Has anyone seen a review of the camping stoves on the market at the moment. I have just spent a week trying to cook on my Suncamp 2 ring and grill stove and it is quite frankly rubbish. I could heat the kettle quicker by using my hot breath.
Good point Mulligrubs, I know what I need. I need to cook for 4 people 2 adults and 2 small children 4 & 2. I therefore need a stove that cooks food at a reasonable rate. The grill on mine is usless (sorry less than useless) so it has never been used.
Not really bothered about what fuel but I do have Camping Gaz butane bottles so if they are any good I will stick with them.
Although there are endless combinations of weird and wonderful ways to cook out of doors, it seems that you
want to use butane,
aren't bothered about a grill,
and want some speed
I think, reading between your lines, that, in addition to your 2 burner butane stove, what you really want is some way to blast enough heat into water to boil it as fast as possible. Most, (like none), of the 2 burner "family" stoves around are not that good at doing the blast furnace bit. They're fine for the simmering bit if they have a decent windshield, but not so good at the boiling bit.
So, have you considered keeping your existing stove and butane bottles, but adding something else to do the boiling bit ? The most obvious thing that springs to mind is Gumball's suggestion of a Dual Fuel petrol pressure stove. If you had a single burner one, you could think of it as a kettle, just there to boil water.
You never know - you might become so addicted to the speed, that your butane stove goes to the recycling bin, and you convert over to an all-petrol set up !!
I had exactly the same issues as you a few years ago, my brother recommended a coleman duel burner stove (the 424 model), I was unsure of using petrol at first but soon realised its the best camping purchase I'd ever made. They are absolutely fantastic, seriously consider one of these or at least a demo, trust me you won't look back! Many many people on here will vouch for these stoves after probably getting fed up with gas and its poor performance outdoors, I certainly was!
i've got the campingaz two burner one with the grill underneath. the grill is a bit small to cook much (can only do one slice of toast at a time!), but the burners are good
We are a family of six and have a double burner with grill which has been consigned to the garden shed for many years in favour of the simple suitcase style burners. We find that two of these are ample for our needs.
Advantages:
The kettle certainly boils far quicker on these. I have to remember to turn it down very low to cook a tin of baked beans as it heats through in seconds!
You can always have spare cartridges to hand and replacing them takes a matter of seconds.
They can be used on any surface as the underneath of the base does not get hot.
They are small, portable, but incredibly stable (a huge consideration when the kids were tiny). We have cooked a fry-up breakfast at French aires after an all-night drive, we have taken them to the beach and cooked hot-dogs for when the kids have come out of the water feeling cold.
They light as easily (maybe even more easily) than lighting a gas ring at home - just turn the gas dial round and off it goes.
Disadvatages
If you are going to be spending hours cooking casseroles etc, the gas could prove pricey. In our case, a cylinder (~£1.20) lasts a couple of days in each cooker with 'normal' use - but the benefits far outweigh the cost in our case.
As with all cooking appliances there are safety considerations which need to be taken seriously - the main one for these is that the pans used on it should not be so large that they cover the airvents around the gas cylinder causing it to overheat. Normal sized domestic pans seem to be OK.
There have been a few horror stories of late regarding some of these stoves, but after having witnessed a couple of scary flare-ups involving dual fuel stoves this weekend (I had almost been converted!!) I think that with all these things it is down to how carefully we use any of these appliances.
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Topic: Camping stoves
