Side by Side Comparison of: Update International vs Lodge

I have and use two, with my indoor grill or my outdoor BBQ pit.Once you sear the meat on both sides, the press reduces cooking/grilling time by 30% or more.They're hard to beat & easy to clean, by hand or dishwasher...

Finally, flat bacon! The main reason I bought this was because I couldn't stand the bacon curling on our griddle. It fixes that, and helps beef or sausage patties cook fast and even, keeps them flat. If you have a griddle, you need one of these.

These make cooking bacon so easy only wish I had some in 10" long and 6" wide. I'm going to look for longer and wider ones. If I can't find any I am going to get 4-6 more of these. It's unbelievable how much these cut down on cook time for bacon and burgers.

This is a great tool!! I use mostly for making grilled sandwiches to smash them and keep the contents inside the bread until it is melted in. It is of course great for keeping bacon from curling up and being and pain to use. Also great for making loaded aspics etc.

Thing thing fits perfectly across the center griddle of my new GE propane range. It's important to manage what's on the grill as you remove this weight. Mine will be used primarily for bacon and secondarily for burgers on an outside grill. If using a griddle on a range too cook bacon, there's a lot less splatter if pancake batter immediately follows removal of bacon. There's still a little splatter but not bad.

Heavy cast iron (or steel) cooking weight. Handle stays cool in the middle. It tends to loose its seasoning easily, but that could be my method of using it. Take off the wood handle it you want to season it in the oven. It holds down 2-3 strips of bacon 4 if really skinny. I bought a larger one to cook more at a time, but I still find this one useful.

Although I read reviews stating people had trouble connecting the handle, I am 76 years old and had no problem at all. In fact, just hand tightening made it tight enough that there was no movement in the handle. I did however, tighten it with the screw driver and pliers as suggested in the instructions (which are found on the package when the item is removed). No problem with rust (seasoned it as suggested). The handle is black and not chrome as pictured. The press works perfectly and is just the right size. I love it

I like using this on my griddle to press bacon and sausage to the heat. It works great. I wish it were larger, but it is excellent for its size.

I use it for burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches and portobello mushrooms and it is heavy as it should be and easy to clean, same as cast iron skillet

Love it. Have to keep it mad greased to avoid rust though.

great for cooking bacon, burgers, even presses sandwiches.

A staple in our kitchen. Perfect for making sandwiches.Very handy to have it around.

It is a piece of metal with a wood handle, works as intended, just wish the metal was a bit heavier.

I bought two of these and the handle was loose on one and didn't fit great. But for the price I'm happy.

Handle does get a bit hot when used on a grill but that's to be expected. Good press for the price and works really well.

Just be careful. Great product, like the bottom isn't too big of ridges that prevent contact with all food underneath. The iron supports for the handle constantly burn me, so if your running a flattop and have several items cooking at once, stop and pay attention every time you move the weight

Sturdy cast iron material. This is definitely worth the money if you are particular about your bacon and burgers. The handle is a little wobbly but I can look past that for the price. I will advice, if you're planning on using this in a skillet on a stovetop, you will have to use a pretty large pan.

Does what it needs to do, however it isn't seasoned. It rusted while in the sink within hours. Not sure if I can season with the wooden handle.

Smaller than I expected, but still a nice item. I didn’t have any issues tightly attaching the handle like other reviewers mentioned.

Nice size and weight. The handle gets warm but I'm used to using oven mitts with cast iron.

This works really well for panini's, but it arrived with 1 bolt and no nuts to attach the handle. I was able to raid my spare nut and bolt bin and we were up and running. I have a small cast iron grill pan and when I preheat it and the press, I can make a wonderful grilled sandwich with no butter or extra fat. If all the hardware had been packed with it, I would give it 5 stars.

My wife wanted it and I got it. Great for the bacon. I am sure we will find other uses for it. Putting it together should have been simple, but I had to replace the screws and nuts because during the installation I could not tighten the regular head screw. I replaced them with Phillip head screws that was much easier to grip and tighten the nuts. The slotted screwdriver kept slipping and I could not get any leverage to tighten the lock nuts that came with it.

The only issue is that I had to add a washers in order to get a snug fit with the handle.

This is my first grill press and so far, I've used it once for panini. Worked great, although it's not that heavy (weighed it on my kitchen scale and it's 2 lbs 13 oz) I found that if I pressed down on the panini for a moment, then it achieved the intent of keeping the bread in contact with the grill for even browning. Also, the pre-seasoning helps to make clean-up easy w/less worry about rusting. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because, as another reviewer noted, attaching the handle is not only tricky, but requires good tools or superior hand strength. The supplied bolt covers (that you can see in the photo are holding the handle on)did not screw onto the bolts easily. If you're used to working with tools it should be no problem for you, but as I struggled with it, I found myself wondering if I would have to send it back because I couldn't get it put together. I didn't have to send it back; and it's fine but assembly wasn't easy for me.

The set up instructions need some work. Just diagrams alone can be interpreted in many ways, not enough dialog. The most challenging was setting up the wheel size. After all is done, I do like how it works.

A little bit rusty around the handle but I don't want to bother to return. Won't buy it next time.

THESE WORK GOOD

Kind of small. There are other weights for the same or less price that have a larger surface area and can actually cover 2 sandwiches (unlike this small one). I ended up ordering another to get the size I needed.

I ordered two of these, and one arrived warped. Most of the surface area is flat, but, the area where it is warped does not apply enough pressure to keep the food consistently weighted down for even cooking.

This product is good for the grill but it is a little large if you plan to use it on the stove top. If you plan on using it for pressing sandwiches/paninis etc, you may want to find something smaller. This will not fit into any of your smaller pans, only the largest diameter pans.

We bought these to use in a restaurant as sausage presses. When left on the grill the handles get hot. The black on the bottom is already starting to come off and we haven't even had them that long. If looking for personal use when camping or a but around the house they will work fine, but I do not recommend for something that is used often throughout the day everyday.

As noted by others the screws and nuts do not match up together. Went to the hardware store for the correct size cap nut and handle attaches fine. Press itself is good. It would be great if company read the reviews and corrected this very common, easily fixable, problem.

The press itself is fine. The trouble is that I purchased this item as a gift. When my husband opened it, we discovered that the two screws that holds the handle to the press were missing from the package. I was a bit embarrassed that my gift is useless until we find replacement parts. Now we have to make a run to the hardware store to find screws and nuts that would fit the press. Again, I know it isn't a big hassle, but its the principal. You order something and you just expect it to be ready to go once you get it.

The grill press is okay, I use it but wish it was a bit longer to catch the bacon at both ends. I have to move it around all the time and find that sometimes it makes the bacon stick good and solid to the cast iron grill if I leave it in one place too long.I have also used on hamburger patties to squish them down and that works well and I think helps them to cook faster.Am using it because I already bought it, but wouldn't bother buying another one again.

I bought this for camping trips, cooking bacon in the woods is hard to beat...keeping it flat would be extra cool. Well, on a the Camp Chef griddle I can lay out nearly a pound of thick-sliced bacon. One of these covers about 20% of the griddle...I need 5 or 6 of them to do the whole thing. I'm not sure if I'll buy more of them or put this one in the closet...I should have thought it through...

I bought this bacon press because I love Lodge's pre-seasoned cast iron cookware and the fact it's made in the USA is a bonus. This press, however, was a beast to assemble. I'm 6'1", 280lbs (too much bacon perhaps) and I had a devil of a time getting the lock nuts screwed down tight enough to keep the handle from rattling around. Yes it does do the job, but it's under-sized and after dealing with putting it together, I would suggest the larger one piece Camp Chef 9 1/4" X 5 3/4" I bought locally (Amazon also sells it). It has grill marks and a good weight to it for sandwiches, bacon or larger cuts of meat. I'm still a Lodge fan, but I would not suggest buying this press.

I ordered these "steak weights" twice, about a week apart. When I received the first 3, I really liked them. They were well made and heavy, so I decided to get another set. The second set were 8 oz. lighter per item and not as well made. I'm not at all happy with the second set. May return the poor quality ones. Not sure yet. I'm giving this 2 stars only because of the good quality of the first order I received.

The press is warped and uneven.

Awesome for the price however, it is made with low quality metal. I don't think this product is dishwasher safe as it started to rust after original cleaning. The product does get hot and presses and has decent weight. my recommendation is to spend the extra dollar and get a nicer one.

To light to hold bacon flat. I don't use it. It might make a good paper weight?

To small, had to get the bigger one, it's much better in the sense it covers 3 full slices of bacon

Very low quality!!

The handle is extremely difficult to install. I may have to go and buy new hardware to accomplish this. The nuts and bolts are not fitting together. Seriously, Lodge??? I thought they would do better than this.I love the idea; I'm hoping to love the product - but I may never know.

I was unable to tighten the handle to the the press securely. Try as I might (and several other people I enlisted to help) we were unable to get a solid attachment of the handle. I don't believe it's supposed to be loose but ours was. I'm guessing the tolerances on some of these have been bad. I'll order a different type without a detachable handle.

It is weighty and serves to sear food well. However it looses points for poor construction. It came unassembled and the screws DO NOT FIT snugly into the iron. This makes the handle very wobbly during use. Furthermore this metal rusts -- not really a big surprise but I had forgotten this about cast iron. It must be stored and dried appropriately to avoid rust stains in your kitchen cabinetry.

Overall, this would be a really great grill press. The size and weight are perfect. However, I only gave it two stars because of the hardware for the handle. The screws are too long for depth of the cap nuts. It's almost like the cap nuts didn't get drilled out enough. It can be fixed by using extra washers, but it is annoying to have to "repair" a new item. I wondered about all the positive reviews, then noticed they were all fairly old. Most of the more current reviews refer to the handle issue. It's surprising given the usual high quality of Lodge products. I would have returned the press, but had already recycled the shipping box. Now that I have addressed the handle issue, it's a great press.

I just go this press today and put it together per instructions/pictures. The screws (2 of em) are too long and so the handle is too loose. Either I got the wrong screws or this is how the handles are supposed to be? I'm reluctant to use it cuz it wobbles a lot. The weight of the press seems decent otherwise.

Press is ok, but mine even though it was new, and sealed as new from factory, it came without the bolts? It had the 2 washers, and nuts but no bolts. I called Lodge and the lady was nice, and agreed to send out the bolts. Also the handle is just painted black. Not as pictured. I asked about this and was told it only comes painted black, not as the picture shows ( stainless or chrome ). I decided rather than wait for the two bolts, to just get my own locally, rather disappointing

Rusted after first time of use.

Rusted before I even used it.

The handle broke off on one side after two uses - one of the screws heads broke off leaving the rest of the screw inside the wooden handle. Waste of money.

Handle jiggles which loosens the grip on it. the cleaning is not easy too, and the wooden handle has already started to give away.Not a good buy!

When I opened it the handle felt loosed and i unscrewed it and saw that they messed up making the holes for the screws to centered on one side

Poorly constructed, after 1 use the handles broke. It is now in the garbage where it belongs!

Rusted immediately. It definitively requires to be seasoned.

Used it one and is rusted.

I bought this and used it once maybe twice. Washed and stored... it started RUSTING REALLY BAD!!! I am so disapointed and wasted my money on this product. Since I hadn't used it right away. I couldn't do a return. But I'm wondering why this happens????

Impossible to get nuts attached to screws securely.

Do not wash. Use aluminum foil when using it. Or buy another product

The weight of this product is fabulous. The screws won't go on tightly. It is like they are too long. I can't use it if it isn't tight. So I can't recommend this.