I’ve had a lot of grills roll through my backyard over the last ten-plus years — cheap box-store four-burners that rusted out in two summers, a couple of pellet smokers I still use every weekend, and a handful of “premium” gas grills that didn’t earn the word. The Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB is one of the few that did.
I’m going to walk you through this grill the way I’d walk a buddy through it in my driveway — what it does well, where it falls short, what Napoleon doesn’t put in bold letters on the box, and whether it’s actually worth your money or just worth its price tag. Two different things.
Quick verdict: If you grill often, want real searing power, and plan to keep this thing for a decade or more, the Prestige 500 RSIB is one of the strongest values in the premium gas grill category. If you grill three times a summer and just want burgers to not stick, you’re paying for features you won’t use — get something simpler.
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Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB: At a Glance
| Feature | Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB |
|---|---|
| Grill type | Premium 4-burner gas grill on cart |
| Main cooking area | ~500 sq. in. |
| Total cooking area (incl. warming rack) | ~883–914 sq. in. (varies slightly by model year) |
| Primary burners | 4 stainless tube burners, ~48,000 BTU combined |
| Total BTU (all burners) | ~80,000–82,000 BTU |
| Infrared side burner | Yes — SIZZLE ZONE™, up to 1,800°F |
| Infrared rear burner | Yes — dedicated rotisserie burner |
| Rotisserie | Yes, heavy-duty kit included |
| Cooking grates | 7.5–8.5mm stainless steel WAVE™ grates |
| Fuel options | Propane or natural gas (sold as separate SKUs) |
| Ignition | JETFIRE™ direct-spark, battery-free |
| Warranty | Napoleon President’s Limited Lifetime Warranty |
| Best for | Serious backyard cooks who grill weekly and want infrared searing plus rotisserie capability |
A quick note on those “verify” specs — Napoleon has evolved this grill over the years (grate thickness, drip pan material, ignition reliability rating), so the exact numbers on your box can shift slightly by model year and SKU. Always cross-check the spec sheet for the specific model number on the listing before you buy. I’ll flag where this matters as we go.
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What Is the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB?
The Prestige line sits in the middle of Napoleon’s grill lineup — above the entry-level Rogue series, below the flagship Prestige PRO. RSIB is Napoleon’s shorthand for “Rear burner, Side burner, Infrared, Built-in rotisserie” — basically, the model code tells you this version comes loaded with the searing and roasting hardware that’s optional or absent on the base Prestige.
This isn’t a grill built for someone who fires up twice a summer for the neighborhood cookout. It’s built for people who treat grilling as a real hobby — the kind of person who wants a proper sear on a ribeye, not just grill marks, and who’s willing to pay for the hardware that makes that possible.
Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB vs Prestige PRO 500
I get asked this constantly, so let’s settle it early since it directly affects your buying decision.
The two grills share the same core DNA — 304-grade stainless steel construction, the WAVE grate design, JETFIRE ignition, and the same footprint class. Where they split:
- Grate thickness: The Prestige runs roughly 7.5–8mm WAVE grates. The PRO steps up to 9–9.5mm rods that hold heat longer once you drop a cold steak on them. If searing is the whole reason you’re buying a premium grill, this is the one upgrade that actually changes how your food cooks.
- Lighting: The PRO adds interior halogen grill lighting and upgraded LED “SafetyGlow” control knobs for nighttime cooking. The Prestige RSIB gets illuminated knobs too, just not the interior cabinet and grill-surface lighting.
- Extras: The PRO typically throws in a built-in ice/marinade bucket on the side shelf and a stainless warming rack instead of chrome.
- Price: Expect to pay several hundred dollars more for the PRO — historically somewhere in the $500–$1,200 range depending on configuration and retailer, though you should always confirm current pricing before deciding.
My honest take, from having cooked on both: the Prestige 500 RSIB with the infrared Sizzle Zone gets you 90% of the PRO’s real-world cooking performance for meaningfully less money. The PRO’s extras are about how the grill lives in your outdoor space at night — not how well it sears a steak at 6 PM on a Tuesday. If you’re building a permanent outdoor kitchen and want the polish, go PRO. If you want a grill that performs and you don’t need the ice bucket, the RSIB is the smarter buy.
Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB: Signature Tech
This is where Napoleon actually differentiates itself from the sea of “premium” grills that are really just bigger boxes with more knobs. These three technologies are the reason people pay Napoleon prices, and they’re worth understanding before you decide if they matter to you.
WAVE™ Cooking Grates
Napoleon’s signature “S”-shaped stainless grates aren’t just a styling choice. The wave pattern does two real things: it keeps smaller cuts (shrimp, sliced vegetables, thin chicken tenders) from sliding through the gaps the way they would on straight rod grates, and it holds heat more evenly across the surface for consistent sear marks. I’ve cooked shrimp skewers on flat-rod grates and lost more than I’d like to admit down into the flame. Hasn’t happened once on the WAVE grates.
JETFIRE™ Ignition
Every main burner lights independently with its own direct-flame ignition — no relying on a single spark to jump across all four burners like a lot of cheaper grills do. There’s also a backup flame-channel between burners so if one doesn’t catch, it can light off its neighbor. In ten-plus years of grilling, a grill that won’t light on the first try is one of my top annoyances, and this system is genuinely one of the more reliable ignition setups I’ve used. Newer production years have reportedly pushed one-strike reliability even higher — again, worth confirming for your exact model year.
SafetyGlow™ Knobs
Small feature, real usefulness: the control knobs glow red when gas is flowing. It sounds minor until you’re the guy who left a burner cracked open after cleanup and didn’t realize it. If you’ve ever walked back outside an hour after grilling to a faint gas smell, you’ll appreciate this one.
Infrared SIZZLE ZONE™ Side Burner
This is a dedicated ceramic infrared burner separate from your main cooking grates, capable of hitting around 1,800°F in about 30 seconds. That’s not marketing fluff — that’s genuinely restaurant-steakhouse territory, and it’s hot enough to put a real crust on a steak in under two minutes per side.
Rear Infrared Rotisserie Burner
Mounted behind the main cooking area, this burner is dedicated entirely to rotisserie cooking — whole chickens, prime rib, pork loin, leg of lamb. Because it’s infrared and positioned behind rather than underneath, it roasts evenly without you having to babysit hot spots the way you would with a standard back burner repurposed for rotisserie duty.
Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB Performance Review
Specs tell you what a grill has. This section is about what it actually does — because I’ve reviewed grills with beautiful spec sheets that cooked unevenly the second you closed the lid.
How Well Does It Grill?
Preheat is fast — figure 10–12 minutes to get the main grates up to searing temperature, which is on par with or a little quicker than most grills in this class. Heat spread across the four main burners is even; I don’t get the classic “hot in the middle, cool on the ends” problem I’ve run into on cheaper 4-burners with thinner firebox walls.
Low-temp control is where this grill actually surprised me. Because you’ve got four independently controlled burners, you can run a genuine two-zone or three-zone setup — full heat on one side for searing, low-and-slow indirect on the other for something like a beer-can chicken. Recovery after opening the lid is quick, within a minute or two back to target temp, which matters more than people think when you’re flipping burgers for a crowd.
How Does It Perform for Steaks?
This is the grill’s strongest use case, full stop. Sear a ribeye on the main grates and you get good marks. Finish it — or start it — on the Sizzle Zone infrared burner and you get an actual crust, the kind you’d expect from a steakhouse broiler. My go-to move is a reverse sear: bring the steak up slow on indirect heat over the main burners, then finish for 60–90 seconds a side on the infrared side burner. That combination is genuinely hard to replicate on a grill without a dedicated infrared station.
How Does It Perform for Burgers, Chicken & Vegetables?
For everyday cooking, this grill is honestly a little overbuilt — in a good way. The 500 square inches of main cooking space comfortably handles burgers for a full backyard party, and the multi-zone control means you can keep buns warming on indirect heat while you finish patties on direct. Vegetables on skewers do well on the WAVE grates for the reason I mentioned earlier — they don’t fall through.
How Does the Rotisserie Perform?
Setup takes a few minutes once you’ve done it a couple of times — spearing the bird or roast, balancing it on the spit, locking it into the motor. The rear infrared burner does the heavy lifting here, and it produces genuinely even browning without the flare-ups you sometimes get from grease dripping onto open flame. Whole chickens come out with crisp skin all the way around, not just on top. Prime rib on the rotisserie is, frankly, the best use of this grill’s full feature set — it’s the dish that makes the RSIB’s price tag make sense.
Build Quality & Construction
Napoleon builds the Prestige 500 RSIB from 304-grade stainless steel for the components that matter most — firebox, burners, and cooking grates — with powder-coated trim elsewhere to control cost without cutting corners where corrosion actually starts. That 304 vs. 430 stainless distinction matters more than most reviews mention: 430 stainless is cheaper and more magnetic, but it rusts faster, especially near the coast or in humid climates. 304 is what you want on the parts that see direct heat and moisture.
The cart rides on industrial-grade locking casters, which sounds like a small thing until you’re the guy trying to wheel a 200+ lb grill across a bumpy patio in the wind. Grease management runs through a dedicated drip system down to a removable pan underneath — Napoleon has moved this to a porcelain-coated pan on newer production years, which resists rust better than bare stainless in that specific spot (grease sits and corrodes metal faster than you’d expect).
Is It Built to Last?
Owners who’ve had this grill for 8–10+ years consistently report the stainless rod grates and core structure holding up well with basic seasonal maintenance. The parts most likely to need eventual replacement on any gas grill — igniters, sear plates, and occasionally a burner tube after many years of use — are all standard, sourceable Napoleon parts rather than proprietary dead-ends. That’s a meaningfully better position to be in five years from now than owning a grill from a brand that’s since discontinued your parts line.
Dimensions, Weight & Clearance
| Specification | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Overall width | ~65.5 in (166 cm) |
| Overall depth | ~26 in (66 cm) |
| Overall height (lid closed) | ~51 in (129.5 cm) |
| Overall height (lid open) | ~58 in (147 cm) |
| Main cooking area | ~28 x 17.75 in (500 sq. in.) |
| Total cooking area | ~883–914 sq. in. |
| Packaged weight | ~215 lbs |
This is a full-size grill, not a compact patio unit — plan on a clear footprint of roughly 6 feet wide including the side shelves, plus swing room for the lid and enough clearance behind it for the rear infrared burner’s heat. If you’re working with a small balcony or a tight townhouse patio, this grill is going to feel like a lot of machine. For a proper backyard setup or an outdoor kitchen build, it fits comfortably.
If you’re considering a built-in installation instead of the freestanding cart version, Napoleon also offers Prestige PRO 500 built-in configurations designed to drop into an outdoor kitchen island — worth a look if you’re building rather than buying a standalone unit.
Propane vs. Natural Gas — Read This Before You Buy
This is the section I want you to actually slow down for, because it’s the single most common mistake I see people make with this grill, and it’s an expensive one to fix after the fact.
The Prestige 500 RSIB is sold as two separate SKUs — one built for propane, one built for natural gas. They are not the same grill with a swappable part. The orifices, regulator, and burner setup are matched to the fuel type at the factory.
Natural Gas
Pros: Never running out of fuel mid-cook, no tanks to haul or refill, generally cheaper per-BTU over time if you already have a gas line. Cons: You need an existing natural gas line near your patio, or the cost of running one. Less portable — this version isn’t going anywhere once it’s hooked up.
Propane
Pros: Fully portable, no installation required beyond hooking up a tank, works anywhere. Cons: You’re managing tank swaps and the occasional “ran out mid-cook” moment. Slightly higher per-BTU cost over the long run.
Can You Convert It From One Fuel to the Other?
Technically, yes — Napoleon does sell official conversion kits. But here’s the part that doesn’t get said often enough: an unauthorized conversion will void your warranty. Napoleon’s own warranty language is explicit that any fuel conversion not performed with Napoleon-authorized parts by an authorized technician voids coverage. This isn’t a “read the fine print” gotcha — it’s spelled out directly in their warranty documentation.
My honest advice, and this is the one place I’ll be blunt: don’t buy this grill planning to convert it later. Figure out which fuel type you’re actually going to use — check what’s available at your house right now — and buy that SKU from day one. The labor and kit cost of a proper conversion, plus the risk to a warranty that’s genuinely one of this grill’s best selling points, makes “buy the wrong one and fix it later” a bad plan. If your situation changes down the road (you move, you get a gas line installed), a professional conversion is available, but treat it as a last resort, not a shortcut to save on the front end.
Ongoing Maintenance & Ownership Experience
Nobody talks enough about what owning a grill like this actually looks like three years in, so let’s cover it.
Searing station cleanup: The infrared ceramic burner on the Sizzle Zone side burner needs more careful cleaning than a standard grate. Grease that drips onto ceramic infrared elements can clog the tiny ports that generate that even, intense heat — don’t let it build up. A quick brush and wipe-down after each use, and a deeper clean every few uses, keeps it performing at full strength. Skip this and you’ll notice uneven heat from the sear station within a season.
Stainless steel isn’t stain-proof: Even 304-grade stainless will develop light surface staining or water spotting over time, especially near the coast where salt air speeds things up. A stainless-safe cleaner every few weeks in grilling season, plus a cover when it’s not in use, keeps the exterior looking like it did on day one.
Grease management: Check and empty the drip pan regularly — don’t wait for it to overflow. This is a bigger grill with more burners, which means more grease volume than a basic 2-burner unit.
Winter storage: If you’re in a climate with real winters, a quality grill cover and, ideally, storing the tank or disconnecting the gas line for the off-season will meaningfully extend the life of the components.
None of this is unusual for a premium grill — but a grill in this price bracket rewards the extra five minutes of care, because the components underneath are actually worth protecting.
Accessories
Must-Have
- A properly fitted grill cover — non-negotiable if this thing lives outside year-round.
- The heavy-duty rotisserie kit — included with purchase, but confirm it’s in the box; some retailers list it separately for older stock.
- A digital probe thermometer — the built-in lid thermometer tells you ambient hood temp, not internal meat temp. You want both.
Worth Considering
- A griddle insert for one of the main burner zones — turns this into a smash-burger and breakfast-cooking machine without buying a second appliance.
- Grill baskets for vegetables, if you’re not already sold on the WAVE grates handling that job.
Skip It (Probably)
Branded cleaning kits and specialty tools marked up well past what a hardware-store equivalent does the same job for. The grill itself doesn’t need much beyond a good brush and stainless cleaner.
Replacement Parts
The components most likely to eventually need replacing on any gas grill — igniters, sear plates, heat plates, and occasionally a burner tube after many seasons — are all standard Napoleon parts, not proprietary one-offs discontinued after a couple of years.
When sourcing parts, match your exact model number (found on a sticker inside the left side panel or on the original documentation) rather than assuming “Prestige 500” covers every variant — RSIB, RB, and standard configurations use different sear plates and burner counts. Stick with genuine Napoleon parts; installing third-party components is one of the few things that will void your warranty outright, same as an unauthorized fuel conversion.
Assembly
How Difficult Is It?
This isn’t a 20-minute job. Realistically, budget 2–3 hours for first-time assembly, and it genuinely helps to have a second set of hands for mounting the cart panels and lifting the hood assembly into place — it’s a heavy grill even before you’ve hooked up gas. You’ll need a basic set of hand tools (most kits include the essentials, but a proper socket set speeds things up considerably).
What typically arrives assembled: the firebox and burner assembly. What you’ll build: the cart, side shelves, wheels, and warming rack.
Before You Fire It Up
Once assembly is done, don’t skip the leak test — soapy water on every gas connection, watching for bubbles, before you ever light it. This matters even more on the natural gas version where you’re connecting to a house line rather than a self-contained tank. Confirm your exact model number against Napoleon’s official manual before starting, since RSIB configurations have a couple of extra steps for the rear burner and rotisserie motor that base models skip.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Genuine infrared searing performance, not a marketing gimmick
- Rear infrared rotisserie burner produces evenly cooked, crisp-skinned results
- 304 stainless construction on the parts that matter most
- JETFIRE ignition is reliably fast and doesn’t rely on batteries
- Strong multi-zone control for real backyard cooking, not just burgers
- Lifetime warranty coverage that beats most competitors in this price range
- Large total cooking capacity for family gatherings
Cons
- Premium price relative to entry-level 4-burner grills
- Large footprint — needs real patio space
- More components (infrared burners, rotisserie motor) mean more to maintain long-term
- Fuel type is fixed at purchase — a mistake here is costly to correct
- Some features (interior lighting, ice bucket) are reserved for the PRO tier
Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB vs. the Competition
| Feature | Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB | Weber Genesis E-435 | Weber Summit S-470 | Broil King Imperial S490 IR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooking area | ~883–914 sq. in. | ~994 sq. in. | ~580 sq. in. | ~700+ sq. in. |
| Main burners | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Infrared side burner | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Infrared rear/rotisserie burner | Yes | No | Yes (top-mounted) | Yes (rear) |
| Rotisserie included | Yes | Optional add-on | Yes, built-in | Yes |
| Cooking grates | 7.5–9.5mm stainless WAVE | 7mm stainless | 9mm stainless | Cast iron |
| Warranty | Lifetime on major components | 10 years, all parts | 10 years, all parts | Varies by component |
| Country of manufacture | Canada | Primarily China (Genesis) | USA-assembled | Canada |
| Best for | Serious cooks wanting infrared + rotisserie | Best value, largest cooking area at this tier | Buyers wanting Weber’s flagship name and smoker box | Buyers who want cast iron and strong BTU-per-dollar |
A few honest notes on how these actually stack up:
Vs. the Weber Genesis E-435: The Genesis wins on raw cooking area and Weber’s dealer network, and it’s a genuinely well-built grill. But it has no infrared burner at all — no side sear station, no rotisserie burner unless you add the kit separately. If searing and rotisserie performance are why you’re shopping premium, the Napoleon simply does more out of the box, and its warranty coverage on major components goes further than Weber’s flat 10-year policy.
Vs. the Weber Summit S-470: The Summit is the closer feature match — it does have a top-mounted infrared burner and a built-in rotisserie. But that infrared burner sits inside the lid aiming down at the food, which is broiler geometry, not true sear-station geometry underneath or beside the meat. The Summit also gives you noticeably less total cooking area for a higher price than the Prestige 500 RSIB typically commands.
Vs. the Broil King Imperial S490 IR: This is Napoleon’s most direct fight. Broil King brings cast iron grids and strong BTU output per dollar, and their rear rotisserie burner is a legitimate competitor to Napoleon’s. If you specifically prefer cast iron’s heat retention over stainless WAVE grates, Broil King is worth cross-shopping seriously. Where Napoleon tends to pull ahead is the combination of infrared side searing plus rotisserie in one package, and its stainless build quality edges out cast iron on long-term corrosion resistance.
None of these are bad grills — this tier of the market is genuinely competitive. But feature-for-feature and dollar-for-dollar on searing and rotisserie capability, the Prestige 500 RSIB holds its own against all three.
Is the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB Worth It?
Is It Good?
Yes — based on real cooking performance, not just spec-sheet numbers. The searing capability is legitimately restaurant-grade, the rotisserie burner is one of the better implementations I’ve cooked on, and the build quality on the parts that matter (firebox, grates, burners) holds up over years of regular use.
Is It Worth the Money?
That depends entirely on how you cook. If you’re grilling weekly, hosting regularly, and you’d actually use a rotisserie and an infrared sear station — yes, this earns its price over the years you’ll own it, especially against a warranty that outlasts most competitors. If you’re an occasional weekend griller who mostly wants to cook hot dogs and chicken breasts, you’re paying for hardware you won’t touch. Get an honest, simpler 3-burner grill instead and save the difference.
Who Should Buy It?
Regular home cooks who take grilling seriously, people who want to nail a steakhouse sear at home, anyone planning to actually use a rotisserie for holidays and Sunday dinners, and buyers who value a strong lifetime warranty over the cheapest sticker price.
Who Shouldn’t Buy It?
Casual, occasional grillers. Anyone with a small patio or balcony that can’t comfortably fit a 6-foot-wide grill. And anyone unsure about their fuel setup — go figure that out before you order, for the reasons I covered above.
Final Verdict
Overall rating: A strong buy in the premium gas grill category, provided your grilling habits actually justify a premium grill.
Best feature: The infrared SIZZLE ZONE side burner. It’s the single feature that most changes what you can actually cook.
Biggest weakness: The fixed fuel-type decision at purchase, combined with the warranty risk around unauthorized conversions — plan ahead here.
Best alternative: If cooking area is your top priority and you don’t need infrared, the Weber Genesis E-435 is a genuinely strong, better-value pick. If you want Napoleon’s full feature set with a few extra creature comforts, step up to the Prestige PRO 500.
Value assessment: For the buyer who’ll actually use every burner, this is one of the more complete packages in its price class — build quality, searing performance, and warranty coverage that outpaces the competition.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB a good grill? Yes. It delivers genuine infrared searing and rotisserie performance, solid 304 stainless construction on key components, and a warranty that beats most competitors in its price class.
What does RSIB mean on the Napoleon Prestige 500? It stands for Rear burner, Side burner, Infrared, Built-in rotisserie — indicating this configuration includes the infrared side and rear burners plus rotisserie kit as standard equipment.
Is the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB available in propane? Yes, it’s sold as a dedicated propane SKU, separate from the natural gas version.
Is the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB available in natural gas? Yes, as a separate SKU matched to natural gas fuel specifications from the factory.
Can you convert the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB from natural gas to propane? Napoleon does offer official conversion kits, but an unauthorized conversion voids the warranty. It’s strongly recommended to buy the correct fuel-type SKU upfront rather than plan on converting later.
What are the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB dimensions? Roughly 65.5 in wide, 26 in deep, and 51 in tall with the lid closed (58 in with it open), with a main cooking area around 500 square inches.
Does the Prestige 500 RSIB come with a rotisserie? Yes, a heavy-duty rotisserie kit is included with purchase.
Does the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB have an infrared side burner? Yes — the SIZZLE ZONE side burner reaches roughly 1,800°F for fast, high-heat searing.
Does the Prestige 500 RSIB have an infrared rear burner? Yes, dedicated to rotisserie cooking, positioned behind the main grates.
How many people can the Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB cook for? With around 500 square inches of main cooking space plus a warming rack, it comfortably handles large family gatherings — Napoleon rates it at roughly 30 burgers at once across the full cooking surface.
How long does a Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB last? With regular maintenance, owners commonly report 8–10+ years of solid performance from the core structure and grates, with typical wear parts like igniters or sear plates needing replacement periodically.
Where can you get Napoleon Prestige 500 RSIB replacement parts? Through Napoleon’s authorized dealer network or verified parts retailers — always match your exact model number, and stick to genuine Napoleon parts to avoid voiding your warranty.
Is the Prestige 500 RSIB better than the Prestige PRO 500? It’s not better or worse so much as a different value trade-off — the PRO adds thicker grates, interior lighting, and small comfort features for a higher price. The RSIB delivers nearly the same core cooking performance for less.
What accessories should you buy for the Prestige 500 RSIB? A properly fitted cover and a digital probe thermometer are the two I’d call essential. A griddle insert is a strong optional add if you want more versatility from the main burners.
i would like to buy a cajun injector smoker. i want to know if the electric heating element is replacable and for how much? thank you.