The 5 Best Camping Stoves, Unfortunately…
The 5 Best Camping Stoves, Unfortunately…
We have tested and put together the top 3 best camping stoves in the outdoor industry. Plus we have included an additional 4 honorable mention camp stoves to wrap-up this lineup. If you are looking for a quality car camping or backpacking stove there are almost too many options to choose from. We have narrowed down the desirable camp cooking needs to help you select the best stove for you. These components include burner simmer control, stove portability, piezo ignitor and regulator reliability, wind protection, boil time, ease of cleaning, BTUs and overall build quality.
To make finding your outdoor cooking components easier we have included all links to the stoves below.
🟢Interested in all the gear we use and abuse when camping? https://www.amazon.com/shop/playingwithsticks
✅1. Camp Chef Everest https://amzn.to/3GGbEde (link to 2X version, original can’t be linked)
✅2. Coleman Stove https://amzn.to/3Mj7oBW
✅3. Eureka Ignite https://amzn.to/38WOO4Z
✅4. Eureka Ignite Plus https://amzn.to/38GuNPM
✅5. Jetboil Genesis https://amzn.to/397IhEl (may be unavailable again)
✅6. GSI Outdoors Selkirk 540 https://amzn.to/3926mwp
✅7. GSI Outdoors Selkirk 460 https://amzn.to/3aj4gbC
✅8. Cook Partner Stove https://partnersteel.com/official-cook-partner
✅9. Camp Chef Mountaineer https://www.rei.com/product/194495/camp-chef-mountaineer-2x-stove
🟢Want to see our playlist of MUST HAVE GEAR for a great campout? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxouj5yCWeTAJjeICTvJpAa-1A0obuv77
🟢Want to know how to make your Coleman stove simmer like a pro? Check out this video from a fellow youtuber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH5FQgzwGAI
🟡Want a Better Camping Experience? We suggest you check out our playlists to help you get started. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/c/PlayingwithSticks/playlists
By purchasing items through these Playing with Sticks links there is no additional cost to you. Our family gets a small kickback from amazon for any purchases you make using these affiliate links.
I know that the piezo igniters are iffy sometimes, and long neck lighters are really inexpensive and readily available now (and are usually what is used to light campfires…). So frankly, I’d rather they skip the piezos (and all the extra manufacturing necessary to assemble) and lower the price by $15.
What is the table attached to your tire?
Sorry to blow your bubble but that Everest is a piece of crap.
What, did you guys wash your clothes in the lake? Maybe that’s another video. All snickering aside, and please excuse my crude 1970’s humor. They are all nice stoves but they all use propane. My old Coleman, runs on gasoline. It’s super clunky but man, I never find myself without fuel.
I can’t understand why Coleman sells so many different two burner propane stoves. It’s difficult to really discern the differences. Has anyone done a comparison video?
mine was a gsi yes ignition issues but i used a lighter eventually stopped working after 1 year. had a 5 ft long hose that could be connected to the green bottles I DESPISE THE METAL ARM because it tilts the the thing and it is hard to maneuver so i have always preferred the flexibility of the hose. then i got one from amazon i hate it it not capable of being connected to the hose and heavy. will buy the green eureka next. $75 at REI
Good info on different stoves. I didnt see anything that would make me not buy a Coleman for 125 dollars as opposed to a Campchef that cost 3 times more, In the end they all copy the Coleman. ps- we love our new Coleman with piezo ignition after retiring our 50 year old whit gas pump Coleman which still works by the way.
Have one in my basement that has never been used. Can’t wait. Thanks for the video
We used the Coleman one for years before I bought a small 2 burner Blackstone that I converted to use a large propane canister instead of the small bottles. If we’re backpacking, we bring little MSR backpacking stoves, but for normal car camping, weight is not really an issue, so the Blackstone has made camp cooking so much more enjoyable. We do pack a 2-burner Coleman folding camp stove as well (also converted to run off the same canister) that we’ll use for sides or boiling water.
Cant get my gasoline stove to give me a blue flame
Summer on my Everest xl is good. It does go out from time to time but I’d say that’s user error, could happen on any grill stove if turned to low.
In 1975 or so I bought a back-pack stove that uses white gas (Coman fuel) and it would,(and still does run on unleaded gas like in your car and the burner would get down so low it would be only about 3/16 – 1/4 inch in height. Now I have not used it for some time (35 years or more but it still fires up like it was new. and it would boil water in about 1 3/4 of a minute. Coman stoves was the go to camp gear back then because you could buy parts and repair it as needed. and they would last a life time.
I sent Everest back… Very roughly put together. Don’t recommend
05:36 Uhhh I think that’s an issue with how the tank is oriented….
I got the Eureka Ignite for the low simmer control but unfortunately mine doesn’t dial down very low at all before going out. Even with heavy bottom cookware food bubbles up very quickly. I’ll make it work for a while but eventually will get something else.
We bought this stove for our boat. I do 90 percent of my cooking with this stove on the back deck and love it! After 5 years ,it still looks great. Highly recommend it.
dude.. all these links are not available lol
Looks to me like if they added 50 bucks to the price it would not have to be built with cheap parts and metal. And like the old days, WOULD last a lifetime.
So, when I want to cook something messy, I don’t want it in the teardrop galley. The Jetboil Genesis was more than I need. I now have the Camp Chef Rainier 2 which is quite heavy, so I’m leaving it home, but it does have better closing. The grill works for me. For one person, I decided on the Fire Maple one burner. It fits in a little case and has legs if one wants to use them. It can fit anywhere in the car. I probably won’t use it often, but I really like it. Trying to cut down weight, I now am trying aluminum–the GSI hard anodized 10 inch dutch oven without legs. So far, I like it. I also use the ball burnished Ultimate Outdoor Oven which is similar to a pie iron, but with short handles and bigger in size, aluminum; I really like it. I’ve used it for biscuits, hashbrowns, cinnamon rolls, pancakes. It cooks quickly. One thing about aluminum, it cools off quickly, so the dog and I can get started on our walk or whatever. I do miss my John Wayne cast iron, but I like the lighter weight because my galley was starting to sag.
Although I don’t own one (yet) – no one ever points out that the Jetboil at 10,000 btu heats faster than stoves with 2x the btu which = less than 1/2 the fuel consumption.
We had the white gas [unleaded] Coleman’s for lantern and stove. I wonder what happened to them… I bought a kerosene Coleman lantern, so I wonder if I can get a kerosene Coleman stove.
Would be interested in your review of the NatureHike camp stove.
On the guy having regulator issue, you can see he had his propane bottle upside down. Under pressure some of the propane compresses to become a liquid and settles at the bottom. When you turn the bottle upside down liquid leaks into the regulator designed for gas and creates a lot of issues.
I like it but it is $450.00 CAD compared to Coleman 3 in 1 Cascade at $220.00
How come that I missed this video?
Maybe I wasn’t a subscriber yet?
Funny fact is that I just bought a camping stove 2 weeks ago and it’s just about to get it tested during this week.
Saludos amigo!
In the insert picture of the high flame stove with "regulator Issues" The tank isn’t in the proper position. It’s upside down and therefore it’s probably feeding liquid into the stove rather than gas.
All of these are Coleman knockoffs
Thanks nice job god bless
you haven’t camped until you make dinner on a dried buffalo dung camp fire
2024. I’ve been using the Everest every day for 4.5 years (I live in my van) and it’s still going strong. And no, the plastic latches don’t break.
Why did you not cover liquid gas or dual gas Coleman stoves. Stoves that can use pump gas or white gas. Pump gas may be easier to get in other areas around the globe verses trying to find adapters for different propane tanks made in diff areas.
I no longer have my dad’s naphtha Coleman stove. It was bomb proof. I do still have his Coleman lantern. It’s the old, curvy style. He bought it around 1955. The pump gasket has a little leakage when pumping, but it still works. I tried calling Coleman to get a replacement part and they asked me for the model number stamped into the trim. I quoted it to the guy and he told me I was missing at least a digit, if not two. I sent him a picture with the number stamped clear as day. He said "Damn, that’s an old one. It still works?!" He said three digit model numbers pre-date any of their records.
High heat output = shorter burning time?
How long does a 20,000 btu like these run on a single travel propane tank?
I wish camp and RV stoves came with one 15k btu burner. Hard to boil a large pot on alot of these burners.
You failed to tell us how much water was in the test boiling pan and… you didn’t tell us if any stoves could be attached to a 1lb-20lb propane tank.
Excellent review. Thank you
We are still using a Camp Chef Everest from 15ish years ago. Old enough that they have changed part numbers and a took a while to find the proper ignitor when one of ours finally failed this year. I wish there was a way to take it as low as possible without shutting off (I think the new Blackstone griddle finally solves that). But. It has been a great stove. Bought a Coleman single burner a few years back for a solo car trip, its heat control was so poor that it ruined the cookware I brought on that trip, and it ended up in the trash. Handles good in the wind and the cold. Thought about replacing it when the ignitor failed, but its just been such a great stove that I fixed it. Will note that our latch is metal, not plastic. The newer ones don’t seem quite as well built as the old ones (shocker!)
All these two burner propane stoves are made the exact same way. They all work as advertised, and they all have the same features and characteristics. And, they’re all made in China.
A US made Coleman white gas stoves can be had at garage sales, second hand stores or on ebay for less than – sometimes MUCH less than, the Chi-Com products. Even at $20 per gallon, white gas is way cheaper to run than the 1lb propane tanks. The Coleman 425 series stoves are perfect car camping units. The 413 is also a 2-burner, but is wider apart. Advantage is that you fill the tank at home and cook all weekend. No extra fuel to bring along. Use a white gas Coleman lantern and get the same advantage. They burn for many hours on a single tank. The old 200A is a single mantle that is very economical, but puts out more than enough light, and can be turned down to just a couple of candle power.
ALL the old Coleman products are infinitely re-buildable and are very simple to do. Most only need a good cleaning and they’ll run for another 50 years. Batteries Not Required.
The flimsy heat shields that barely attach to the lid drive me absolutely nuts. I’m tired of walking on eggshells trying not to slightly bump the stove and risk the lid slamming open/shut. The Blackstone has a little hydraulic hinge but only on one side (making it feel very flimsy) and no side shields.
I also used a Stanley for heating water but found with the burner being larger diameter than the Stanley, it took way too long to boil. It seems the heat went around the Stanley. Works much better with wide bottom kettle.
Thanks for this video.
I guess you just need a bigger table. I use a 48" folding table.
I have the Everest 2X and used to have the Rainier 2X. Both have metal latches. Agree with you on plastic latches.
I grew up in a hurricane prone country. About 6 years ago, I sent my family members a few Everest but 3-burners. Still working until today. They are ready if power goes out for long time.
The older models of this Camp Chef Everest you reviewed has a single metal clasp instead of the 2 plastic ones on the newly retired Everest 2. I like the 2X as well and it has 2 metal clasps but prefer the more compact older Everest 2. I am a big fan of the Coleman Stoves but my favorite one is the Coleman Triton. I have an older one without the piezo ignitor but with the heavy duty clasp. I have maintenanced it and the Triton simmers well now, almost as good as the Everest. Just as with the Camp Chef, look for one with the beefier metal clasp. And, though they aren’t common anymore, you can get a propane adapter for an older Coleman white gas camp stove. The way it works is with a main burner and a sort of satellite one 413/414 or 3-burner 426/428. You can also find a 426 with 3 burners that will have a main one and 2 satellites (nice size griddle and stove for coffee pot! The Gas One 3900BP is an awesome little stove as well! It is a powerhouse of a stove w/ a much smaller footprint and simmers well. I have no experience with the Eureka but it looks nice.. As far as the Everest, I have picked up a stand-alone hose AND extra generators and it would be my first choice unless space was a BIG concern. Then it would be the Gas One GS-3900 BP. As far as the Colemans you can clean the knob area and remove the grease as it will simmer much better!
I have an older Everest with a metal latch. It has been flawless, none of the negative you mention. And it’s been used a lot. Best stove I’ve ever had.
Propane stoves don’t work so well in our Alaska winters.
Good review.
Coleman hyperflame is the best
I’m not really fully into camping yet which I will be very soon. I’m slowly getting my tenting setup ready for this summer. And trust me I ALWAYS have a long barbecue lighter with me at all times. At the jobsite, in my truck, even in one of my bags. I know the pain of the igniter failing 😊
Your Coleman stoves are still the best on the market hands down. Don’t waste your money on these other knock offs.
I picked up a classic Coleman stove from my neighbour’s garage sale for only $10, and it still works great! It still had the original box with it and it looks to be at least 40 years old. I’m so glad I picked it up a few weeks before our first camping trip because there was a fire ban on at the time. We did one meal on our mini charcoal bbq, but the rest were done on the stove. If we didn’t have it, we would have either gone hungry or gone broke eating at the local restaurant for every meal.