I gave it a trial run last night. Grilled up some lemon butter tilapia...turned out nasty but not because of the charcoal. No coal-like taste this time around. Not much sparking. Haven't looked to see how much of it had burned yet - will do that tomorrow or Sunday most likely. I'll add a follow-up post once we've cooked on it two or three more times...but...so far, so good.