The stove stayed upright on my camp table, and it proved sturdy enough to withstand the wind. I felt comfortable enough to keep the heat cranked and the dinner cookin’. It’s summer (mostly), but I still managed to test this stove in less-than-ideal weather when a gusty rain (and then a snowstorm) blew in. Add to that the star feature of this stove — cast iron pot supports and two cast iron attachments — and you’ve got a winner. Just like the other compact two-burners in our review, the Classic proved straightforward and simple to use.
We also like the windscreen setup, which involves slotting bobby pin-shaped connectors into the stove body. This allows the use of slightly larger pans because you can widen the flaps, and it creates a more perfect wind seal when you have it in the narrowest setting. For the jaw-dropping price ($470) of the Snow Peak GigaPower Double Burner Stove, it should be the best camping stove you can buy, or at least the most versatile. Although it’s made from excellent materials, this stove misses the mark.
You don’t need to buy a separate grill or griddle top for camping with this stove. A solid, reliable, and capable camp stove is a necessity no matter where you camp. Beyond that, if you are someone who enjoys cooking a variety of food at camp — not just packaged oatmeal and burgers — a more versatile camp stove becomes a necessity. When disposing of your bottle, be sure that you’ve completely emptied the tank of all of its remaining gas. Attaching a tank to an open valve on your stove will burn off the final fractions of fuel, but be aware that the last bits of fuel and vapor leave the canister at a remarkably slow rate. Always keep the valve open—even after the flames have sputtered—for about a minute or two to ensure that any final vapor has escaped.
The Mountaineer is larger (at 25¼ by 13¾ by 5¼ inches, it dwarfs our top pick). It’s heavier (17 pounds, versus the Coleman Classic’s 11 pounds). And it offers way more heat output (40,000 Btu, versus the Coleman Classic’s 20,000 Btu).
During the windy test, it consumed 1 ounce of fuel, and in the wind-less test, it used 0.6 ounces of fuel. Out of all our tested stoves, this one ranked in the upper third of the windy fuel test. This stove is likely more fuel efficient owing to the lower output 10,000 coleman propane stove BTU burners and the snug windscreens. If conserving fuel (and saving money!) matters more than a quick boil time, this could be an ideal stove for you. The TemboTusk Adjustable Leg Skottle Grill Kit has the lightweight, cobbled-together charm of good adventure gear.
Smaller units, like the Coleman Triton, can only fit two 10-inch pans. If you regularly use larger pots or pans, it’s worth digging into this spec closely before making a purchase (most manufacturers and retails will publish the dimensions). Alternatively, if your stove will be your first purchase, make sure the cookware you buy will fit on your unit’s cook surface. For those limited on space in their vehicle or gear storage, GSI Outdoors offers a unique solution in their sleek and modern Pinnacle Pro Stove. Additionally, we found the deployable legs helpful for raising the stove to a convenient height when cooking on a camping table. It is designed to safely burn either Coleman fuel/white gas or unleaded gasoline.
The Camp Chef Everest is, as far as we can tell, identical in every way to the Stansport Boulder 2-Burner, except the Everest’s igniter employs a push-button mechanism instead of a twist. During our testing period, this model fell apart when we shipped it back and forth between testers. Coleman covers this stove with a three-year limited warranty.
Better yet, Coleman aluminized the steel cooktop with a slightly slick finish that makes it easy to clean up spills. Overall, Coleman delivers a very good build quality throughout — definitely competitive with other stoves coleman propane stove in its price range. Burners over 30,000 BTUs are overkill for most campers and can get hot enough to damage typical camping cookware. Unfortunately, it was by far the worst in our test when it came to wind resistance.
Unlike our main pick and upgrade pick (both of which are classic two-burner stoves), the FireDisc has a single burner with the pan included. It’s ideal for cooking large, one-pan meals for big groups of campers. Last fall, I took a friend who works in the food industry on her first ever camping trip. After a long day of hiking, we arrived back at our campsite happily tired, a little cold from the year’s first snow, and very hungry. In the time it took me to set up our tent, she was already well into cooking a five-star pad Thai on my Coleman propane stove. With three burners to sauté, cook noodles, and boil vegetables, she cut no corners at all.