I am a big George Foreman grill fan; I've used them for years. I currently have two Foreman grills, one of the small 1-burger models and one of the larger family-sized models. I love them both, aside from how big of a pain they are to clean. I've had them for years and use them multiple times a week to grill sandwiches, burgers, chicken, and all kinds of yummy things. Anyway, I ordered the G5 "Next Grilleration" because I was excited by both the multiple cooking plates and the ability to remove the plates for easy cleaning in the dishwasher. And the red color was really, really cool.
The G5 Grill fell short of my expectations. Let's start out with the grill plates. There are 5 plates, but 2 of them are grill plates, 2 of them are waffle plates, and 1 of them is a baking plate. I was under the impression that I would get 2 grill plates plus the fancy grill plate, then a griddle plus a baking plate. Not so. Anyway, now the burgers don't have the traditional straight-line grilled look because the top plate has a different shape. Not a big deal, but it also seems to "steam" the burger more than grill it. Burgers come out much different than on my other two George Foreman grills. They aren't as much fun to eat because they don't have that "grilled" texture to them as much as the older Foreman grills do. Next, the griddle-baking pan. Nice concept, but the adjustable heat knob doesn't really match up to a traditional stovetop. "High" is more like "Medium". Which brings up another point, the pictures make the grill look a lot bigger than it is. This is a 1 or 2-person grill. You can do 2 nicely-sized burgers at a time on it. Anyway, I tried the waffle iron multiple times. It does NOT heat evenly. I even gave it a few extra minutes to heat up after the preheat light had gone off. It cooks the middle nicely, but leaves about an inch and a half around all of the edges mushy. It's a pity, since the waffle plates are nice and big. I was really disappointed by this; I was hoping to be able to consolidate my kitchen gadgets into one little unit, but the waffle iron just doesn't perform very well.
There is an extra plate set available for this grill which I also purchased, which is the omelet maker. It's not a true omelet maker since you just kind of throw the toppings on top of the egg mixture and cook, but it is the ONLY plate that I felt did a good job cooking. The wannabe-omelets actually came out very nicely. So, to recap: the omelet plate is great, the burger plate steams rather than grills and the top isn't shaped like a normal grill, the waffle iron doesn't heat evenly at all, and the baking pan is kind of small and doesn't heat up as well as you think it would. I also considered trying out the larger model (which only had grill plates), but after looking at it in a local store and seeing that it had the same heating system, I decided not to.
However they did a lot of things right, despite not being able to cook very well. The color option was really nice. There is a big, long handle on the front which is AWESOME for lifting the top tray up. The heat setting dial, despite the temperature problem, is a nice touch. And the removable plates are to die for. I miss the light going off on the front when you're burger is done, but it would be a small price to pay if the adjustable heat setting actually worked as well as an electric range. I really, really wanted to love this appliance; it did everything right but cooking. Oh, and the non-stick surface seemed to scratch easily, and I only used rubber and plastic tools on it. Not as durable as my old ones, which I've had for years.
Conclusion? It's okay, not great. I would recommend waiting for the "G6 Grill" or whatever will be next; hopefully their technology will have improved. I'm sticking with my old fixed-plate grills for now. Sorry George!
Yeah nothing beats a real grill. I like the Foreman because I can have a perfect burger in like 10 minutes with zero hassle. Plus it does great grilled cheese sandwiches (ham + cheese, turkey + cheese), perfect chicken, and other good stuff. I think I'll give that Hamilton Beach model a try. $39 is a heck of a lot better than $108! Going to put my refund into a quality rice cooker 
Facebook
Twitter