We try to run temperature tests on all the grills simultaneously. We also use the same weight and brand of lump charcoal (4.4 pounds or 2 kg), often from the same bag. That's true of fire starters, too (one per grill).
After that, we light them up, as instructed by their manuals if available. Usually, that means letting the coals catch for 15 minutes, with the lid open, then shutting the grill. At this point, vents remain wide open until the grill comes within 50 degrees of the target temp.
We carefully fiddle with the vents to get there. Lastly, we let go of the controls and observe.
We follow the same procedure for our higher-temperature test with a target of 350 F. The idea here is to simulate the heat performance required to roast chicken and other poultry.
And speaking of food, we perform lots of "anecdotal tests" too. We smoke a rack of baby back ribs (225 F) in each grill. We butterfly (aka spatchcock) chickens and roast them too or cook them beer can-style. Sourced from the local Costco, these weigh roughly 5 pounds each. Last, we grill a set of four 8-ounce burger patties at high heat (600 F).
Want more options? Here are the other two Kamado grill models we evaluated for this test group. They didn't make it into my picks, but you may want to take a look for comparison's sake:
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