It weighs about 30 pounds, and you need two hands to carry it, because it doesn’t have a latch to hold the lid securely to the firebox. But the position of the side handles helps to evenly distribute its 30-pound heft and lessens the burden of hoisting and moving the grill. Wirecutter staff who have used the Q 1200 at home have found it easy to clean both the grates and the grease tray under the grill. You don’t need to buy Weber’s specialty tins for the grease tray either—instead, just line the catch pan with aluminum foil and pull it off when you’re done. However, this 40-pound grill isn’t lightweight by any stretch of the imagination.
A basic, more affordable grill might get you through a backyard bash, but a more expensive product will tend to last longer, even under more rigorous or extensive use. Simple grilling, like burgers and dogs, can be done on any portable grill. But if you would like the option to sear a steak and slow-cook chicken weber portable grill on the same grate, you’ll likely only find such features on higher-quality models. Similarly, the least expensive grills don’t offer the maximum heat output nor the control to cook more complicated foods. For the size and price, it may be tough to find a compact grill more powerful than the Cuisinart Grillster.
The integrated bamboo cutting board fits on top of the base, which gives you somewhere to prep your meal even if there’s no picnic table around. Even though the Jumbo Joe isn’t the smallest or most compact charcoal grill we tested, it is lightweight (about 18 pounds) and easy to carry. A swiveling metal arm holds the grill together for transport and doubles as a lid holder while you’re grilling. The comfortable plastic handle allows you to lift the grill with one hand, while a heat shield keeps it cool to the touch during grilling.
First of all, raising and lowering down the scissor cart could not be any easier, and it’s actually quite satisfying to see and do. I can’t say enough good things about having a workspace beside the grill and the tool hooks. Little touches like that make grilling on the go much more pleasurable.
The Solaire Everywhere infrared grill is a unique product on our roster and performs very well in a few categories. First, it is very small and compact, and its construction is tight and carries quietly. Most importantly, the high-powered ceramic “flameless” burner that sits below a carefully designed grate of v-shaped bars cooks steaks better than anything else in our review. For those excellent cuts of red meat that require nothing more than a touch of flame, this is the best portable grill on the market. The grill’s porcelain-enameled, cast-iron cooking grates split into two pieces down the middle. They were easy to remove and clean, however I did let mine soak in the sink overnight with some Dawn Powerwash to later scrape off the burned bits of food.
Speaking of grease, it has a slide-out grease trap that’s easy to empty. It also has a built-in thermometer that’s reasonably accurate, but I still suggest getting a separate instant-read thermometer. Everdure designs premium grills in collaboration with chef Heston Blumenthal, so you can’t expect a run-of-the-mill design. The grill has nicely sized handles for carrying, and setting up this grill is foolproof – place your pieces in position, and it’s ready to go. Our test load of two burgers, two brats, and two ears of corn consumed most of the acreage but still left enough room that the food wasn’t touching and the grill wasn’t overloaded. That aside, foods cooked fairly evenly and sported aesthetically pleasing grill marks in our tests.