I really enjoy my Hamilton Beach grill. I owned two Foreman's beforehand and then I went with the Hamilton because I got more grill surface for the price. Honestly, I haven't noticed any difference between the two brands. I guess I have become use to the fact that I will have to replace the grill due to the excessive use. Walmart and KMART sell them at a reasonable price. The idea of the aluminum foil may help pro-long the life of my grill so I will start trying that out. But all in all, I have to say, the idea of using basically two "flat waffle irons" to cook meat and veggies was ingenious. The worse convenience cooker I ever bought was an electric hotdog cooker many years ago. It only took a day to figure out that this was a bad idea. The two times I tried it (the second time was to see if I was dreaming), the hotdogs tasted as if they had been electrocuted. If you can imagine, biting into a hotdog and it felt like you had a small spark of electricity hitting your tongue. It was kind of like someone shuffling their feet on the carpet and without warning, they touch you and (BUZZ) static electricity. The store got that rascal back the very next day.