UCO Grilliput Portable Camping Grill

So I purchased this product for a light two night backpacking trip. Although I have a portable gas stove I always like having the option of cooking or boiling water over fire and have the stove as a backup. That being said I know you can always cook over fire multiple different ways and boil water by simply sticking the pot on top of fire/coals. That being said I still want a portable grill that I can take backpacking as well as car camping, as I don't really trust the cleaniness of the grills at some campsites.First off the grill is comes in a very portable package but is much heavier than I thought it would be. I don't find that to be a problem for me as I would rather a have a durable grill over a lightweight grill. Most of the weight comes from the sides/frame of the grill and the grills themselves are light, pretty much wires. When I first placed this grill over the fire/coals there a still a small fire going and not everything was reduced to coals. Also the fire source was stacked higher than it should of been, not leaving a lot of room between the grill. Because of this when I started cooking I noticed that the grill wire that didn't have food on them were starting to warp/sag. After reducing the heat source and making sure the majority of the grill/wires were covered I didn't see anymore warping.I'm not sure of UCO's warranty but if the grills were to warpped beyound use I feel like I could easily MacGyver new grill sections from steel wires gauges from Home Depot/Ace. As mentioned before the frame/sides of the grills are a lot thicker and heavy duty so I don't think warpping would not occur as with the legs of the grill. The only part that concerns me are the two end wire/grill which holds the two frame together. If those would get damaged it would impede the grills function (I could probably Jimmy rig a new one but won't be as nice).

If you want to cook raw meat over a campfire... This is it!! Seriously it collapses down... But it does take a little bit to get set up but once it's set up s*** that's better than flapping that meat on the coals.. it's worth the wait in my backpack.. all stainless steel pretty damn heavy duty... Actually maybe a little too heavy duty you know you probably could have saved a little weight and made it less heavy duty.. I don't know I've seen some metal racks in the fire melt pretty easily so I guess I shouldn't say that.. this one no problem cook my food left it over the flames for hours finally decided to take it out it was perfect still working just fine!!

This grill works well for me, however, if you are one of those minimalist backpackers that drill holes in your toothbrush to save weight and counts every gram in your pack - stop reading now. This is a beefy piece of gear. Made entirely of stainless steel, a large tube with a smaller tube inserted in it filled with stainless rods, capped with solid covers; when broken down it's like carrying a ¾" solid stainless rod. It weighs a whopping 19.6 ounces. That being said it works great. It was hard for me to figure out the construction at first. With no instructions in the box, I spent a half hour trying multiple configurations on my kitchen table until I finally found the right one. You should defiantly assemble at home before trying to in the field on your knees in the dark - trust me. I have used this grill as a stove top over hot coals with multiple pots on it at once as well as a true grill with game meat directly on it. The vertical legs are only about 6 inches long, so you end up being really close to the bed of coals, but sticking it in ground a bit works great for stability. If you plan to cook meat right on the grill in the bush - do yourself a favor and throw in some SOS pads to clean with. Because of how it stores in side itself, it needs to be relatively clean before packing away (this will also keep you from robbing the steel wool from your fire starter kit.) In a pinch one evening while attempting boil some water, I took my Chinese knock off pocket rocket and it fit perfectly under the grill. These allows for better stabilization of a larger pot when cooking. The fire from the pocket rocket does get too hot for the small cross rods and will heat them out of shape - so if you use them for this, just remove the middle one or two where the stove directly hits. Over all, I love having a grill that takes up very little room in my pack - and I think it is worth the weght.

I bought this portable grill because it seemed like a nice idea not having a big grate to carry around with you. When I received it I was a little surprised as it was pretty small and pretty heavy. Not that those are bad things given that the dimensions for the product are right in the title. i unscrewed the main tube and poured out all of the pieces onto the floor to practice putting it together and it was really easy to assemble. It took me no more that 5 or 6 minutes to have it set up. and also its very sturdy. I guess that's the trade off for the weight! The size and strength of this would easily hold a full pot of water, skillet, ect. When it is disassembled it takes up almost no room in a back pack. It's just a small thin tube which is very nice. Another good thing about being able to disassemble this product is that you can clean it much more efficiently.This is a necessity for any avid camper who doesn't like to cook things on a stick right in the fire. It would also make a very nifty gift for somebody or just a solid personal purchase in general with a price tag of just over 20 bucks.Great Product!