Portable Grills

Review by J. Douglas Ritchie:

Before I purchased this grill I was looking for the Char-Broil Fire & Ice Grill (the one with the cooler below); however they have discontinued it for some weird reason. So I researched this one for my tailgate and decided to give it a try. I normally use charcoal however it is such a mess and the smoke blows over into others tailgates which is a little rude.

PROS: Great portable grill; love the side tables; 16 oz propane tank lasted hours (which is very nice); cute little extras like a flag and extra propane tank holder, a holder for paper towels and a holder for the propane tank in use; LED lights are a nice touch; very light considering how large this grill is; has a Non-Stick Teflon coated griddle (good for breakfast items); has a grease collector under the grill; has an ignitior, very easy to setup and start cooking

CONS: You have to assemble this grill out of the box (takes about an hour) and this was disappointing;

MOST DISAPPOINTING FEATURE…you cannot just extend the legs of the base and start grilling, you must take the grill off, extend the legs and set the grill on top of the base, this again applies if you want to collapse the grill, you must take the grill off the base collapse the legs and place the grill back on top; does not have a propane gauge letting you know how much gas is left; make sure it is on a level surface, we tried to make scrambled eggs and they ran off the griddle down to the bottom of the grill

Overall if you can catch this grill on sale it is worth the money (purchased mine for around 0 on Amazon). I still believe a 0 grill should have some extra features like a propane gauge, and the grill should be able to setup without taking it on and off the base.

***PS:Thermos sells a carrying bag for the Grill 2 Go; however it does NOT fit this model. You can fit the grill but not the legs. Returned the carrying bag to Amazon and had my refunded.***

Review by Tarheel4Life:

I got my Grill to Go Advantage just recently and have been very pleased so far. The makers of the Grill 2 Go appear to have heard some of the criticisms of earlier models and taken that into consideration with this grill. The open flame cooking is preferable to the previous models, it is still easy to transport, and it has made tailgating with friends before watching my Tarheels play basketball a lot of fun. I completely disagree with the other reviewer who seems to be reviewing the wrong product since this grill does not use a non-stick cooking surface for the cooking area.

Review by Robert J. Dito:

We have been going to the ny jets football games for over 30 years. The problem since I don`t care for trucks or suvs is space in my honda accord trunk. Well I don`t have that problem any more. With the Bayou it folds up and fits easily. But besides that you can use match light charcoal so in a matter of minutes the food is already cooking. No propane to buy and carry around. When we are finished just clean up and put back in the trunk. I would recomend this grill to anyone who has limited trunk space and loves to tailgate. PS it is cheaper then all the other grills at this size.

Review by Kurtis Maximus:

Around ? are you kidding me?

This grill is perfect and the surface area is exactly what I needed.

I had one of those 12 inch diameter portables and always lamented that I couldn’t cook enough at one time.

So I wanted to find one with a nice surface area.

This has 266 sq inches of it for around .

Works great and I notice the weber portable for twice as much has only 165 sq inches.

Do yourself a favor, but this baby that folds down like a laptop when you are done.

Also, buy a weber chimney starter, you won’t believe how hot your your coals get in no time and with no need for lighter fluid and how much faster food cooks on this grill…(you did take my advice and purchased it, didn’t you?)

Totally recommended stove, perfect for camping.

Review by Janet Becker:

We purchased this Road Trip after having a horrible experience with a grill from Cabelas. That grill had the lava rocks that moved every time you moved the grill and besides that the legs fell off. We were looking for something that would have fold under legs and no rocks. The Road Trip saved our camping days. We purchased a bag for it, keep it stored in the belly of the camper and with putting water in the tray below the burners, it is very very easy to clean up. You can place this on the picnic table to cook on or use the fold down legs. We have also discovered that this is the best way to cook grilled onions and potatoes or pork chops or chicken, etc on the griddle. Very very convenient and easy clean up. We both rate this a 5 stars. Great job, Coleman. Signed happy camper, Janet Becker

Review by Erik J. Mccullough:

This truly is the perfect grill for the RV. Before buying, I researched everything from the Weber Q (good, not perfect), to the Themos Grill2Go (not really a grill).

Before it came, I was thinking that my high expectations from all these glowing reviews would cause me to not like it as much, but it’s even better than some of these reviews! It’s very portable, and folds up to a small size. And cooking on it is very easy, as well as just as important, clean up. If you get one, I recommend you also order a second grill grate to replace the griddle sometimes. (It comes with 1 of each). Griddle is great for eggs, grilling onions, etc., but it’s nice to have the maximum space to grill hamburgers and hotdogs for the parties.

Finally, this blue model is the best of the three Coleman Road Trip Grills, too. Even though there are some with additional letters, this one has heavier duty grates than the other two, and a better stand system (in my opinion).

Review by Robert B. Recupito:

My wife and I wanted a new grill for tailgating at Miami Dolphins games this year. I am somewhat of a home gourmet and I am extremely particular of my cooking accouterments. After reading countless reviews on many different sites we narrowed it down to the Weber Q and the Coleman Roadtrip LXE. We went to Outdoor World here in Fort Lauderdale and actually looked at both as they had floor models available. We chose the Roadtrip based on it’s modular ease of set-up and take down (I’ve never seen anything easier), the high 20,000 BTU output and the dual burner set-up, none of which the Weber Q had unless you purchased the top of the line Weber which was more than double the price in order to get dual burners and the higher BTU’s. The Weber Q stand seemed much flimsier also.

After deciding on this grill we ordered it from Amazon for 9.00 and we chose the free shipping as we were not in any hurry since football season pre-games don’ start until August. Amazon had the lowest price we could find. We were surprised to see this grill show up on our door step just 4 days later when the free shipping option told us it would take almost 2 weeks.

I opened the box and set it up immediately and I was pleasantly surprised that it came out of the box nearly complete. Just put the wheels on, attach the handle and the regulator and you’re good to go. About 15 minutes in all as compared to hours I have spent assemblying other new grills.

Next came the cook test and the clean up test. After reading other reviewers saying that they lined the inside with foil for easier cleanup, I thought this was a good idea and did the same. I laid foil across the entire insides and with a steak knife cut around the 2 burners and a hole so any drippings could fall into the drip pan. I have read that the instructions for some of these roadtrip grills say to place water in the bottom for easier clean-up. NOT this model. The instructions say nothing of the sort. From reading many reviews, I summize that is on the standard Roadtrip model Model No. 9941-768 not this LXE model so the foil is a good idea.

I chose a beautiful 28 day aged NY Stip steak and my wife a 2 1/2″ barrel cut filet. I preheated the grill for 5 minutes with the lid open on medium, wiped one side of the grill with vegetable oil and the other side with Pam for grilling(handles higher heats). I wanted to see right from the beginning which worked better on these porcelain coated cast iron grills. I can tell you I saw absoultely no difference between the two and will continue to use the Pam.

This grill gets HOT! I have to say that I was concerned about the fact that these grill surfaces do have the center area as solid cast iron(no open grill) so no flame gets through over the top of the burners. My concern was no flame hitting the meat = less flavor. The purpose for this is so that grease does not fall directly onto the 2 burners themselves. Let me clarify, there is open grill area…just not directly over the burners. I can report that this concern turned out to be competely unfounded. I rubbed the steaks with olive oil and salt & peppered them and placed each one directly over each burner on the unopened flame area. From the very first second I knew that the searing was going to be awesome and it was. It sizzled like nothing I have ever heard before except on commercial kitchen grills. The grill marks were perfect, the taste and flavor was perfect. I can’t say enough about this grill. So far I love it but what about clean up.

The grills cooled down very quickly. I soaked the two porcelain coated cast iron grills in soapy hot water in my kitchen sink over night, as they fit no problem. I honestly don’t think I needed to because I ran my finger accoss to see how “baked” on the residue was. It semed to come off pretty easily but I was full on a 16 oz NY strip and several glasses of Cabernet so they could wait until morning. The next morning the grills cleaned up so easily with a soapy wet sponge and I removed the foil lining and wiped the whole inside down with a soapy wet sponge and wiped it out with a dry towel. There was no difference in ease of clean up between the vegetable oil side or the Pam side. Both were easy. The porcelain coated cast iron grills do not need “seasoning” as un-coated cast iron grills do and if something does get baked on you can use a brass grill brush to clean them. Just make sure the brush is brass. It’s softer and won’t damage the procelain coating.

Folks, forget about any of the horror stories you hear about this grill…it’s awesome. It gets so hot you don’t need to close the lid so don’t let that be a deterrent unlesss you smoke your food. The only reason I give this grill a 4 and not a 5 is because of the fact you can’t cook with the lid closed. Although I said don’t let it be a deterrent, it would be nice to smoke food. Also worth noting is that this new version comes with two grill surfaces. The older version came with one grill and one griddle and you were forced to buy an additional grill surface. Also with this new version the grill does NOT come off of the stand to be placed on a table top and the lid does not come off. I have read the opposite from other reviewers. Perhaps those things were true with older models. I know this was a long review, but these were all things I was concerned about and that I read conflicting stories on. I hope my review is helpful to you!

Review by Kenneth Montgomery:

I’ve actually owned the Coleman Road Trip LXE Grill for several months and have had it stored in my travel trailer, just waiting for the opportunity to use it while traveling. However, my daughter and her husband had the idea to “rough it” camp at Edison Lake in the high Sierras of California.

Robert Recupito wrote an insightful review of the Coleman Road Trip LXE Grill on July 9, 2006. I echo much of what he reported in his use of the LXE grill.

Our experience was limited to two days and nights of varied cooking. The first experience was grilling polish dogs for lunch. The dogs fit perfectly in the grill’s grooves and were cooked very evenly through and through with the lid closed. That evening I cooked two tri-tip roasts. The grills had been pretreated with Pam barbecue spray, making cleanup very easy. After some basic seasoning, the roasts turned out perfectly cooked, crisp on the outside and full of natural juices on the inside. Day two was an instant replay of the first day with hamburgers as the main course.

I had purchased the gridle and a grate accessories for the LXE grill and can report that this was money wisely invested. My wife used the grate to brew the morning coffee and, later, whipped up a tasty mixture of hash browns, onions, and cheese. The LXE’s variable heat and grate sturdiness made the preparation of this and other large pan dishes a snap. The gridle made cooking pancakes a breeze. Even with no Pam or cooking oil, the pancakes were light and fluffy and did not stick to the gridle.

If you’re a barbecue enthusiast and use the Coleman LXE extensively, consider using a large propane container like I did. I bought a CharBroil propane hose/adapter at Lowe’s for and connected it to the LXE. Since I already owned the 5 gallon propane tank, my only expense was filling the tank with propane. Why go into so much detail about this, you might ask. If you’ve priced those little propane bottles to fuel small barbecues and lanterns, the money spent on the larger quantity of propane and the hose adapter will pay for itself rapidly over a summer’s worth of use.

Clean up of LXE was certainly effortless. The recommendation of using foil to line the area surrounding the burners is certainly worth considering as well as the drip tray beneath the LXE. I soaked the cooking grates in OxyClean for about 15 minutes and whatever residue remained from two days of cooking was easily removed.

Like many other users, I recommend the LXE for its ease of use and versatility.

Review by T. K. Schonhoff:

I bought one of these things ten years ago and despite twice replacing it with big, traditional-looking (and very expensive) grills I keep coming back to this one. In fact, when we bought our latest one at a local fireplace/grill store, the owner just couldn’t stop talking about this cheap little grill. He confided to me in a low voice that if I were to lift the lid of his own 00 home gas barbecue, I’d find this little gem sitting inside because it’s all he uses too.Why? It’s not ease of cleaning or durability or any of that stuff (they rust out after a few years sitting on the porch). And you’d better buy a big propane bottle with an adapter hose if you don’t want to those little gas cylinders to suddenly empty out on you mid-meal while you’re cooking for guests… No, the reason I adore this is that it just plain grills better than anything else on the market – and we’ve tried a lot of them.My wife, the culinary school grad, thinks it’s the “flavorizer” that does it (the metal pan that replaces those awful lava rocks). When we grill salmon we just cover that metal pan with alderwood chips and let the smoke penetrate the fish while it grills with the lid on tight – flat out beating every restaurant or neighborbood grilled fish ever made. Friends of mine simply won’t cook salmon for us.Even though we virtually never clean the thing, it simply does the best job flavor-wise of all our grills. If you crank it up to high for 10 minutes, then grill with the top closed (never open) you get very consistent heat which is the secret to good grilling.Some cookbook author who writes barbecue books constantly repeats the phrase “Know Your Fire” like a mantra. This fire is 100% consistent, heats up in minutes (again, no lava rocks to soak up heat) and produces superb results for us. If you know your fire, this is the fire to know.

Review by Scott Mackie:

I’ve owned a Weber Go-Anywhere for a couple of years now and it’s been a regular part of my outdoor cooking. Gets up to temperature quickly and is great for grilling simple stuff like salmon, chicken and sausages. The food doesn’t taste *quite* as good as my mesquite-fired kettle BBQ but the Go-Anywhere also doesn’t take 30 minutes to fire up.The piezzo lighter flaked out on my Weber a couple of months after I bought it but it’s pretty easy to light with a match. As another review mentioned, they do rust pretty quickly but they’re really sturdy and basic. It grills as well as it did when I first bought it.Strongly recommended for folks looking for a small, no-nonsense (or frills) gas BBQ.

Review by B. Goldbeck:

My first “Go-Anywhere Weber Grill,” purchased in 1984, sold me on design and efficiency. After cooking my dinner, I’d shut the side and top air vents thus suffocating the fire. I found I could get two, three, and sometimes four meals from a single load of charcoal (depending on cooking times). And, on picnics, the fire would be out and the grill “touchable” after about 15 minutes. The grill is large enough to handle most meals for say 6 to 8 persons and even small (4-6 lb) chickens, but if you’re cooking turkey, this isn’t the grill for you. I’m now on my second “G-A” grill, as the first bounced around the world with me in Korea, Yemen, China, and the U.S. until the movers crushed it in 1993. Ended up contacting Weber directly when I couldn’t find a replacement locally, and number 2 is in good shape after 8 years of rigorous use.

Review by Dallas A. Babineaux:

Hi there, I’ve just recently purchased this grill and have used it 2 times already. I can honestly say that this grill has exceeded my expectations! It is well built, and folds up very compactly for storage. It (like all Weber products) cooks very evenly, and refuses to flare up. The air dampers are easy to operate, and the porcelin coating will ensure many years of use. You will also be suprised at how much food you can cook on it. (I have 5 kids, and the grill is still hot when we’ve eaten our full) We enjoy it, and I’m sure you will too!

Review by Dora Y. Lee:

I bought the grill for my boyfriend for our anniversary. I had ordered it a month before our special day, so it was hiding in the closet for a while. I didn’t bother to open it to check, which was a big mistake. So the special day came and we sat down and he opened the box, the outside box was fine, but the box for the actual grill was dented. When we pulled the grill out, we noticed that the grill was dented as well, and it was missing a nut to screw the propane pipe. I had contacted the company and they never emailed me back. And the only message I received was that Amazon was reviewing the case.

Buy at your own risk people.

Review by Doug:

Ordered and received the Stanport Grill. The grill was what I expected for a 45.00 unit. It is constructed ok. During assembly I noticed it did not come with a retaining clip that holds the regulator to the burner. After repeated attempts to get in contact with the grill manufacture I was informed they have no parts for the grill and that it is made in China. The absolute worst customer service I have ever receive. If you purchase this product do not expect any help if something is wrong.