Magma Cabo vs. Catalina 2

This is the category that decides the purchase. The Cabo runs a conventional open burner — fine at anchor in a sheltered cove, frustrating at 12+ knots of apparent wind, where cook times stretch badly. The Catalina 2's infrared radiant plate stores and re-radiates heat, so wind pulls temperature off it far more slowly. On an exposed mooring the difference is roughly double the throughput.

Fat dripping onto an open burner two feet from your dock lines is the thing that scares experienced skippers. The Catalina 2's radiant plate vaporises drippings instead of igniting them, and in a season of testing it never threw a flame column. The Cabo flares like any open-burner grill — manageable with lean food and attention, but you cannot walk away from it.

Both are compact, but the Cabo is 22 lbs against the Catalina 2's 28 lbs, and it stows into a smaller lazarette footprint. On a 24-foot boat where every locker is spoken for, six pounds and a few inches genuinely matter. If you single-hand and lift the grill on and off its mount each trip, the Cabo is the nicer object to live with.

The Catalina 2 gives you a real dinner — roughly eight burgers or six fish fillets in one load. The Cabo's smaller grate means cooking in batches for anything past four people, which on a boat means the cook eats last and cold. If you entertain aboard, capacity beats every other consideration.

Both use the same 316 marine-grade stainless and the same limited lifetime warranty, so long-term cost of ownership is close to identical. The Cabo simply costs $170 less and covers the majority of boats on the water. Remember that neither price includes a mount — budget another $60-$160 either way.