Hocamel Klappgrill XXL

A Stainless Steel Trough on Folding Legs

The Hocamel Folding Grill XXL is an open charcoal grill in trough form. A long, narrow stainless steel tub stands on four legs that fold in, and there is no lid. We list it in the charcoal grills category, and the price is approx. €43 (Amazon page on 20 October 2026: €42.99).

In the Amazon catalogue it is called “Charcoal Grill XXL, Portable Charcoal Grill, Folding Grill Stainless Steel”, and further along in the title the words standing grill and grill trolley also appear. The second is misleading. In the product image the frame has no wheels, and for moving it the description only mentions lifting handles on both sides. So you carry it; you cannot push it.

The photo is worth a close look, because it shows more than the text describes. On the trough, on the left, lies a black grill plate with prawns and vegetables, and on the right, meat skewers lie across the rim. At the left end a flat, semicircular board with three spice jars sticks out, and at the right end a wire basket with two oil bottles hangs. Between the legs a wire shelf is hooked in, with a plate and raw meat on it. In front of the grill stand a blue grill tray with handles and a wooden board.

The title mentions a “spice shelf” and a “storage basket” without explaining what is meant. We suspect that the board on the left is the spice shelf and that the basket on the right or the lower shelf is the storage basket. We consider the jars, bottles, tray and wooden board to be decoration, because they do not appear in the text on what is included.

Dimensions, Material and What Is in the Box

The catalogue gives three dimensions in inches. Converted, the grill is approx. 73 cm long, approx. 28 cm wide and approx. 76 cm high; the same figures also appear in the title. One of the feature lines writes the same three values as “grilling area”. But an area has two dimensions, and according to the catalogue 76 cm is the height. It is the overall size of the assembled grill, not a grate size. Whether the board and basket at the ends are included in the 73 cm is not stated by the seller; we assume they are.

With 76 cm overall height, the rim of the trough is at most at table height, probably somewhat below, because in the image the basket and bottles stick up over the rim. So you grill more as at a dining table than as at a kitchen worktop.

On the material, the seller writes that the grill is made of food-safe stainless steel and is durable, heat-resistant and does not deform easily. The colour is given in the catalogue as silver. According to the description, a small and a large grill grate are in the box.

There is little to assemble. According to the seller the grill is pre-assembled and can be set up without tools, and is easy to install and take apart. You fold the feet together for transport and then store the grill in the boot or storage room; the lifting handles on both sides are meant to make the way from the storage room to the garden easier. According to the description, the wings that fold open on both sides are intended for grilled dishes, fruit, drinks or cut ingredients. In the image only the left side looks like a wing; on the right the basket hangs.

In Detail: Open Embers, Air from the Ends

A narrow, long trough without a lid is an old design. In the Caucasus and in Turkey it is called a mangal: the skewers lie across the trough and rest with both ends on the rim, with the embers underneath. The product image shows exactly this use on the right-hand side. For shashlik, köfte on a skewer or sausages this works well, because every piece lies the same distance from the embers.

The physics behind it is simple. Without a lid, heat reaches the food almost only from below, as radiation from the embers and via the hot gases that rise. At the top the meat cools in the air. The heat is therefore controlled by the amount of charcoal and by how you spread it in the trough. A densely covered area is hot, a thinly covered one mild.

On air, the text becomes vague. According to the seller the grill has ventilation slots at both ends, “so that the airflow can be easily regulated and the heat distributed evenly in the grill”. A slot can only be regulated with a slider, and no slider is mentioned anywhere. We therefore read the slots as fixed openings. That makes the amount of charcoal your only control. Embers without a lid get oxygen from above anyway; in our assessment the slots mainly help when lighting and stop the charcoal at the ends from being smothered.

How to work with areas of different heat even without a lid is explained in our guide to direct and indirect heat.

Is the Grate Really Enough for More Than Eight People?

This cannot be checked, because the number of people comes with no grate size. The catalogue only implies an upper limit: the trough cannot be deeper from front to back than the overall width of the unit, and it is probably shorter than the overall length if the board and basket were included in the measurement; the catalogue does not say.

How much shorter, the image does not show reliably. A comparison still helps with placing it. Weber gives the Go-Anywhere a grilling area of 42 × 26 cm. If the Hocamel trough is similarly deep and clearly longer, it has more area than the Weber, but none that can keep up with a large kettle grill. We deliberately do not work out a figure from this, because it would be a guess.

Our assessment: for eight people who all want to eat at the same time, a trough of this size is only enough if the food is small, that is skewers, sausages or grilled vegetables. With thick steaks for everyone we would plan on two or three rounds. The lower shelf visible in the image is suited to whatever is going on the grate next.

Care and Placement: Two Sentences from the Seller

We did not find an instruction manual, nor a Hocamel manufacturer website. What advice there is appears in the Amazon description, and there are exactly two pieces.

The first concerns care. It says, word for word: “put a layer of aluminium foil on the charcoal slot to extend the life of the grill”. What is meant by charcoal slot remains open. We take it to mean the surface the charcoal lies on. The foil then keeps embers, ash and dripping fat off the metal, and after grilling you pull it out together with the residue. Watch the ventilation slots when you do this: if the foil covers them, the embers at the ends get less air.

The second note is in the setup: “Simply unfold and set up at a distance of 1.20 m.” What the grill should be 1.20 m away from is not stated; neither house, hedge nor people are named. We would treat the value as a minimum distance from anything flammable, so tent, awning, wooden fence and dry grass.

The seller gives no further safety advice. As a general rule for every charcoal grill: it belongs outdoors only, never in a tent, awning, caravan or garage, not even for burning down, because incomplete combustion produces carbon monoxide. To light it, use solid firelighters or a chimney starter, not methylated spirits or petrol. The folding legs need firm, level ground. Tip the ash out only when it is completely cold, and then into a metal bucket. What else to bear in mind when grilling on the move is in our camping grill buying guide. On a balcony, charcoal is often ruled out by house rules or the tenancy agreement; we have collected the rules in the guide grilling on a balcony.

What the Manufacturer Does Not State

For the Hocamel the following are missing from all the sources we found: the weight in kilograms, the packed size when folded, the dimensions of the two grill grates and thus any grilling area in square centimetres, the material of the grates and wings, the stainless steel grade and the material thickness, a fill quantity for charcoal, whether the grate or charcoal tray is height-adjustable, an ash catcher, a maximum temperature and a heat-up time. Equally open are the load capacity of the wings, the appearance and dimensions of the spice shelf and storage basket, a manufacturer warranty with conditions, spare parts, the country of origin and since when the brand has existed. We could not find an official website for Hocamel. Everything above therefore comes from the Amazon catalogue and the product image.

What Else Is Worth Considering?

The prices come from our price boxes and change constantly. The rating is our editorial assessment from the data comparison; nobody has measured any of the four devices.

When the Hocamel, When Another

First, the question of what goes on the grate. Skewers, sausages, grilled vegetables and thin cuts sit right over open embers; the trough is built for that. If you want to cook a roast, a chicken or thick ribs slowly, you need a lid. The Weber Go-Anywhere costs approx. €95, the Hocamel approx. €43. For that, the Weber has a lid with two vents; what Weber says about the warranty is in the review of the Weber. For up to four people we would pay that extra if indirect cooking is part of the plan.

Then the budget. The HUOLE foldable charcoal grill costs approx. €29, the Hocamel approx. €43. It is also a stainless steel trough on folding legs, but has neither board nor basket. Its advantage is on paper: its seller publishes a packed size, whereas with the Hocamel you have to estimate for the boot. If you need the shelves, the Hocamel is the better choice; if you measure every centimetre in the car, the HUOLE is the better one.

The Everdure HUB II is in the table as a counterpole. It costs approx. €2,503, weighs approx. 77 kg and lights the charcoal electrically. It shows where the money can go with a stationary charcoal grill. You cannot take it with you.

We would not choose the Hocamel if you need documented safety advice, for example for a club or school event where someone wants to see the manual. Nor if you grill on campsites with little space between pitches and cannot keep to the seller’s 1.20 m there. If you are still undecided between types of grill, the Grill Finder gives you a shortlist by space and budget, and which charcoal suits which food is in the guide charcoal or briquettes.