Vision vs Big Green Egg Grill

Big Green Eggs and Vision Grills are both excellent choices for your charcoal grill needs. But if you’re making the purchase of a new grill, then you’ll want to get down into the nitty-gritty of grilling specs!

In this article, let’s compare the Big Green Egg and the Vision Grill. And if you need accessories for both the Big Green Egg or the Vision Grill, Kick Ash Basket has you covered too!

Photo by Emerson Vieira on Unsplash

Big Green Egg (BGE) Overview

Kamado style grills have been around for a long time, and the BGE is something that popped up around 50 years ago and has put together a solid following. BGEs have a culture that is all their own, including Eggcessories and EggFests all over the country.

Cooking Review

The BGE also has a wow-factor almost unlike any other kind of grill. If you’re throwing a backyard party, the primary-green grill really stands out. When it comes to cooking, kamado grills are built to basically do two things--they are built to create a roaring fire for taking on steaks and even pizzas, but they are also built for slow cooking over long periods of time.

The BGE is really easy to get up to about 300 degrees for almost 6 hours. The great news is that once you get to the target temperature you might be able to maintain that temperature without adding coal or changing the airflow too much. Once you’ve hit the low temperature that you want, it can hang there.

Additionally, the BGE can pretty easily get up to about 850 degrees. The egg is really good at cooking--but it really changes when you get to cleaning and remaining easy.

Cleaning Big Green Eggs

There is no doubt that the BGE was one of the earliest kamado models to hit the market. But its design has often been improved on by other grills in some ways. The damper and the shelves can be a bit difficult to operate. The grates and heavy ring have to be removed when the ash is going to be scooped out. In many of these ways, something like the Vision Grill is going to be more impressive.

Vision Grill Overview

Vision grills come in a variety of series. There are a professional c-series and a professional s-series, but for this, we’ll pay more attention to the classic kamado b and m series. The Vision Grill series-b is known for a simple ash drawer that makes cleaning your kamado really easy. The professional c-series has top and bottom vents and a grilling control knob that lets you control most of the temperature spectrum. You can get the c-series all the way down to low temperatures that are perfect for smoking. But you can also get it all the way up to high-temperatures that are perfect for searing and grilling hot. If you really want to control the temperature, the c-series is perfect. The s-series grill is extremely versatile. The grill has a bunch of different options and temperature ranges. It allows an electrical starter and that great ashtray for cleanup!

The vision is really great for things that you never thought to grill. Most of the models use different kinds of vents and temperature controls to give you a ton of versatility.

BGE and Vision Comparison

Cooking Area

One of the first things that you need to consider is the size of the kamado grill that you’re looking for. If you want a grill that is going to be great for parties, then you want a bigger surface area to handle all of the other people. The Vision grill has two tiers of cooking grates that double the cooking area based on the size of the grill. Space easily allows you to cook a lot of food at the same time. But, of course, the increased area of the grill means that it is going to be a bit bigger and bulkier. It features two trays on opposite sides of the grill which can help you navigate the food.

The minimax Big Green Egg, on the other hand, is smaller. It is just 19 and a half inches tall and has a diameter of 13 inches. You can easily move it around and take it with you on different kinds of trips. The square inches of cooking area on a Big Green Egg, of a standard size, are a lot smaller than the cooking area on the Vision grill. The BGE has about 133 square inches. For comparison, the Vision has about 604 square inches, if you’re using both racks.

Additionally, keep in mind that larger grill sizes are going to take more coals and longer to heat up, in general. So opting for the larger grill size, if you don’t actually need the larger cooking space, will make your grill more unwieldy and more difficult to heat up. The larger BGEs are obviously bigger than the minimax BGE.

Durability

One of the things that the big green egg is known for is incredible warranty and durability. The Vision is notoriously a little bit cheaper than the BGE, and that means that it may start to crack and misalign if you use it for a long time. The gasket on the top can fry if it is not perfectly aligned. You definitely won’t regret going with the BGE for durability metrics.

Material and Craftsmanship

The top of the vision is removable and it is easy to control the temperature. The material is really high quality, and it can hit the high temperatures that you expect from a ceramic grill if there’s enough fuel and airflow. But while the material is good, the craftsmanship of the vision is not as good. This leads to the durability issues that were talked about in the previous section.

The big green egg has a porcelain glazed ceramic construction. It retains moisture really well, which is absolutely critical for cooking food long or slow without drying out the food. The egg features great materials and durability, where the ceramic will stay fresh for years.

Cooking and Versatility

There really isn’t a difference between the food cooked on both the BGE and the Vision. They are both excellent products. Both are made pretty well, and the cooking of both is great!

While most kamados are great with versatility—the Vision and the Big Green Egg are at the top of the versatility list. The bigger Big Green Eggs and the pro series of Visions are excellent for cooking at really low and high temperatures. It can smoke meat at lower temperatures, but both of them can also handle a bigger pizza.

Precise Temperature

The BGE and the Vision can both cruise all the way up to higher temperatures and retain them for a long time. You can also use a lot less charcoal, especially in the big green egg. The BGE probably retains its temperature better than any other charcoal grill on the market, even though the Vision is pretty good as well.

Conclusion: BGE or Vision?

The Big Green Egg is the dominant brand in ceramic grills. But the Vision also makes an excellent product that can suit your grilling needs. Ultimately, the BGE is a bit more expensive than the Vision, but you will also probably get a slightly better product.