Weber Traveler Review: Collapsible Gas Grill to Take On the Road

Have you ever been outside in your backyard cooking on your Weber grill (or any gas grill for that matter) and thought, man I wish I could take this anywhere with me?

Or maybe you’re in the market for a new grill to take camping or tailgating.

The new “Weber on Wheels”, looks like it ticks a lot of boxes so I was excited to test it out.

In this review, I’ll run through my experience cooking on the Weber Traveller, both at home and on the road. And if you want to check out a video review we did I’ve included that below.

Is This the Best Portable Gas Grill? Weber Traveler Grill Review

Weber Traveler overview and first impressions

There are plenty of older portable gas grills on the market, but in my opinion, they’ve either been too small or inconvenient to transport.

The Traveler’s scissor-legged, foldable design and larger cooking surface aim to solve those issues.

Weber did a great job designing a decently-sized portable grill that you can take with you to places like the park, a sports tailgate, the campsite. 

It’s also big enough that you can enjoy cooking with it at home. The total cooking surface area is 320 square inches.

I own a Weber 3-burner Spirit II and the main cooking surface on the Traveler is not much smaller.

But beyond size and portability, how does the Traveler measure up in terms of performance?

As I spent 6 weeks testing and cooking on the grill, I was impressed by the thoughtful design of the grill. Every feature has been added to enhance your entire experience, from transport to grilling.

I’ll run through some of the main features of this grill, before listing what I liked and what I didn’t like, and then get into the nitty-gritty of what it was like cooking on this grill.

Key features:

• Foldable scissor-legged design: Weber designed the grill to easily fold flat for convenient storage while traveling (hence the name).

• Big, durable wheels – Traverse over obstacles like rock, mud, and grass with little effort.

• Grease drain system – Grease drains to the bottom of the grill where it is collected in an removeable metal pan. Weber makes replaceable aluminum liners for the pan.

• Mounted side shelf – While small, the shelf area is big enough to place a serving plate. It is part of the frame so it is solid and sturdy.

• Tool hooks – Stores your tools so they don’t take up valuable shelving space.

• Automatic latching system – There is a latch that automatically deploys when you fold and unfold the grill. When folded, it locks the hood into place so it doesn’t bounce around while traveling.

Weber Traveler specifications:

Fuel	Propane
Weight	47 lbs
Product Dimensions	Upright: 37.2” H x 43.6” W x 23” D Folded: 15” H x 44” W x 26” D
Total Cooking Area	320 square inches
Warranty	5-year limited
BTUs	13,000 per hour
Price	Check Latest Price at BBQ Guys

What I like:

• Great portable features – This is a well-designed portable grill. It’s foldable and the big, all-weather wheels allow for seamless transport.

• Cooking surface area – For a portable grill, the Weber Traveler has enough space to feed a family of four and beyond at home.

• Quality cooking grates – The cast iron cooking grates have solid areas to disperse flame away from the food. So if you’re cooking something delicate, you can move that away from the area of the grates that expose the food.

What I don’t like:

• One burner control – The grill is large enough to cook multiple types of food at once, so it would be nice to be able to have control in different areas.

• The location of the propane tank connector – In order to connect it properly, you have to angle the tank just right which is difficult to do because your field of vision is obstructed. 

While an extra burner would make this grill a little more versatile, I think most people that buy this are looking to keep it simple. If you want to grill steaks, burgers, chicken and hot dogs having one single burner won’t be a problem.

Unboxing and setup

Here are some things I noticed after opening the box and removing all of the contents.

Every item was packaged and protected well inside the main vessel of the grill.

Those items included the main body of the grill, 2 cooking racks, 2 wheels with installation hardware, and a grease pan with an aluminum liner.

No tools were included to assist with the set-up process.

Setup literally took as long as a commercial break during a Sunday football game, because that’s what I was doing when I put this thing together.

Most of the grill, including the frame and hood were pre-assembled. All I had to do was attach the wheels to the legs. It was a really intuitive assembly so I didn’t need the instructions.

Build quality

As we’ve come to expect from Weber, The Traveler is a very intentionally built grill that checks all the boxes in terms of quality. 

Weighing in at 47 lbs, Weber designed the grill to be light for portability. The frame which consists of the legs, tool hooks, shelf, and igniter are all plastic, but the material is thick and meant to be durable to withstand the rigors of traveling. 

The exterior hood and body are painted porcelain-enameled steel with stainless steel accents around the lid. The lid’s handle is also stainless steel as is the burner inside the grill.

Finally, the grill grates are made of heavy-duty, cast iron which I personally prefer cooking on over others made of porcelain-coated or stainless steel. In my opinion, cast iron holds its seasoning longer and sears meat the best.  

My experience cooking on the Weber Traveler

My first experience with the Weber was to test it out at a family picnic in the park. Loading up the grill in my wife’s SUV (with the seat down) was effortless as you could slide one end of the grill head first and use the handle on the other end above the wheels to pick it off the ground. 

Unloading was a similar experience but in reverse. Simply slide the wheel end out first, lower it to the ground with the handle, grab the handle of the other end of the grill and off you go. 

We had to travel about 50 yards in the unkempt grass to reach where we wanted to settle in and the huge plastic wheels made pulling the grill effortless. 

Unfolding the grill took a minute to figure out. (I’m not one for instruction manuals). There’s a red release lever that you have to pull to be able to unfold the legs. Also, a red plastic safety latch that has to be undone, otherwise pulling the release lever is useless.

Once I put two and two together, it lifted up with little effort. In other words, you don’t have to be The Rock to unfold the grill and get it upright (but reading the directions wouldn’t hurt).

Next, I attached the camping size propane tank (you can buy an attachment to connect full-sized tanks), performed the burn-off, seasoned the grates with cooking oil and let it cool off for about a half hour. After all that it was time to cook.

For this first cook, I chose a portable grilling staple: burgers and hot dogs. It took about 5 minutes to get the grill up above 400°F. It was a cool, windy day so it was difficult getting it anywhere above that. 

Cooking the food was very much like cooking on my other Weber at home. I fit a full 10 pack of burgers that took minutes to get to medium-rare. Due to the amount of cooking space, I also managed to char about 6 hot dogs and 4 turkey burgers at the same time.

Naturally, the hot dogs and beef hamburgers were done before the turkey burgers. This is where having multiple burners would have been a nice feature. It would have allowed me to keep the food warm while the turkey burgers cooked at a higher temp. Instead, the red meat eaters got to eat before the others.

I highly recommend cooking cheeseburgers on this grill by the way. Since the grates have areas that are solid, excess cheese can sit on there and form a delicious crust as it melts, giving flat iron and charred flavors at the same time. 

At home, I cooked all kinds of meats, from chicken thighs and wings, to brats and salmon filets. Everything cooked in a reasonable time with that delicious, grilled flavor that Weber has built an empire with.

Cleaning the grill

If you’re going to travel with the grill, you will need to allow time for it to cool down, the last thing you want is to leave the grease pan in place when you fold it up, so taking the time to wipe it down well will save a mess from occurring inside or outside of your vehicle. 

Even if you clean the grill thoroughly afar each use I would still recommend the Cargo Protector cover.

Cleaning the grill and the grates is painless, but having the grates seasoned properly is key to preventing all that grease and gunk from sticking to them.

Also, the Weber gets hot enough to burn off any excess debris, so if you turn the grill on high and let it burn for 10 – 15 minutes after you’re done cooking, it will go a long way and save you effort when it comes time to clean it.

Testing the Weber Traveler

My testing of the grill consisted of turning it on and seeing how long it would take to get to max temperature. The hottest I ever got the grill was around 500°F which took about 7 minutes. 

After that, I loaded the grill up with bratwurst links to see where the heat zones were. You can do this same test with bread, but I’m not much for carbs.

Judging by the char, the surfaces were the hottest just outside of the solid ring on the grates that is meant to protect grease from spilling onto the burners. The very inner and outer parts of the surface were the cooler zones.

Alternatives to consider

Weber also makes the Q series that features foldable side shelves. There are a few models to choose from and we’ve got a guide that looks at the most popular Weber Q1200 vs the Q2200. Even the largest model it is smaller and more compact than the Traveler, you can purchase a foldable cart. 

It’s a little too small for my needs, but if you want to spend a bit less and don’t want the higher cart you get with the Traveller it’s a good option.

Should you buy the Weber Traveler Portable Propane Grill?

If you enjoy doing anything in the great outdoors and have always wanted to bring delicious food to the table (pun intended) then the Weber Traveler is a no-brainer. Whether it’s at the lake, the park, the game or even at home, this is an enjoyable and functional gas grill that anyone can use.