The infrared-cooking capability of the Solaire Everywhere puts out 14,000 BTUs and confidently sears a steak faster than anything else. In our tests, the side shelf proved to be useful, as did the tool holders located on the front of the grill. Weber claims that the grill is designed to optimize gas usage, which we didn’t actively test but we did notice anecdotally that it lasted longer than the other portable grills we tested.
If you are cooking a variety of foods all at once, you might prefer different temperature zones. To test the distribution of heat across a grill, we grilled different food types in different corners of the grill. We rated the grills on ease of cleaning, including dumping any ash and unused charcoal for applicable models. After rating the grills’ overall performances in these areas, we looked at those scores and weighed them against their retail prices. Rating each area on a scale of one to five, we averaged the category scores to arrive at the final score for each grill. Since food has to be loaded into a tube, you can’t really cook many of the traditional barbecue meats such as ribs.
A lightweight steel lid and three insulating walls give it the ability to both block wind and retain heat, allowing you to cook in less-than-ideal weather. This model cools down almost as quickly as it heats up for a quick get-away, with a locking lid and enough space to store one-pound gas canisters. This Weber grill is a mini version of the brand’s well-loved charcoal kettle. Testers appreciated the solid but portable build and how quickly they were able to set it up. The fact that the carrying handle doubles as a lid holder is also useful for keeping an eye on the food when cooking. That aside, foods cooked fairly evenly and sported aesthetically pleasing grill marks in our tests.
Of the one-burner grills, the mid-sized models offer a wide range of control options. On all that we currently include in the review, the knob and regulators allow a clearer and wider range of burner output. Control, then, is mostly a function of burner shape, grill shape, and the relative interaction of these two features. Large burners, relative to the grill size, distribute heat more evenly to the grill top. We found the u-shaped burner of the Camp Chef portable bbq to be one of the best single burners in our review.
We found that between the multi-hole design of the burners and the way that they are recessed into the tub of the grill body that this model’s flames are very hard to extinguish. This Camp Chef model has a stable cooking surface that prevents any wind from getting through to the grilling grate. Wind resistance was another particularly strong aspect of the George Foreman Indoor/Outdoor, whose electrically heated cooking surface seemed completely unfazed by convective heat loss, as far as we can tell. For this metric, we had to consider how different methods of heat production compared among different grills across the board.
Grills with side table attachments, stands, and other prep areas ended up ranking higher in our tests, as we rated grills for their overall design. When cooking outside, a clean, workable surface makes prepping convenient and efficient. Cleanup was simple, and as the grill comes with no specific cleaning weber q instructions, dumping the spent ash was a simple task. Finally, we should note that, at 40 pounds, this grill is more suited to car camping or picnicking, where it’s only a short walk to where you’ll be cooking. It would also fare well as a supplemental grill when cooking for a crowd in your backyard.
The tightly fitting vents are tough to adjust without gloves, and it takes time to skillfully manage these adjustments for perfect airflow. But we can assure you that with practice, this portable grill can allow you to master the art of cooking over an open flame and produce delicious food in the process, even on the go. Those in need of a compact grill to fit in the trunk of a smaller vehicle or take up minimal storage space will want to consider another model. This is a bulky grill compared to many of its rivals in this review, and it relies heavily on wheels for transport. Weighing in at 47 pounds, it’s not very fun to transport it much further than in and out of a truck bed. However, the Coleman Roadtrip 285 makes up for the portability deficiencies with top-tier grilling performance, easily earning our recommendation for a large-sized portable grill.
With any grill, cleaning them before transporting them will lead to less mess. This could be a good starter grill for someone who wants to try grilling but doesn’t want to make a large commitment to the endeavor. Its biggest drawbacks are wobbly legs, even when ensuring that the attachment hardware is fully tightened, and visible air gaps in the lid that limit the ability to control the temperature. The Dyna-Glo scored highly for performance but was edged out for Best Value by its weight (40 pounds) and a more complicated assembly process that could require a second person to accomplish easily.
Finally — and the most notable problem — the low-heat performance is practically nonexistent. Although the heat is adjustable, we would describe the settings as “High” to “Extremely High.” Furthermore, the only purpose of the lid is portability; you cannot close it while cooking. While it prepares steaks very, very nicely, other foods are nearly impossible to cook well. For the fans of pit-cooking out there, we offer up the Weber Go-Anywhere Charcoal Grill.
Unless our goal was blackened chicken or blistered peppers, we rarely found ourselves using anything other than the lowest gas setting. While it is compact and portable, you must settle for a smaller grilling space. Petite and sure-footed, the Grillster is the perfect companion for a picnic for two, no matter the location. First, assembly is a non-issue, as it consists of lining up the grates after taking the grill out of the box, and it took longer to unpack than to make it ready to cook. The cast aluminum body, top, and cast iron grates are built to last, and the included Flipkit turns the two-piece top and bottom into two hibachi grills that double your cooking area.