ECO-70150 Portable Stainless Steel Grill, 15-Inch

Arrived damaged will use for spare parts could not be replaced.

Living in an apartment in Brooklyn, space is always at a premium. For everything we buy, the question is always "where will we store it?" more than anything else. So when we were looking for a small, portable charcoal grill that we could bring out to Prospect Park.I looked at Weber's Smokey Joe (which is the one we see others with most often) and Go-Anywhere, but decided that they wouldn't exactly slide into the closet easily. So I Googled for portable grills, and found mention of the Ecoque Portable Grill.It does exactly as they claim:- It collapses down to store easily (I haven't measured to see that it's exactly one inch, but it's pretty close), but it puts together quickly and easily.- It uses less charcoal that you'd otherwise dump into a grill its size, and it heats up quickly to be ready to use.- When you're grilling, it cooks things well. We've done hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages, veggie dogs and veggie burgers, and everything that came off it tasted great. It didn't have that huge smokey charcoal flavor you might get from other grills, I'm sure due to the lesser amount of briquettes, but it was good enough. I suspect in the future we'll play around with adding some flavored wood chips to the coals to improve the smokiness.- Once your coals go out, it also cools down quickly. I was sure that I'd have to let it sit for an hour to cool down before I could transport it back home, but within 5 minutes or so of getting the coals out (I used their optional foil liners), everything was perfectly cool to the touch and we threw it right back into the carrying bag.- Finally, cleanup. When I got back home, I scrubbed away at the cooking grate with a Dobie pad and some baking soda. It is perfectly clean? No. But this is a BBQ we're talking about, and there's always going to be charred food stuck to it.All in all, the Ecoque is a really impressive portable grill. We got lots of looks and a bunch of questions using it out in the park, and we may have managed to convert a few people into future purchasers. Ours may be the first one I've ever seen in person, but something tells me that we'll be seeing more of them out and around soon.

The design for the EcoQue Grill was -originally- manufactured and sold by The Pyromid Outdoor Cooking Systems in Redmond Oregon. I still own my original 12 inch "Pyromid" grill that I purchased from them over 20 years ago and it has served me well on many wilderness trips in Alaska, Canada and the Lower 48 States. Recently I discovered that the design was now being sold by a company called EcoQue and was being offered in a 15 inch size. Having had such good luck with the original Pyromid grill, I ordered one of the "new" 15 inch EcoQue models from Amazon. When the grill arrived the -first- thing I noticed was that the gauge of the stainless steel did -not- feel as heavy as the original grill. I didn't subject it to a micrometer, so I can't say for -certain- but the new model does NOT feel as heavy duty as my original grill. This weekend I finally had an opportunity to test the grill out while on a little father/daughter camping trip. Putting the grill together I noticed that the model I purchased (15") did -not- have handles on the baking hood like the original grill...instead you are supposed to use a wire "grill lifter" (included)...I soon discovered that compared to having handles the grill lifter was pretty awkward (granted the handles on the original Pyromid design -do- get hot but they are still easier to manage). During the trip I used the grill twice; once for pizza and once for burgers. I will grant you that it has been a couple of years since I used my original Pryomid grill but I don't recall having problems with hot and cool spots like I did with this new model...the final disappointment was this morning when I went to take the grill apart and clean it and discovered that the "Super Heat" insert grate was badly warped from the heat (thinner steel than the original design ??)...I haven't given up totally on the grill, I'll probably buy some inexpensive cuts of meat in the coming weeks and experiment a bit at home but honestly I wasn't impressed with it during this first outing.EDIT 6/13/15: Since my original review I have since had an opportunity to examine and use this grill side-by-side with the original 12" Pyromid Grill. The 15" model weighs a shade over 10 pounds, the smaller 12 inch model a shade over 8 pounds - So it would appear that my suggestion that the 15 inch model was made with lighter stainless steel was in error. I am still having difficulty with hot/hotter spots on the 15" model - I don't know, perhaps it is the difference in the size and/or different pattern on cooking grates or it may even be operator error - I'm just having a difficult time getting food to cook evenly on the larger grill. The lack of handles on the lid continues to be a frustration (lifting the lid using the removable lifting handle is somewhat awkward)...Overall I'd have to say I'm a -little- more satisfied with this product than I was the first time I used it - So I'll move it up a couple of stars.

This grill fold into a compact space and comes with its own bag. The overall weight is on the heavy side but it's worth it. The foil grill lines are highly recommended. This grill uses a unique design that reflects heat under and on top of the food to cook fast and thoroughly and I can attest to that. I use this grill whenever I get a chance, I use this grill over our glass grill even which has 3 times the cooking surface, that's how good this works. For a novice this will be an overwhelming grill, but it's easy to get an understanding how to use it.I bring this to the beach for days out and I get all kind of people asking question and admiring the design.It's very efficient in charcoal use and I can grill 2 steaks countless burgers and hotdogs with less than 15 briquettes (not all at the same time as space is limited).now this compare to a standard portable grill does not offer the access to the grilling surface as easily but you get used to the fact of using the doors on top or taking the cover off completely.This unit is stainless steel which really helps to reflect the heat from all sides for the cooking process but after a cook or two the stainless steel surface gets covered with soot which some people would call weathering it in, but for this grill that's not wanted, in a smoker that's wanted. So to clean it I use foaming grill cleaner and let it sit and wipe it down with anything or even keep it outside and hose it down then dry it off.