Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:      Summary: Great Little Guy! Comment: Although I don't use the grill personally, my husband has nothing but great things to say about this little grill. It's just the right size for the two of us and it fits just right on our balcony. Because it is small you get a nice even heat all over the grill, in that sense, it's actually better than the large barbeques. The only thing that my husband would like to change about this grill is the actual grilling surface. He would prefer a stainless steel surface.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Weber Baby Q Comment: I just got my grill and got to try it out. I love it more than the other gas grill I have. Fro the first time in years, I can cook and not worry about flare up's from the dripping grease. The griddle design is great that it channels grease away from the burner. Even heat too. I made 5 burgers and all were cooked evenly. The drip trays I can get at the hardware store for around $5 for 10 of them. Reasonable. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new grill. Smaller than the larger Q, but still works out great for small places, like apartments. I got the adapter to put the 20 lb tank on it. You need to get a cart for it. There are two versions, one around $40 and one around $80. If you don't have a table to put it on, a cart is a must. The cart could be higher, but other than that, I love this grill. Time to get rid of the other one. Scrap it out and sell the aluminum at the junk yard.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Waaaayy better than what I expected! Comment: First of all, gotta give Amazon their just credit- ordered on Feb 2nd, and received grill on the 6th using Super Saver shipping. Can't beat that.
I'm a former professional chef and I wanted a grill that would work well, but didn't need a larger(and much more expensive) gas grill. I have a commercial smoker, a deep fryer, and a 4 burner cooktop that I use more often than I grill, so a big monster of a grill would just take up space and use more gas for the 10-12 times a year I would use it. The portable grills I had tried in the past were all cheaply made and suffered from poor design which led to flare ups and burning. I was hesitant to go with the Weber, but took the chance based on user reviews I saw here and elsewhere. I'm glad I did.
I opened the box to find a very nicely constructed grill made out of quality materials. Assembly took all of 3 minutes(just attach handle with 2 screws and lid with two cotter pins, then drop grill into place). Heavy cast iron grill for good grill marks over well designed burner system. Very nice so far. I attached grill to 20# tank using adapter I also ordered which lets me supply the Weber from the same tanks I use for the other cooking equipment. Adapter dosen't require removal of anything from grill so you maintain total portability if you need it.
Grill fired on first push of starter button, and after about 5 minutes of pre heating I threw on a couple of burgers. Cooking went well with minimal flaring, and the cast iron grill gave great marks just like in the pretty pictures you see in magazines. It has only seen the one test cook, but this grill is well worth the money IMO, and I believe it has a great future on my deck. The size is ample for 4-5 ribeyes or 2 large T-bones or maybe 8+ burgers. This is fine for me as my grilling is usually limited to 2-4 people. The Weber Q is the Baby Q's larger sibling and it is slightly larger if you need the extra space.
Only possible concern you might have is your need for a side burner, smoker, or rotisseree attachment if you don't have these needs otherwise covered. But for pure grilling, I see nothing to complain about with the Baby Q.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Just as great as everybody says! Comment: Today I set up the grill and used it for the first time, grilling six big burgers. They turned out fantastic! I've had two big gas grills in the past, but they did not grill anywhere near as well as this little baby. I got the stand and the adapter hose also, as I plan to do a lot of grilling now that it will be so easy and enjoyable. Tomorrow I'll do ribeye steaks!
Customer Rating:      Summary: Baby Q Revisited Comment: Baby Q Revisited
I thought those of you reading the reviews on the Baby Q would appreciate a RE-review of this grill. When I first got my Baby Q grill and used it a few times I was delighted with it and posted a glowing review. Now that I've owned it about a year what do I think? It still gets 5 stars and I LOVE it!
I bought the Baby Q to use in my camper. It's so incredibly portable it's perfect for the camper or to take on picnics. When I moved into a new house I decided to get a larger patio grill and just keep the Baby Q in the camper. I bought a Weber gas grill with 3 burners so I could do rotisserie cooking on it.
While I can say I like the Baby Q grill I can also tell you I'm not a blind loyalist to Weber. First of all I thought the price was rather steep for the 3 burner Weber gas grill. It had a cast iron grate which few these days have. It also had the burners from front to back rather than side to side which is ideal for rotisserie grilling. So I reluctantly forked over what I considered big bucks for the 3 burner gas grill. I cooked 2 meals on it, hated it and hauled it back for a refund.
It wasn't until I had that experience that I realized just how much I like the Baby Q grill. I found that for DIRECT grilling it was superior in every way to that big 3 burner job. Because of it's small size you can control the heat better. It uses WAY less fuel. It also produces more concentrated heat and better grill marks. I can't explain it. I just like the results better.
I still wanted to be able to do slow indirect grilling and rotisserie cooking. The Baby Q is not at all suited to that type of grilling. So what I did was buy a Weber kettle style charcoal grill. It costs far less than the 3 burner gas job and so far I've been very happy with the results. I just did my first rotisserie chicken on it and it was delicious.
One thing I've found is that charcoal is not very time or cost effective if you are doing direct grilling. Direct grilling is for steaks and such that will only cook for 10 to 20 minutes and so all the time spent getting charcoal ready is wasted. And a lot of charcoal is also wasted because the coals can actually produce heat for over an hour. You end up throwing away half burnt coals because they don't do great when relit. With the Baby Q I really don't even find it necessary to preheat if I'm in a hurry. It does take a few minutes longer to cook the first side. But no fuel is wasted. If you want to sear your meat you do need to preheat.
On the other hand I find charcoal is more cost effective when you will be indirect grilling for several hours. I haven't actually measured it out but I think it ends up costing you about the same to use charcoal as it does to use gas. It's possible the charcoal goes slightly further. But this is only if you aren't wasting half the coals doing short direct grilling of steaks. I'm very happy with the combination of the efficient Baby Q for direct grilling and the charcoal grill for indirect/rotisserie cooking.
Having used the Baby Q for many many hours (I grill just about every day) I have discovered a minor design flaw. This flaw in no way effects how it grills. It's just a minor annoyance really. The Q model grills have vent holes on the right and left side of the lid. The thing is the designers placed the handles of the grill on either side directly adjacent to the vent holes. LP gas produces a most heat. And as you grill the smoke from the meat mixes with that moist heat and produces a greasy film that collects on the handles and around the vent holes. It's really not that big of a deal. It cleans up easily enough with soap and water. I would just hope the people at Weber read these reviews and make a change in their next model. All they need to do is lower the handles a few inches so they don't film up over time.
My grill still lights up really quickly and easily. I've even had it attached to over 12 feet of gas line and it surprisingly sparks right up. I mostly use an LP bottle instead of the 1 pound bottle. The 1 LB bottles last reasonably long though. The start/temperature adjusting knob is so much better than what they use on other small grills. I haven't had anything break off on me. I haven't rough handled it though. It's very easy to keep clean. I spray inside the bottom with a hose when it starts to get a lot of gunk in it and it cleans up like new. The grate always stays clean because I scrub before and after cooking. I don't buy replaceable drip pans. I just line the drip pan holder with aluminum foil. This has the added benefit that the aluminum doesn't blow away in the wind since the foil wraps around the aluminum drip pan holder and is held firmly in place when in the drip pan slot. Be careful when transporting the grill to empty the drip pan. I made the mistake of NOT doing this and spilled smelly grease in the back seat of my truck. It was no fun cleaning that mess up!
I absolutely love my Baby Q! I'm planning to get another one for the house. I was thinking about moving up to the larger Q grill. But I don't need the extra grilling surface. I can grill for 4 with the Baby Q. If I need more surface area I'll get the other one out of the camper or fire up the kettle. To summarize I really like the control I have with the Baby Q and the fuel savings.
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