When I checked on the grill five minutes later, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lid thermometer already read 400 degrees. That was hot enough for my needs, so I put my burger on the grill and let it cook. The meat was cooked to perfection in around 10 minutes, and I was really impressed at the heat put out by the grill’s 12,000 BTU burner. Despite its large frame, the Q 1200 only sports 189 square inches of grill space.
It can fit up to 10 large burger patties, two cut-up chickens, or 16 large bratwurst links at a time. The Jumbo Joe Charcoal Grill is lighter than our gas pick, weighing under 20 pounds, but it’s not smaller. Its cooking surface holds about seven burgers or one whole, cut-up chicken. In our tests, the Grill2Go X200 produced intense portable bbq heat that was ideal for searing steaks but had us battling some flare-ups when cooking chicken pieces. Although we wouldn’t want to use it as a primary patio grill, it’s a decent dedicated portable grill for camping and tailgating. One of the benefits of this gas grill – and others like it – is that size doesn’t matter.
I am simply sharing my opinions on these grills after quite a lot of time cooking on both of them. The biggest issue here would be with the fact that there is only one burner. Now, given the size of the model this isn’t too surprising, but it does create a small issue when it comes to indirect cooking.
In a few cases, this might be an actual problem in which Weber’s customer service will be more than happy to send you out a new one. I don’t think you can damage this thing short of beating it with a hammer, but even that would take a little work. If you have any weber charcoal grill problems at all with the Q 100, I highly recommend talking with Weber’s customer service. They are friendly and are very quick to resolve problems and send out replacement parts. High-quality materials are used throughout to make sure that it will last for years.
Once that’s done, all that’s left to do is place the grates on the grill and slide the catch pan into place. The sturdy handles extend far enough away from the grill body to make it reasonable to pick up and move even while lit. Last, but certainly not least, we wish this model came with a latch to secure the lid. Though it doesn’t solve the issue, the cast aluminum lid is at least heavier than most, so it doesn’t bounce around much during normal travel. But if you’re planning on four-wheeling into your BBQ site, consider using a bungee cord to help secure it.
Speaking of weight, one of the few negative things that I do have to say about the Weber Q 2200 is regarding how heavy it is. For a portable gas grill, it can be quite heavy, making it difficult to lug around, particularly on its own. The only annoyance in the wind is the disposable aluminum drip tray liner, which is designed to save you from having to clean what can notoriously be the nastiest part of a grill. Without some significant weight added — like a rock — you can expect that this drip pan will pick up and fly away with the first significant gust of wind. The Weber Q 1200 is an unexpectedly powerful grill, resulting in cook times that were much faster than expected for such a petite barbecue. Like other top models, this is all thanks to a single, U-shaped burner that effectively delivers heat across the range of the grill surface.