We’ve seen a lot of compact portable grill designs, from tiny ones like the City Boy to bigger ones like the VitalGrill. When it comes to striking that balance between compact traveling size and spacious cooking area, though, few will come close to what the GoBQ Grill has been able to achieve.
In grill mode, it looks like a regular backyard cooker, with a generous-sized grate and a lid, so you can cover your freshly-cut venison steaks while it cooks after a long day of hunting. When it’s time to pack up, the entire assembly collapses into a tiny tube bag that looks even smaller than the tiny gym bags people bring with them to yoga class. Seriously, it’s so small it can fit into some drawers, so it should be no problem cramming the same thing into the corner of a backpack.
The GoBQ has a grate measuring 14 x 14 inches, enough to fit four big steaks with room to spare (okay, maybe no room to spare). Instead of a metal body like traditional grills, it uses non-rigid, fireproof, fiberglass fabric, allowing it to be easily folded when packing down for transport. It comes with a basket for holding the charcoal, so the fuel doesn’t burn directly on the fabric during cooking. When collapsing, both the frame and the bottom body fold into the lid, which is able to close into a small tube bag with an integrated handle. Since the body is made from fabric, heat dissipates very quickly, allowing you to pack up everything in just a few minutes after you’re done cooking. The fabric even comes with silicone coating, so you can clean it by simply spraying down with water.
An Indiegogo campaign is currently running for GoBQ. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at $120.