Camp stoves

[John T Barker]

I am looking to build some good friends a camp box which will store a camp stove and I want to use a 3 burner propane unit like pictured below. I was about to pull the trigger on one on Amazon and read the reviews which painted a picture of Chinese made junk, parts breaking off, etc. I'm stuck on that type because it works for my build and my budget. Does anyone have experience with these and have a brand/model/source they can recommend? Appreciate any help.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21QcQZw0b6L.jpg

[Moses Yoder]

I do not have a stove like that but Cabelas is the first place I look for camping gear. I have never gotten anything from them that I was dissatisfied with. Here is a two or three burner stove that is made in the USA but looks like a reasonable price to me. CAMP STOVE (http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp-Chef-Ranger-Series-Blind-Stoves/1229711.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3D searchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProduc ts%26Ntt%3Dpropane%2Bstove%26x%3D17%26y%3D10%26WTz _l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=propane+stove&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products)Matchless ignition. 3 reviews and they are all good.

[Mike Cozad]

Its hard to go wrong with camp chef stuff. I did find the item on Amazon you referenced. It is pretty inexpensive so I see why its attractive. If I were in your shoes, I'd figure out my budget to include one of the camp chef models that will work for you.

[Brian Elfert]

I do not have a stove like that but Cabelas is the first place I look for camping gear. I have never gotten anything from them that I was dissatisfied with. Here is a two or three burner stove that is made in the USA but looks like a reasonable price to me. CAMP STOVE (http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp-Chef-Ranger-Series-Blind-Stoves/1229711.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3D searchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProduc ts%26Ntt%3Dpropane%2Bstove%26x%3D17%26y%3D10%26WTz _l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts&Ntt=propane+stove&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products)Matchless ignition. 3 reviews and they are all good.

If one looks at the Q & A section on the referenced website the first question is where is the stove made. The answer from Cabelas staff is that the stove is made in China. I would have been shocked if any stove from Camp Chef was made in the USA.

[Chuck Wintle]

I am looking to build some good friends a camp box which will store a camp stove and I want to use a 3 burner propane unit like pictured below. I was about to pull the trigger on one on Amazon and read the reviews which painted a picture of Chinese made junk, parts breaking off, etc. I'm stuck on that type because it works for my build and my budget. Does anyone have experience with these and have a brand/model/source they can recommend? Appreciate any help.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21QcQZw0b6L.jpg
its the age of junk, chinese made junk, for the unwary consumer who after buying it simply spends more money to have a better unit that will work. There is no free lunch...we get what we pay for. We can be thankful that chines made cars are not being sold...yet. Imagine driving a car made in China and the brakes fail because the caliper broke or the hydraulic line exploded.

[Art Mann]

its the age of junk, chinese made junk, for the unwary consumer who after buying it simply spends more money to have a better unit that will work. There is no free lunch...we get what we pay for. We can be thankful that chines made cars are not being sold...yet. Imagine driving a car made in China and the brakes fail because the caliper broke or the hydraulic line exploded.

I remember people saying the same thing about Japanese junk cars in the early 1970's.

[Chuck Wintle]

I remember people saying the same thing about Japanese junk cars in the early 1970's.

I remember the same comments as well!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

For over 30 years I camped/elk hunted and we used Coleman liquid fuel stoves. The new ones are dual fuel which can use white gas/Coleman fuel or unleaded gasoline. http://www.coleman.com/product/dual-fueltrade-powerhouse-2-burner-stove/3000000791?contextCategory=2020#.U1vJqnxOV9A and they are made in the USA.

[Kev Williams]

For some reason I have pretty good luck with Chinese junk. I have lots of HF air and electric tools that serve me well. To read the reviews on these things, they all have you believe they have an 11 minute life span. In the case of this camp stove's reviews, I'll bet many of the bad reviews are simply because they were expecting some big, beefy cast-iron behemoth, and there's really not much to it. Yeah, you may open the box and one of the burners air adjuster sleeves may have come off due to a loose screw, but really, how many parts of the stove (I see in the picture) can just "break off"? There's usually a reason, like someone dropped it, or dropped a cast iron pan ON it...

Another thing about reviews-- what's the ratio of people who will even bother to review something that worked well, vs. how many people will stop to voice their anger over something that didn't work well?


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[Mel Fulks]

My son told me there was a lot of info on line about old models. Apparently there are people who collect and trade them.

[Brian Elfert]

John,

For over 30 years I camped/elk hunted and we used Coleman liquid fuel stoves. The new ones are dual fuel which can use white gas/Coleman fuel or unleaded gasoline. http://www.coleman.com/product/dual-fueltrade-powerhouse-2-burner-stove/3000000791?contextCategory=2020#.U1vJqnxOV9A and tejyu and they are made in the USA.


The Boy Scout troop I work with used to have several "Dual Fuel" stoves and lanterns from Coleman. We used unleaded gasoline to save money on fuel. We ended have to replace several generators as they failed due to use of unleaded gasoline. We decided buying Coleman fuel was cheaper than replacing parts all the time. We eventually switched to Coleman propane stoves after some incidents with the liquid fuel. Coleman used to make a really good heavy duty three burner propane stove (Made in the USA), but it was discontinued at least five years and replaced with cheap Chinese junk. We aren't looking forward to the day we have to replace one of the current Coleman stoves.

[Brian Elfert]

There is a lot of good stuff made in China. The Chinese can build good stuff if the company ordering the goods wants to pay for good stuff. My problem is that I want to support American workers rather than Chinese workers. I don't necessarily avoid Chinese goods for quality reasons.

I would be skeptical of the Camp Chef stove. My friend has a no name Chinese stove of similar design with cast metal legs. The cast metal legs have all snapped because they were not well made. I avoid just about anything Chinese with thin cast metal because it often breaks.

[Moses Yoder]

If one looks at the Q & A section on the referenced website the first question is where is the stove made. The answer from Cabelas staff is that the stove is made in China. I would have been shocked if any stove from Camp Chef was made in the USA.

I read that this morning and thought I saw the answer which was in fact not the answer but the location of the poster. Sorry.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

All we ever used was white gas/Coleman fuel in our lanterns and stoves. We never used unleaded gasoline. Locally we can find off-brands of camp stove fuel/white gas other than Coleman that aren't quite as expensive. In 20 years of camping and hunting, I rebuilt one stove and one lantern.

Propane has it's own problems in super cold weather and high elevations. We camped at an elevation of 7,000 feet and I have watched a friend struggle with trying to light his propane stove. Eventually he gave up and we managed to get the standard Coleman stove lighted though even the standard Coleman stoves and lanterns can be difficult in super cold weather and high elevations where the air is less dense.

[Bill Cunningham]

I bought my 1st Coleman. In 1956 and still have it and it still works. I bought a second one in recycle shop because it was a great deal at $25.00 Bought a cheap propane one for the boat. It was junk. I had a alcohol stove onboard so I put the newer Coleman onboard to use at dockside picnic tables.

[Brian Elfert]

They make special starting paste for starting white gas lanterns at cold temps. The paste burns and warms up the white gas in the tube so it will vaporize.

Our Boy Scout troop uses propane at pretty low temps. The trick is we have 11 pound cylinders instead of the one pound disposables. We don't have any high elevations locally. When we do make long trips to high country we typically bring white gas backpacking stoves.

[John T Barker]

My son told me there was a lot of info on line about old models. Apparently there are people who collect and trade them.

Damn, that should drive the price up.

[John T Barker]

If one looks at the Q & A section on the referenced website the first question is where is the stove made. The answer from Cabelas staff is that the stove is made in China. I would have been shocked if any stove from Camp Chef was made in the USA.

Thanks for that...I missed it.

[John T Barker]

The reason I am drawn to this stove is that when I am done buying wood for the box, buying other stuff for it and building it I am going to have a healthy investment for my pocket. A stove is simple and should not be this much work but such are our times. I was even contemplating buying parts and making one. When I camp with these folks there are about 20 people and they do all the cooking work for the crowd with stove and kitchenware that is better suited for 4 people. I am trying to give them a compact set up that will be better suited to what we all do without spending too much on one item. Thanks for the replies guys.

P.S. - I love computers and the internet...as I write this amazon adds are on my page showing camp chef stoves et al. Lol.

[Bill Cunningham]

Cough up 6 bucks and the adds will vanish like magic ;)