A few months ago my old 4 burner gas bbq started showing it's age, knobs started falling off, burners were starting to fail, so I had to look around. I'd had it for maybe 6 years and got a heap of use out of it so I couldn't complain.
So I did some research, I didn't want to spend too much, nothing like the 800-1200 the OP indicated he's looking to spend. This time around I was keen to try a charcoal bbq, so naturally the Weber Kettle was the obvious choice. As has been pointed out though, the kettle bbq is not always convenient espcially if you want to whip up some quick bacon and eggs on the bbq on a Sunday morning... So I toyed with the idea of getting a Weber Q instead and forgoing the charcoal experience. I rented a holiday house a couple of years back that had a Q and it was a great bbq.
In the end though, the lure of the charcoal cook won out and I went with a Weber Kettle. A couple of weeks later I went to BBQ's Galore and bought myself a small 2 burner Gas bbq to complement the Kettle and which was on sale (was $250, down to $150), so I ended up spending $450 in total. So now I've got the 2 burner for the bacon and eggs, mushrooms and chipolatas on a Sunday morning and the Weber Kettle for the steaks, fish, roasts etc when I've got time. I also bought a griddle for the weber so I can do things like baby octopus etc.
I love the whole charcoal cooking process, it's good fun trying new things when you start knowing the subtleties on how to control your heat and the whole direct/indirect cooking methods. Get some hickory chips to throw on the coals to get that smokey flavour. Nothing better than having the lawns mowed, kids sport done come Saturday afternoon, preparing the meat then heading out the back with a beer, turning on the radio to listen to the footy/cricket and firing up the coals for Kettle.
