Unboxing, assembly and initial impressions, at $265. I bought this grill for family camping trips and considered the value and utility of static grills placed on a camping table vs. mobile grills. Use review will come later if I remember to do so. I love the look of the grill, the potential portability, features (including the water trap for drippings and easy cleanup) and ease of use. The box arrived without damage and the grill was assembly ready, there were no apparent problems, defects or paint issues (blue model), except for one of the leg mounts being bent (the mount where the long bolt passes through to secure legs, it was easily bent back). After assembly I tested the grill (after the initial burn in) and it worked very well. Assembly was very straight forward, however, I observed deficiencies in build and component quality: a) There must have been a sale on for mini rivets somewhere in Asia, because someone used a whole bag of them on this grill, and that bag must have weighed all of 0.5 oz. even thought there are oodles of them. Notably they are used on hinges and handles (!!) which create problems such as the potential for bending of sheet metal around hinges, the potential for rivets popping out and the lid falling off with repeated use, and lastly the potential for handles to fall off while lifting the grill (bit of a safety issue here for sure). Remedy? Most likely will drill out the rivets and remount handles and hinges using nuts, bolts, and washers. Remedy for the potential for sheet metal bending when opening lid? Might mount a chain between the grill base and lid to act as a hard stop for the lid. Instead, one could add a plate metal strip on the inside of the lid/base (drilled for the nuts and bolts) to provide support for the sheet metal at the hinges. Instead, Coleman could use heavier duty hinges with appropriate mounting hardware. b) The lid handle was found to be loose! Four self tapping sheet metal screws are used to secure this handle, it was loose. I checked to see if I could tighten them and three of the four could not be tightened, i.e. had stripped the metal during manufacturing and loosened back and forth during shipping, so the handle remained loose. Note that the screws used during manufacture taper off quickly so that they would be likely to give rise to a loose handle. Remedy? Larger diameter sheet metal screws to replace the originals (although there is potential for wear once again), or nuts and bolts if accessible. c) The wheels wobble. I appreciate that without having wheel bearings ($$$) there has to be some play on the axle to allow them to spin, but 1/8" to 3/16" is quite a lot when axle/wheel bore tolerances are not too tight. Remedy? Add another washer during each wheel assembly to reduce (but not eliminate) play. d) The slide out trays! What the heck kind of design is this? Surely the friction of the tray and sliding mechanism is enough to prevent the trays ejecting on their own under gravity/transportation? On first try to pull out the wing trays one of the springs flipped out of its channel and prevented me from pushing the tray back in (the springs are essentially bent wires under compression, more like an open safety pin rather than a springy spring spring). I tried to fix the spring wire and put the screw to which it was wrapped around back in, at which time I discovered that the screw hole was stripped and this had previously led to the spring popping out of the channel every time it experienced resistance. I ditched the spring and I am sure the others will follow, all 7 of them, with very little functional value. Remedy? Manufacturer remedy would be good, how about a lever to lock them in place for transit, a sprung lever and notch the edge of the trays for the open and closed positions. Nothing at all would also likely work because of friction, just remove the springs and all the screws that hold them - they are just an annoyance waiting to happen. Possible mod? The wings are short and retract into the main body of the grill flush. However, the grill handles extend the width of the grill, therefore one could use larger wings that close flush with the handles. Some kind of stainless steel wing? Attach to the original sliders using nuts and bolts whereby the bolts are countersunk flush with the steel? e) Uma Thurman's opera glasses? I had to read further into the manual to find out why I had an extra part - two circles widely separated by wire attached to a chain which was screwed (not riveted) into a leg, it took me a while - I scratched my head and scraped the barrel. I mean, WTF is this for? Hold my beer and watch this ... a lit match holder to fire up the grill. I am not sure what to think about this. Now I know there are folk out there who think this is a great idea, but, umm, well I suppose it is nice, but I am happy to singe the hair on my hand to light a grill and I know when it is lit by the smell, plus my hands look 10 years younger without the fur. But what if all I have is a (short) lighter, a lighter without gas, or some flint? It is not like there are long matches, long gas lighters, paper that can be rolled and lit to light the thing? Remedy? Lose it. Put that money into replacing the rivets (or at least using larger rivets), better securing the handle screws and so on. Fix the slide out trays. OVERALL While I found problems with the grill's construction and the quality of the mounting hardware used, I like this grill. Had I paid $320 for this, I might have returned it and looked elsewhere for a solution, but at $264 it left me on the fence as I know that the problems and potential problems described above could be remedied now and in the future as they arise, however, it is possible that any proactive alterations may also void warranty. The grill has several redeeming qualities. It is truly mobile and packs into a small place. The gas firing tube assembly is innovative, efficient and works well to control local and overall heat. Cleanup is easy and
