How to Pick the Best Camping Stove for You

Before you can answer the questions; "How to pick the best camping stove?" or "What is the best camping stove?", you need to know just what it is that makes a good camp stove good.

The best stove for you is the one that fits your camping and camp cooking needs. You don't need an alpine-quality stove if you are always camping in the flatlands, nor do you need one that has three burners and 90,000 BTU heat capabilities if you are only going to use it for your camp coffee pot.

There are basic features that every good camping stove should have, and when you match those with a stove that has the cooking capabilities you need, then you will have a good camp stove.

Barring any specific camp cooking needs, like; needing to use 40-qt stock pots, or cooking for 50 people, a 2-burner camp stove is going to be the right choice for the majority of campers. Although the exact design of the basic features of a good camp stove vary in models with different capabilities and capacities, they are still basic, and you want to make sure the stove you choose has them.

Look for these features first:

• Steel construction
• Secure lid latch
• Wind Screen
• Individual Burner control
• Sturdy grill over burners
• Removable drip tray
• Propane fueled**

** Liquid fuel enthusiasts will argue this, but you will see why it is the right choice for most campers.

Most of what follows will contain a lot of references to Coleman Camping stoves, even though other brands will have the same basic features, Coleman sets the standard. And here is why:

• Coleman has been in business since 1905, and making camp stoves since the 1930's
• More Coleman camping stoves are sold each year than all other brands combined
• Coleman has models for every kind of camping, from backpacking to high-altitude, but they focus their products on the "average" camper.

Nobody wants to be thought of as "average", we are all "special" and unique, but from years of demographic and sales research, here is what Coleman calls the "average" camp stove buyer:

• Camps in a group of four to six people
• Camps in moderate climates at moderate elevations (yes, a campsite in the Blue Ridge Mountains is still at moderate elevation)
• Cooks one and one-half** meals a day on their camp stove, and uses it twice a day to heat water for hot beverages
• Uses slightly less than one and one-half bottles of propane, (16.5oz size), per weekend
• Camps out less than five times per year

**Coleman considers breakfast a half-meal because of the wide range between hot instant oatmeal and a complete bacon and eggs breakfast with hot coffee.

The odds are that this profile fits 90% of campers buying a new camp stove, including you.

Steel construction with a secure lid latch:

• Camp stoves don't usually get pampered treatment. They are packed in with all kinds of other camping equipment, to get jostled and banged around.
  
• The pots and pans cooked on them may not be slammed down on the stove each time they are used, but gentle placement isn't the norm either.
• The latch must be strong enough to keep the stove closed during packing and unpacking

The wind screen:

• Even a slight breeze will be enough to disrupt the burner flame and diffuse the heat that should be cooking the food instead of blowing in the wind

Individual burner control:

• Obviously you want to be able to cook at different heat levels on each burner, like; one burner simmering a stew and the other on high heat for the coffee water
  

The stove top cooking grill:

• Must be strong enough to support to heavy pans or skillets of hot food, and shaped so there are not a lot of gaps to catch pot or pan edges causing them to tilt or spill

Removable drip tray

• Keeping your camp gear clean is important, so you don't want it to be harder than necessary. without a removable drip pan, cleaning all the corners and crevices is a task that is easy to declare; "Good enough!" when it really isn't.

Propane fueled:

• Convenience and safety: - screwing on a bottle of propane is a lot easier than filling a liquid fuel tank and pumping to pressurize for use. And then pumping again intermittently to maintain pressure.
• Transporting a sealed propane bottle is a lot safer than cans or bottles of spillable liquid fuel

To pick the best camping stove for you, first think about what kind of camping and camp food you will be using it for.

Then use your results from the quiz above to see if a 2-burner stove will serve your needs.

Then consider your budget. A good basic 2-burner stove will cost $50 - $80. (or you could spend as much as $400)

Now to pick the best stove, - stick with a known brand, like; Coleman, Camp Chef, Stansport, or Texsport. (recommended in that order) The few dollars you save buying a generic brand will be money down the drain when your camp stove fails you, or wears out sooner than it should.

But what about the extra features?

Porcelain/steel burner grates? 40,000 BTUs per burner? Titanium construction? And dozens of other gizmos and upgrades.

Do you really need these features? Let your wallet be your guide. As long as you cover the basics, the extras are up to you. If it's worth the extra money to have them, - go for it!

You can see a more detailed "How to pick the best camping stove" article with feature comparison photos, specific model recommendations, and price-comparison shopping links here at:

• Camp Stoves at Campingwithgus.com

Any article about camp stoves, and how to pick the best camping stove should include the type of information a searcher is looking for in order to be relevant to them. Basic features of camp stoves are pretty standard across the board for most camping equipment brands, so the most important information regarding which camp store would be the right piece of camping equipment for any new camper is the pros and cons of each recommended brand. Sticking with recognized brands like Coleman or Camp Chef gives the added benefit of the support and backing of an established company and a well tested product. Most camp food can be cooked on a camp stove or over the campfire, but campfire cooking isn't always an available option, so owning a camping stove is one of the first decisions a new camper has to make, right after their choice of which tent to buy.