Michael Reynolds

I have spent the last three months testing outdoor speakers on my own patio, in my brother’s backyard, and on a friend’s covered porch in coastal North Carolina. I dragged ten different pairs through humid July nights, August thunderstorms, and a few surprisingly cold September evenings. After more than 200 hours of listening, mounting, and … Read more

If you cook outside more than twice a month, a propane or natural gas grill is the fastest, most predictable way to feed a family on a weeknight. After three months of testing 10 grills on a real back patio, we picked the Weber Spirit E-325 as the best gas grill for backyard cooking in … Read more

Our team spent the last three months testing eight smart speakers in a real four-bedroom home, swapping them between kitchen, living room, primary bedroom, and home office. We streamed Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music across multiple rooms at once, ran voice commands while cooking, and stress-tested grouping reliability during a family pizza night. … Read more

I spent 90 days smoking through 10 pellet grills in my backyard in – brisket, ribs, pork butt, chicken wings, even a couple of peach cobblers – to find the models that actually deliver real wood-fired flavor without babysitting a fire all night. Our team logged over 220 hours of cook time, emptied roughly 600 … Read more

If you typed traeger vs pit boss pellet grills into a search bar, you are not alone. This is the most-asked pellet-grill question on the internet, and the answer matters because these two brands own roughly 60% of the U.S. pellet-smoker market. Our team spent three months testing six flagship models from both brands across … Read more

The best charcoal grill for beginners is the Weber Original Kettle Premium 22-Inch because it combines a forgiving round shape for even heat, easy two-zone cooking, a built-in ash catcher for simple cleanup, and a beginner-friendly price (typically $150-$220). After spending weeks lighting, cooking, and cleaning eight charcoal grills in our test yard, we kept … Read more

If you’ve spent any time on a barbecue forum or scrolling through weekend cookout photos, you’ve probably heard backyard chefs rave about the best kamado grills. These egg-shaped charcoal cookers are the swiss-army knives of outdoor cooking: they smoke a brisket low and slow at 225 degrees, sear a steak at 750, and bake Neapolitan-style … Read more

Picking the best offset smoker for beginners in is tougher than it looks. The category is loaded with cheap Amazon specials that look like a deal, and high-end pits that intimidate anyone who hasn’t wrestled a firebox before. We ordered eight models, cooked on them for 60 days, took notes, and burned through more pork … Read more

The best electric smoker for home use in is the Masterbuilt 30-Inch Digital Electric Smoker — it pairs rock-steady temperature control with a patented side wood chip loader so you can add smoke without opening the door, and over 11,000 owners back that up with a 4.4-star average rating. I tested it for full briskets, … Read more

Our team spent the last three months testing flat top griddles for outdoor cooking across backyards, campsites, and tailgates to find the models worth your money in . We grilled smash burgers for a family of six, cooked pancakes at dawn, ran stir-fry dinners, and even pulled a griddle into the rain to see which … Read more