CUSIMAX Bq-151n Portable Charcoal BBQ Grill Review
Cusimax is a relative newcomer to the world of grills and smokers. They try to make a stronger name for themselves by offering utility grills like the CUSIMAX Bq-151n Portable Charcoal BBQ Grill, which mimics popular portable charcoal grills made by major grill manufacturers like Weber and Char-Broil, just to name a few.
Though Cusimax does their best to make sure that they are offering up a quality product that is capable of competing with the big dogs in this niche. They aren’t just looking to take a small piece of the pie. You see that reflected in the copious amounts of porcelain coating on the grill lid and grill body.
It also has remarkably sturdy four legs, which you can’t say from some of the major competitors in the world of portable charcoal grills. If you’ve ever had one of these small charcoal grills tip over on you, then you know what a disaster and fire hazard it is to have wobbly legs and movable bases with wobbly metal loops.
With the CUSIMAX Bq-151n, you have to accept that you are dealing with a portable charcoal grill. You aren’t meant to smoke meat with it, and you’d have to be a skilled outdoor chef to even have a hope of hybrid grilling a piece of bone-in chicken on it.
Once you accept that the CUSIMAX Bq-151n is meant to be a portable grill for camping and trips to the beach, its quality starts to show up in a lot of the places you want it to. This includes the ability to grill three to four burger patties and a fair mess of bratwursts on a direct flame.
Construction & Ease of Assembly
The CUSIMAX Bq-151n does take more assembly than you might think for a relatively small portable charcoal grill. You need to pay especially attention to getting all the washers and the nuts in exactly the right place. Then once you have them “Finger Tight” you need to take it to the next level to wrench them firmly tight. This will give you the stable base and confident lid hinge that you expect in a safe portable grill.
With proper care and attention to detail with the fasteners, you should be able to get the CUSIMAX Bq-151n fully assembled in less than half an hour.
When it comes to material quality. Portable grills like this are never going to “Wow” you with thick gauge metal. The thing that probably matters most with the CUSIMAX Bq-151n is the protective layer of porcelain that coats the lid and the firebox exterior.
Grilling Performance
If you are looking for a lightweight portable grill that you can take to the beach or with you on a camping trip for making burgers and brats, then the CUSIMAX Bq-151n will tick all the important boxes. Its legs are even long enough and sturdy enough to let it cook on the front deck of a pontoon boat without singing the boat carpeting.
So long as you are content with this purpose, then the CUSIMAX Bq-151n will take care of you. Though it’s when you try asking it to be something other than what it is intended to be that you start running into trouble.
The distance between the fire box and the grill grates is too shallow to let you grill bone-in pieces of chicken. By the time you’d get the meat cooked down to the bone, the skin and exterior of the meat would be burned. So, it’s best to keep chicken off the list.
Technically the CUSIMAX Bq-151n comes with a small warming rack. Though in the real world, this warming rack does little more than get in the way. It’s best to not install it in the first place and just grill with the main rack only.
Grilling Areas
The galvanized wire mesh grill grates offer 136 square inches of grilling space on the primary grate. This is enough room to grill burgers for two or brats for four people at a time.
Special Features
The four braced legs and the handle of the CUSIMAX Bq-151n probably don’t sound all that special. Though they let you take this portable charcoal grill just about anywhere and give it a firm base when you are grilling. That’s not necessarily true of all the competitors in this narrow niche.
Ease to Clean
There isn’t a lot to clean with the CUSIMAX Bq-151n. Though it’s best to scrape down the grill grates with a stiff nylon grill brush rather than wire or steel wool. This will prevent the kind of scrapes and scuffs that can damage the grill grates. Once damaged the galvanized wire mesh can be prone to sticking and can even start to show unsightly signs of rust and corrosion.
Extinguishing the CUSIMAX Bq-151n can be a little bit challenging in that the done vent doesn’t seal 100% airtight. It’s better to wedge some heavy-duty aluminum foil in the lid vent and wait for the fire to snuff itself out than to pour water in the firebox. Wet ash and thin iron are a recipe for corrosion issues that will shorten the life of the grill.
Warranty
The CUSIMAX Bq-151n comes with only a 30-day warranty, which is less than most of the shoulder to shoulder competitors who offer an average of one year of warranty coverage. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the warranty can only be redeemed at a licensed dealer, which can be an issue depending on where you live.
Conclusion
The reality is that there are a lot of things that the CUSIMAX Bq-151n is not. It’s not a hybrid grill and it can’t be improvised as a smoker. What you get is a conveniently lightweight portable charcoal grill that is designed for camping, tailgating, and trips to the beach. It has a lot of the basic material quality that you find in big-name competitor portable grills, though at a price that isn’t inflated by a well-known brand name.
