Whether it’s the salty sweetness on that lightly charred corn or the rich smoothness of smoked meat, warm weather begs us to get outside and light a fire. This grill is a good starter model for someone, but the construction is pretty shaky, and the heat is very inconsistent, with multiple hot and cold spots across the grill. As with all new grills start it and let it get hot for about 20 minutes to burn off all the oil and grease that is used during the manufacturing process. Most of the lower ratings are in my opinion from people who did not read the specifications of this grill too well.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that heat will be used, but it can be. In general, the hotter a grill burns, the better the results for searing and even cooking. Still, a portable grill with about 8,000 BTUs (the equivalent of a larger stove burner) can get hot enough heat to produce nice grill marks.
Whether you’re an avid tailgater or off-roading enthusiast, the HitchFire Forge 15 is a worthwhile splurge for those who are always grilling on the go. This heavy-duty propane grill can be used on a table, but what makes it special is its included mount, which attaches to a 2-inch vehicle hitch. Once installed, you can drive, off-road, and cook with the grill mounted to the rear of your car. We were truly impressed at how secure the HitchFire felt when mounted to a truck, and it never budged on a 350-mile drive. Ever wish you could get your grill on outside of your backyard?
Do yourself a favor, throw away your lighter fluid and get a charcoal chimney starter ($27). It weighs 22 pounds and has a handle with a bar that fits over the top to keep the kettle and lid together for easy carrying. I tossed mine in the back of the car for trips to the lake and the park and it never tipped over. The ash catcher at the bottom makes cleaning less of a hassle by allowing you to dump the excess without removing the grill grates. After that, we grilled 12 thick onion slices, 12 burgers, and 12 accompanying buns per grill. We cooked each for a prescribed amount of time at a specified temperature setting and observed how the grill behaved, noting any variations of doneness on varying spots of the grill, flare-ups, or sticking.
Finally, we judged the grills on how easy they were to clean up after cooking. We vetted standalone and portable gas grills for more than a month to find the best value buys. In fact, the only caveat is that you need an electricity supply that can handle up to 2.2 kilowatts of continuous output. For my first test, I whacked the heat up to the highest setting, threw on some chicken wings with a good dose of Nando’s hot rub for good measure and closed the lid.
Since the grill is split into two parts and the trays are half the size of the grill, you simply remove one of the grates and replace it with the trays. For steaming, you would fill the lower tray with water and use the top-mounted perforated tray to cook the ingredients on or replace the water for wood chips if smoking. At this juncture I should add that there are actually two Weber Lumin models available – a larger 66cm wide model with 1,562 square centimetres of cooking space and the smaller Lumin Compact model I’m reviewing here. No matter how you measure it, the Traveler’s 13,000-BTU burner gets plenty hot and really shines when searing. The 320-square-inch grilling surface is big enough to grill for a crowd. It’ll still fit in the trunk of most cars, but it definitely takes up a considerable amount of space.
It’s not as sophisticated as the SmartFire, but it’s more portable, and two probes is generally all I need on small grills. It’s big enough for a family of four and strikes the best balance between ease of use and cooking performance. It has a thermometer and some side tables to hold your plates and tongs. It’s also a champ at keeping a constant, even heat in pretty much any weather conditions. A storm blew in one afternoon, but it just kept on cooking despite the high wind and rain. For overall performance, even considering it’s a portable model, the Weber Q 1200 Gas Grill delivers great value for the dollars spent.
We were skeptical, but tests found it stayed within 10 degrees of the set temperature all the way from 250 to 500 degrees, where we were able to get nice char on both burgers and ears of corn. That’s a lot of hype, and I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but the Takibi lives up to the hype and then some. It folds flat, leaving more room in your trunk; the grill top is a grid so small things won’t fall through, and when you’re done cooking it turns into a fire pit.
For this list, we selected the top-performing grills under $300. Starting with assembly, we rated the difficulty of assembly and the clarity of the instructions on a scale of one to five. We then judged the sturdiness, evenness of heat distribution, and weber portable grill overall subjective impression on the same scale. Aside from the aforementioned grates, the Lumin Compact ships with two stainless steel trays – one for containing water for steaming or wood chips for smoking, the other for placing the ingredients.
All in all, I’d say all three tests were a resounding success and I might even consider switching over to electric when I’m not using my trusty pellet grill. When it comes to recommending reputable barbecue brands, weber portable grill I usually alight on three main players – Weber, Broil King and Napoleon. In my experience, these three manufacturers consistently produce some of the best performing and most robust barbecues you can buy.