Weber
Weber Traveler Compact
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.
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Specifications
Pros
- ✓37 lbs and 34 inches folded genuinely fits a small car, which the 43.6-inch Traveler does not
- ✓Split grates accept a Weber griddle insert in one half, so it grills and griddles at once
- ✓Same five-year cookbox warranty as the full-size Traveler despite costing $100 less
- ✓Still 240 sq in — twelve burgers — which is more than most tabletop portables at this price
Cons
- ✗11,000 BTU over 240 sq in recovers slowly when a full load of cold food goes on
- ✗Single burner, so no real two-zone setup
- ✗Still 37 lbs, which is not a backpack or a bicycle grill
- ✗1 lb disposable cylinders are the default fuel and add up over a season
Owner Insightssummarized from owner discussions
The Traveler Compact is the smaller version of Weber's folding portable, and it exists for one reason: the full-size one does not fit in a lot of cars. Buyers comparing the two consistently say boot space decided it. The owner base is small and the discussion is thin, so there is not much in the way of long-term reporting, but what owners do post is positive and reasonably specific. It gets hot, with one owner seeing over 700 degrees on high and cooking a steak on it properly, which is not a given on portables this size. The folding stand is the part people single out, particularly anyone arriving from a cheap portable, because it locks rather than collapsing when knocked.
The two problems that recur are practical rather than about cooking. The folding mechanism is not intuitive, and two separate owners were unable to get a newly assembled grill to collapse again at all, following the manual and searching for help without success. The other is that Weber does not sell a cover for it in the US. One owner tracked the correct cover to the Australian site, was told it could not be ordered, and could not get it shipped, which leaves owners guessing whether the full-size Traveler's padded bag is close enough to work. A single burner means no genuine two-zone cooking, though owners who have used two-burner portables tend to say they never used the second zone anyway.
Buy it if you need a grill that folds into a small car, lives on a balcony, or travels in an RV, and you want something that will outlast the disposable-grade portables it competes with. Buy the full-size Traveler if the car will take it, since you gain cooking area for the same folding design. The comparisons owners actually make are against the brand's small tabletop gas line, which is the alternative for someone who never travels with the grill, and against cheaper two-burner and compact portables, where the argument for paying more is longevity and the stand rather than anything about how the food comes out.
What owners like
- +It gets genuinely hot, which is the thing buyers of small portables usually give up. One owner who fired it up while his backyard and his griddle were out of action during renovations measured over 700 degrees on high and cooked a steak perfectly on it.
- +The stand is the part owners praise first, and it is a direct answer to how cheap portables fail. One who replaced a Coleman that had been bent beyond repair when his kids knocked it over in the upright position, because it had no positive lock to the floor, describes the Weber's stand as a hundred percent better and says he is not going back.
- +The size reduction is the whole reason to pick it over the full-size Traveler, and buyers choosing between the two say the deciding factor was room in the car. It is around a fifth smaller than the original, which is the difference between fitting a small boot and not.
- +It suits the balcony buyer as well as the camper. Owners with apartments and small rentals pick it over larger gas grills on footprint alone, and report cooking multiple meals a week on it rather than treating it as occasional kit.
Common complaints
- −The folding mechanism defeats people, and it is the single most reported problem. Two separate owners could not collapse a newly assembled grill despite following the manual and searching for guidance, with one wondering whether he had broken something by pushing up before pulling back. Work out the motion before you need to pack it into a car.
- −There is no cover sold for it in the US. One owner found the correct cover listed only on Weber's Australian site, was told it could not be ordered because it is an overseas item, and could not get the Australian site to ship it. Owners are left guessing whether the full-size Traveler's cargo protector will fit, given the Compact is a few inches shorter and narrower, with nobody in the discussions confirming it does.
- −It runs a single burner, so there is no real two-zone setup. Buyers cross-shopping a two-burner competitor at a lower price raise this directly, although the counter-argument owners offer is that they have never used two zones on a portable anyway.
- −It is not as small or light as the name suggests. Even the owner replacing a dead Coleman, who is happy with the upgrade, describes it as still huge by comparison, and someone living in an RV full time was asking whether it could be used without its cart at all.
- −Small compatibility questions go unanswered, which is a symptom of how few owners there are. Whether it takes the brand's system grates, what caps the gas port when no cylinder is fitted, and whether the full-size transport bag fits are all questions raised in these threads without a confident answer coming back.
Common Questions
I cannot fold it back down. Is it broken?
Where do I get a cover for it?
Compact or the full-size Traveler?
Is it hot enough for steak?
Can I run it off a 20 lb tank instead of the small cylinders?
Compare the Weber Traveler Compact
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