Grillchef by Landmann Schwenkgrill 0542

A tripod, a chain, a round grate and beneath it a black bowl for the embers. The Grillchef by Landmann swing grill 0542 has no more parts than that, and the Amazon title names no more either: tripod, grill grate, fire bowl, charcoal as fuel and a chain hoist for the height. At approx. €26 (Amazon page on 20 October 2026: €25.51) it is the cheapest of the four swing grills that we set against each other further down from our charcoal grills category.

The source situation is thin, and that shapes this text. Landmann no longer shows product pages on landmann.de, only category texts, the company history, an FAQ and the service section; landmann.com/de leads nowhere. That leaves the Amazon catalogue, accessed on 5 October 2026, and the product photo. The five bullet points of the listing help hardly at all. Each one repeats the title and adds advertising sentences, without a single dimension or material.

Schwenker, tripod, Landmann: where the device comes from

The principle comes from Saarland. There the grill is called a Schwenker, and often the meat on it too: the grate hangs on a chain under a tripod above the fire and is swung back and forth while grilling. Traditionally beech wood burns underneath. According to the title, the 0542 is intended for charcoal, but the design is the same.

According to its own account, Landmann was founded on 20 September 1966 in Osterholz-Scharmbeck in Lower Saxony by Bernd Hockemeyer and Hermann Landmann, who, according to the company history, brought the grill from Canada to Germany. The company describes itself as Germany’s oldest grill manufacturer.

A sentence from the same chronicle is often misunderstood. Landmann writes that the company made its history with the “nostalgic tripods” and cites 1.5 million units sold per year of this grill at its peak. What is meant there is a compact round grill on three legs, that is, a bowl with a grate on short feet, not a hanging grate under a tall frame. The figure cannot be transferred to the 0542. In its FAQ, Landmann still lists “classic tripod grills” as part of the charcoal range today.

What belongs to the set and what the photo shows

The catalogue lists black as the colour and 152 x 60 x 60 cm as the size. The axes are assigned oddly there, with the 152 cm running as the width. The photo shows a frame that is a good twice as tall as it is wide, and so we read the 152 cm as the set-up height. It is not stated that way anywhere in so many words. The 60 x 60 cm would then be the spread of the legs at the ground, an envelope dimension. It says nothing about the size of the grate, and a grilling area cannot be derived from it.

In the picture, three black legs converge at the top in a head piece. From there a chain hangs vertically down to a ring, and from this ring three short chains go to the edge of the grate. The grate itself is silver, a round frame with parallel bars. Directly below it, between the legs, sits the bowl, glossy black and clearly above the ground. On one of the legs a hook can be seen, over which a piece of chain hangs. That is probably the point where you hook in the chain for adjusting, but the mechanism is not explained anywhere.

Which material it is remains open. A silver wire grate can be chrome-plated or stainless steel, a glossy black bowl enamelled or painted. You cannot tell the difference in a photo, and so we do not commit to it. For care and durability it is the most important open point; more on that below.

In detail: how the chain hoist controls the heat

A swing grill has no lid and no vents. What reaches the food you control through two things: how much charcoal lies in the bowl and how far the grate hangs above it. The radiant heat of a bed of embers falls off quickly with distance. A few centimetres lower therefore does not mean a little hotter, but clearly more heat from below, and conversely a hand’s width more air turns fierce searing into gentle cooking.

With the chain hoist, the length of the chain between the head piece and the grate determines the height. If you shorten it by hooking in a higher link, the grate rises. The steps are therefore as fine as the chain links, and how many there are on the 0542 we do not know. The re-hooking usually happens above the hot embers. The chain near the grate becomes warm itself in the process, and we would not reach there without a grill glove.

A crank does the same with a rope drum or a shaft: you turn instead of re-hooking, and you do not get near the grate while doing so. That is the real difference from the LEMODO in our table. The crank is not necessarily more precise, but more convenient if you adjust often while grilling.

The swinging has a practical purpose. The grate hangs centrally above the bowl, and the centre of a bed of embers radiates most strongly. When the grate swings, the food moves alternately over the hot centre and the cooler edge, and the heat is distributed more evenly over time. If you prefer two fixed zones, pile the charcoal on one side of the bowl. Then, however, it matters that the grate hangs still and does not turn back by itself. Whether there is a swivel between chain and grate that prevents twisting cannot be seen in the photo.

Charcoal in a bowl needs air, otherwise it glows slowly and unevenly. Whether the fire bowl has holes in the base is left open by the picture. What helps if the charcoal does not get going is in our guide Charcoal will not light properly.

Is the brand name worth it for a €26 grill?

Barely for the construction, perhaps for the service. In the photo the set is not recognisably different from nameless tripods in the same price class. The difference is that behind Landmann there is a reachable customer service.

What the manufacturer writes about this specifically: for many models, spare parts are available long term, through specialist retailers or customer service, and Landmann has its own customer service with technical advice. The contact form on landmann.de has its own subject lines for spare parts and for complaints. Whether the 0542 is one of the “many models” is not stated there, however.

Our assessment: for a set at approx. €26, the realistic spare part is the grate or a piece of chain, and you can get both as a universal part if need be. The brand name here is above all an address you can write to if a leg arrives bent. With no-name goods that is often not the case.

What cannot be clarified before buying

Neither at Amazon nor at Landmann did we find details on the following points, nor a manual for the 0542:

• Diameter of grill grate and fire bowl, and with it grilling area and number of people
• Material and material thickness of frame, chain, grate and bowl
• Length of the chain, number of steps, distance between grate and embers
• Whether the grate can be turned without the chain twisting
• Holes or ash drain in the bowl
• Type of assembly, assembly time, pack size and whether the frame can be taken apart
• Maximum load on the tripod, for example for a cauldron
• Corrosion protection and weather resistance
• Warranty terms and model year of the model
• Safety, set-up and cleaning instructions

What we miss most is the grate diameter. It decides whether you are grilling for two people or for eight, and this is exactly the figure that the SOUK ONE listing gives.

Safety and care without a manual

Because no manual can be found, nothing here is a requirement from Landmann. What follows applies in principle to charcoal in the open air.

Glowing charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, which you can neither smell nor see. A swing grill therefore belongs outdoors and not in a garage, tent, garden shed or under a closed canopy. To light it, you use neither methylated spirits nor petrol, but firelighters complying with DIN EN 1860-3 (a standard that applies in Germany and the EU). Place the tripod on level, firm ground, away from hedge, wooden wall and parasol. A hanging grate swings if someone bumps into it; children and dogs should therefore not stay directly between the legs.

Without a lid the embers cannot simply be smothered; the simplest way is to let them burn out in the bowl. Ash stays hot for a long time, even when it looks grey, and goes into the bin only once completely cooled, ideally via a metal bucket.

For care, only as much as follows from the design. An open bowl collects rain, and ash that draws water becomes alkaline and attacks steel. We would therefore empty the bowl after every grilling session as soon as it is cold, and store the frame and chain dry. If the bowl is enamelled, the following also applies: enamel is a glass layer that can chip off on impact, and at the exposed spot the sheet metal underneath rusts. What to do if it has already come to that is in the guide Rusty grill: what to do.

These three alternatives are worth a look

The prices are guide values from our price boxes and change. The rating is our editorial assessment from catalogue and manufacturer data; we have not measured anything on any of the four grills.

When the 0542, when another?

The SOUK ONE costs approx. €40, the 0542 approx. €26. In return, its Amazon listing states what is missing for the 0542: a 46 cm grate, a fire bowl 50 cm in diameter and 35 cm high, an overall height of 150 cm and a weight of approx. 6 kg. If you grill regularly for more than a handful of people, we would spend the extra for the certainty. You do give up a name like Landmann in doing so.

With the LEMODO it is about operation. It costs approx. €53 compared with approx. €26 for the 0542, and for the extra you turn a crank instead of re-hooking chain links. Anyone who likes to readjust while grilling, for example because sausages go on the grate first and then vegetables, benefits from it every time.

The HeRo24 plays in a different league. It costs approx. €225, the 0542 approx. €26. According to the manufacturer, the frame and rope are stainless steel, but a fire bowl is not included. In our comparison it is only worthwhile if a fire pit or fire bowl already stands in the garden and the frame is to stay there permanently.

That leaves the question of whether it has to be a swing grill at all. All four here work without a lid. Low and slow, smoking or a whole chicken with the hood closed are not possible with them. If you want that, look in the category for a kettle grill or grill trolley.

Who is it suitable for?

For people with a garden who grill sausages, pork neck steaks or vegetables over charcoal a few times in summer and want to spend as little as possible on it, and who can live with finding out the grate size only when unpacking. If our reading of the 152 cm as the height is correct, the tripod needs room above: under a low-hanging branch or an awning it is in the wrong place.

The 0542 is the wrong choice for anyone who wants to grill on a balcony: open charcoal embers are prohibited there in many house rules and tenancy agreements, and a tripod of this height sits badly with a balustrade. It is equally unsuitable if you want to hang a cauldron for goulash, as long as nobody says what the chain and head piece can bear. If you are still wavering between charcoal and gas or electric, start with the Grill Finder.