There are exceptions, however. Those such as the Campingaz Camp Bistro 2 and the Kemper Camping Stove Xtra Smart are a medium size but still have a single burner, and act as a compromise between the portability of the compact stoves and the familiar cooking experience of the larger stoves.
To help you whittle down the selection, we've listed some key questions below that you should consider when buying:. Need somewhere to keep your food and drink cool? Check out the best cool boxes and the best cooler bags. Although you can get standard gas hob-style flames, there are camping stoves available that have welding-style flames with intense heat and an audible roar. The stoves we tested with this type of flame burned the hottest and were great at heating up pans, and they proved much more resistant to wind interference than the standard burners.
However, they also concentrate their heat on a much smaller point, so if you've got a wide pan you might find the food in the centre of the pan cooks more quickly. The smaller stoves we tested packed plenty of punch in the heat they gave out, which is useful for boiling the kettle but might be problematic for more precise cooking. The gas regulators on these stoves were small and didn't take much turning to adjust the power of the stove significantly. A slight touch made the flame go from powerful to very powerful.
This makes it difficult to cook on a low heat with stoves of this size, and being precise with the heat settings is particularly tricky. In our tests, we lit each stove several times and found plenty of variation in how quickly they ignited. On some tries the stoves lit with the first click of the piezo ignition; in others it took quite a few goes before the flames appeared.
In case there's a lot of wind on your camping trip, or if the piezo ignition simply won't play ball, it's worth having some matches on standby so you can light your stove manually. Although it's convenient to have a speedy stove, you'll likely find most camping stoves heat at a similar pace once the flames are going.
When we put ml of water in our camping kettle and timed how long it took each camping stove to boil it, we found that there wasn't much difference in most of the times we recorded. There were one or two slow models, but most of the stoves got the kettle whistling after around five minutes.
Although there were a couple of rapid outliers that heated the pan in a minute or less, most took around two minutes to heat. On your cooker at home you'll usually have a selection of different-sized burners, and you'll select the one best suited to the size of your cooking pot.
Choosing a small burner for a large pot runs the risk of your heat being concentrated in the centre of the pot, leaving the edges of your food undercooked. This applies to camping stoves too, although you're unlikely to find many stoves that have different-sized burners.
To cook food in a larger pot evenly you may have to exercise some patience and gradually build up the heat of your stove.
If you blast too much heat too quickly, you're likely to find well-done food in the middle and raw food around the edges. Pick the perfect pan for your camping trip with our picks of the best non-stick frying pans.
Next, we brought them to the beach, to see how they would work in sustained winds. We also brought them to a public park, to cook up a full breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, and coffee.
Most of the stoves could boil 6 cups of water, uncovered, within a few minutes of one another. We tried a recipe that, to cook properly, required the lowest stove temperatures. Ideally, on a decent home stove, these eggs should cook for 10 to 15 minutes on the lowest possible heat. Due to a quirk in our scheduling during our first year of testing in , we ended up mailing these stoves back and forth across California a few times, and this provided us with a unique durability test.
Each time, the camp stoves were packed in their original boxes for shipping. The Camp Chef Everest , in particular, came out of that trial more or less incapacitated, with a burner broken beyond repair and a lock that refused to close properly although the box it was shipped in sustained no damage. Unlike many of the other stoves we tested, this one has no extra parts or complex accessories to break or otherwise complicate what should be an uncomplicated item.
The Coleman Classic tears down into roughly six pieces: a cooking grate, two removable burners, a gas connection, the case, and the internal gas lines. The Coleman boiled water faster than nearly every other stove we tested—except for our upgrade pick —while still having delicate-enough temperature control for most things you might want to cook.
Uncovered, the Coleman boiled water in 5 minutes on the right burner and 6 minutes 30 seconds on the left burner. It took the Camp Chef Rainier , for instance, a ridiculous 20 minutes to get water anywhere near boiling. The Coleman also boiled water 3 minutes faster than the more-expensive and reportedly more powerful Coleman FyreCadet.
The cooking controls were delicate enough that we could crank up the Coleman to boil water and fry bacon or turn it down to easily poach an egg and get golden-edged pancakes. With 10, BTUs of heat emanating from each burner on high, this stove should allow you to cook almost anything you can imagine—from burgers to a creamy chicken braise or a vegetable stir-fry.
And your family and friends will be surprised by the quality. In our comparative test for low-temperature control, the Coleman cooked soft scrambled eggs from raw in 4 minutes.
This was well below the 10 to 15 minutes the recipe calls for yet still 2 minutes 30 seconds slower than the more-expensive Coleman FyreCadet took. The Classic gives you plenty of cook time—about an hour on a single, ounce tank of propane , with both burners on maximum. Using more-typical cooking temps, we found that a single tank lasted us closer to an hour and a half, which is standard for all of the two-burner stoves we tested. Remember, however: The Classic does not come with an ignition switch.
So be sure to pack your matches or lighter. While looking at reviews, we noticed that two common complaints repeatedly showed up: The lid can get stuck, and the cooker dials are unresponsive. The stove is also protected by a three-year limited warranty. The pressed metal of the Coleman Classic cooktop—held in place by two thin slip rings clasped around the burner heads—has a tendency to move out of alignment, catching against the rolled inner lip of the lid when closed.
At one point I had to use the handle of a spoon to pry the case open again. Other reviewers also came across this issue. You could fix the problem using a Dremel and a grinder, if you have one. Some people also reported that the dials on their stoves could feel sticky or unresponsive. One reviewer posted a solution , which involved about 10 minutes of labor and the application of silicone lube.
This stove is not for everyone: Both the price and durability are overkill for all but the most committed car campers or outdoor gourmets. Cooking with the Mountaineer is a blast. The most common form of stove is the traditional two-burner with a single, large cooking grate.
Alternatively, stoves like the Camp Chef Explorer allow you to swap out accessory tops, including a barbecue box or pizza oven. In general, we look for an effective balance of performance and weight, which is why we rank the Eureka Ignite Plus so highly. It clocks in at a very manageable 12 pounds, folds down easily to fit into a duffel bag , and provides ample output for most car camping adventures.
Depending on your needs, packed size may or may not play a big role in your buying decision. If it does, a model like the Kovea Slim Twin is a great option at only 3 inches tall when packed for reference, the aforementioned Eureka Ignite Plus is 4 in. This makes it easy to slide into the crevice of a vehicle or back corner of a gear closet. For those weighing the decision between camping and backpacking stoves , there are some important tradeoffs to consider.
In addition to a lighter weight and smaller packed size, backpacking models only feature a single burner that can hold a pot or pan, which limits cooking space and the types of meals that you can cook most backpackers stick to simple foods like dehydrated or one-pot meals. However, if you trek deep into the backcountry regularly, the weight savings are well worth the sacrifice in cooking ability. Calling all camp chefs: your portable cooktop is ready.
Photo Credit. Switchback Travel. Best Overall Camping Stove 1. See the Camp Chef Teton 2X 6. See the Jetboil Genesis Basecamp System 7. See the Coleman Triton Series 8. See the Camp Chef Mountaineer 2X See the Kovea Slim Twin See the Camp Chef VersaTop Backpacking Stoves Stove Categories: Freestanding or Tabletop Camping stoves come in two basic designs: tall freestanding models with legs and more compact tabletop models.
The tabletop Camp Chef Everest left and freestanding Explorer right By and large, campers prefer the tabletop stove. How Many Burners? Coleman's Classic Propane stove has two 10, BTU burners Fuel Type and Capacity The vast majority of camping stoves run on propane: the fuel performs well in a range of temperatures, and not by any coincidence, the little green bottles are readily available at just about any outdoors or big box retail store.
Well-made stoves offer precise flame control Windy Weather Performance The weather can be variable even in the fairest of months, but the show must go on. Camping Stove Width The width of camping stoves varies significantly and can have an impact on what types of cookware you can use. Coleman's Triton can fit two inch pans side by side Automatic Matchless Ignition Piezoelectricity is a pressure-based read: matchless form of ignition that is popular in camping stove applications.
It's not a big loss forgoing a matchless ignition option Cooking Grate, Grills, and Griddles The most common form of stove is the traditional two-burner with a single, large cooking grate.
Camping vs. Backpacking Stoves For those weighing the decision between camping and backpacking stoves , there are some important tradeoffs to consider. Powered by Drupal. Learn More About Camping Gear. Below our staff at Switchback Travel breaks down the best camping gear Spacious, user-friendly, and feature-rich, camping tents are made for a relatively luxurious experience in the outdoors. Many of these behemoths offer enough room to set up cots or even chairs and a table for card games on a rainy day.
For car campers There are so many factors that go into choosing the right camping stove. How many people are you cooking for? Do you like to make intricate meals? How far will you have to shuttle your gear from car Thankfully, the market is packed with high-quality If you've ever gone camping, hiking, backpacking, climbing, mountain biking, trail running, or nearly anything else in the outdoors, chances are you've used a headlamp.
While this handy piece of technology requires little introduction Unlike backpacking where weight and packed size are limitations, car camping mats put a premium on plush cushioning and support with thick foam and No matter where your travels take you, from national parks to backwoods to back porches, a sleeping bag for camping remains a trusty companion.
Since space and weight are not at a Here in the Pacific Northwest, we know a thing or two about rain. Below we break down the best rain We expect a proper camping chair to not only fold up for easy transport, but to be comfortable Add adventure to your inbox. All Rights Reserved. However, the importance of this metric depends on your cooking style and preferences. We conducted all of our boiling tests at elevations of , feet using either an enclosed tea kettle or a stainless steel pot with a lid, with one quart of 70 degrees Fahrenheit tap water.
Wind resistance is tricky to test, as you can't call on the weather gods to deliver the same rate of wind for every cooking scenario. Despite this, we consider this a critical performance metric, alongside boil time, because it can greatly impact the stove's performance.
If a stove doesn't have sufficient wind protection, even the smallest breeze can affect output. This change in output can take an otherwise pleasant cookout and turn it into a frustrating and inefficient disaster. To test this metric in a controlled manner, we tested boil times in the same garage, but this time we positioned a box fan 24" away from each stove.
Then, we put the fan on the lowest setting and recorded how long it took to boil a quart of degree water in the presence of "wind. When scoring this category, we also considered our real-world experiences cooking on windy days at camp.
What is clear is that high BTUs don't necessarily correlate to faster boil times when it is windy. By contrast, stoves with lower BTUs that feature tight, well-sealed windscreens and burners situated close to the cooking grates did much better in both our wind resistance and boil tests. This is most evident with the freestanding models that boast , BTUs per burner but provide little-to-no wind protection. These stoves need to crank out much more power to compete with the compact models that feature better wind resistance.
With freestanding stoves, the burners sit well below the cooking surface and the physical space left open around the flame becomes a vector for circulating air, which is why they tend to struggle in windy environs.
Our top performer in this category is the Everest. It has the essential balance of higher BTUs — 20, per burner — and a smart, compact design. With nearly seamless windscreens and 20, BTUs per burner, the Everest 2x also performed impressively well in both the box fan test and cooking at windy campsites.
There is a reason this stove has become a review-team favorite. The Kovea Slim performed well in this category — despite an output of just 10, BTUs per burner — owing to tight windscreens and burners situated close to the cooktop.
The GSI Selkirk also fared well in this category oven though it only has 10, BTUs per burner — this is a testament to good design. Unsurprisingly, models that don't come equipped with a windscreen or that have L-shaped windscreens had considerable trouble in this category.
We also noticed that the powerful freestanding models did great with the constant "wind" simulated in our box-fan test, but when used at windy campsites, these stoves struggled to resist breezes that could circulate from every angle and direction. Real wind challenged these stoves because they have an open, airy design around the burners, which means wind can swoop in and extinguish the flames, requiring potentially constant relighting.
When a stove design lacks wind resistance, there is little you can do aside from using your vehicle as a wind shelter or building up a wind barrier with rocks. However, in certain cases, you can make a windscreen from an aluminum bake dish or purchase a basic aluminum windscreen like the kind that comes with a backpacking stove.
These windscreens are inexpensive, lightweight, flexible, and are a great way to improve your stove's performance on windy days. In our box fan test, most of the stoves in our review boiled water in 7 minutes or less, but there was a significant difference between boiling times with and without the fan. The Everest , Everest 2x , and Kovea Slim all had the least variability between the two tests, each taking only 30 seconds longer with the fan than without it.
The Pro 60X also did well in the fan test, adding only 1 minute to its boil times. However, it's important to consider this in conjunction with how the Pro 60X performed in the real world , where wind would extinguish the flame multiple times in a single cooking session. By contrast, the Kovea Slim and both Everest models cooked food efficiently even in the presence of wind. People often overlook a stove's simmering ability in favor of BTU power, but this metric is a critical aspect of a camping stove's functionality.
The models that performed the best in the simmering category are the Everest 2x , the Stansport 3-Burner , and the Jetboil Genesis Basecamp. These stoves had better simmer control than some electric ranges in home kitchens. Even if you don't plan to cook fancy detail-oriented meals, simmering is a crucial metric to consider.
A stove's proficiency at low heat also means better fuel efficiency, which equates to more long-term bang for your buck.
If you need a lower flame and your stove can't simmer, you'll rage more quickly through your fuel canisters or propane tank. You'll also have fewer scorched pans and more flexibility in timing if you can achieve a good simmer. Maybe you have a curry that's way ahead of your rice — a low simmer allows you to keep a dish warm without overcooking while you wait for other things to finish cooking or your campmate to finish pitching their tent.
Other noteworthy mentions include the original Everest and the Explorer 2-Burner where the flame power is impressive clocking in at 20,, BTUs per burner , but the stoves are still nimble enough to deliver a consistently low flame for simmering rice, sauces, or delicately cooked scrambled eggs.
The capacity to simmer is not necessarily a make-or-break category for most people. If you decide to go with a stove based on other metrics and still need to simmer, you can always use a heat diffuser to create distance between the flame and your cookware.
A heat diffuser could be a great option for the Selkirk when you want to cook rice or dial back the temperature on a stew. While car camping stoves are easier to set up than their old-school liquid fuel backpacking counterparts, some are more intuitive than others. The easier the product is to use, the more likely you will be to use it. Such easy access to directions makes it super easy for a new user to jump in and help out if needed. For setup, place your butane canister in the fuel compartment, flip a switch to lock it into place, and then turn the knob to self-ignite.
Super fast. Super easy. The Primus Kinjia also garnered top marks in this category because this is the only compact 2-burner we tested with a pre-attached fuel hose, so no fussing with screwing a metal adapter in place.
It also comes with a unique stand to prop the fuel bottle up at the correct angle after you screw it into the hose. A benefit of the system is you can then set the fuel bottle in a different location as long as it's in range of the hose. A potential issue is that it's a separate piece that can get lost.
The Genesis Basecamp is another notable model in this category. To set up this stove, simply unfold it, attach the fuel line, press the convenient auto-ignition levers, and you're ready to go.
We appreciate the design of the fuel line because the fuel adapter threads are visible and are much easier to sync up. This design is a vast improvement on stoves with a recessed adapter port where the fuel adapter pairs with hidden threads. Instead of blindly threading the adapter into the port, the two attach visibly, which reduces the likelihood of cross-threading.
The only reason this cleverly designed stove didn't score higher for ease of setup is that the windscreen attachment is somewhat unwieldy. If you're in the market for a low-fuss freestanding stove, the Explorer 2-Burner is worth checking out. While not as easy as a small compact model, the legs are optional on this stove, so if you have a table or tailgate, setup requires nothing more than attaching your large propane tank to the hose and lighting the giant burners.
Most manufacturers of car camping stoves recognize the stoves will get filthy and that most campers will not want to do anything about it while in the field. For this reason, almost all of the stoves in our review are pretty low maintenance and easy to clean.
That said, there are some noteworthy differences between the various models. Of the stoves in our review, the Explorer 2-Burner requires the least maintenance because it has fewer parts to contend with and is black the most filth-friendly color , making care and cleaning super easy and straightforward.
Secondly, the burners are the only obstacle between food and the ground. The freestanding bottomless design ensures food or grease buildup is a thing of the past.
However, when using this stove, you have to be extra-vigilant to pick up any food that falls on the ground to ensure you aren't leaving a food trail to attract critters, bugs, or bears.
If you prefer a freestanding stove with a drip pan, the Pro 60X could be an option. That said, it is one of the trickier models to clean. There is a thin metal sheet beneath the cooking grate and burners that prevent food spills from landing on the ground. Food bits accumulate here until you unscrew a special hook on the left side and remove the grate, which cannot just be lifted out like most compact two-burner stoves. Once you've done this, everything is accessible and easy to clean, but it's a pesky step.
However, if you want a big stove and prefer to clean a drip tray over picking things up off the ground, this is a fair tradeoff. Many of the other compact models in our review scored well in this category. Most of them are built to meet similar maintenance goals, and cleaning is as easy as lifting off the cooking grate to wipe underneath. However, on most models, the drip tray is not removable, or there are holes in the drip tray where food and grease can fall beneath.
The Pinnacle Pro ranked high in this metric because you can easily scrub every aspect once you fold the cooking grate out of the way.
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