and often is both cheaper and more reliable.

I had one of the old mechanical spark things on a 20 year old Weber... it worked for about the first 3 years... then I used a lighter for the next 15 years, and finally when I was replacing the burners a couple years ago, I also replaced the spark unit, before I passed the whole thing onto my son, who has used it several times since. (hell, he grew up with it... GRIN)

I bought a brand new one... and it has the multi-spark unit.

Now let me rant a it about Weber... the old grill I had came with two large wheels in the back... so I could roll that thing over flagstones, bricks or any slightly uneven surface. The new one... well it is not built quite as robust... and has tiny "office chair" like wheels... wheels that only work well on a good flat surface. It is a noisy PITA to roll across a wooden deck.

I contacted weber about this... their response "we never made a grill with big wheels."

My old weber looked just like this... note the big wheels.