Weber Go-Anywhere vs Jumbo Joe 18
Both $89.99 at Weber. The Go-Anywhere gives 160 sq in in a rectangle that locks shut; the Jumbo Joe gives 240 sq in on an 18-inch bowl with an ash pan.
We pick the Weber Jumbo Joe Charcoal Grill 18
The Jumbo Joe, unless the grill rides in a car more often than it sits at home. Weber lists both at $89.99, and the round one cooks on 240 sq in against 160. It also hangs an ash pan under the bowl, which the Go-Anywhere lacks. The two land a hundredth apart overall: the box scores on its clever pack, the bowl on grate and price. What the Go-Anywhere gives up for its shape is a third of the grate.
What actually differs
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Four air controls against two
The Go-Anywhere has two lid dampers, two sliding side vents and a char-rail that holds coals at one end. That leaves a long cool strip a rack of ribs lies down in. The Jumbo Joe steers a round bed on one lid damper and one bowl damper.
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80 square inches for nothing extra
Both grates are plated steel, so the money is not buying a better surface either way. Weber pitches the box at two to four people and the bowl at four to six. On a patio, that extra grate is the whole argument.
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It packs flat, or it latches round
The Go-Anywhere's legs fold over the lid and lock it, and tools and a chimney starter travel inside. It weighs 11.50 pounds. The Jumbo Joe's Tuck-N-Carry hoop clamps lid to bowl, but Weber publishes no weight, and it carries as a wide bowl.
The scorecard, side by side
Both reviews are scored on the same six weighted categories, each bar on the same 0–10 scale, and every cell carries the reason that review gave. A row is marked won only where the two differ by a tenth or more. How we score →
Four air controls and a char-rail give a usable cool strip, but a 160 sq in bed burns down inside an hour of hard work.
The Original Kettle 18's bowl, grate and dampers, so the same two-zone fire; the thin plated grate stores little heat for searing.
Ten years on cookbox and lid is Weber's full rust cover, but the folding legs that stand, lock and carry it get two.
Porcelain bowl and lid carry ten years, but the plated grate, nylon handle and wire legs sit on much shorter cover.
Porcelain-enamel over steel with comfort-grip handles, though the grate is plated steel, the same commodity fitted to the cheaper Jumbo Joe.
Enamel is the same as the big kettles, yet a wide bowl on short wire legs rocks on gravel or soft grass.
Legs fold over the lid to lock it shut and the tools pack inside, which no kettle on Weber's page manages.
The Tuck-N-Carry lock carries and holds the lid, but at 19.7 in tall every coal adjustment means crouching unless you supply a table.
The same $89.99 buys the Jumbo Joe's 240 square inches, so 160 here is paid for in geometry alone.
At $89.99 it matches the Go-Anywhere's price with 240 sq in against 160, and undercuts the same-sized $129.00 kettle.
No ash catcher is published, while the $54.99 Smokey Joe lists one, so spent ash leaves this box by hand.
No sweep feeds the ash pan, so clearing a cold bowl means lifting the grate out and tipping the whole grill.
Published figures that differ
Quoted from each maker's own specifications, as each review records them. Figures the two products publish identically are left out — only the differences are listed.
Which one is for you
Your grill lives in a car boot and should pack flat with its own tools inside.
Check price →You want the most grate $89.99 buys at Weber, with somewhere for the ash to fall.
Check price →More head-to-heads
Every score and figure on this page comes from our own reviews of these two products, linked above. We have not tested them side by side in one place; the comparison is between two full reviews, each built from the maker's published specifications and documentation. Prices move, and the ones quoted are the ones each review checked on its own date.