Most portable grills solve their size problem by being small enough to carry. The Weber Traveler solves it by folding instead.
Model 1501740 stands on its own legs and rolls on two wheels. The fire is one stainless tube rated 13,000 BTU, under 320 square inches of iron. Weber currently lists it at $399.00, reduced from $449.00.
That is a cart grill’s worth of grate on something built to travel. So the question is what the folding actually gives back. The answer sits in Weber’s own table, and Weber never points at it.
13,000 BTUOne stainless burner, under all of it
320 sq inCast iron, running on a single dial
12.8 inAll that folding saves, and only in height
49 lbWhy it rolls instead of being carried
First Impressions of the Weber Traveler
There is almost nothing here to build. The grill ships as one piece, hinged and wired, with the lid already locked down. Weber will sell you professional assembly for $99 on a grill at this price. On this one the offer reads like a joke at its own expense.
Setting it up is a single motion. Press the lever, lift, and the legs lock beneath you at a working height. Nothing balances on a picnic bench. Nothing crouches at ankle level either.
The first cook rewards a little patience. Heavy iron is slow to wake up and stubborn about cooling. Burgers go on in a row across the whole grate. The bars mark them properly instead of greying them.
Drop the lid and it behaves like a small oven. Chicken thighs come off with skin that has tightened instead of sweated. The second batch cooks exactly like the first, which thin steel rarely manages outdoors.
Key Features of the Weber Traveler
Everything on this grill answers one design brief. It has to fold flat enough to travel. It also has to stand firm enough to cook on, with no table underneath. Some of what follows serves the fire, and the rest serves the fold.
- One-hand lift lever: Press it and the frame rises or drops in a single movement. No second person, no latch to fight, no tools in the bag. Everything about moving this grill runs through that one lever.
- Automatic lid lock: Fold the grill down and the lid secures itself for transport. There is no strap to remember and nothing rattling loose in transit. It becomes a wheeled case rather than a grill lying on its side.
- Cast-iron: Porcelain enamel is only the coating here; iron is what lies underneath. Mass is the whole point, since stored heat is what survives a cold burger landing. Enamel also means no seasoning ritual after a wet weekend.
- Stainless steel: One tube of stainless, and that is the entire burner. All 13,000 BTU travel through it. Putting stainless where the fire actually touches is the right economy.
- Push-button igniter: Push and the burner lights. Weber describes it as push-button ignition and mentions no battery anywhere in the listing. Silence is not the same thing as a guarantee.
- Built-in lid thermometer: A dial sits in the lid, and Weber lists it as included. Nothing else about it is published. Read it as a direction of travel, not a reading you would trust with poultry.
- Two all-weather wheels: Weber rates them for grass, concrete and dirt trails. They are what make 49 pounds a pull rather than a carry. The pull only ends where the ground does.
- Side table and four tool hooks: One table folds out beside the cookbox for plates and tongs. Four hooks take the rest. That is the entire worktop, so plates either queue or wait in the car.
- Weber Works side rail: Weber sells a family of clip-on gadgets that ride on this rail. Condiment holders, lights and bottle holders clip straight on. None of them come in the box.
- Front access grease removal: Grease comes out from the front of the grill. Nobody has to kneel and reach underneath in a car park. That matters more on a grill that stands at hip height.
- Porcelain-enameled lid: Rust and peeling are both ruled out in Weber’s own wording. On a grill that lives in a vehicle and gets rained on, that matters. It also keeps the heat where the food is.
One tube, one dial, 320 square inches. Understand that ratio before buying. It shapes your method far more than your results. Everything on this grate is having the same afternoon.
Weber publishes 600°F as the maximum, and cast iron is what turns that into a crust. Iron this heavy shrugs off a tray of fridge-cold food. Thin portables surrender at exactly that moment. Close the lid and the cookbox roasts perfectly happily.
Nowhere on this grate is ever quiet. Thick thighs and fat sausages must finish at the burgers’ pace. So plan a running order instead of a map of the grate. Fast food while the iron is hardest, then the dial comes down for the slow half.
Build, handling and durability
The materials are familiar Weber. The lid and the grates wear the same porcelain glaze. The frame arrives as one welded piece, not a bag of brackets. Two wheels rated for dirt do the travelling.
Then there is the number that should decide the purchase. Collapse it and the height drops to 37.2 inches, the depth to 23. Open, it stands 50 inches by 26. The width reads 43.6 inches either way.
So folding this grill buys 12.8 inches of height and three of depth. It buys nothing at all across the back of a car. Weber’s photography sells the fold; the tape measure is less impressed.
Weight lands where you expect at 49 pounds. Rolling it across a field is easy. Lifting it over a bumper is a proper lift. Two people make that trivial and one person should think about it.
Running costs, upkeep and value
Price is moving around at the moment. Weber lists $399.00, reduced from $449.00. Our own record logged $449.00 at Walmart, out of stock, in August. Both figures were true on the day they were captured, so check the sellers yourself.
The box is honest about what it contains, which is the grill. Propane arrives in a disposable cylinder you buy yourself, unnamed anywhere in the listing. No printed figure exists to plan around. The habit to build is carrying a spare.
The accessory list is where the real total lives. The griddle made for it is part 7034, at $99.99. Drip pans are part 6415 at $10.99, and the cargo protector part 7030 at $59.99. Weber ships free above $99, which most of those baskets clear on their own.
Upkeep is the cheerful part. Enamel surrenders grease to a cloth. The front tray comes out with nobody crawling under the frame. Nothing needs re-seasoning and nothing needs a wire brush.
Possible Weber Traveler Complaints
- The five-year warranty is not quite a five-year warranty: Weber’s feature list says 5-year limited, and the warranty table underneath says something narrower. The cookbox and the lid assembly get the full five. Three years is what the burner tube and the grates are given. Everything else, including the hardware that folds and flexes every single trip, gets two.
- Weber’s own page cannot agree how wide this grill is: Weber’s description claims 40 inches across, while its own specification table says 43.6. The same page also gives the grate two different food counts. One of them looks borrowed from the smaller model. Measure your vehicle yourself, and do not plan a party around either count.
