Both Weber gas grills I tested were effective and easy to cook on, but the nod goes to the Traveler here for its passionate embrace of portability. When folded up, the legs become a handle that you can pull behind you as if you’re walking with a nice roller bag. The legs on one side of the grill become a sort of handle when the grill is folded up; you can walk with it, kind of as if you’re pulling a weber charcoal grill nice roller bag. It has some other nice design touches, like the ability to transition the grill from folded to cook-ready with one hand, and a lid that locks automatically for transport and storage. The Weber Traveler heated up quickly, and I met no resistance when turning food on the porcelain-enameled cast-iron grates. Of all the grills I tested, the Traveler was the easiest to set up and use.
Steel inserts that sit over the flame ports can help, as can a cleverly designed grilling grate that channels grease away from the fire. After testing five propane models, we’re confident that the Weber Q 1200 Gas Grill is the best portable gas grill. In our tests, the Q 1200 outperformed the competition at both high-heat searing and low-and-slow grilling, with the fewest flare-ups. It has a cast-aluminum firebox that evenly distributes heat across its 189-square-inch grilling grate.
Finally, we assessed the grill’s portability by physically carrying each grill to our vehicle and attempting to place it in the trunk. The Cuisinart uses a kettle style that’s notably shallower than other kettle-style grills. On the plus side, the shallow kettle required just 12 briquettes to heat the entire 14-inch cooking portable bbq surface. The Green Mountain Grills Davy Crockett Pellet Grill differentiates itself from standard portable grills with its ability to smoke as well as barbecue, making it the most versatile grill we tested. Like its little brother, the Jumbo Joe heats evenly and can reach temperatures well above what’s needed for searing.
The fuel source can make a big difference in determining which type of portable grill you buy. 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 to be one of the best single burners in our review.
The big drawback with this nifty portable oven is its cooking capacity. Since food has to be loaded into a tube, you can’t really cook many of the traditional barbecue meats such as ribs. weber q Setup was a snap — you simply unhinge the sides and the entire thing opens up like a clamshell. The grilling space is large too with 226 square inches of ceramic-coated nonstick grates.