I avoided the Q myself for awhile. I purchased the Sam's Club model you mentioned. I hated it, hard to clean and cooked unevenly. Luckily there is Craigslist. I unloaded the Sam's Club grill on CL.
Next up I purchased the Coleman Roadtrip. I loved the size and built in stand but on cool/colder days it would not get hot. Nothing like grilling on a lukewarm grill! Again CL bailed me out.
Finally I wised up and purchased a Weber Q on Craigslist.
My only complaint about the Q is size. It can be a tad small at times but otherwise it's great. More importantly it functions well and cleans up easily.
I'm a slow learner, but count me among the Weber faithful.
Yup. We did just about the same thing/process.