And it took us less than a minute to set up its three pieces, including a wood top, grill body with handle, and base. The top and base combine to form an attractive prep surface that clips alongside the grill. After testing models for their portability, ease of use, safety, and (of course) ability to grill great food, we have favorites from Cuisinart, Weber, and more.
The grill has no lid for cooking, as the top consists of a storage compartment and cutting board. As such, you’re grilling with direct heat and should keep that in mind when meal planning. That aside, foods cooked fairly evenly and sported aesthetically pleasing grill marks in our tests. And with generally good cooking results, it’s an easy model for someone to get started with gas grilling. While slow-cooking on the Takibi would be challenging, you can at least adjust the grill height to control temperature. My only real complaint is that without a lid you can’t smother your remaining charcoal and reuse it, but in most cases when the food is done I load up the Takibi with firewood and enjoy it as a fire pit.
The C4’s body includes dual intake dampers on both the front and back side of the grill. The airflow has been greatly improved by completely running underneath the charcoal grate and easy to control with its dual stainless damper covers. Portability is definately an important feature if you like taking your grill on a camping trip. We actually have a whole post covering the best camping grills, as well as some tips on how to pick the one that is right for you.
In her 6+ years of experience as a product tester, she’s reviewed hundreds of items firsthand, and her work appears in publications such as PEOPLE, The Spruce, Homes & Gardens, and more. Camryn is also the proud owner of a small homestead in Rhode Island, where she spends her spare time gardening, tending her many animals, and working through a never-ending list of home improvement projects. Having a foldable cart means you won’t have to worry about finding a safe and stable spot to place your grill at your destination. Then you should look at what portability features the manufacturer has included. Along with the larger size, this is the main difference compared to the Smokey Joe. Included meat probe lets you check on your food without lifting the lid.
Every grill flared somewhat, but the Q 1200 (and the Coleman below) have heavy enameled cast-iron grates that are closed over the burners, which helps keep the flaring under control. Full sized grilling capabilities in a portable package – cook anything from roasts to burgers. It has two magnetic vents which, when set to half open, allow the grill Flat Top Grills Gas Grills Pellet to stay at 250°F for an hour. I checked the grill every 20 minutes and was able to keep it at that temperature on less than a full chimney of charcoal. Our camping grills were tested from the Mojave Desert to the pine forests of Maine, from warm summer nights to snowy winter evenings—during afternoon grills and by camping lantern at night.
If you can operate the controls of a modern kitchen oven, then this model is a no-brainer. This grill can be set from “low smoke” to “high smoke”, and for temperatures ranging up to 550 degrees. We were impressed with the high-heat grilling performance of the Weber Go Anywhere Charcoal Grill. But when the firebox got hot, the side vents that regulated airflow stuck in place, rendering us unable to control the temperature—critical for slow-cooking things like chicken and sausages.
These helped keep grease and drippings away from the flames while still allowing ambient heat to brown between grill marks. In our tests, burgers from the Q 1200 had the most seared surface area of all the burgers we grilled, and more browning means better flavor. They’re commonly constructed from thin porcelainized steel with thin wire-rod Expert Grill Combo Grills grilling grates. This simple construction is what makes them budget friendly and lighter weight. And with proper care, a charcoal grill should still last for many years. First, assembly is a non-issue, as it consists of lining up the grates after taking the grill out of the box, and it took longer to unpack than to make it ready to cook.
Special mention should be given to the fact that it can be purchased as a tabletop model (like we did) or can easily be integrated into a separate wheelable, folding stand for enhanced parking lot convenience. The clear champion of this section of our assessment is the Camp Chef Portable Pellet. The digital controller goes far beyond the accuracy of any mechanical knob.