FuegoElement Portable Gas Grill

The media could not be loaded. Please read all updates below. After having this grill for so long and using numerous times my feelings have changed on some things...I have had this grill for a while now and I am rather disappointed. At first it seemed like the perfect grill but then the first issue:1) Red elastic band broke.Another reviewer pointed this out and it's true...it breaks under daily use. I used it on a two week camping trip and only one average pull at the wrong time and this thing broke. But it's not a deal breaker.2) Burner has dancing flame.After the second use the flame on the burner started "dancing" all over and inconsistent. It would heat the grill up completely uneven and erratic. This happened in the middle of a 3 week camping trip.3) Customer serviceThe number in the instructions will NOT be the number you call for service. that is for the distributor and they will give you the number of FuegoLiving.At first it went pretty well. They got back to me quickly and the service rep (Cory) returned my calls. He felt the problem was that my regulator went bad so they sent out a new one. But, after 2 weeks of no word, I had to call back and remind them to send it. It then arrived in 5 days afterwards.So, that didn't work. The problem remained and I took a video of the grill lit and the problem I was having with the dancing flame. He asked me to try to keep the lid on and let it warm up for at least 10 mins and stated this is "how they are tested and meant to be operated. I didn't really get that, I have 2 large Weber grills and their flames are perfect even after 2 seconds. BUT, I listened and followed his directions. I waited over 20 minutes with lid on and still it danced.I called back and he stated it had to be the burner itself since that was the only thing left. I agree. He stated they would ship one out to me:Original email: [Hi Keith. It could be that the burner is warped or has a slight imperfection causing this. I will have a replacement burner sent. This is the only other item it could be.Sincerely,Cory KnaffleFuego Living LLC.302 Washington St # 150-1895San Diego, CA 92103]But this was 2 weeks ago and still nothing. I have left 3 voicemails for Cory (the only service personnel) in 4 days and I am hearing nothing. This is not boosting my confidence.Update: 7/15/2014: Grill still dances even after numerous tries and cleanings. I have tried two new burners and 2 new regulators. I love the size and portability of this grill but I am seriously considering the O Grill or baby Weber as a replacement. I would love to see how many others have had issues with this after a length of time.Update 9/23/2014: A commenter stated the grill on his does not do this with his drip pan lowered. Mine still does and always has. It does not matter what the drip pan position is or even if it is removed, it still dances. I found that on dry days when I preheat the grill about 15 to 20 mins it gets better and even stops sometimes! But still, this should not happen. Otherwise it's still a good camping grill.Update 8/5/2015: I still have this grill and have been using it for every camping trip now (7 to 10 times per year). I have upped my review to 4 stars. Although the flame still does dance it has been minimized over time the longer you allow it to preheat and the cooking experience on this grill has become much more pleasant for me. I love the size and the grill is holding up very well. Don't get me wrong, the red band still has to be babied when being put on, the igniter broke in the first 3 uses and the flame still dances to some degree, but I really like many things about it compared to other portable grills I've tried since. It's lightweight, not bulky, compact, cast iron grate (porcelain coated), easy cleaning (especially compared to others) and great food outcome. So, I still have not found anything I like better and have tried 4 other table top portables since the original review. That says a lot.

[I MODIFIED MY ORIGINAL REVIEW, AFTER MORE USE BECAUSE SEVERAL ISSUES AROSE. CURRENT COMMENTS IN THIS FORMAT, AND MADE 9/18/14]Nice unit. I grilled a steak, about 1-1/4" thick and fresh asparagus tossed with a touch of olive oil and salt, and they came out great.The burner tube is close to the cast iron grate, about 1". I like that as it is more likely to sear meats, with the high setting. I turned it on for about 10-15 minutes ahead of time. Nice smoke came out cooking my steak.I had a hard time seeing if I had ignited the flame in sun-so I had to feel for heat. I came up with a better way to tell. I will tear off a small piece of paper, or paper towel and lay it on the burner tube. That tells me immediately if it has lit. Just let the small paper burn. Don't count on the piezo lighter to light things. Always have another lighter source, but still use a tad of paper to see that the flame is lit - you won't be able to see it in daylight. It is just easier not to attempt lighting with the piezo. [DON'T BOTHER WITH THE PIEZO, IT JUST WASTES TIME AND EFFORT]I find the red strap hefty. Some commenters mentioned bad things about it, and maybe they have beefed it up lately. I bought this March 18, 2014. The one problem with the strap is it is quite tough trying to release it from the handle. I find I have to put the grill on its end between my knees and then use both hands to stretch the band enough to release it. But then I prefer that to a flimsy strap. The strap will only go on when I take it somewhere. [REVISION: THE STRAP BREAKS AFTER LITTLE USE. THE WEAK SPOT IS WHERE THE STRAP HAS THE CUTOUT AND INSTEAD OF FULL WIDTH, ONLY HAS A COUPLE INCHES OF STRAP. I USED AN ADJUSTABLE STRAP TO SECURE THE LID].Be sure to "season" the grill with vegetable oil per the instructions.I worried a bit about seeing videos of the grill and seeing the propane tube being inserted into the grill. The tube looked like it was too loose. It is loose but doesn't matter as it is attached, and locked into the end of the burner tube and is zero problem. It doesn't have to be a fight fit, unlike plumbing. [UPDATE: FOR SOME REASON DURING USE, THE FLAME WAS WEAK, THEN GAVE OUT FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I TRIED OTHER BOTTLES OF PROPANE BUT SAME RESPONSE. I TOOK OUT THE BURNER AND BOILED IT FOR AWHILE - THINKING WAS MAYBE IT CLOGGED FROM THE PREVIOUS STEAK DRIPPINGS, AND ACCUMULATIONS. DIDN'T HELP. THEN I NOTICED THAT THE REGULATOR END TUBING THAT USED TO LOCK INTO THE BURNER TUBE WAS NO LONGER LOCKING. THUS PERHAPS THE PROPANE WAS LEAKING BEFORE GETTING INTO THE BURNER. I USED A #4 SHEET METAL SCREW INSERTED INTO A SMALL HOLE IN THE BURNER END. I ONLY TIGHTENED THE SCREW ENOUGH SO THAT THE REGULATOR END OF THE TUBE WOULD LOCK IN. NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PIN THAT USED TO LOCK IT TOGETHER, BUT THE SCREW DOES THE JOB. THE BURNER SEEMS TO WORK LIKE THE ORIGINAL. BOTTOMLINE: IF THESE PIECES DO NOT LOCK TOGETHER AND THEY SIMPLY PULL APART, THEN THE UNIT DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY].I've now grilled on it oh, about six times, and I quite like it. Well made, and cool look. I recommend it. [UPDATE: I WANT TO LIKE THIS GRILL FOR ITS COMPACTNESS, AND LOOKS...BUT THE ISSUES I HAVE COME ACROSS MEANS ONE WILL HAVE TO BE INVENTIVE TO MAKE UP FOR THE UNITS FAULTS]Oh one other thing. While it is a compact unit that'll go on road trips, camping, etc., I decided to make it even more compact by making the lid handle removable. So, I replaced the two 10-32 size screw nuts with stainless steel wing nuts. The red strap still secures the lid without the handle. [UPDATE: THE RED STRAP WILL BREAK, SO PLAN ON USING YOUR OWN STRAP TO SECURE THE LID FOR TRANSPORTING].Happy grilling!

I love the design of this product - it looks cool, and if it worked half as well as it looked, I would be praising it. However, I have now purchased two of these grills, and both were completely faulty. The first one I purchased, I took on a car camping trip, and it wouldn't light for a long time. When it did light, the flame kept going out, so the cast iron plates never really heated up. We thought at first that perhaps the propane tank was at fault, so we replaced it with a back up one, but it didn't help. It took us about 1.5 hours to cook any food on it. At the end of the camping trip, when we put it back together using the awesome-looking red silicon strap, the strap broke in two. Thankfully we were car camping, and could just put the whole thing in our trunk, because otherwise there is nothing to keep it all together. I contacted Amazon, and they replaced the grill with a second one, as long as I sent back the original. Of course, it was a huge hassle to repackage and carry to the post office, but I figured it would be worth it for our new grill.We planned to take the second grill on a backcountry-camping overnight trip (the great thing about its light weight). We tested it before we left, and it worked, but once we were in the backcountry, the grill stopped working again. This grill was worse than the first. It did not light at all (no hot food for us!), and just like our first, the strap broke when we tried to put it all back together to carry home. We couldn't even carry it home - as without the strap holding it all in place, all the pieces were loose and inconvenient for carrying. I contacted amazon again. They asked me to return the pieces that we could carry out, and they refunded our money (as a good gesture).Bottom line, I do not recommend purchasing this grill. I wonder if the significant price drop was a result of an issue with manufacturing? It really wasn't worth the two ruined camping trips this Summer, or even the hassle of making the returns. My advice is find a different grill. Perhaps it won't look as cool, but at least it will provide some hot food when you need it to. :)

Setup took a few minutes, unit is well constructed and appears durable save for the large rubber band that holds it all together which I have no doubt is doomed to fail at some point. Two 6 to 8 inch bungee cords should be an able replacement when this one flaw ultimately fails.Now, the part that matters. This little baby gets hot. Beautiful sear on a steak. Be advised that the center of the grill is a "cool" spot that's still hot enough to be useless as a warming area so 2 good sized steaks is it's max capacity imo. Burgers, chicken etc should not suffer as much from using this area but keep this in mind.I've read a few reviews that complained about the clean up but I found this to be a fairly easy process. Wait for the grill to cool, dropping the grease trap took just a couple of seconds and I gave the unit a quick spray with a water hose and and it was ready for next time; total time invested perhaps 5 mins. One thing I did which may have helped was I seasoned the unit prior to first use by taking the grate and coating it with oil and set it in my oven for about an hour a la a cast iron skillet and I sprayed down the interior with unflavored cooking spray and ran the unit for about 30 mins to bond it and the dirt just melted off when I went to clean it after use so I'd highly recommend this prep step prior to first use.I have purchased and discarded a few portable gas grills over the years and everyone of them stunk for a collection of reasons. Think I've finally found a keeper that's small enough to be convenient, durable enough to last and potent enough to do the job in short order. I highly recommend.

I purchased this grill 2 years ago after a family vacation to the beach and had given up on my Coleman Party Grill. The Coleman did provide great portability but was very hard to cook anything on to my expectations. I've always been a Weber guy but even there 110 was a bit to big to travel with. I came across the Fuego on Amazon and got it while what I was looking for was still fresh on my mind. I finally got to use the grill this week. Even thought the convenient rubber handle that keeps the grill in 1 peice had already broken. It dry rotted at the handle end with never being used. I used this grill every day on vacation for 3 people and it did incredidle. The igniter worked the first time every time, the grill got hot really quick and the cast iron grate does a great job with distributing the heat well. Cooking on this grill was very similar to any big Weber I've used as far as cooking time vs. cooking temps. The only noticable difference was the size. The grill disassembles all the way down to a shell with no tools required to make cleaning the entire grill to almost new condition in about 10 mins super easy. So if I still had the handy rubber strap I would have definately given it a 5 star. With the rope I had to use to keep it together it doesn't look as cool as the pictures.

I purchased this grill from Amazon without seeing it in person. So I was a bit concerned. When I actually handled the grill in person, it looked to be very well-made and its design was very good. So far so good. The grease collector at the bottom of the grill is flat on the bottom so the entire grill can rest on the grease collector even without the legs folded down - when not cooking, of course.Initially, I tried to carry the entire grill by the handle on the grill cover and it wasn't stable. Then I realized the grill was meant to be carried on its side by one of its legs with plastic piece attached to it. Very easy carrying the grill that way. Weight of the grill is manageable. It's not lightweight by any means but I don't expect any decent bbq grill to be lightweight. It is light enough to carry from car to picnic spot without any strain.I haven't actually used the grill yet. :D I will use it tonight to bbq some hotdogs and meat.My only concern is "enamel coated steel cooking grate." Is this better or worse than stainless steel or cast iron grate? What is the longevity of this material? Only time will tell. So based on all that information, I give it 4 starts.Manual says the grill surface is cast iron while the Amazon description says enamel coated steel. Which is it? Hard to tell by looking at the grill.

I experienced the same frustration others have reported. The grill worked perfectly sometimes, and not at all other times. I tried a dozen times to determine an environmental cause for the difference, but found nothing.Just before throwing it away, I decided to enlarge the orifice. Searching online for the right combination of grill surface area, btu's, and orifice size, I thought a #60 drill (0.040 inch) was about right (that was also the smallest I had). This is somewhat larger than the existing orifice.I removed the brass orifice, held it with vise grips and drilled. The brass is soft, so drilling is easy.Put it back together and tested.WOW! Big, perfectly controllable flame. We used to run it at the max setting; now we're usually down around the second dot on the dial, but it can be turned down to a consistent, tiny blue flame if desired. We've used it successfully a dozen times now in varied environments.We use it in an RV. It is stored sitting on its deployed legs. So, we don't care about all of the other legitimate complaints about the band, drip collector, vertical carrying, etc.The design is so stunningly perfect for our application, that I'm extremely happy the functionality was salvageable.

First I must say I really love how this grill cooks. It is perfect for us because we don't grill often and we can take it camping. We took it on a camping trip right after it arrived and the food we cooked was amazing. It cooks evenly and temperature is easily adjusted. The small air space was wonderful for heating up bread products in foil and rewarming food. The cast iron grill holds heat well and is easy to clean. That said, the grease catcher broke at the weld point before we used the grill, maybe a bad weld and an isolated incident. A screw-on structure would work much better. The rubber strap broke at the thin points near the handle the first time I removed it. The igniter isn't located properly and a lighter was needed to light the grill. I actually like using it with a metal plate to catch drips because it is easier to wash than the part with a pole in the middle, but if we keep the grill I will write to the manufacturer and ask for another strap. There is no reason the solid part of the strap couldn't extend around the open space to give more structure to the thin rubber parts. I haven't decided about returning it yet, but I'm leaning toward keeping it and using bungees to hold it together since the quality of the cooking is what really matters to me.