ECO-70120 Portable Stainless Steel Grill, 12-Inch

This grill works great, folds flat, easy to transport, and barely uses any charcoal. It is super efficient. We have used it for car camping, trips to the beach etc for years with the family. Clean up is easy and it has been a real asset to us. My kids have grown up using this grill on trips and I wish we could buy them each one as a present for their own as they go off to college. In closing i was skeptical but this grill exceeded all my expectations.

My dad was the one who recommended this grill to me. I thought it was a lantern when I first saw it. My parents eat outside with the grill in the center of their patio table, so their food is literally fresh off the grill. It only uses nine briquettes and cleans and stores easily. I was sold, especially since I have an apartment balcony with little (safe) room for a grill.Fast forward a few days ago, I received my EcoQue. From the outside, it looked brand new. When I tore into it, it was filled with scratches, dents, fingerprints...and bits of food. It was used!!! I complained and Amazon (Prime) sent me another grill free of charge, because obviously, I received a used grill by mistake.The new grill was also looked brand new from the outside, except this one included the owner's manual. I opened it, and it was still covered in scratches and dents here and there. I don't know what the deal is. It's a hundred-dollar grill, and they can't package it correctly? I understand being wasteful with packaging defeats the purpose of having an EcoQue, but all the scratches and dings are ridiculous for the money you're spending. There's plenty of recyclable packing materials they can use instead!Pros: It's portable, uses only 9 briquettes, looks cool and, most importantly, cooks great.Cons: Packaging is terrible. Expect to see scratches and dents on your grill upon receiving it.Summary: I'd totally recommend Amazon Prime, but I'm not sure I'd recommend the EcoQue.

Be careful not to add too much charcoal, as it will get too hot and warp the metal. That's why there are instructions, and yes 5 or 6 bricks is enough.

Don’t buy this grill..the valves freeze up...the grill is worthless.

I bought this a few years ago (2013 I think?), and I have taken it on a few car camping trips, but I use it even more often in my backyard. It's a great size for grilling for one or two people, and takes less time to heat up and start cooking like a full-size grill. It's very durable for a portable grill (which is a big part of the 5-star rating), pretty easy to set up and use, and needs very little fuel. The versatile lid raises it a step above many other portable charcoal grills. Although I scrub the grill plate by hand, I can put all of the pieces in the dishwasher to get everything really clean.It took a bit of practice to get used to grilling with it -- especially since I started with natural charcoal! Now I use ordinary charcoal briquets and add bits of natural charcoal for extra heat and burn time. I prefer Diamond Strike-A-Fire firestarters, because I can tear them in half and start the briquettes above more evenly. For easier clean up, I put foil in the bottom tray where the ashes fall, and I line the inner sides with foil, too.A few tips for using this grill: 1) Do not lose the "fork" tool! I misplaced mine for a while, and trying to work the lid and move the grill & charcoal plates without it was very frustrating. 2) Due to the shape, expect a hot spot at the center of the grill. I found that to cook more evenly, it's best to have the lid in place, even if the top doors are open.I also wish the bag was a little larger to hold accessories, including the EcoQue ECO-70129 Stainless Steel Griddle, 12-Inch (sold separately). I can sort get everything in the bag, if I pack really carefully, but it's difficult. Still, its really compact when folded up, and it's actually more difficult to find storage space for my grill tools than this grill!

Ok, so it's kinda flimsy and my friends were making fun of it. All that changed when I pulled into a campground late with thirty minutes of sun left. Started the charcoal, set up the tent, grilled a porterhouse and watched the sundown! This thing lights easy and cooks well. I just wish I would have gotten the 15 inch for more area. It's neigh for two people though.Used aluminum foil and it cleans up well. Bring along a two gallon zip lock to put the grate and charcoal holders in and it keeps the car clean.Awesome product.

Compact little grill. The packaging it arrived in was shoddy at best, tattered, and the grill itself bent from the imprint of a boot...Which made me very glad I didn't pay full price for it. I was headed out and didn't have time to return it, so I can't complain about any lack of customer support. That said, the grill itself has done it's job pretty well.I haven't had as much success with 9 briquettes as some other reviewers...For a two person dinner consisting of thinly sliced potatoes placed single-layer around two thin burgers, we needed a stack of 12 briquettes to keep enough heat to achieve a medium burger. We've used it several times now and this has been the case consistently. Maybe in the dead heat of summer it would work a little better, but I doubt it would ever cook a steak with just 9 lumps.Fits nicely on a standard picnic table, and the bottom stays cool. We use it on a plastic folding table and haven't had trouble yet. It folds up into a light, tight little foot-square package, which was really what we wanted. Not light or small enough for backpacking, but great for car camping.Get this for it's break-down-ability, and don't expect miracles about it cooking enough for an army on a sample pack of charcoal.