush comes with a spare brush head. You need a flat head screw driver to change the brush head and a Philip’s head screw driver to open the battery compartment.
Our tester cleaned half each of the hotplate and grill with the Cordless Power Grill Brush (pictured top), and the other halves with a typical three-in-one barbecue brush (wire brush, scouring pad and metal scraper) which we bought for $15 (pictured bottom). The three-in-one brush is cheaper, easier to use and a more effective cleaner than the powered brush.
Please note: this information was current as of September 2008 but is still a useful guide to today's market.
CHOICE verdict
The SMART BBQ Cordless Power Grill Brush is an unnecessary gimmick. A manual barbecue brush or scourer is a better and cheaper way to clean your barbecue.
For more tips on cleaning and maintaining your barbecue, see our last report on barbecues.
11 Nov 2008
|
When you're shopping for one, how can you tell which models will cook your food evenly? Will an electric BBQ perform as well as gas? Which will be the easiest to use?
2 Nov 2007
|
We tell you what to look for in a barbecue, how to maintain them, how to cook the perfect steak — and we tell you which models are the best from our test of seven 4-burner gas barbecues with hoods.
9 Nov 2011
|
Don't spoil your holiday - here are some tips on safe backyard entertaining.
13 Nov 2012
|
CHOICE reviews portables, balcony sized, and large four to six burners to suit most situations.