We're big fans of the Coleman RoadTrip grills. They've always performed great for us, grilling up meals for anywhere from two to ten people at campgrounds all over Alaska. This summer we tried out the latest iteration, the RoadTrip 285, and found it continues a great tradition.
Folding grills are just a good idea to begin with, and Coleman has been refining their version for quite a while at this point. The 285 assembles in about 15 minutes. In use it rolls over to your picnic table easily, the locking lid keeps it all together and when you're ready for action it folds and unfolds smoothly and is secure when standing. Two small work surfaces pop out on either side to hold light items, however there are no hooks like on the front of the LXE version for hanging grill tools like brushes and spatulas. Tying off a short piece of cord with a hook solves that problem, and you can hang tools off the handles on either side so they rest on the edge of the tables if they're pulled out or just hang straight down if they're not.
What's new with the 285 are a thermometer in the lid so you can more accurately monitor temperature, and a three-burner 20,000btu configuration for finer control over different areas of the grill. Like prior versions the 285 gets up to temp quickly and gets more than hot enough to fill up the available cooking area with a full complement of whatever calories you please. Like prior versions there are options to swap out the grates with a full or half griddle or stove grate, so bring on the bacon and eggs! Clean up is eased by the water pan, which removes quickly for cleaning and filling. You can even hook it up to larger propane tanks with an optional adapter.
The RoadTrip isn't particularly small – it won't fit in the admittedly tiny pass-through storage on our R-Pod 177 – but it is portable enough for just about any form of car camping. It also rewards careful handling, so don't throw it around like it's a piece of climbing gear. If you treat it nicely it will bring great food and good cheer to your campsites for years to come.