Y'all use grill mats?

Yeah I'm intrigued as well. Surface of my Weber Q can get to mid-upper 500's near the ports (thank you Aaron Franklin for giving me the idea to use my IR thermometer to find the hot-spots on this table-top grill), can these mats handle it?

Do you really get 100's of uses per mat? I'm using the Q for a low-hassle post-sous vide sear, think it will work for that?

Oh what the hell, they're cheap and the Q is a biatch to clean, so if they kind kindof work that's a plus. I'll try it and report back.

You can hand wash them or put them in the dishwasher. I've got 10 uses out of them so far and they look like new. No signs of wear.

It doesn't seem to hamper heat transfer at all. It also eliminates worrying about flare ups

I do see all the benefits, but what I'm hung up on is not having the smoke flavor rising through the grates directly onto what you're cooking. Wouldn't this impede the process unless covered for some time?

I'm not butting heads with you, I'm just guessing that my grilled asparagus (which I place on the grill against the grates to keep them from falling in, duh) would pick up less smoke flavor if on a mat and not the grates.

Again, I can see the advantages.

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There's basically no mess on the grill

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Seems like a good thing for fish or something delicate like that but for something like a sturdy piece of meat, what's the advantage?

The mess on the grill is minimal and easily scraped off in 5 seconds

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but for something like a sturdy piece of meat, what's the advantage

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I puts a really nice crust on the steak because it cooks in its own juice. You still get those coveted grill marks, but it also crusts in between