Browse miniature Coleman cookers that fold up easily for comfortable transport, with plenty of helpful features like wind shields to protect your food while you cook. My number one issues with camp stoves—not just Coleman, but all camp stoves—is that you can’t heat and cool stainless steel bars for too long before they begin to warp. I’ve never really held this against any of the stoves I’ve used over the years, because this is just how nearly all camp stoves are designed. This is part of why the Primus is an upgrade pick in our guide, because it has heavier metal grates than the Coleman Classic. Outwardly, the new Cascade series two-burner camp stove and the 1900 series two-burner camp stove are nearly identical, except for their color.
Fortunately it’s a hardy piece of equipment that is capable of cooking a damn good meal and will be a great centerpiece in your car camping outdoor kitchen. Cook a hot meal outdoors with this Coleman Dual Fuel portable camping stove. The Cascade and 1900 stoves also share the same windscreen design, which features deeply scooped sides that made me nervous at first. How could this possibly block wind as well as the much larger side windscreens on the Classic, when they have so much less material? The answer is that they really only need to block wind at the base, to keep the flame from going out.
This is the best way to think about Coleman’s new Cascade and 1900 series 3-in-1 stoves. After playing around with interesting designs in stove shape, burner design, and power, as well as cooking coleman stove surfaces, Coleman is coming back around to where it started. Its newest stoves look much like the classics from the 1950s and before (which are still much sought after in the used market).
It wasn’t a major long-term issue, but it was definitely an unpleasant surprise the first couple times we fired up the stove. We decided to perform our tests with this stove outside, rather than in the semi-controlled shed where we did the other tests, and we found that the low flame was easily extinguished by a light breeze. We suspect that in perfectly still air it would have a fantastic low setting, but we had a hard time getting coleman camp stove it to work in practice. While we loved the ability to cook over extremely high heat and fine tune the heat settings, this stove has a hard time maintaining a good simmer. The amount of control that you have with the temperature knobs is incredible. Plus, you can open or shut the air vents to control the heat and quality of the flame, dialing it back to a concentrated and hot blue flame or up to a more dispersed yellow flame.
We’ve used MSR stoves all over the world for backpacking, but most of their light and compact designs have limited appeal for car camping. Enter the WindBurner Stove Combo System, which includes one of MSR’s highest-performing canister stoves, the WindBurner, along with a 2.5-liter pot and 8-inch skillet for groups. As with the backpacking model, the accessories connect directly to the stove for efficient cooking and consistent heat even in windy conditions. The system is no small investment at $300, but the all-in-one setup has obvious appeal for those new to camping and backpacking.
And while making scrambled eggs is fine if you babysit them, if you try to walk away, you’ll find that even the low setting on the Classic is a bit high. There isn’t a graphic on the dial to represent flame settings (low to high), but in our experience, these graphics are rarely very accurate on camp stoves. Two burners are sufficient for most campers, but aspiring camp chefs or those who typically head out with larger groups might want to step up to a three-burner stove. And like Coleman’s own Cascade 3-in-1 below, the 328 model comes equipped with helpful touches like matchless ignition, intuitive temperature controls, and an integrated wind screen. While most backpacking stoves use small fuel canisters or white gas, camping stoves tend to use propane (or sometimes butane).
Joe notes that the left grate is nearly identical to the center grate on the Bungalow Cooker above. Model 552 differs from 5052 above because it has a Blue Flame Preheater (Stendahl). By opening the black fiber knob on the right (lower image) fuel will fill the reservoir on the preheater. A central air passage allows the burning fuel to heat the generator. This Handy Gas Plant, in Glenn Knapke’s collection, is labeled Coleman Lamp Co. so was made no later than 1927.
The Classic is cheap at full retail price, and online retailers often have it for even cheaper. While it wasn’t the best in any of our tested categories, it holds its own and performs consistently. If your camp cheffing needs are simple, or you are searching for a car camping stove that won’t break the bank, this is a good model to explore. The Coleman Cascade Burner Camping Stove represents a slight step up from our top pick, the Coleman Classic, in cooking control and power. If you like the features of the Coleman Classic but also want the option to serve your scrambled eggs extra-soft or to bring your veggies down to a much slower simmer, this stove will serve you well.
For the BioLite CampStove 2 and the Camp Chef Explorer, we performed the tests outside on a mostly windless day. The 3 Watt USB charger was able to give a phone about a 5% boost in 15 minutes. I’ve found that the following 32-ounce can is a convenient size for most people and situations. That would be almost exactly one gallon if you did that for a week (lets say your camping for example). GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews.