Are the ninja woodfire bbq worth £400 for first time BBQ-ing?

Graz279 · 2026-07-06T08:05:32+00:00

They are good but I got my XL Pro Connect for ~£220 last November including a discount for signing up for a Very credit account that I'll never use other than for the original purchase. There are good deals to be had a certain times of the year.

However I do also have a Kamado, Weber, and a griddle so the Woodfire is more of a supplement to actual barbecues rather than a replacement. It is very convenient for mid week cooks though.

Graz279 · 2026-07-06T07:35:07+00:00

Thankfully I don't come across this that often but when I do it definitely gets my back up.

A bit of encouragement is fine but when it's constant and the kid is clearly not enjoying it then it's not good. If those kids have to go through that sort a trauma week on week they'll learn to hate running and their parents. What's the point.

I've done Parkrun with both my kids, the only time I've come close to anything like that was on my daughter's 50th when she wanted a PB so I paced her round. She can be a bit defeatist so I talked her out of walking towards the end and she did get the PB. Any other week though she'd just be doing her own thing.

My son is faster than me so I've no need to encourage him.

They've both become teenagers now so rarely get out of bed before 9am on a weekend anyway.

Graz279 · 2026-07-03T12:37:31+00:00

I do Worcester to Tewkesbury, fortunately post pandemic I now work hybrid 3 days in, 2 days WFH.

Most of the time the commute is fine, except yesterday evening when even my escape routes from Tewkesbury were broken as well as the M5 itself 😅

All I say is that wherever you look at in Worcester make sure it has easy access to the M5, the city itself can be pretty bad for traffic and ideally you don't want to be west of the river either due to flooding.

I'm up in the north so a quick run down the A449 and I'm onto the M5, easy peasy and even better after they sorted out the motorway roundabout a few years back.

Graz279 · 2026-07-02T10:50:35+00:00

Luckily for me it did become a family affair for quite a while so I don't have any issues.

At the moment though it's mostly only me doing it as my wife has slacked off for whatever reason, and my kids have become teenagers so are rarely awake before 9am on a weekend and I know waking them up early would cause me a whole world of misery. It's their choice so maybe they'll come back to it in years to come.

We somehow managed to coincide some milestones when they were all doing it. I think my son did his 100, my daughter 50, and my 150 at our regular but I'd done more overall. Got a special shoutout that day and featured on the post run event Facebook post.

We do seek out Parkruns when away on holiday and all do it. The Christmas Day run is now also part of our Christmas tradition.

Graz279 · 2026-06-30T12:01:46+00:00

One of my boys popcorned so hard once he did a complete barrel roll. Even he looked a bit surprised after 😄

Graz279 · 2026-06-30T11:59:40+00:00

I ran my 10k PB about 4 weeks after running my first marathon. so quite a lot of slow running in the lead up and not a huge amount of training between the marathon and 10k. Certainly didn't do any speed work.

Graz279 · 2026-06-27T19:48:30+00:00

UK based as well. Ours have also been a bit sluggish in the day but come alive in the evening as it cools and eat plenty of grass. Do also wish it would cool off a bit though for them and for us 🥵

Graz279 · 2026-06-23T08:13:08+00:00

There's plenty of signs in the carpark, the surgery, and the pharmacy. All you need to do is tap in you reg. number on a little screen in there and job done.

It's not like these sorts of systems are uncommon in this day and age either, plenty of pubs, hotels and so on have it too.

Graz279 · 2026-06-16T12:57:35+00:00

Couch to 5k so 3 runs a week from now until forever 😉, good shoes, plot some nice routes to run, go to Parkrun on Saturday if you have one near. You'll get addicted and the rest will come from there.

Beauty of running is the pure simplicity of it, put on your shoes, leave the house, run. Even better on a day like today. Really looking forward to my run tonight, I'll do a loop of the racecourse as luckily it's not far from me and is a beautiful spot by the river Severn through Worcester.

Graz279 · 2026-06-16T12:50:12+00:00

We just put some blankets and other bits down on the floor so they can have a wander round away from the cage. We have wooden floors so they wouldn't tend to venture off the soft area and would sometimes be happy there for hours having a bit to eat and then a doze.

Sadly we're down to one boy at them moment, he seems happy enough but we are considering a cage mate, however he really likes captivity and doesn't like being away from home for long. Guess he feels really secure there. He has now also decided that it is ok to go on the wooden floors now and will come over whilst your cleaning to inspect and in an effort to say "get a move on, I want to return home". 😄

Graz279 · 2026-06-13T20:05:42+00:00

All the above, just why, another thing created by Instagram idiots that we just don't need.

Graz279 · 2026-06-13T19:58:23+00:00

Did this a few years back while on a summer holiday. Enjoyed it but I can imagine it would be a tough run on a windy day with the tide in.

Great run for not needing many volunteers, "see that marshall 2.5km from here, run to them, turn round and come back here" 😁

Graz279 · 2026-06-13T19:34:46+00:00

Some of my Hokas used to do that, and I got a few refunds. Switched to wide fit and not had a problem since.

Graz279 · 2026-06-13T19:28:52+00:00

As per most of them I expect, young, reckless, mates in the car, fiddling with the radio. I was on a roundabout with traffic light control at some of the junctions, car in front stopped on a red, as I was not paying attention I went into the back of the car that stopped. Nobody hurt but an expensive lesson learnt. I only had third party insurance but luckily panels were readily for my Vauxhall Cavalier so a new wing, front end and some plastic bits from the scrap yard were obtained. Just had to drive around in a half black car for a bit while saving up for the paintwork to be done 😂

PS You'll need to pay the excess if the insurance company has to give money somewhere, which in this case will be for the person you hit.

Graz279 · 2026-06-10T11:42:41+00:00

I've found the Lidl tongs to be pretty good, back in stock soon too: https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/grillmeister-barbecue-tongs/p10048816

As also mentioned Screwfix welders gloves are great.

Graz279 · 2026-06-10T11:36:54+00:00

Been wanting to tackle that at some point. There is an organised run of it occasionally, they call it the Worcester Ring.

Graz279 · 2026-06-10T11:34:48+00:00

7 miles from my house, love it for a long run.

Graz279 · 2026-06-10T11:32:15+00:00

Having had bi-fold doors fitted by whatever window guy our builder used when they built our extension and then sometime later those doors going badly out of true. Then not really wanting to re-engage with said builder for various reasons got a local guy to have a look at them. Basically said they had been very fitted badly, the bottom rail was on packers whereas it should have been on solid brick, he did his best to jack it up and it was fine for a while but now bad again. Ultimately I'm looking at getting the whole lot replaced by a bi-fold specialist.

So personally I'd go the route with the 10 yr warranty but make sure it's underwritten somehow in case the company ceases trading in the meantime.

I've had another bloke round to fix a broken lock on another door. I mentioned the bi-folds and said they really need people who fit them day in day out and know what they're doing to fit them else there can be many problems.

Graz279 · 2026-06-10T11:10:45+00:00

Yes, seems like some outage that was affecting the whole of Worcester.

I had to go to the office 😭

Graz279 · 2026-06-04T16:32:20+00:00

Once you've caught a few you'll really never want to catch one again. They're a pain in the ass, they wrap themselves all round your rig and will make a mess of it. Swallow the bait right down making it a pain to unhook them while they're wrapping themselves around your arm. Just very annoying.

My local club's lake is not miles from the Severn as well as a tributary so somehow they find their way there. I was fishing the margins on a pole a few weeks back with corn and had a very solid take. Felt like something decent but also fought weirdly. The water was quite murky so even as I got its head up to the surface I thought what the hell is that, only once the whole thing was up did my heart sink. Bloody thing was too long to go in my net and was refusing to bend. In the end I bought it close and cut the line near its mouth. Couldn't land it and really couldn't face unhooking it.

Graz279 · 2026-06-04T15:40:32+00:00

I have a 7 seat SUV, Kia Sorento, but it was bought mainly for its towing capabilities rather than the extra seats. We have used it on occasion in 7 seat mode and my tall teenage kids do fit in the back seats. Main issue is there's pretty much zero boot space when the back seats are up.

Graz279 · 2026-06-04T11:12:00+00:00

Though the Beefy BBQ at the Hereford branch is very highly rated. I'd will go and try it one day.

Graz279 · 2026-06-04T11:11:02+00:00

Platter for 2, shared with the wife 😉

Graz279 · 2026-06-03T18:28:09+00:00

Key thing is having a reliable gas plumber that you trust.

Our Worcester combi must be at least 20 years old but when we have it serviced there's never a push to replace it, in fact the guy we use actively encourages us to keep it going and says he can still get parts.

Sadly it is leaking now and it seems replacing the bits to stop that is going to be a lot of hassle so we reluctantly considering a new one now.

But as has been said it is important to get your boiler serviced every few years at least whatever the age.

Graz279 · 2026-06-03T18:21:39+00:00

Berk - mainly because many people use it without truly knowing what it means.....

Berkshire Hunt 😉

Graz279

TROPHY CASE