Whether it’s charcoal or gas, you can take it wherever you go with a compact and durable Weber portable grill. Compact in size to easily fit in a car, carry to the park, or grill a quick meal on your patio. I should start by saying that all feels like a bit of a stretch. While the Traveler does fold up easily and can be dragged around without too much effort, it is still rather heavy pounds to be exact — especially with the grill grates inside. I personally wouldn’t want to drag or carry this grill on a hike or even a long walk. In our tests, the Jumbo Joe charcoal grill made the best seared burgers, barbecued chicken, and grilled bratwurst.
It also wasn’t as easy to move as the GoBQ because…nothing was as easy to move as the GoBQ. The sleek, foldable, gas grill snaps up like one of those urban grocery weber portable grill pushcarts. When collapsed, the Traveler can be rolled around on two wheels but it still features a substantial 320 square inches of grilling capacity.
It’s a step-by-step grilling assistant, built into the grill, that sends notifications on everything from when it’s time to flip & serve to a food readiness countdown. When the side tables are tucked inside the grill for transport, the Q 1200 is about the size of a small carry-on suitcase. 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.
It also folds down flat for easy storage and easy transport. 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 nice roller bag.
Portable grills aren’t just for camping, picnicking, and tailgating; they’re also great for city and apartment dwellers with limited outdoor space. And they can be a good option if you don’t have the budget for a full-size grill. However, this 40-pound grill isn’t lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. And heating the larger grill surface will burn through propane faster.
All of these are heavy-duty, making the Q 1200 sturdy, durable, and likely to last a very long time. That aside, foods cooked fairly evenly and sported aesthetically pleasing grill marks in our tests. Heat regulation is very easy, with one knob to control everything.
The only part about using the Nomad that I didn’t love was emptying it. Because it needs to be emptied while completely open, it was hard to lift when attempting to dump the ash into a bin. On its website Nomad suggests using a shop vac to get all the spent charcoal out. I have no doubt that that would do the trick, but if you’re off on an adventure an hour from an electrical outlet, a shop vac might not be practical.