We had to travel about 50 yards in the unkempt grass to reach where we wanted to settle in and the huge plastic wheels made pulling the grill effortless. Simply slide the wheel end out first, lower it to the ground with the handle, grab the handle of the other end of the grill and off you go. I’ll run through some of the main features of this grill, before listing what I liked and what I didn’t like, and then get into the nitty-gritty of what it was like cooking on this grill. It’s also big enough that you can enjoy cooking with it at home. Cook up your favorite burgers, steaks, chops, veggies and hot dogs with ease, or get creative and try some fresh grilled fruit for a special dessert your friends and family won’t soon forget.
The frame which consists of the legs, tool hooks, shelf, and igniter are all plastic, but the material is thick and meant to be durable to withstand the rigors of traveling. On the flip side, the Traveler is less portable than the brand would have you believe in its flashy promotional videos. It’s heavier than any other portable grill I’ve tested and I would categorize the Traveler as a semi-portable grill and not a truly portable grill. Even after loading the Jumbo Joe grill with a full chimney starter’s worth of red-hot embers (about 90 briquettes), we could still tamp down the temperature to medium heat.
The very inner and outer parts of the surface were the cooler zones. The exterior hood and body are painted porcelain-enameled steel with stainless steel accents around the lid. The lid’s handle is also stainless steel as is the burner inside the grill. Weighing in at 47 lbs, Weber designed the grill to be light for portability.
If we look at this as just another travel grill, it’s a simple but effective one. The single burner outputs 13,000 BTU per hour, so there’s plenty of power to grill even a thick steak, and it will handle all your camping and RVing cooking needs with ease. But, with 320 square inches of grill space, chicken pieces, chops, burgers, sausages, veggies, fish, and breakfast food are all doable. Two separate burners allow for multiple types of cooking (like searing and indirect heat), as with a standard-size grill.
All portable grills, in our experience, struggle to control their internal temperature. Not surprisingly, this grill doesn’t offer the control of full-size grills. This is not to say that it cannot be controlled, but that it will likely take a bit of a learning curve until you figure out how to do so.
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 weber portable grill 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.
The Weber Traveler is a propane barbecue built with the outdoor enthusiast in mind. Because it’s a portable grill, it’s made to run on those smaller, disposable 1 lb. Gas canisters, but you can pick up an adaptor for 20-pound tanks. It’s easy to see the Weber Traveler was designed with convenience in mind, with rugged-looking wheels, a grease tray that’s easy to get at, and even tool hooks on the front. Don’t even get me started about the side shelf; that’s a feature too many full-size grills lack, so I’m excited to see it on this portable unit. I’m always looking for the best portable grill, something that delivers a quality cooking experience yet is compact enough to toss in the trunk at the drop of a hat.