Great small grill! - My first gas experience

Previously, I’ve only owned those little cheap charcoal grills but I decided to take on a new path and try gas. I was searching for a simple, small but good quality grill that I can store in the garage. I compared the Roadtrip to the Weber Q & Baby Q and went with the Coleman because it was cheaper (stand included) and had two 10k BTU burners. The grill folds down easily and can be rolled to the patio quickly. I wish the wheels were a little larger because the grill does bounce and rattle around a lot when rolling on uneven surfaces. The grill isn’t as light as it looks but that’s probably because of the iron grates.

Overall the build quality seems good. It does have a 5 year warranty. I’ve read reviews where people burned the handle off while closed. I’ve cooked on med-low heat with the lid closed and didn’t have any problems but the rear of the lid does state not to close the lid while cooking. If you like smoking your meat for long periods of time, this isn’t the grill for you. Charcoal is more efficient for longer cooking times anyhow. This grill is designed to cook steaks, burgers, hotdogs, chicken pieces, veggies and so on. Other grates available are a griddle and a ring adapter for pans.

The 16.4 ounce cans of propane can be bought at any sporting goods store for about $2-$2.50 and last for 2 hours. Cooking steaks, burgers and chicken breast only takes about 8-15 mins which is plenty of gas for the casual user like myself. It heats up in about 3-5 mins. An adapter hose can be purchased separate for the larger tanks. The 16.4 ounce cans screw into the rear of the grill very easily and is tucked out of the way - but the occasional grease splatter somehow splashes on it which makes it a little greasy when removing. (Nothing a little wipe down won’t fix.)

I’ve grilled steak, burgers, hotdogs, chicken breast and salmon. All in which turned out wonderful and had that nice “grilled” flavor! I tried grilled onions, but they didn’t taste any better than they would fried on the stove. The two 10,000 BTU burners have their own controls. I cook with only one side to save from having to clean both grates.

One of the things I don’t like is the center circle part of the cooking area is not exposed directly to the flame. You will have to position the food around the grates to get them directly under the fire. However, when I cooked steak, half of the steak didn’t get into the fire. Despite this, it still had that grilled flavor and retained even grill marks through out the meat. I believe the iron grates is what contributes to the even heat.

Clean up is where this grill comes short in my book. This LXE model has porcelain coated iron grates. The porcelain coating is pretty thick. I know because I dropped a grate on concrete and a small part of it chipped down to the iron. These grates are heavier than they look! They are small enough to fit in the sink for a nice scrubbing... and scrubbing is what you’ll have to do to keep them clean. I thought the iron was coated to make for a nice non-stick surface, but I was very wrong. EVERYTHING sticks to it and you must use PAM for grilling or coat the surface with oil before cooking. For this reason, I’ve deducted a star.

To help reduce my cleaning time, I line the bottom of the grill with foil and use PAM to coat the surfaces grates heavily. Despite that, food still sticks to the grates and requires several minutes of scrubbing to get clean. You can’t use just anything to scrub them because you’ll scratch the finish. They do sell aluminum Teflon grates, but I think I can live with these for now. The rest of the cleaning isn’t a problem at all. The grease trap tray is plastic which doesn’t seem right. I do recall reading a review where the grease caught fire in the tray and it melted away.

The grill has two slide out tables... which come in handy. They are weak and can’t hold very much weight... but are good enough to hold your basic supplies... glass plate, cooking utensils, timer, cooking spray and so on. I read that if you cook with the tables underneath, they’ll melt which is believable.

The grill cools down quick and most of the other surfaces are easy to clean except the area inside the burner. It’s hard to get a sponge or a finger to clean down there.

What I like most about having a gas grill is the time saved over charcoal. Grilling is something I do once a week or longer. I recommend this grill for anyone who’s looking for a simple grill that’s portable, and easy to move around.