Cookout Coach's Gravity 980 Review

Char-Griller® Ambassador, Steve Dotson of @cookoutcoach, shares his overall review of the Gravity 980 from his experiences of using it during the last six months.

Hey everyone, today we’re going to talk about the Char-Griller® Gravity 980, my review of it after using it for over 6 months, and how it helped me check an item off my BBQ bucket list TWICE in one weekend. To begin with I’ll just say it, this smoker delivers an incredible value for the price tag. As a lot of you know, I’m a huge believer in the versatility of the AKORN™ Kamado, and while that cooker is still incredible, the Gravity 980 can do all the things the AKORN™ can…..maybe even with a little more ease. One thing that sets this cooker apart is it’s incredible temperature range. You’ve seen us do low and slow cooks, including an overnight pork butt cook over on the Char-Griller® Instagram page and hot and fast steaks and chops here on the channel. Due to how the fire sits in between the cook chamber and the ash pan where our smoke is rising from, this cooker produces some of the cleanest smoke flavor I’ve ever had come out of a cooker. This really lets you test the waters of adding more smoke flavor to your food while being less likely that you’ll make it bitter. The one thing that may cause an issue for you is if you want to roll this cooker through rough terrain like gravel, you’re going to have to help the smaller front casters along, but to me, this is a small price to pay for all of the value that comes in this package. I believed in this cooker so much that we entered our first ever KCBS pro competition with two of them. It was a double competition which meant we competed twice in one weekend, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. We were shocked when they helped us win not one category, but TWO, with a first place rib on Saturday and a first place brisket on Sunday. To say I’m impressed with the Char-Griller Gravity 980 is an understatement at this point. Honestly, at the time of writing this I don’t know if there is a better dollar for dollar value out there. What a capable machine to hone your live fire craft on.