Hi All,
My name is Jason and I'm new to the forum, though have been reading thru a number of posts here on the portable grill section for about the past month. I'm an avid 4x4 camper and had been using a Weber Q120 for some time for most of the dinner cooking duties while camping. The Q has worked out great but now with my first child here space (or lack there of) for the camping gear has become a challenge in the Land Rover. The Q takes up quite a bit of space, so I had been looking for a smaller more compact grill that will cook like a true grill vs a cheap POS. The WGA fit the bill since its much more compact than the Q and growing up my dad had a WGA-charcoal (a model year 1983 though long gone) that we'd use camping and it always cooked good food. Plus with what I read here on this forum as well as seeing what some of the guys over on bbq-brethren do with these grills had me sold. With that said, the big debated ensued: gas or charcoal, gas or charcoal, gas or charcoal. Gas was the leading candidate because out here in California, many of the areas we go 4x4 camping have fire restrictions at certain times of the year and when those are in place, you can only used gas powered grills and stoves. However everything I've read here and on bbq-brethren pointed to the charcoal as the better cooker at the end of the day. I finally settled on the gas version since I cannot avoid the fire restrictions when they are in place.
I quickly became aware that the new 2014 WGA gas models (model 1141001)had been updated and for the worst. Gone were the flavorizer bar and the plated cooking grate, replaced with just a new porcelain cooking grate that looks to double as a cooking grate and flavorizer bar. Clearly this was a cost saving measure by Weber. Additionally, when I looked at the new porcelain cooking grate in person, it appears to be made of the exact materials as the flavorizer bar that came in the older models....and from everything I've read these things begin to rust out in a matter of months. So my search for one of the 2013 WGA gas model 1520's stated. Amazon had a vendor that was still offering them for $60 + $13 shipping, but that just seemed a little steep. In my local search I found a HW store (OSH) that still had about 6 of the 1520's and had them on sale for $44.95, reg $59.95...score!
Still had the charcoal version in the back of my mind and figured I'd check craigslist to find one for sale on the cheap. About a week after picking up the gas version, I was in Ace HW and saw on a sign that they were running a 20% off any single item sale that day. In addition to that, if you spent more than $50 that day you got a $5 off coupon for a future buy. My eye then shifted over wall to my left and there were two WGA charcoals sitting on the shelf with a price tag of $44.95....20% off that put it at just over $35. Then to further convince myself (and my wife), I figured the additional $5 coupon for a future buy could technically be applied to the stove since I was buying an additional $20 in stuff from Ace anyway and if I didn't get the grill I would reach the $50 mark to get the $5 coupon.....so in my head this WGA-charcoal was only $30 and too good of a deal to pass up.
Having done my homework and since I was at Ace anyways, I picked up SS hardware for both grills, i.e. leg washers, igniter screws/washers/wingnuts, and the burner bolt/washer/wingnut.
Having been use to the Q120 with its temp gauge, a temp gauge was in order so picked up two temp gauges and bezels from weber parts. Also, having been spoiled with the Q120s cast iron grill grate, I caved on a Craycort CI grate. I also performed the "turbo charging" on the regulator to get the heat boost while on high as posted by another member here.
And here they are:
The WGA Gas:
...with the Craycort CI grates (a detailed eye will see a Stainless Steel Flavorizing plate under them...more on this here: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?48957-Stainless-Steel-Flavorizer-Plate-for-WGA-gas-grill ):
...and its Charcoal twin brother:
My name is Jason and I'm new to the forum, though have been reading thru a number of posts here on the portable grill section for about the past month. I'm an avid 4x4 camper and had been using a Weber Q120 for some time for most of the dinner cooking duties while camping. The Q has worked out great but now with my first child here space (or lack there of) for the camping gear has become a challenge in the Land Rover. The Q takes up quite a bit of space, so I had been looking for a smaller more compact grill that will cook like a true grill vs a cheap POS. The WGA fit the bill since its much more compact than the Q and growing up my dad had a WGA-charcoal (a model year 1983 though long gone) that we'd use camping and it always cooked good food. Plus with what I read here on this forum as well as seeing what some of the guys over on bbq-brethren do with these grills had me sold. With that said, the big debated ensued: gas or charcoal, gas or charcoal, gas or charcoal. Gas was the leading candidate because out here in California, many of the areas we go 4x4 camping have fire restrictions at certain times of the year and when those are in place, you can only used gas powered grills and stoves. However everything I've read here and on bbq-brethren pointed to the charcoal as the better cooker at the end of the day. I finally settled on the gas version since I cannot avoid the fire restrictions when they are in place.
I quickly became aware that the new 2014 WGA gas models (model 1141001)had been updated and for the worst. Gone were the flavorizer bar and the plated cooking grate, replaced with just a new porcelain cooking grate that looks to double as a cooking grate and flavorizer bar. Clearly this was a cost saving measure by Weber. Additionally, when I looked at the new porcelain cooking grate in person, it appears to be made of the exact materials as the flavorizer bar that came in the older models....and from everything I've read these things begin to rust out in a matter of months. So my search for one of the 2013 WGA gas model 1520's stated. Amazon had a vendor that was still offering them for $60 + $13 shipping, but that just seemed a little steep. In my local search I found a HW store (OSH) that still had about 6 of the 1520's and had them on sale for $44.95, reg $59.95...score!
Still had the charcoal version in the back of my mind and figured I'd check craigslist to find one for sale on the cheap. About a week after picking up the gas version, I was in Ace HW and saw on a sign that they were running a 20% off any single item sale that day. In addition to that, if you spent more than $50 that day you got a $5 off coupon for a future buy. My eye then shifted over wall to my left and there were two WGA charcoals sitting on the shelf with a price tag of $44.95....20% off that put it at just over $35. Then to further convince myself (and my wife), I figured the additional $5 coupon for a future buy could technically be applied to the stove since I was buying an additional $20 in stuff from Ace anyway and if I didn't get the grill I would reach the $50 mark to get the $5 coupon.....so in my head this WGA-charcoal was only $30 and too good of a deal to pass up.
Having done my homework and since I was at Ace anyways, I picked up SS hardware for both grills, i.e. leg washers, igniter screws/washers/wingnuts, and the burner bolt/washer/wingnut.
Having been use to the Q120 with its temp gauge, a temp gauge was in order so picked up two temp gauges and bezels from weber parts. Also, having been spoiled with the Q120s cast iron grill grate, I caved on a Craycort CI grate. I also performed the "turbo charging" on the regulator to get the heat boost while on high as posted by another member here.
And here they are:
The WGA Gas:
...with the Craycort CI grates (a detailed eye will see a Stainless Steel Flavorizing plate under them...more on this here: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?48957-Stainless-Steel-Flavorizer-Plate-for-WGA-gas-grill ):
...and its Charcoal twin brother:
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