Charcoal adds a lot of smoke to the cooking process that gas can't compete with, even with smoke wood chips. The smoke adds flavor. Gas has a big advantage in being easier to control the temperature and isn't as much work to clean up. Gas grills rely on fat dripping off the food you cook onto the heating elements to burn and add smoke. I cook turkeys on the Weber, but I'd cook just about anything else on gas. I see grills as ovens. The proper way to cook on a Weber, for example, is with the lid on for most of the time (to get the convection). Since it's an oven, you can cook pizza or bake a cake. I've put a griddle on the gas grill and cooked pancakes and bacon (turns out great). I've cooked frozen french fries on the grill, too. The trick with charcoal is to learn to do indirect cooking for roasting things. If you are going to cook burgers or hot dogs, make sure you pile the coals up on one side and have none on the other, so you have a hot part of the grill and a colder part. If food starts to cook too fast or burn, you can move it over the colder side and save it. Control the fire, or it controls you. It's better to cook over coals that are totally grey than to cook over a very hot fire. Fat from the food will melt, drip onto the coals, and flare up. The Weber grills come with an instruction book that explains it all. Follow the instructions to the letter, and you won't go wrong. It tells you how many coals to put in the grill, so count the coals you're putting in. It tells you to put 8 more in after 30 minutes, you do it. Etc.
Traeger is far and away the best. Easy to start. Just push the button. Easy to clean Delicious smokey flavor. Damn near impossible to burn your food. Can also be used as a smoker.
I'm lazy and cook with gas most of the time. They do have cast iron inserts where you can put wood chips to get some smoke flavor. I have an electric smoker for things like turkey or whole chickens or hams. Lazy again I know. I'd love to add a Traeger to the mix... Costco has them for a few weeks a year... they did about a month ago and the prices are good... don't know if they are still there though. Like someone mentioned... they are very good for some things... but less good if say you cook steak all the time. Friend cooked a pizza on his Traeger and it came out great.
I bought a charcoal grill, and I must say that I am impressed compared to gas. Not only does it taste good... but the food seems juicier. It does take more time to set up and the first time I failed miserably to get the grill hot enough and had to transfer the meat to the gas grill... but overall if I have the time... charcoal seems to produce damn good food.
