Grill test

Product reviews should be done by objective third parties. I am not satisfied with reviews of light weight, packable grills; so here is my evaluation of a few grills that are sold as backpacking type campfire cooking grills.

Whether you travel by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, raft, canoe, kayak, small boat, ATV, horse or small car; if you ever want to cook on a campfire it is a good idea to own a smaller, lighter, more packable grill than what you would use if you travel to your campsite in a truck.

You might look for a grill on a search engine using keywords such as "backpacking campfire grill." A few of the half million sites actually sell grills that are light and compact enough to suit your purpose.

The heaviest grill in this test weighs just under 23 ounces. The largest surface area is 7 inches by 18 inches. Twenty three ounces is on the heavy side for backpacking, better for a canoe or ATV, but not so bad compared to the weight and bulk of a stove and a week of fuel. For comparison, my two truck camping grills weigh 6.5 and 8 lbs., with surface areas 12 by 16 inches and 10.5 x 14.5 inches.

I have personal biases. I like light, legless grills that will fit in a backpack. The grill should have a carry bag that will keep soot inside the bag. For backcountry camping, rust resistant grills are nice. The frame should have round corners and be free of parts that will snag or wear your gear. Simple is better than complex. Rapid cooling is a positive. Most backcountry cooking is done in pots and pans, but if I want to cook bread or grill a trout directly over coals, I don't want the food falling through the grill and into the fire.

Folding Grill: For decades, the most commonly available grill suitable for backpacking has been a grill with legs

that fold up under the grill body. The grill body consists of two frame pieces of carbon steel rod that have thin rod stays spot welded to them at about one inch intervals. I have owned examples made in China, Taiwan and the USA. The design has remained relatively constant. My current model weighs 12.7 ounces with a surface area 12.4 x 6.5 inches. The whole outfit is chrome or nickel plated, depending on the maker.

The Good: Cheap, $6 - $15. With care can provide several seasons of casual use. Large enough to be useful but still compact. Lighter and better if legs removed. Persistence of this design suggests it finds favor among campers.

The Bad: Cheap. No carry bag. Frame rod ends are unfinished and can wear holes in whatever they rub against. If legs are left on, the grill is not very stable in most real camping situations and you can knock the thing over and your meal into the fire. Short if legs removed. A couple of the grills I have owned had weld failures while others did not. OK for direct grilling of firm meats and larger vegetables, stay spacing a bit wide for burger or most fish. Plating burns off after a couple of uses and the grill can rust.

GSI Grill: Product is distributed by GSI Outdoors of Spokane, Washington. Dealers sell it by different names

but they are all the same thing. My model was made in China. Typical price is around $12. Grill weight is 22.3 ounces, surface is 15.75 x 7.9 inches. The frame is in two identical parts with the stays welded between them. Material is chromed carbon steel rod. I have only had my sample on the fire a couple of times. I was afraid the two frame segments might separate and the stays pop away from the frame over campfire heat. But the grill held up fine. The stays are

closer together over one half of the grill and wider apart on the other half - a nice and thoughtful touch.

The Good: Rounded edges with no sharp protrusions to poke or rub holes in packs, boat bottoms, clothing, etc. Inexpensive but thoughtfully designed - the close stay spacing is probably OK for burger or small vegetable pieces. Seems durable.

The Bad: No carry bag. Plating will burn off and grill can rust. Just my opinion, but I would prefer the grill 1 to 2 inches longer. Heavy for a backpacking grill.

Grilliput Grill: I paid $30 for my Grilliput. It doesn't come with a carry bag because it doesn't need one. This

is a modular gizmo with all parts slipping into the dominant main frame stainless steel tube. All of the other parts are well crafted stainless steel, too. The Grilliput is a cute and clever gadget from a company called Nuardis. Far as I can tell, Nuardis is two guys, Reinhard Gerling and Reinhard Balsfulland who make their headquarters in Verl, Germany. They are marketing people. The Grilliput seems to be their only product but they are trolling for bright ideas. Misters Gerling and Balsfulland quote Victor Hugo on their web page, "Nothing in the world is as powerful as an idea whose time has come." They have this to say about the Grilliput, "As if from a different planet but made for earthly enjoyment - featuring magnificent design, quality and performance. The innovative space miracle for purists and people on the move."

Nuardis hires sophisticated marketing firms to promote the product in countries where they think they can make a buck (Euro). Weight is 19.7 ounces. Working surface is 9 x 10 inches.

The Good: Clever design, good craftsmanship and materials. Good product for someone who wants to have a clever novelty.

The Bad: It's modular. I wouldn't dream of buying something with a bunch of pieces to take out in the backcountry. The legs are thin and can sink into soft ground with any weight on the grill. If you lose them the grill won't work (the legs hold the thing together). The legs screw into the frame tubes and the narrower tube doesn't have enough thread to support the legs after a little wear, and wear will happen because the legs don't want to stay tight, at least not on my model. The grill is heavy. The heavy cap is solid stainless (a clue the designers are not backcountry campers) and remains hot for quite a while. Both the cap and the frame tube end are abrupt and can wear packs, clothing, your horses ribs or anything else they rub against.

Backpackgrill.com Grill: Made in Seattle stainless steel grill with a single stay welded to the frame in

lengthwise configuration. Comes in two models, standard has a straight stay paralleling the sides of the frame and a Deluxe model that has a stay with multiple bends to supply greater support for whatever you are grilling. I bought a Deluxe model for $25 in spring of 2011. The web site claims the grills are "made from quality stainless steel rods." Weight is listed as 7.5 ounces. My grill is made from good quality quarter inch stainless tubing and the weight is 6.3 ounces. Maybe the maker gave up on tubing and switched to stainless rod. The tubing has thick walls. Dimensions are 5 x 4.5 x 14.25. The grill has a half inch of taper and slips easily into a plain but sturdy nylon bag with Velcro closure.. They have an "Order Online Today" link which was dead when I checked the web site an hour ago. So these grills may or may not be available.

The Good: Strong and sturdy grill of good materials (based on my sample, materials have apparently changed) and proven design. Bag should give good service. Product should provide a lifetime of use. Price is reasonable.

The Bad: Tubing heavier than necessary (if rods have replaced tubing that would be a negative). Welding is crude and unprofessional, but this is a campfire grill and not a work of art. Craftsmanship of the grill does not match the quality of the web site. The Deluxe model doesn't really seem to provide significantly more support for grilled foods than the Standard Model (despite appearances), which is similar to the old REI tubular grills and the Purcell Trench Packers Grill.

TITANIUM BACKPACKING GRILL: I bought this grill last year from BACKPACKINGLIGHT and the

cost was $70. Advertised weight was .9 ounces and that was what my scale said. The grill is made of commercially pure titanium wire. Dimensions are 11.4 x 4.9 inches. The grill comes in a plastic bag recommended as a carry bag. Don't expect the plastic bag to last. This is a clever item, carefully designed and well made in Boulder, Colorado. The wire ends are cropped close to prevent snagging on anything. Edges are rounded. Wire is wrapped properly. Considering the weight, the product should be durable and long lasting. It is clearly designed for small twig type fires becoming popular with some ultralight backpackers who wish to avoid carrying a stove, still want to have warm food or hot drinks but don't want to use a real campfire. This grill has one serious problem - see The Bad.

The Bad: Price. No real carry bag. I first tested all the grills by putting pots full of water on them to see if they would support the weight. I put a kettle with a liter of water on the titanium grill and it held the weight but that seemed like about maximum. I consider that plenty of cold strength for the intended use. But when I built a modest twig type fire under the grill and put the kettle on the grill it only took a few seconds for the grill to collapse. OK, too much weight. So I used a very light, small kettle with a half liter of water. It took a few seconds longer for the grill to collapse, but collapse it did until it was sitting right down on the fire.

Titanium has a high melting temperature and a reputation for relatively high working temperature, but relatively high doesn't mean campfire temperature. This is thin commercially pure titanium wire and strength when heated to even modest campfire temperatures is not adequate to support a half liter of liquid. It might do fine with very light weight on the grill. I don't consider it adequate for real cooking. Fire didn't damage the grill. Commercially pure titanium wire can be bent back into shape readily.

I was surprised. BackpackingLight has a sophisticated web site. They portray themselves as an information organization providing excellent, thoroughly tested products secondarily. The grill is advertised showing a small trout in aluminum foil over a fire. The foil may be providing most of the support for the trout. Sad to say, I think a lot of products are not adequately tested by makers or sellers. I am not just writing about other companies. I don't test products every time a welder changes settings or shielding gas or welding wire, nor do I test every lot of materials to make sure they perform like the last lot. I recently weighed some of the grills we make and despite all of the specifications being the same, the grills were heavier than the previous lot.

Purcell Trench Grills: I own Purcell Trench manufacturing. So, of course, I think they are the best. Purcell

Trench grill information is available at this link: GRILLS. The grills are made of thin wall tubular stainless steel or titanium tube. Each model is available in an all tube configuration or tubular frame with expanded and flattened stainless steel sheet (mesh) welded to the frame. Our grills come in three frame sizes. The small Packers Grill is similar to the standard Backpackgrill.com grill.

We basically copied the style from a grill REI sold decades ago. I bought one in the sixties. We sold our grills through REI for a few years. Our Voyageur Grill is the largest grill in this test, with a 7 x 18 inch usable surface, and 8 ounce weight.

Purcell Trench grills have rounded, smooth edges. They are one piece. You just pull them out of the pack or

gear box, put them on the fire pit or ring and start cooking. They all come with well crafted, coated nylon bags. Generally, they are light, strong, and will last a lifetime. Prices vary from $27 to $82.

The Bad: Stainless steel is not a good conductor of heat compared to aluminum or carbon steel (and titanium is worse than stainless steel), so those nice grill marks you get from your cast iron propane grill surface at home will mostly be lacking on stainless grills. Light weight grills are easy to carry but when you move food on them the grill sometimes wants to follow the food, unlike a heavy campfire grill you haul in your truck. Our mesh (expanded metal surface grills) will warp over campfire heat due to the high expansion ratio of stainless steel. The mesh cools back to original shape. This is a minor problem but can tip a pot a bit. The mesh grills and the titanium grill benefit from a break-in fire. Price.

Our Titanium Packers Grill only weighs 1.9 ounces and is made of Grade 9 titanium, about twice as strong as

commercially pure titanium. The tube is stress relieved rather than annealed (like our stainless tube), so it is quite stiff and customers should take care to avoid bending the grill. Titanium grills require some care - a bit of break-in time and they should be warmed before being put down on a hot fire. They will not tolerate heat as well as stainless steel grills but can provide years of use with reasonable care.

Grill Name	Weight	Dimensions	Material	Bag	Price	Legs	Models	Smooth	Buy
folding	12.7 oz	12.4 x 6.5	C steel	no	$8-15	yes	one	no	no
GSI	22.3 oz	15.75 x 7.9	C steel	no	$12	no	one	yes	yes
Grilliput	19.7 oz	9 x 10	S steel	na	$30	yes	one	no	no
BP.com	6.3/7.5 oz	5 x 14.25	S steel	yes	$25	no	two	yes	yes
TBG	.9 oz	11.4 x 4.9	titanium	no	$70	no	one	yes	no
P Trench	2.3-10 oz	5x15 - 7x18	S steel	yes	27-82	no	seven	yes	yes
P T Ti	1.9 oz	5 x 4 x 15	titanium	yes	$65	no	one	yes	yes

The buy rating is subjective, of course. The only grill in this test that didn't work for me was the TITANIUM BACKPACKING GRILL.

What do I recommend? If you camp a lot and need a light grill, Purcell Trench grills are excellent. The Backpackgrill.com Grill is plenty tough and serviceable, though it weighs more than necessary. I was disappointed in the poor welding.

If you can live with more weight, the GSI grill is good. You have to make a bag for it and keep rust from ruining it, but it is a nice unit for the price. It looks to me like the people who designed this grill actually camp and know useful equipment.

I don't recommend the folding grill, the Grilliput or the TITANIUM BACKPACKING GRILL from Backpackinglight.

The folding grill has been around for decades but always had weaknesses. It would only take a few seconds with a grinder to knock down the sharp ends of the frame rods. Folding legs are mostly a bad idea and the frame and stays could be improved. It would be nice to see someone improve the folding grill rather than makers emulate a mediocre design that uses history and inertia to recommend it. A lighter, narrower version of the GSI grill would be useful.

The Grilliput is a cute, clever, nicely crafted novelty item. But it is a pain to have to put the thing together and clean it up and put it back in the tube, make sure you don't lose any parts and baby the delicate threads of the thin inner frame tube. It is heavier than it could or should be. I don't see it as a tool for serious backcountry campers.

Both the folding grill and the Grilliput work and I imagine lots of people like those grills. I just don't think they are as good as they should be and there are better options. In contrast, the TITANIUM BACKPACKING GRILL did not work. I spent $70 on a grill that collapsed with modest weight over a modest fire. I wrote a letter to Backpackinglight but haven't received a reply. I will let readers know if and when I do. The grill might be fine if you want to cook very light things on modest fires.

Alternatives: Sometimes used REI tube or Purcell Trench grills can be found at garage sales. Don't pass one up. Campmor used to sell an expanding, two piece grill of stainless steel tubing that was well made and thoughtfully designed - look for it used . The carry bag was cheesy but the grill will fit in a plastic bread bag. If I though the market would support it, I would produce a new model of that grill. There isn't any welding, so the price can be lower.

Some river runners and horse packers use oven racks from camper ovens or toaster ovens. Most toaster ovens won't take much heat. Camper ovens are generally heavier and bulky. They are typically chrome plated carbon steel. My complaint is that people haul them into the backcountry and leave them. I have been in camps that had four or five of those things laying around - warped, burned, rusted junk.

There are other light weight, small grills on the market for twig type fires. I have seen a couple made of titanium rod stock. I haven't been very impressed with the designs but I am sure we will see improvements.

Ignore grills significantly larger or heavier than the models reviewed here if you want a packable backcountry grill or something for your motor or leg powered bike.

Hot camp fires can destroy even heavy commercial campfire grills. If you are an experienced camper you have seen heavy duty campground grills warped and burned by careless or malevolent campers. That means all light weight campfire grills require reasonable care. At Purcell Trench, we have been making light weight tubular grills since 1993 and have never had a report of a worn out or burned out grill. The grills are good, but our customers are mostly experienced backcountry travelers who know how to take care of their gear.

Campfire grills are accessories. I have cooked lots of meals on a campfire without a grill. You can suspend kettles from sticks, rest fry pans on rocks, set pots on coals (will cool rapidly from oxygen debt, though). Me, I'm willing to carry a campfire grill.

Comments may be sent to Don Tryon dtryon@purcelltrench.com. If the comments are beneficial to readers I will post them. If you do not want your comment posted, just say so.