Choosing Between the Char-Broil Tabletop Portable Gas Grill and the Weber Go Anywhere
Portable Gas Grills: Two American Classics
If you’re thinking about buying a portable gas grill to use at the beach or for a picnic in the country, 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 their worth 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 much different, so which one do you choose? Is one of them significantly different from the other?
Although no comparison that does not set out to compare 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
Any time 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 Tabletop Gas Grill under each of these headings.
overall construction
Both grills are made of coated stainless steel to prevent rust formation. The Weber Go Anywhere grill weighs 15 lbs. against the 10 lbs. of the Broil-King grill, suggesting that Weber may have used slightly superior materials in manufacture.
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 each side for easy portability, 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 the grills can be attached to 20 lb. propane cylinders if needed. Both grills also have push button gas ignition and gas regulators.
Surgery
The cooking grates on each grill are a different size. The Char-Broil grill is larger (187 square inches) than the Weber’s (160 square inches). Although this size difference is not large, it can be significant if you have more than four people at your barbecue party.
Both grills also have flavoring systems. A good flavoring system will minimize flare-ups and enhance the flavor of the 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 improve its flavor.
There isn’t 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 general 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 you would expect from a grill. which has only 10,000 BTUs compared to 20,000 to 30,000 BTUs for a smaller home gas barbecue grill.
Maintenance
Both grills are cleaned in the same way, scraping ash and food debris from under the burners after the barbecue is complete. No grill has a “catch tray” below the burners. Many customers use aluminum foil on the bottom of their grills for easy cleanup.
Since both Weber and Char-Broil are established names, it is possible to purchase 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 is perhaps a bit surprising to find that on Amazon’s “Best Seller” list, the Weber currently sits 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.
Resume
As we’ve seen, the Weber Go Anywhere gas grill is the more popular of the two grills, but it’s almost twice as expensive. In terms of specs, there’s not much to choose between them, but perhaps you could 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’ve rusted and fallen apart.) ).
The Char-Broil tabletop gas grill is a bit more compact and perhaps has a bit more power (ie higher heat rating), but there’s not much to choose between them overall. With barbecue grills, as with many other products, brand preference may guide your choice rather than other factors.