Megamaster 6-Burner with Side Burner

The Char-Broil Performance Series 4-Burner is a budget-friendly stainless gas grill with a side burner, one of the most popular value gas grills at big-box retailers. Char-Broil targets the affordable mainstream.

Char-Broil's small-footprint cabinet grill, and the cheapest way into their FlavorMax cooking system — a perforated emitter plate between burner and grate that vaporizes drippings instead of letting them hit open flame. 310 sq in of porcelain-coated cast iron plus an 85 sq in swing-away warming rack, in a 44.5 in wide cabinet with foldable side shelves and locking casters. FlavorMax is the 2025 rename of what Char-Broil previously marketed as Amplifire.

The Traveler shrunk by about a fifth: 240 sq in, 11,000 BTU, 37 lbs and 34 inches wide folded, which is the difference between fitting in a compact car trunk and not. Same folding-cart mechanism and same warranty as the full Traveler. It also uses split cooking grates, so one half can be swapped for a griddle insert.

The Q 1200 has been the default answer to 'best portable gas grill' for over a decade, and the review volume backs it up - it's one of the most-reviewed grills Weber sells. Unlike the thin folding camp grills it competes with, the Q is a real grill shrunk down: a cast aluminum cookbox that retains heat like a full-size Weber and porcelain-enameled cast iron grates that lay down legitimate sear marks on steaks and burgers. OutdoorGearLab has ranked it their top tabletop portable for years, and owner threads about balcony and tailgate setups almost always land here. Honest limitations: one U-shaped burner means no two-zone cooking, so thick cuts and bone-in chicken take lid management and patience; 189 sq in feeds about four people; it drinks 1 lb canisters, so most owners buy the adapter hose for a 20 lb tank; and the low-profile grease tray will flare if you never clean it. The regulator's low-flow safety lockout (weak flames after a bottle swap) is the most common owner complaint, fixable with the well-known reset ritual. Against a Blackstone 22 you're trading griddle versatility for real grill marks and a lid.

The RoadTrip 285 is the long-running standard for tailgate and campsite gas grilling: three independently controlled burners and 285 sq in on a collapsing stand that folds to a wheeled cart. Three burners is the distinguishing spec — nearly every rival portable runs one or two, so this is the only grill in its class that can hold three separate heat zones. It runs on 16.4 oz disposable cylinders, with an adapter needed for a bulk tank.

The portable that punches hardest on heat: 20,000 BTU from two independently controlled stainless burners over 275 sq in, in a 24 lb all-stainless tabletop box. That is more BTU than the Weber Traveler and the Weber Q 2800N+ combined, which is why it preheats fast and actually sears. Twist-to-start ignition, a lid thermometer, and folding legs that latch the lid shut for carrying.