Fuego Element Portable Gas Grill

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 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. :)