The lids have built-in thermometers to monitor how hot the grill gets so you know when it’s ready for searing steaks or if you are trying to keep the temperature a bit lower. The Weber Q 320′s cooking performance is good too, easily taking under 9-10 minutes to cook a burger patty, regardless of where it was placed on the grill plate. Beware, however, that the body temperature does go up considerably more so it’s worth taking care around it when cooking. Naturally, the Weber Q 2200 is meant to be portable, so its small cooking space isn’t too surprising.
I also like the side tables – they are high quality and are perfectly designed to hold food. In case you think that this is a trivial feature, it isn’t one that is available with many larger models. At the same time, it saves you both money and hassle in having to buy third party side tables for outdoor grilling. The domed lid of the Q 1200 keeps the wind at bay — even high winds do not affect the flame, even on the lowest setting. Even though it is not necessarily insulated, the heavier-weight cast aluminum lid seems to be well-suited to retaining critical heat when outside temperatures drop.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. We purchased the 2200 so our review could put it to the test in her kitchen. If you like the idea of the portable cart add-on, the Traveler comes with its own cart.
To begin with, the main structure is made from heat resistant reinforced nylon. Then, you have the cast aluminum lid that holds up just as well. Despite its large frame, the Q 1200 only sports 189 square inches of grill space. While this measurement objectively lands in the middle of the grills we tested, it tends to be plenty of room for most travel-cooking needs.
A cart is also available, converting the portable bbq from a portable grill to your permanent backyard or balcony grill. The Q series grills are designed for grilling, although there are cases of people roasting on them, grilling is by far the strength of this series. The cooking grate is made of porcelain enameled cast iron the burners are not inhibited by flavorizer bars so the grate gets direct heat from the flame. Weber creatively created the grates to ensure that any grease or drippings bypass the direct flame. This model, like the Q1000 grill, has a cast-aluminum lid and body while the burner is made of stainless steel. Apart from this, the porcelain-coated cast-iron cooking grates and glass nylon frame made it durable.
After all, if portability is what you are after, you also want to keep things simple. The pared down design is also great for an easier grilling experience, particularly for newbies. I also like that there is a built in thermometer – a hood mounted weber genesis 2 thermometer, in fact. As with most of these, you do have to be wary of them – they tend to be off by a few degrees in either direction. You will have no problem getting up to 500 Fahrenheit degrees, something that you can expect with larger grills.