Customer Reviews

Char-Broil 08401504 Grill2Go ICE Portable Gas Grill

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Length:: 0:41 Mins

I live in a condo and only have a 1-car garage so, while I wanted to have a grill, there isn't much room in the garage (with my car in there) to have a big grill. The Grill2Go is nice because it is much slimmer (in depth from front to back) than pretty much any full-size grill I've ever seen. Sizewise, one of the downsides is that the 2 side trays do not fold down so, if you want to store it with the side trays, it is going to take up additional space width-wise beyond the size of the actual grill assembly. It wasn't a big deal to me, though I WAS used to having fold-down side trays in all my previous grills.

Before writing this review, I used the grill to cook a variety of foods because I wanted to be able to report on how the grill performed in various circumstances. The foods I grilled on 4 separate occasions were: smallish New York strip steaks, thick-cut pork chops, chicken breast chunks with veggies on skewers (aka shishkebob), hamburgers and hot dogs.

What I have learned about using this grill during this time is:

1. It is VERY important to give the grill adequate warm-up time. The instructions say to turn the grill on high and leave it to heat up for 15 minutes. In my experience, I would say that 20 or 25 minutes may be better, especially if, like me, you prefer a nice sear and grill marks on your food.

2. The instructions say to leave the grill on high for 15 minutes after you're done cooking to let the grease and such burn off. The books says that all the gunk is supposed to turn to ash. This was NOT my experience.

3. Each 1-pound propane container is adequate for a 15-20 minute warm-up, approximately a 20-30 minute grill time and a 15-20 minute "burn off" but not much more than that; i.e., don't expect to get multiple grill sessions out of each canister. And it is recommended to remove the canister when you put the grill away (i.e., don't store the grill with the canister attached). NOTE: The grill does NOT come with propane. I was able to find the 1-pound canisters at my local Lowe's.

4. The instructions say that if you're going to be grilling something fatty (i.e., steaks or burgers), you should leave the grill lid UP during grilling to lessen the chances of flare-ups. I did this on my first use (grilling 2 NY strip steaks) and ended up with steaks that were perfectly cooked on the inside and delectably tasty, but gray and bland on the outside--i.e., almost no searing or grill marks. Since then, I have left the lid closed almost 100% while grilling and have found that I had no flare-ups and had much better searing and grill marks.

5. While there is no question that the grill gets hot, I am used to cooking on a charcoal grill and I just don't seem to be getting the sear on this grill that I am used to. Perhaps that is just the nature of gas grills. I haven't owned a gas grill before, but I've eaten food cooked on them at other peoples' houses and never noticed the food looking gray like those steaks did.

6. Today was the first time I tried to warm up food in a pan on the grill. I was trying to heat up a pan of baked beans to go with the hot dogs I was grilling today but, after quite a long while on the grill, the beans were barely even warm, so I had to take them in and put them on the stove. Luckily, I was home and could do that. Perhaps if I had waited until the grill was fully heated first, I may have had a different experience.

7. While the concept of a portable grill that has built-in coolers is FANTASTIC for tailgaters and those who picnic at the beach or park, I found the reality less alluring. The grill is HEAVY, even with the coolers EMPTY! There's no way that I could get the grill into a vehicle by myself. Also, the handle which lifts up (like on a rolling suitcase) to move the grill does not lock into place, so it makes moving the grill really awkward--especially if you are a small person as I am and especially if the grill is HOT and you can't put your hands on it to steady it!

The accompanying video will give you a look at the grill in action.

I give CharBroil an A for effort as I think it is just an awesome concept. But, while I have really enjoyed having a grill again and love its small profile in my garage, the reality is that I would not be able to use it for its intended purpose without at least one other person (if not two), hence I could not give it 5 stars. Further, even moving the grill from the garage to the driveway to grill can be awkward because the handle doesn't lock in place. All in all, 3 stars.

Note: The grill comes partially assembled but still requires a good bit of assembly. Due to the weight of the grill components, my neighbor, who is a retired engineer, put it together for me. He said it took him about an hour. Given the number of pieces and screws, I'd estimate that it would have taken me about twice that time IF I'd have been able to hold up the grill assembly and use the screwdriver at the same time, which I didn't think I'd be able to do.

The Char Broil Grill 2 Go Ice grill is designed to be a portable grill to take along on camping trips, the beach, and tail-gating parties but can be used anywhere and anytime. The gimmicky part is the coolers, they are nice coolers and are great to have but I haven't left them on the bottom of the grill like intended. The nice canvas coolers wouldn't stay nice and clean under the grill for very long. All in all, I really like the grill. We have been using for a couple months now and can say that we love it.

The grill comes needing to be assembled but assembly is easy enough. It took me awhile to put it together but I did put it together all my myself following the instructions. The grill is made to use with the portable 1 lb. propane tanks but we have an adapter and long hose and use our's with a regular 20 lb. tank. The hose and adapter can be bought anywhere that sells grill parts. The grill uses about the same amount of gas as a regular grill and the small tanks don't last very long.

The grill uses infrared heat with no exposed flames. For us, that is my favorite part. We don't have flare-ups so the meat doesn't get charred and the grilling method provides a lot of smoke so the meat has a very smoked flavored, even has a smoke ring but not as smoked as a smoker which I think provides too much of a smoke flavor. The grill is easy to use and start. Since using this grill, I have taken over the grilling job and can say that using the grill is great.

We have just set the grill up to use everyday at our house but the portability is really nice too. We are campers and look forward to taking our grill with us. Remove the side shelves and a couple clicks to adjust the height and the grill collapses down to a more portable size and easy to roll around on the wheels.

Highly satisfied with Char Broil Grill 2 Go.

I bought this for my husband for Fathers Day. We'd been looking for a portable grill for some time, but couldn't find anything that was compact and still a full height grill. Then I saw this grill and saw that it got pretty good reviews, so I bought it. When my husband opened it, he was very impressed with the design concept. We loved how it could be collapsed and had a built in cart with wheels. But once we put the grill together we were very disappointed. The materials Char-Broil used are flimsy and the grill itself is made of very thin metal. The one we bought was already dented although the box showed no signs of damage. When my husband tried to collapse the grill, part of the plastic ball bearing system broke. There's no way this grill would ever withstand trips to and from parks, camping, etc. The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars is because the concept is great. Char-Broil just needs to use stronger parts.

I think the most obvious comparison for this type of grills should be the Grill2Go versus the Weber Q320 series, and would the nearly $200 price difference bring as much to the table as you would assume?

Portability:
First off, it needs to be mentioned that both the Grill2Go and the Weber Q320 are freaking huge and heavy. Both units weigh in at about 70-90lbs without fuel and you need to be able to fit nearly a cubic yard within the vehicle you're using to transport these grills. Most covered cars (and some SUVs) will not be able to fit this load. Make sure to see the product descriptions and verify that your vehicle can actually transport these things (because if you're only looking for a stationary model, they come much cheaper).

Cost:
At $200 and $400, neither the Grill2Go nor the Q320 can really be called "affordable" in my eyes. Their real competitor in these areas are the old school Weber One-Touch series (the generic "round kettles"). At around $90, you get a perfectly self-contained unit which can probably throw up more BTUs than both the Grill2Go or Q320, just depending on the charcoal.

That being said, it was pretty hard to find any specs for the Grill2Go. The only BTU rating I could find claimed that it would output up to 16000 BTU, the Q320 is rated at 21700. 308sq inches of grilling space on the G2G versus 393 on the Q320.

Functionality:
The coolers are gimmicky at best in my eyes. As another reviewer posted, if you leave these bags under the grill while in use, you'll get a nice drenching of grease all over them. The quality of the bags themselves are pretty "off-brandish" - loose and often torn seams, but functionable. Still, you'd be better off leaving the bags at home and purchasing a Coleman cooler instead (or putting the meats in one of the bags and putting that bag into the cooler with the drinks and ice).

Fuel consumption is pretty horrendous on the G2G. The default connection allows you to hookup the more portable 1lb containers of LP, but you'll burn through a single canister pretty quickly. Luckily, as with the older G2G model made by Coleman, you can purchase an adapter which will allow you to connect a standard 5lb canister, which generally ends up much cheaper than buying the 1lb canisters.

Cook rate is about what you would expect - there were no surprises here. The teflon coated top made sure that the food slid off with ease and there were no hot or cold spots on my grill. Unfortunately there was no warning rack, which would have been a nice addition.

Conclusion:
All-in-all, the Grill2Go did a good enough job doing what it was initially built to be - a grill. The "portable" side of the fence still has a lot of catching up to do in my eyes. As for the G2G versus the Q320, I think if the cost difference isn't enough to drive you away, the Q320 has much more to offer than the G2G. Does it offer nearly twice functionality? That's a tough call and probably will vary from person to person. Honestly, I would be more likely to break out the Weber One Touch charcoal grill over either of these.

Products mentioned:
Char Broil 08401504 Grill2Go ICE Portable Gas Grill
Weber 741001 22.5-Inch One-Touch Silver Kettle Grill, Black
Weber 586002 Q 320 Portable Outdoor Gas Grill

I was very disapointed with this product me and my boyfriend are very big on tailgating and camping you could imagine our disapointment when we noticed that the "flame" kept going out everytime we tried to use it it never got hot enought to grill anything we had to keep lighting it and took us double the time to cook anything thank goodness we took his old grill as a back up

Length:: 1:04 Mins

The Grill was easy to assemble. I loved that the screws and bolts came marked in a package that made them easy to identify. Assembly went very fast.

I was concerned about the wheels because they seemed to bend in a bit (the little axle pieces didn't seem long enough), but so far so good. We wheeled it throughout the yard and into the shed since it was bad weather when we first got it and we had to continually move it around to keep it out of the rain and snow.

The grill rolled "okay" over our lawn. The wheels aren't very tall so the bottom railing seemed to drag when being pulled over the lawn.

The grill is definitely on the heavy side. It's a plus that it can go into compact mode, but it's pretty heavy if you need to lift it anywhere.

Some things I wish it had:

- A cover. I'm not sure that I want it stored outside without a cover, but I need to go buy one since it didn't come with one.
- Better coolers. The coolers underneath the grill are a good feature, but I wish they were designed so that the zippers were easier to use. It seems like the casing for the coolers is so tight, it might rip someday.
- Larger wheels. That would make it easier to roll.
- The front latch on the grill could be made easier to attach.

Other than that, it's great to have a grill that can be taken with you somewhere much easier than a conventional grill for which you'd need a truck for transport. It did fine cooking and lit well on the first try.

BTW I uploaded a video review but had to change the video format...and the change makes it sound like I just breathed in a balloon full of helium.

Assembly was fairly painless and everything fit together just like it was expected to. If I hadn't dropped a bolt and lost it I would have gotten the whole thing assembled in 45 min or so. Once I was done I felt a sudden urge to tailgate or go to the park or beach for a picnic but luckily I resisted and actually tried to move the grill first. It was too wide to roll through my patio doors so I had to rotate it and lift it on my own. That's when it struck me... yeah it's more portable than my Weber gas grill but it's not going to fit in my car and it's going to be a nightmare to move around. Maybe if I had a Suburban or a pickup but I don't. For portability nothing beats a small kettle and briquettes.

The grilling experience wasn't bad. It heated up very quickly and within 20 min or so I the outside of the cover was registering 300 + degrees and the grate was around 600-700 degrees depending on where exactly I took the reading with my IR thermometer. I decided to thick pork chops that we'd brined for the last 24 hours. I got a great sear on them and then turned the heat down to let them cook through.

What really shocked me was the amount of steam and smoke that hit me when I opened the cover to flip or rotate the pork. The flavours were good but the smoke was a little too predominant. Sounds like it's actually part of the grill design that drippings will vaporize. I still got some flareups.

Overall I would have rated this grill much more highly if the whole portability angle was dropped.

We bought this grill for camping last July, right out of the box the flimsy latch which holds the top secure for travel broke. Not really a big deal. Our first time using it we noticed that even a small wind would blow the flame in this so called radiant heat system, very concerning. We had to position it away from ANY sort of wind/breeze, and I use those terms lightly. We didn't end up using the grill again until last week where we drove it all the way to Kentucky from Michigan only to find that the regulator wouldn't give enough propane to light the grill, we tried to blow it out, clean it, trouble shoot, to no avail. The replacement part for this $200 grill is $39. Worse yet we tried to use the regulator from our old grill when we came home to make a replacement and the connections are different, so you have to buy the $39 part. This grill is a piece of crap, basically we paid $200 for 2 hard side coolers. Don't waste your $$$$ !

Length:: 0:31 Mins

Not only is the new Grill2Go Ice a modern infrared update to the original Coleman/Thermos/CharBroil Grill2Go Fire & Ice, but it's actually in a new category of it's own. It's really too big and heavy to be called a portable grill. It's more of a small full-sized grill that is easily "transportable" instead of a small grill that is "portable".

We took this new grill along on a camping trip to Julian, near SanDiego. At an elevation above 3000ft. there was very strong wind constantly blowing. So much wind that I was the ONLY person grilling in the entire resort. In a situation where most other grills would blow out the Grill2Go Ice performed fantastically grilling up some marinated chicken pieces.

There is a definite hot zone right down the middle of the grill, great for searing meat. The outside left and right edges don't get quite as hot, but very even and consistent heat nevertheless, good for finish cooking or vegetables. If you want to keep your coolers looking nice, only keep them under the grill during transport.

This is a great new product! Oh, .... the chicken turned out nice and crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside as an infrared grill does with ease.

I have to say I was excited the day that the Char-Broil Grill2Go ICE Portable Gas Grill arrived. As someone that travels, goes to games, and various outings, I thought this would be a great option. While the grill and cooler combo is a good concept, there are some obvious setbacks. One, as an entire unit, when filled with items in the cooler, it can get fairly heavy. It has plenty of handles, wheels, and fairly decent support, but it can be a bit to lug around.

As for cooking, this grill should get high marks. The infared technology is an excellent option and it cleans up farely well, as decribed. The cooking area is also a decent size, given the fact that it is somewhat easy to travel with. Keep in mind that it is primarly a burger/hotdog/chicken kind of grill. The height from the grill surface to the top of the limit might limit you as there's just not much height to work with.

Now, at this point I would have rated the grill a bit higher, however, I feel that the quality is somewhat lacking. There are so many plastic pieces and weak joints that I just do not feel that the unit could hold up to several years of moving around, lifting in and out of the car, etc. I really wish a bit more quality was put into the grill. Overall, I do like the concept of the product and for the right person this could be the answer to everything they were looking for.