Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Cooking Accessories > Grilliput Portable Grill > Owner Review by Phillip Bradshaw

Grilliput Portable Grill

Phillip Bradshaw

December 11, 2007

Reviewer Information:
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Height: 6’-0” (183 cm)
Weight: 180 lb (82 kg)
Email: stusic@gmail.com
City: Columbus
State: Georgia
Country: United States
Backpacking Background:
I’ve been backpacking for around 15 years, mostly in north Georgia or North Carolina. I typically hike around12 miles per day depending on terrain and consider myself a lightweight hiker, but not really ultralight. I take a weekend trip (3-day, 2-night) about once a month, and a weeklong trip about twice a year, including one dead-of-winter trip around February.

Product Information:
Manufacturer: nuardis GmbH, Germany
Year of Manufacture: 2006
Manufacturer Website: http://www.grilliput.com
Weight as Listed: 19.75 oz (560 g)
Weight as delivered: 19.75 oz (560 g)
Dimensions (packed, disassembled): 11-3/8” x 7/8” dia. (28.9 cm. x 2.2 cm. dia.)
Dimensions (assembled): 11-3/8” L x 10-5/8” W x 5-7/8” H (28.8 cm x 27.1 cm x 14.9 cm)
Cooking Area: 10” x 9-1/8” (25.4 cm. x 23.4 cm.)
Total Pieces: 19
Material: Stainless Steel
Price: $29.00
Description: The Grilliput is a stainless steel, portable grill that packs into itself, making the packed size and shape about that of a runner’s baton (as they describe it on their site – I couldn’t think of a good comparison).

First Impressions:
I bought this for my wife, who wanted a way to have better meals while on backpacking trips. I found this and thought it would make a great alternative to other grills that I’ve seen which fold flat, but still remain rather bulky. The Grilliput seemed better because the grill stores inside itself: everything fits inside of one of the main tubes.

It came in a blister pack container with the packaged Grilliput and assembly instructions, which seemed fairly complicated until I did it four or five times in my living room.

Upon opening the Grilliput, I immediately looked at all the pieces and thought that a piece was sure to be lost; 19 pieces total, including: one (1) large tube with a ring at one end and a receiver for the screw-on cap at the other; one (1) smaller tube with a notch at one end for cleaning the grill rods; one (1) threaded screw-on cap for the larger of the tubes, four (4) threaded legs, two (2) threaded hooked bars, and ten (10) rods that serve as the cooking surface.

The tubes act as the main compartment for the rest of the assembly. All the pieces fit into the tube with enough room to easily pack it, but not so much that it adds extra weight or gives it a lot of room to move around inside and make noise.

Field Use:
The Grilliput has made its way into my pack more than expected. I find when I’m already carrying meat for grilling, I hardly notice the extra weight of the grill. It weighs about as much as any other grill I’ve seen (less than many), but is much more compact than any I’ve seen. The tines of the grill are spaced close enough together to easily support a cup of coffee or soup for warming, but I must take care when removing the mug since the grill is in the fire, the mug gets very hot. This may be solved by arranging the grill so it's only partially over the coals.

I’ve used it on a few trips, ranging from the beaches of Sapelo Island, Georgia in August, to the Sipsey Wilderness Area in northern Alabama in early spring. Temperatures and weather were all accommodating, with no rain and mild temperatures.

In my opinion, assembly is the biggest drawback of the Grilliput. The website says it takes less than five minutes, of which it took every second when I first got it. I have found it is easiest if I follow the instruction exactly; if I stray from the written directions, it tends to lead to problems later down in the assembly process. Now that I’ve used it quite a bit, the assembly isn’t much of an issue, but I think it’s a catch-22: I didn’t get good at assembling it until I used it a good deal, which can be a deterrent in bringing it in the first place.

I was afraid I’d lose a piece eventually, but I haven’t yet. I’ve found that the only times that the pieces aren’t put together, either packed or assembled, are when I’m in the process of assembly or when I’m cleaning. When cleaning, I take care when laying down the pieces and keep them all together.

Cleaning it has also exceeded my expectations. I let it sit in the fire for a while after cooking, which helps burn off any leftover food and helps remove some of the grease that gets on it from the food. When cleaning, I grab a handful of wet sand or the small rocks in streams and grab each rod, with the sand in my hand, and run it up and down the rod, then rinse off the sand or dirt in the water. This seems to do a good job of removing any cooked-on crusties, but doesn’t do much for removing the grease from the cooked food. Washing the grease off with biodegradable soap is easy once the food is removed. Doing this makes it easier to pack the rods into the tube. It comes with a notch in the smaller tube which is used to run the small rods through, but it doesn’t work very well unless the debris is pretty large, in which case I can tap it on a rock and knock it off.

Lasting Impressions:
In use, the Grilliput has proven durable. I tend to be rough on my gear, but it’s held up well. A few of the rods that make up the grilling area have bent a little, but not enough to keep from using it. Any bends were minor, didn’t show any signs of kinking or buckling, and were easily mended by hand.

I still worry about losing a piece, but I haven’t yet, so it’s not too much of a concern. My only concern now is whether I’m willing to carry a couple extra pounds and eat well, or save the weight and just eat so-so meals.

Overall, I’ve been delightfully surprised with this grill. I don’t carry it on every trip; it’s proven too heavy for extended trips or trips that I’m carrying more than normal (during winter treks), but has been great on short trips or basecamp-style trips. I find it’s most often in my pack during summer, when my pack is lighter and the weather is good for grilling. One of my last thoughts is that if I'm already carrying a couple of steaks into the backcountry, I can afford to carry another pound for a grill to cook them in a proper way.

Pros:

Great Design
Compact
Durable

Cons:  

Weight
Difficult Assembly
Many Parts

Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Cooking Accessories > Grilliput Portable Grill > Owner Review by Phillip Bradshaw