Broil King REGAL Q 690 PRO Review – Almost the perfect BBQ

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

At a dollar short of $7,000 this is not your average BBQ – I get that. But if you’re really into your outdoor area and the joys of BBQ cooking your average BBQ will at some point just not cut it. Enter the Broil King Regal Q 690 Pro. It’s a giant.

First impressions: This thing is massive

It’s basically an eight-burner BBQ. Six traditional burners under the grill, one large burner running horizontally at the back of the main cooker (Seen above burning for no reason other than the photo) for the rotisserie, and a side burner.

Electronically connected, the whole thing can also be controlled via the Broil King App. In terms of things that take away from the overall score here, I would say the app lives in the past – it needs a solid UX update, just feels very iOS 10 – not sure if that makes sense, but just generally doesn’t feel like a companion app to suit a $7,000 BBQ! I also couldn’t get it to change the colours of the gas dials, they changed from Yellow to Red, but no other colour, even though I could hear the app registering the selection.

When I compare this to the Traeger Grills app it’s a big step backwards.

One of the key upgrades you’ll get from choosing the Broil King Regal Q 690 Pro is the rotisserie. A simple “add on” that comes with the whole thing – it’s electric motor clips to the right side of the smaller cookbox, and the rotisserie bar goes right through both cookboxes.

I like this complete coverage because it means a single chook can be cooked on the smaller cookbox side, or you could do two at a time in the main cookbox. Of course, the smaller cookbox doesn’t have a rotisserie burner, so you’ll be going for cookbox temp based off the two burners, probably better each time to opt of for the main cookbox – that burner gives a slightly crustier edge to the finished product.

However, another point of loss here is that unlike something like the Traeger slow cooker you can’t use a Broil King thermometers during cooking to determine the acutal internal temp of your rotisserie chook. For this I used a Meater Pro which is also app connected so you can track the cook using that app, rather than from the Broil King app. Given the price of this beast, I’d like to think they come up with a way to have a wireless thermometer linked to the Broil King control panel – any of the thermometers linked there are wired – so using them would have them wrapped around the rotisserie in no time.

That aside, there’s a fantastic even cook that comes from the way the Regal is setup. You grill directly on these genuinely extra heavy stainless steel grid, underneath them is what Broil King call “Flav-r-wave” metal plates so the gas burner flames don’t directly hit your food they are dispersed and the heat evenly hits your steak, tomahawk or even veggies.

A BBQ this big doesn’t come easily to your home. This is pallet delivery stuff. That, or you’ll need a solid tray backed ute.

However, the build of this BBQ was a breeze. All the gas lines are pre-plumbed, you’re basically adding the wheels, side tables the burner and control unit.

Underneath in the included stand are three doors for your tools and other items.

The left hand door houses a simple pull out gas cylinder tray. A $200 upgrade is coming to make that try a set of scales to allow you to get an indication on the control panel of the level of gas left in your cylinder. For my mind, that’s $200 well spent!

If you’re place is like mine with very little outdoor light, the lights built into both cookboxes will make a night-time cook all that little bit easier.

Broil King Regal Q 690 Pro verdict

What a unit like this does is give you confidence.

Moving from a little BBQ to something like this will have you heading outside far more than normal to organise dinner.

A BBQ like the Broil King Regal Q 690 Pro will also have you inviting more people around. Perhaps the perfect upgrade this Easter?

Web: Broil King

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