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450 of 455 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love this grill!, July 9, 2006
This review is from: Coleman 9949-750 Road Trip Grill LXE, Red (Sports)
My wife and I wanted a new grill for tailgating at Miami Dolphins games this year. I am somewhat of a home gourmet and I am extremely particular of my cooking accouterments. After reading countless reviews on many different sites we narrowed it down to the Weber Q and the Coleman Roadtrip LXE. We went to Outdoor World here in Fort Lauderdale and actually looked at both as they had floor models available. We chose the Roadtrip based on it's modular ease of set-up and take down (I've never seen anything easier), the high 20,000 BTU output and the dual burner set-up, none of which the Weber Q had unless you purchased the top of the line Weber which was more than double the price in order to get dual burners and the higher BTU's. The Weber Q stand seemed much flimsier also.
After deciding on this grill we ordered it from Amazon for $159.00 and we chose the free shipping as we were not in any hurry since football season pre-games don' start until August. Amazon had the lowest price we could find. We were surprised to see this grill show up on our door step just 4 days later when the free shipping option told us it would take almost 2 weeks.
I opened the box and set it up immediately and I was pleasantly surprised that it came out of the box nearly complete. Just put the wheels on, attach the handle and the regulator and you're good to go. About 15 minutes in all as compared to hours I have spent assemblying other new grills.
Next came the cook test and the clean up test. After reading other reviewers saying that they lined the inside with foil for easier cleanup, I thought this was a good idea and did the same. I laid foil across the entire insides and with a steak knife cut around the 2 burners and a hole so any drippings could fall into the drip pan. I have read that the instructions for some of these roadtrip grills say to place water in the bottom for easier clean-up. NOT this model. The instructions say nothing of the sort. From reading many reviews, I summize that is on the standard Roadtrip model Model No. 9941-768 not this LXE model so the foil is a good idea.
I chose a beautiful 28 day aged NY Stip steak and my wife a 2 1/2" barrel cut filet. I preheated the grill for 5 minutes with the lid open on medium, wiped one side of the grill with vegetable oil and the other side with Pam for grilling(handles higher heats). I wanted to see right from the beginning which worked better on these porcelain coated cast iron grills. I can tell you I saw absoultely no difference between the two and will continue to use the Pam.
This grill gets HOT! I have to say that I was concerned about the fact that these grill surfaces do have the center area as solid cast iron(no open grill) so no flame gets through over the top of the burners. My concern was no flame hitting the meat = less flavor. The purpose for this is so that grease does not fall directly onto the 2 burners themselves. Let me clarify, there is open grill area...just not directly over the burners. I can report that this concern turned out to be competely unfounded. I rubbed the steaks with olive oil and salt & peppered them and placed each one directly over each burner on the unopened flame area. From the very first second I knew that the searing was going to be awesome and it was. It sizzled like nothing I have ever heard before except on commercial kitchen grills. The grill marks were perfect, the taste and flavor was perfect. I can't say enough about this grill. So far I love it but what about clean up.
The grills cooled down very quickly. I soaked the two porcelain coated cast iron grills in soapy hot water in my kitchen sink over night, as they fit no problem. I honestly don't think I needed to because I ran my finger accoss to see how "baked" on the residue was. It semed to come off pretty easily but I was full on a 16 oz NY strip and several glasses of Cabernet so they could wait until morning. The next morning the grills cleaned up so easily with a soapy wet sponge and I removed the foil lining and wiped the whole inside down with a soapy wet sponge and wiped it out with a dry towel. There was no difference in ease of clean up between the vegetable oil side or the Pam side. Both were easy. The porcelain coated cast iron grills do not need "seasoning" as un-coated cast iron grills do and if something does get baked on you can use a brass grill brush to clean them. Just make sure the brush is brass. It's softer and won't damage the procelain coating.
Folks, forget about any of the horror stories you hear about this grill...it's awesome. It gets so hot you don't need to close the lid so don't let that be a deterrent unlesss you smoke your food. The only reason I give this grill a 4 and not a 5 is because of the fact you can't cook with the lid closed. Although I said don't let it be a deterrent, it would be nice to smoke food. Also worth noting is that this new version comes with two grill surfaces. The older version came with one grill and one griddle and you were forced to buy an additional grill surface. Also with this new version the grill does NOT come off of the stand to be placed on a table top and the lid does not come off. I have read the opposite from other reviewers. Perhaps those things were true with older models. I know this was a long review, but these were all things I was concerned about and that I read conflicting stories on. I hope my review is helpful to you!
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61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Versatility in an outdoor grill, August 7, 2006
This review is from: Coleman 9949-750 Road Trip Grill LXE, Red (Sports)
I've actually owned the Coleman Road Trip LXE Grill for several months and have had it stored in my travel trailer, just waiting for the opportunity to use it while traveling. However, my daughter and her husband had the idea to "rough it" camp at Edison Lake in the high Sierras of California.
Robert Recupito wrote an insightful review of the Coleman Road Trip LXE Grill on July 9, 2006. I echo much of what he reported in his use of the LXE grill.
Our experience was limited to two days and nights of varied cooking. The first experience was grilling polish dogs for lunch. The dogs fit perfectly in the grill's grooves and were cooked very evenly through and through with the lid closed. That evening I cooked two tri-tip roasts. The grills had been pretreated with Pam barbecue spray, making cleanup very easy. After some basic seasoning, the roasts turned out perfectly cooked, crisp on the outside and full of natural juices on the inside. Day two was an instant replay of the first day with hamburgers as the main course.
I had purchased the gridle and a grate accessories for the LXE grill and can report that this was money wisely invested. My wife used the grate to brew the morning coffee and, later, whipped up a tasty mixture of hash browns, onions, and cheese. The LXE's variable heat and grate sturdiness made the preparation of this and other large pan dishes a snap. The gridle made cooking pancakes a breeze. Even with no Pam or cooking oil, the pancakes were light and fluffy and did not stick to the gridle.
If you're a barbecue enthusiast and use the Coleman LXE extensively, consider using a large propane container like I did. I bought a CharBroil propane hose/adapter at Lowe's for $16 and connected it to the LXE. Since I already owned the 5 gallon propane tank, my only expense was filling the tank with propane. Why go into so much detail about this, you might ask. If you've priced those little propane bottles to fuel small barbecues and lanterns, the money spent on the larger quantity of propane and the hose adapter will pay for itself rapidly over a summer's worth of use.
Clean up of LXE was certainly effortless. The recommendation of using foil to line the area surrounding the burners is certainly worth considering as well as the drip tray beneath the LXE. I soaked the cooking grates in OxyClean for about 15 minutes and whatever residue remained from two days of cooking was easily removed.
Like many other users, I recommend the LXE for its ease of use and versatility.
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107 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
READ prior to buying this grill, May 28, 2006
This review is from: Coleman 9949-750 Road Trip Grill LXE, Red (Sports)
I was so excited to cook on this grill! I thought it was the best invention for camping.
One big problem, though. You can not grill with the top down!
It appears to me as though they came across this fact after they designed the grill, because there are a number of design items which appear to be for cooking with the top down.
There is no mention of this fact in the instructions, but a sticker on the back of the grill says it in real small print combined with 20 other disclaimers.
the handle melted off and the lock stuck, runing our first meal.
Bottom line, if you are like me and always cook with the top down to sear in the jucies and keep in the heat, DO NOT PURCHASE THIS GRILL
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