Portable Gas Grills: Two American Classics

If you’re thinking of buying a portable gas grill to use at the beach or for a backcountry picnic, there are many different types and brands of portable gas grills to choose from. However, two of the most popular grills have been around for many years. They are “classics” that have proven themselves in action at many outdoor party events where a barbecue grill is an essential piece of equipment.

These portable gas grills are:

Weber Go Anywhere Gas Barbecue

Char-broil Gas Tabletop Grill

At first glance, these two grills don’t look too different, so which one do you choose? Is one of them significantly different from the other?

While any comparison other than comparing these two grills head-to-head will be perfect, we hope this article will help you choose the most suitable grill for your barbecue parties.

Factors to consider

Whenever you set out to select a new barbecue grill, there are at least three important factors to consider:

General construction: how well it is made and the materials used

Operation – How well it works in action

Maintenance: how easy it is to clean and maintain

price and popularity

I will now compare the Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill and the Char-Broil Table Top Gas Grill under each of these headings.

overall construction

Both grates are made of coated stainless steel to prevent rust formation. The Weber Go Anywhere Grill weighs 15 pounds. against the 10 lbs. of the Broil-King grill, suggesting that Weber may have used slightly superior materials in manufacturing.

However, the Weber grill is taller (14 inches) than the Broil-King (10 inches). This height difference will obviously contribute to a weight difference. Both grills have folding legs that lock onto the lid for travel.

The fact that the Weber grill is much taller may also explain why some Char-Broil customers found the tabletop grill a bit difficult to work with in windy conditions, while this doesn’t seem to be a problem for Weber Go customers. Grill anywhere. But I’m just guessing here.

Both grills have handles on either side so they can be easily transported, but the Weber’s larger insulated handles will certainly make it easier to move the grill in hot weather (perhaps to a more sheltered location!).

Both grills use 16 oz. disposable propane cylinders, but both Weber and Char-Broil provide adapter hoses so grills can be attached to 20-lb. propane cylinders if necessary. Both grills also have push button gas ignition and gas regulators.

Operation

The cooking grates on each grill are different sizes. The Char-Broil grill is larger (187 square inches) than Weber’s (160 square inches). Although this size difference is not large, it can be important if you have more than four people in your barbecue party.

Both grills also have aromatization systems. A good flavoring system will minimize flare-ups and enhance the flavor of meat, fish or vegetables being cooked. It does this by vaporizing food juices that would otherwise fall to the bottom of the combustion chamber. The vapors produced permeate the food being cooked and enhance its flavour.

There is not much difference in the BTU ratings of the two grills. The Weber grill runs around 10,000 BTUs and the Char-Broil grill around 12,000 BTUs. In theory, this means that it should be faster to grill food on the Char-Broil than on the Weber.

Reviews from Amazon customers using these two grills expressed overall satisfaction with the performance of both grills, but some complained about the time it took to cook food (on both grills!) This is really what I’d expect from a grill which has only 10,000 BTUs compared to the 20,000 to 30,000 BTUs of a smaller home gas barbecue grill.

Maintenance

Both grills are cleaned the same way, scraping ashes and food debris from under the burners after the barbecue is finished. No grill has a “catch pan” under the burners. Many customers use aluminum foil on the bottom of their grills to make cleanup easier.

Since both Weber and Char-Broil are established names, it is possible to purchase replacement parts and accessories for both of these portable grills. Many other inexpensive grills for sale are foreign imports and parts services are not available.

Price and Popularity

The Weber grill is nearly twice as expensive as the Char-Broil Grill, so it’s perhaps a little surprising to find that on Amazon’s “Best Sellers” list, the Weber is currently at #9 and the Char-Broil at #56 (but keep in mind that these ratings are dynamic and can change dramatically over the course of a year).

Customer satisfaction levels for these grills are similar, but in line with the numbers for each grill sold, the Weber currently has 320 customer reviews and the Char-Broil 32.

Summary

As we’ve seen, the Weber Go Anywhere Gas Grill is the more popular of the two grills, but it’s nearly twice as expensive. In terms of specs, there’s not much to choose between them, but you could perhaps assume that the Weber Grill will last longer. This is a pretty reasonable assumption, but if you read Amazon customer reviews, you’ll find Char-Broil customers still using their grills after 5 years. (Many people throw away cheap grills after 3 years because they have rusted and fallen apart.) ).

The Char-Broil tabletop gas grill is a little more compact and has perhaps a little more power (ie higher heat rating), but overall there isn’t much to choose between them. With barbecue grills, as with many other products, brand preference may guide your choice rather than other factors.