Whats a good portable propane camp stove?

DarinH

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2020
Messages
118
Location
western Colorado
I have a Campchef Everest stove that I use for cooking outdoors when I don’t want to smoke up my camper. It puts out a lot of heat, but is terrible for cooking anything slow or on low heat. Its all or nothing. I’m curious to know which portable, 2 burner camp stoves do a good job of allowing you to control the flame/heat from very low to high?
 
we use an old coleman 2 burner stove - it simmers well and if we really need to tone it down use a heat diffuser ($10 online or usually $2 at the second hand store). we just bought a one burner coleman which seems to not simmer as well, but the heat diffuser takes care of that. it packs much smaller so will be our new go to for outside cooking
 
I know you mentioned wanting a two burner, but just in case, here is a link to the one burner I use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009PUS6M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have used it on my boat and it was so stable and great, I got one for the camper and ditched my 2 burner outdoor stove. I usually set it up outside for cooking meats and cook veggies or boil inside. Fish gets cooked away and down wind from the camper. The single burner is very light, stows away easily and has a large surface area that supports a big pan. Simmers great even though it has no wind deflector. High winds we cook inside. For us it has been great and we run it off the second FWC tank with a Y that also feeds the campfire flame.
 

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A five dollar yard sale coleman with the propane conversion works for me though I usually just use the grill.
 
Yup. Old Coleman 2 burner with propane conversion. Bonus: 2 fuel; I use white gas when temps are below freezing.
 
I have had good luck with Coleman 2-burner stoves, both white gas and propane for simmer to high heat. I don't really use them any more because the camper stove is used for heating and simmer. For cooking meat I use a Coleman propane grill outside so as not to stink up the camper.

https://www.coleman.com/grills-stoves/grills/fold-n-go-propane-grill/SAP_2000020932.html?utm_term=_-_&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=17603279695_-_&utm_campaign=dtc_google_performance_max_coleman&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxfDtxZyl_gIVxzWtBh35mQ3rEAQYASABEgJWP_D_BwE&pid=SAP_2000020932&actionPoint=Show
 
For the "Guy Trips" I have a now discontinued Campchef Sport Stove. It has 30k btu burners that throttle down amazingly nicely. I think it's been out of production for over a decade, maybe two. It is a two burner and it is LARGE and not particularly light.

In the interest of something more easily carried around I recently bought a Partner Steel 18" two burner. She said "Get us a good stove for the rough trips (i.e. NOT with the camper)" and I'm not dumb. I hope. Anyway, no trips on it yet, but I should have several experiences with it before the end of the year.
 
I am glad to see someone else looks at using a stove to simmer and not just boil water fast. :cool:

I also have the Camp Chef Everest, I find it MUCH better than the Coleman I gave away.

I like it because it is the best camp stove I have found to use at low heat.

I wonder if the difference in experience with it is do to me at lower elevation.

I looked at the Camp Chef Website and they have an Everest 2X now that has an "upgraded" regulator.

The Everest 2X has 2 20kbtu burners, the Teton 2X has 2 10kbtu burners, it may be a better choice.

I also use mine with an adapter hose and one of my camper bottles, Maybe that is the difference in control compared to using a 1lb bottle.

One thing i learned the hard way, when i installed a propane cooktop in my kitchen there is a small regulator on the cooktop.
I learned you also need a regulator at the tank, the cooktop regulator needed to be supplied with a very low pressure to work correctly.

Dave
 
I agree with Machinebuilder. I really like the CampChef Everest. I had a Coleman 2 burner and the 10,000 btu output just wasn't sufficient at high altitudes or cold temps. I also use a 5lb tank that helps control the low flame better. Maybe using a heat diffuser that other folks have mentioned would help.
 
Ok after 4 months (so far) of using my Everest I am going to agree that it is hard to get the heat turned down far enough at times.

I am using an adapter hose off one of my 10lb camper tanks.

I may experiment with regulators at some point
 
Does it have a built-in regulator or one in the supply hose? If in the supply hose is part of it painted red?
 
I have been using a GSI Selkirk 460 for two years now and love it. My wife is a great cook at home and likes to cook on our trips as well. She won’t deal with something that is just a torch. This one simmers perfectly but will crank up so you get your morning coffee fast. It also stores perfectly under in the compartment were the stove would have been in my Hawk Shell.
I use the 1lb bottles for the rare times we cook inside and the 10lb tanks with a splitter for outside. (I also carry a small backpack stove for quick coffee inside if that is all we are doing)
https://gsioutdoors.com/products/selkirk-460-camp-stove
 

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JWL said:
I have been using a GSI Selkirk 460 for two years now and love it. My wife is a great cook at home and likes to cook on our trips as well. She won’t deal with something that is just a torch. This one simmers perfectly but will crank up so you get your morning coffee fast. It also stores perfectly under in the compartment were the stove would have been in my Hawk Shell.
I use the 1lb bottles for the rare times we cook inside and the 10lb tanks with a splitter for outside. (I also carry a small backpack stove for quick coffee inside if that is all we are doing)
https://gsioutdoors.com/products/selkirk-460-camp-stove
That looks like a great portable stove.
 
We've been happy with the Camp Chef Everest 2X for last 3 years. We looked at several others at the time and chose the 2X for following reasons
- At time, it was rated has having fastest time to bring a liter of water to a boil. Kinda important for getting my coffee jumpstart in the morning.
- Ability to hold a simmer. May not be perfect but much better than our previous Colemen stove. As noted by others, having a diffuser on hand helps for a lower simmer or to make toast.
- Wind screen bowls on each burner. This works really well to keep the simmer simmering. Every other stove we've owned would flame out when I tried to hold a low setting with any wind around.
- Works equally well with a 1 lb bottle or our 10 lb propane tank.

Dislike: This thing is about 1.5X larger in volume and weight than most other camp stoves out there.
 
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