Is the Blackstone 28 Omnivore Griddle with Hood worth it?

How the Blackstone Omnivore plate holds its heat

Here's the part that separates this plate from a plain steel top: Blackstone reworked the Omnivore surface with a rolled lip that acts as a built-in wind guard, holding hot air against the cook surface instead of letting it scatter off the sides. That lip is also why the listing claims quicker preheat and recovery and fewer BTUs to hold temperature, the heat isn't fighting the wind to stay put, so the burners don't have to work as hard to replace what escapes. For you that means less standing around waiting for the plate to climb back to temperature after you drop on a cold batch of patties, and a propane tank that stretches across more cookouts than a griddle without that edge design. The rest of the build backs that up rather than distracting from it. At 524 square inches you're looking at room for roughly 21 burgers or 15 pancakes at once, so the plate itself rarely becomes the bottleneck once the heat is behaving. The rear grease management channel keeps drippings and food debris moving to one collection point instead of pooling under your spatula, and the hood does double duty, it shields the plate from weather when it's parked outside and keeps it a griddle you can leave out rather than one you have to haul into a shed. Counter-height side shelves and wheels are the kind of detail that only matters once you're actually cooking for a group, giving you somewhere to stage buns and a way to move a lot of steel without a second person.