About Our Product Reviews And The AmazingRibs.com Best Value Medals

"Being discovered by AmazingRibs.com is one of the milestone moments of our young company. Meathead's audience is worldwide and his loyal followers have become great customers. We proudly display our Gold Medal on all our packaging and literature!" Brad Barrett, GrillGrates

The AmazingRibs.com Best Value Medal winners are recommended products that we have tested or that have been tested by our reliable sources.

Awards are based on features, construction quality, and value. Price is an important criteria. Rarely will a $400 Gold Medal be in the same quality league as an $800 Gold Medal or a $1,200 Gold Medal, so it is important that you read the reviews to see what we say about the construction quality and features.

Products listed as "Not Recommended" are products that we think are poor choices compared to competitors based on price, features, and construction quality.

Products listed as "Not Judged Yet" are products that may be award caliber, perhaps even Gold Medal caliber, but we do not know enough about them yet to give them an award.

These are truly unbiased reviews. We do not make or sell anything, and our advertising is sold by third party ad networks. We are not involved in the process. Rest assured that when we recommend a product, it is really because we like it, not because someone has paid us to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. Manufacturers are never charged to have products reviewed or be included in the listings.

How we review

We purchase many of the products we review although occasionally suppliers send us samples. We have always been transparent about when we are reviewing a manufacturer's sample, even before the Federal Trade Commission Required it in 2009. We have a written policy about samples for suppliers that makes it clear that we will call 'em as we see 'em. After we are done with samples we often give them away, we never sell them. Many of the nearby fire departments have nice new grills because of this policy.

Here's a key to our reviews. This information is included in every review.

Cooked On It. This means we have hands-on experience testing this product. We have also gathered info from the manufacturer, owners, and other reliable sources.

Looked Closely At It. This means we have seen this product up close and we have also gathered info from the manufacturer, owners, and other reliable sources.

Researched It From Afar. This means we have researched this product from afar by gathering info from the manufacturer, owners, and other reliable sources, with our BS meters on high.

Most of the reviews are by Max Good, Director of Equipment Reviews & Keeper of the Flame, and Meathead, Chief Barbecue Whisperer & Hedonism Evangelist. The author of each product's review is named at the end of the writeup.

Attention manufacturers, merchants, ad agencies, and others

If you have a product you want us to review, contact Meathead. If you have earned an "AmazingRibs.com Best Value Medal", there is no licensing fee to use copies of the artwork, but you must contact Meathead for permission first. If you need them, high resolution color and black & white versions are also available. If you refer to your medal in publicity or on your website, please call it by its proper name "The AmazingRibs.com Best Value Gold Medal", "The AmazingRibs.com Value Silver Medal", or "AmazingRibs.com Best Value Bronze Medal". On the internet, you should link to this page.