Solo Stove Grill Ultimate Bundle.

The Gavler Review.

Solo Stove Modern Grill (Ultimate Bundle) Review: Design-Forward, Less Smoke, One Temperature

The Solo Stove Modern Grill (Ultimate Bundle) ranks number 9 on Gavler's Best Portable Grills list with a 7.7, and it's the pick for buyers who want a charcoal grill that looks as good on a patio as it cooks. Solo Stove built its reputation on the 360° Airflow technology inside its cult-favorite fire pits, and the Modern Grill applies the same principle to charcoal cooking — noticeably less smoke than a comparable kettle, at a $370 price that puts it firmly in premium territory. Reviewed's independent testing gave it real credibility: "We were surprised when the Solo Stove Grill almost nudged out the Weber Jumbo Joe for our best overall portable charcoal grill." That's a serious compliment from a publication that tested it directly against the category's most trusted budget benchmark.

What it is

The Modern Grill takes Solo Stove's signature double-wall, air-channel design — the same engineering behind its Bonfire fire pit — and reshapes it for cooking rather than ambiance. The 360° Airflow system routes air through the double walls to create a convection environment around the charcoal, which both heats the coals faster and burns them more completely, producing meaningfully less smoke than a traditional open kettle grill running the same coal load.

The Ultimate Bundle version — the SKU reviewed here — adds the accessories that turn the bare grill into a functional setup: a portable stand, a set of grilling tools (spatula, tongs, meat fork), a protective cover, and a carry case, along with a starter supply of charcoal and fire starters. At $370, it's priced well above budget portables like the Weber Jumbo Joe, but below the ultra-premium Nomad Grill & Smoker, occupying a distinct middle tier defined by aesthetics as much as cooking performance.

In use

Reviewed's testing methodology is a useful lens here: they built a chimney-free charcoal pile inside the unit (Solo Stove recommends starting coals directly in the grill rather than with a separate chimney), then ran both direct-heat searing tests with burgers and indirect two-zone tests with chicken drumsticks. The results were strong across both: "Both methods worked well, creating burgers with well-etched grill marks and chicken that crisped up but cooked through without burning the exterior." They also noted the coal bed outlasted Solo Stove's own 45-minute estimate, staying hot enough to toast buns "well after an hour" from a single 4-pound charcoal load — a genuine efficiency win tied directly to the airflow design.

Reviewed's size comparison is also worth noting: the grill's 22-inch grate matches a full-size Weber Original Kettle, giving it roughly 360 square inches of cooking space — enough for about a dozen burgers at once, more capacity than most "portable" grills offer. That's a meaningful point in the Modern Grill's favor for anyone who wants one grill that works for both a backyard cookout and a tailgate.

The design does have a real functional cost, and Reviewed was specific about it: "The lack of vents does make the grill easy to use, but it also means you can't customize the cooking session. It can only cook at 400°F to 500°F, so you can't use the grill as a smoker to cook low-and-slow items." That's the honest trade-off of the set-and-forget convection design — it removes a decision point that experienced charcoal cooks sometimes want to control themselves.

Strengths

• Independently validated cooking performance. Reviewed's head-to-head testing put it nearly on par with the Weber Jumbo Joe, the long-running budget benchmark for portable charcoal grilling.
• Genuinely less smoke. The 360° Airflow convection design isn't just marketing language — it produces a measurably cleaner burn than a comparable open kettle.
• Bigger cooking surface than most portables. At 22 inches, the grate matches a full-size kettle grill rather than a scaled-down travel unit.
• Efficient charcoal use. A 4-pound load outlasted the manufacturer's own estimate in independent testing, running hot for well over an hour.
• Fast, simple setup and breakdown. Reviewed found it ready to use in under five minutes out of the box, and easy to pack back into its carry case for transport.

The trade-offs — who should skip it

The single fixed temperature range is the grill's defining limitation. There's no way to dial it down for slow-cooked ribs, pulled pork, or anything that benefits from a long, low burn — this is a searing and direct-grilling tool, full stop. Buyers who want a true multi-purpose charcoal cooker should look at something with adjustable bottom vents or step up to a dedicated smoker.

Reviewed's testing also flagged a handful of ergonomic gripes worth knowing before buying: no side handles on the grill body itself, which makes it awkward to move once assembled, and a stand height that runs shorter than a standard countertop, meaning most cooks will find themselves hunching slightly to work over it. None of these are dealbreakers, but they're the kind of real-world friction that only shows up after actually cooking on the thing — exactly the sort of detail worth weighing against the $370 price, which runs well above budget kettle grills.

At that price, the Modern Grill is competing more on design and brand cachet than on pure cooking capability. If you don't care about the Solo Stove aesthetic — the brushed double-wall steel that reads as outdoor-living-magazine furniture — a Weber Jumbo Joe delivers a large share of the cooking performance for a quarter of the cost.

How it compares

On the same list, the Weber Jumbo Joe at rank 6 is the direct value benchmark — an $89 kettle grill that Reviewed's own testing ranked just ahead of the Solo Stove overall, built on the classic Weber kettle shape that's produced excellent convection cooking for decades without any 360° Airflow branding required. For buyers who want to go the other direction entirely, the Nomad Grill & Smoker at rank 2 is the true premium pick on this list — a $599 cast-aluminum clamshell with genuine smoker functionality the Modern Grill's fixed-temperature design can't match, for cooks who want the no-compromise portable experience regardless of cost.

The Gavler verdict

A 7.7 — the Solo Stove Modern Grill (Ultimate Bundle) delivers on its core promise: a genuinely lower-smoke charcoal grilling experience with cooking performance that held its own against the segment's most trusted budget benchmark in independent testing. The design is the draw, and it's a legitimate one — this is a grill that looks intentional on a patio, not just functional. But the single-temperature convection design is a real limitation for anyone who wants to smoke as well as sear, and at $370 you're paying a premium for aesthetics as much as cooking range. Buy it if the Solo Stove look and lower-smoke cooking matter to you and searing is your primary use case. If you just want the best cooking-per-dollar in portable charcoal, the Weber Jumbo Joe remains the harder recommendation to argue against.

Common Questions

Is the Solo Stove Modern Grill (Ultimate Bundle) worth it in 2026?

For design-conscious buyers who want a real backyard-capable charcoal grill that also travels, yes. It ranks number 9 on Gavler's Best Portable Grills list with a 7.7. Reviewed's independent testing found it 'almost nudged out the Weber Jumbo Joe for our best overall portable charcoal grill,' and its 360° Airflow design genuinely produces less smoke than a comparable kettle.

Can you control the temperature on the Solo Stove Modern Grill?

Not precisely. The grill's convection design holds a fairly narrow band of roughly 400°F to 500°F with no adjustable bottom vents, so it excels at searing but can't be dialed down for true low-and-slow cooking. Reviewed's testing was direct about this limitation: 'you can't use the grill as a smoker to cook low-and-slow items.'

Does the Ultimate Bundle include everything you need?

Yes — the bundle is built to be a complete kit, including a portable stand, grilling tools, a cover, and a carry case, so you can grill straight out of the box without buying accessories separately. Reviewed called this a genuine strength of the package: 'we love that the bundle comes with everything you need.'