The best gas grills under $200

Hands Down The Best Gas Grills Under $200

In Grill Guides & Buying Advice by marketninjas

It is summer. What are you going to do? You could have a cookout with some friends, but grills are so expensive, or are they?

What are some of the best gas grills for under $200? 

When looking for a gas grill and trying to keep to a budget there are a lot of factors to consider.   You’ll want to think about:

  • Space. How much space you have on our patio or deck?
  • What will you be doing with the grill? (camping or staying at home)
  • Cost.  How do you not sacrifice quality on a budget?

No doubt there are many more factors but those are three of the most important.  We have sorted through the most popular, most efficient and highest rated grills to help you with your search and get you grilling as quick as possible.  A couple of them just break the $200 mark but they’ve made the list because they’re what we would consider some of the best grills for the money.

Five of the best gas grills for under $200 are:

If you are interested in owning an efficient and affordable grill and would like to know how to find and maintain it, continue reading.

Hands Down the Two Best Gas Grills Under $200

Read the summaries below to see why these are our top picks:

If you have a small backyard, you want to make sure that your grill isn’t taking up much space. After all, what’s the point of having a cookout if your company can’t enjoy being outside?

Two affordable grills that practice space economy are: 

(Hyperlinks take you to Amazon for more information or purchase)

Summary: The Char-Broil Classic 360 3-Burner is a solidly built grill with a 360 square inch cooking space and three burners. Included with the grill is a 170 square inch warming wire rack. Finally, the grill comes with 6-inch cart style wheels, so once your cooking is finished, you can quickly move the grill aside, creating more space in your yard.

If this is still too large for your needs, the Char-Broil Classic also comes with a 2-Burner model.

Summary: The Char-Griller E3001 Grillin’ Pro takes up a bit more space than its Char-Broil counterpart with a 440 square inch cooking space and a 192 square inch warming rack. However, this additional space allows the cook to use side-burners. 

These additional burners are invaluable if along with cooking your barbeque and roasting veggies, you want to make some great sauces to go with the food.

Both the Char-Broil and the Char-Griller models come with an electric starter, and their warming wire racks are both non-stick porcelains coated, making both grills easy to use.

The only real question you need to ask yourself when picking between these two grills is how many people do, I want over and how much room do I have?

Sometimes though you want a portable grill. Something where, when you and your family or friends decide to go on an unexpected road trip, you can quickly load up the grill and unload it when you get to the lake and/or campsite.

If simplicity and portability are at the top of your requirements for a grill, then the portable grills below are what we recommend for the best portable grills available and under $200.

Portable Gas Grills Under $200

There are three excellent models to pick from if you are in the market for a portable gas grill this summer. 

Portable Gas Grills list and summaries below:

(Hyperlinks take you to Amazon for more information or purchase)

Summary: The Weber Q1000 Grill is a single burner model with a 189 square inch cooking space. Along with the compact space, making it easy to move around while you travel this summer, the Weber also comes with a split grate to grill and grill and fine-tuning temperature control. 

Summary: The Cuisinart Petit Gourmet Portable Tabletop Gas Grill is the smallest of the three portable grills listed, with a cooking space of 145 square inches and a single cooking grate.

However, its size makes it the easiest to move around and the most affordable. If you are camping alone or as a couple this grill is ideal for you.

Summary: The Coleman RoadTrip LXE Portable Grill is my personal favorite of the five grills listed. It does take up a bit more space than the previous models with a cooking space of 285 square inches, however like the Weber you have interchangeable grill and griddle.

However, my favorite part about this portable grill and what makes it different from the other portable grills listed here is its foldable legs.

While the other portable grills listed need to be set on a table, the Coleman model comes with legs that when unfolded have it sit at the height of 36 inches, or about 3 feet. 

All three portable grills come with an electric starter, and the easily removed cooking grates are easy to clean. Making all three of these grills good options depending on your needs.

When choosing between these three portable grills, the decision relies on similar questions you would ask yourself if you were looking for a permanent grill like the first two grills listed.

How many are you planning to cook for and how often are you planning to use the grill. Once you know the answer to those questions, you will easily be able to choose between the three options listed before you.

Additional Supplies Needed For Your Gas Grill

You have now picked your gas grill, whether you bought a permanent grill for your backyard or a portable grill for your seasonal campouts, you need to make sure that you have the necessary supplies and are doing the required practices to maintain your grill and keep your cookout game running smoothly.

Even if you’re simply going to be bringing your portable grills camping you’ll still want to pack these supplies along with your grill for easy clean up and maintenance.

Grill Maintenance Must-Haves:

  • Firm-Grip Firm-Wire Brush
  • Cloth
  • Warm Water
  • Soap
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Vinyl Covering

Before the season begins, clean both your grill and your propane lines. The propane lines can be cleaned with warm soapy water, this will remove any corrosion or clogging that has occurred. Your burners just need a damp cloth, no soap.

When working on your grill, make sure that you have aluminum foil and a firm wire brush. Covering the valves with the foil, to avoid them rusting from the water use the wire brush on the grill with a warm, soapy water mixture. Be sure to take your time with it, after all the cleaner your grill the better your food will taste when you use it.

Once you’ve rinsed all the soapy water away towel dry the excess moisture. Once you are sure everything is dry, you can reattach the lines and valves.

Throughout the summer season, make sure to check your propane levels. You will also want to burn off the grease left over with each use. This is done through flipping over the main cooking surface and heating the grill on high for fifteen minutes, burning off the excess grease.

A trick I’ve learned to lessen cleanup is lining the grill’s cooking surface with aluminum foil before each cooking session. The foil doesn’t affect how well the grill cooks and collects the run-off grease. You can then safely dispose of the foil later and have minimal cleanup to do on the grill.

Once the cookout season is over, make sure to repeat the steps you do at the beginning of the season once more. This will make prepping for the next summer a lot easier, the future you will be thankful.

Now you must think about how and where you are going to store the grill. If it is a portable grill, any well-covered garage or storage space will do.

If it is a permanent grill for the backyard, and you don’t have any room in your garage to store it, purchase a vinyl covering.

You will want to cover your grill when you aren’t using it. Rain will kill even the cleanest grill fast if you aren’t careful.

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How To Find The Best Deals on Gas Grills

You know what kind of grill you want, and you know how to take care of it. Now the question remains, how are you going to find one at a good value. I’ve discovered there are sure-fire two ways to find good deals on any appliance.

The first is scouring your local paper or listening for advertisement on the tv or radio. Most suppliers want potential customers to learn about sales to encourage more foot traffic into their store. I personally don’t like this method, because there is too much sitting around and waiting and not enough strategy.

My preferred method for hunting down the perfect deal, particularly for outdoor appliances, is to take advantage of the annual sales and to buy off-season.

During the summer months and during the summer holidays, such as Memorial Day or Labor Day, I look for items that are seasonally associated with fall or winter. Likewise, during Thanksgiving or Christmas time, I look for items that are typically associated with summer, such as grills.

By shopping during the holidays, there are already sales in action with things like the “semi-annual Memorial Day sale” or the “10th-anniversary sale”. Which you can take advantage of these established sales you are going to get the best value.

The same logic can be applied to buying a grill in the fall or winter, off-season. There is little demand for a grill at this time, so the stores will severely cut these prices to make any kind of profit.

Best Times For Deals:

  • Regular Holidays Sales
  • Off-Season

The Best Places To Find Gas Grills

You know what kind of grill you want; you know how to take care of it, and you have found a good deal in the paper or know about a sale coming up. Now the question is, where are you going to buy your grill?

Where you can purchase your grill depends entirely on what kind of shopper you are. Have you already done all your research? Do you know absolutely what you need and what you don’t? What type of shopping experience is most advantageous for you?

If your answer is yes to those question and you are entirely confident in your ability to pick what is best for you, go through Amazon.

Places To Purchase Your Grill:

  • Amazon
  • eBay
  • Lowes
  • Home Depot

Amazon is an excellent option because it gives you the specifications associated with the product and real people who have purchased the grill will leave feedback on the product.

Personally, when it comes to larger purchases like a grill, I choose to go in-store, like Lowes, Home Depot, or whatever option you have in your region. In outdoor stores, some salespeople are, typically, knowledgeable on the object you are shopping for.

If there are smaller details about the maintenance or operation of the grill that you don’t know about, the salesperson will. This will save you time and hassle in the long run. Also, sometimes the seller can get you a better deal on your grill than you could have gotten on your own.

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