I love Costco for the deals they offer on high quality products. One of the great offers they currently have is a Weber Q2200 gas grill that comes with a portable cart and the propane adapter for use with a 20 pound propane tank.
Let’s take a closer look at this grill to see if it is the right choice for you.
What Makes the Weber Q2200 a Great Grill?
The Weber Q2200 is one of the most popular gas grills in the Weber product line. The grill is large enough to cook for 4-8 people, highly affordable and looks great.
Performance
My experience with Weber Q grills is that they get hot enough to grill steaks properly, have even heat distribution and are highly reliable. I do not own a Q2200 but do have the Q1200 and Q3200, and I enjoy both of them very much.
The Weber Q2200 is slightly larger than my Q1200 and slightly smaller than my Q3200 and just about the same size as my Weber Traveler.
I use my Q grills to make leftover brisket pizza, grilled chicken breasts, spatchcock chicken and even jambalaya!
Reliability
The Weber Q2200 gets amazing reviews and, thanks to its aluminum and rigid plastic construction, does not rust. The resistance to rust is really important if you plan on keeping the grill uncovered outside or near a swimming pool.
Please keep in mind that while the body of the grill will never rust, the grates and burner tubes will if you do not keep the grill properly cleaned between uses.
The grill comes with a 5 year warranty for the important parts and will last longer than that if you take care of it.
What Makes the Costco Model a Great Value?
There are two things that set the Costco version of the Q2200 apart from what you can buy on Amazon or even Weber’s website.
- Color
- Value
Color
The Q2200 being sold at Costco is jet black in color. The only color option available on Amazon or from Weber is Titanium white.
I think the black version is kind of sexy and its always nice to have a “limited edition” type grill.
But, if you don’t care about color, then you will care about what a great value you are getting.
Value
The Q2200 at Costco comes with a portable stand and the adapter hose that lets you run the grill from a 20 lb propane tank.
This adapter hose that lets you run this grill from a 20 pound propane tank is a HUGE BENEFIT and does not come with the standard Q2200. The standard Q2200 is designed to run from disposable 1 pound propane tanks.
Here is why you really want the adapter hose.
- The burner tube on the Q2200 is rated at 12,000 BTU/hr.
- A one pound propane tank contains 21,600 BTUs.
- The massive cast iron grates on the Q2200 take 15-20 minutes to heat up.
- This means you will only get 2 and MAYBE 3 grilling sessions per bottle of propane.
The one pound propane bottles are expensive and must be disposed of as hazardous waste. It is illegal to toss empty propane bottles in your normal household trash.
Bottom Line: The regular Q2200 burns through 1 pound propane bottles but the upgraded Costco model lets you use a standard 20 pound tank.
If you were to buy this gear from Weber then it would cost:
- Q2200 = $279
- Portable Cart = $94
- Propane Adapter = $35
- Total Cost = $408
When you buy this package as a kit at Costco it costs $299. That is a savings of over $100.
The Costco grill is an obvious bargain over anything that you can directly buy from any other retailer.
Things I Do Not Like About the Weber Q2200 Grill
I have a lot of experience with the Q Series grills and, while I am a big fan of the Q series, there are a few things that could be improved. In fact, when I was shopping for a new grill I took a hard look at this one at Costco but bought another Weber model instead.
Let’s start by going over what I don’t like about this grill and then look at what I bought instead.
Where the Q2200 Could be Better
The biggest issues with the Q2200, in no particular order, are:
- Single burner
- Grates are tough to clean
- Not portable
- Side tables could be better
- Cart is a bit flimsy
The Q2200 has a single burner the goes around the body of the grill. This means that you cane either grill with High Heat or you can grill with Low Heat but it is physically impossible to set up a dual zone cooking system that is hot on one side and cool on the other.
The heavy duty cast iron grate is designed to work in partnership with the single burner and funnels grease away from the burner towards the center of the grill. The design works great but it results in a grate with odd shaped groves in places that is hard to keep clean.
I end up bringing the grates inside the kitchen and scrubbing them in the sink as a scraping them with a grill brush isn’t very effective.
Technically the Q2200 is a “portable” grill. The cart does collapse and you can roll the thing around but you will not want to. There is no lid latch to keep the lid closed during transport and the grates will bounce around, and then out, of the grill while you are rolling the cart.
The side tables work okay but they are flimsy enough that I never trust them with anything important. I will use the side tables to hold barbecue sauce and tongs but I don’t have enough faith in them to let them hold a platter of steaks.
Last up is the cart itself, which while functional, is about as flimsy as the tables. The cart will do perfectly fine while you are grilling your burgers but has quite a bit of wobble once you grab a brush and try to scrape it clean.
None of these issues is awful or a deal breaker but when added together made me want to try something other than a Q Series for my next grill.
What I Bought Instead of the Q2200
I bought a Weber Traveler.
The Traveler has the same burner and grate configuration as the Q2200 so it isn’t perfect. However the Traveler, which is just a little bigger than the Q2200 is absolutely portable and has a much improved cart and side table.
If you are interested in learning more about the Weber Traveler, then here is a more detailed review.