Great budget gas BBQ (Outback Excel 200)

Member Name: houndour

Product:	Outback Excel 200
Date:	08/04/09 (470 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comes with a cover and in my case a free butane regulator

Disadvantages: Need to buy more lava rocks

Price
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£99.99 from valueland.co.uk

What you get
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The box contained the BBQ, Lava rocks, a propane regulator and a cover.

I also got a Butane Regulator for free as part of an offer with valueland.

Putting it together
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My husband put it together in 1 hour 10 minutes.

All the bits were there, the instructions were easy enough to follow and we were cooking on it once it was built!

Cooking
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It has 2 burners (//edit - it's actually one burner, but with dual control) which you can adjust like you would a normal gas hob. The lava rocks sit on top and these are what give you the more genuine BBQ taste. The fat drips on the rocks, causing a smokey flavour to rise.

We tested out the BBQ with some sausages last night, the cooking was a bit uneven, but I'm sure this is because they scrimped on the lava rocks. We're going to add more rocks, and if things don't improve the way I expect I'll add that to this review.

//Edit (30th Oct 2009)
I just wanted to add that we have used this BBQ loads over the summer, including cooking a BBQ for 20 people on it! It has served me well and the addition of extra lava rocks worked a treat.

Features
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The BBQ has a warming rack, 1 burner with dual control, 2 pull out side bits to put your plates or drink on - these can be folded down. It has a bit on the bottom for your gas cannister to sit which is nifty. We have the 15kg bottle and that fits on. It has a drip cup underneath to catch the fat. The BBQ cover fits over with the side shelves up, which is useful.

The cooking area is 50cm x 38cm, and it has a hood type hood which means you can do some roasting style cooking.

I'm giving it 4 stars because it's very good value for money, but they did scrimp on the lava rocks.

Update
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As requested from the comments, the BBQ is fairly heavy, I'm a weakling female and I could not carry it on my own, but I can wheel it even with the gas cannister on board. My husband could carry the BBQ on his own.

The BBQ is solid feeling. Some of it is made of plastic though, and I'm not sure how it would fare being left outside in cold weather. I plan to put it in the shed over winter.

The controls are dead simple, just like any gas hob or other gas BBQ that I have used. Just hold the igniter button and turn the dial.

I added more Lava Rocks, and we cooked a whole leg of lamb (de-boned) on it with the lid down, and the cooking was much more even, so I would recommend getting more rocks.

Summary: Great little BBQ for under £100