Portable stoves or as many people call them, camping stoves. Choosing the correct stove is like a minefield. There are so many ways to go. Cheap, mid and expensive. They all do the same thing, producing fire.
How can a £100 one be different from a £20 one? Well, expensive ones usually have better burners. What I mean by this is that the surface area of the burner is more extensive, so it heats things quickly. They also often come with everything built in, such as the pot and burner being packed together to keep them more compact when packed away. The expensive ones also have better wind protection on/ around them. Go into more detail to find the best portable stove for you.
The expensive all-in-one one does downsides. Just because you pay all this money doesn’t mean they are perfect. For example, to save on space and to be more windproof, the top sections usually have to be specific to that brand. This can get expensive and painful as you can’t use any old pan.
The options
We will cover three types in the post—the all-in-one unit, a small pocket-size one, and a larger one. By larger and smaller, the small one sits on top of a small gas bottle, the same as the all-in-one unit. The more oversized style sits on the ground, with a gas bottle next to it attached to a pipe.
Larger stove
I will cover the larger size first, so I have chosen to look at the Wind Burner Stove System Combo. This stove has an RRP of £239.99. This is more expensive as it is much larger than the others we will discuss. However, it is an all-in-one unit, so you get a pot and pan with the stove. The burner and a small canister pack away into the pan, helping save space.
let’s look at the specs;
Size 21.6 x1 6.6cm. Carrying this in a pack, food, and all your gear would take up a lot of space. This makes it ideal for if you are going with a group, one can carry food and the other the stove to spread the load better. Going solo, however, you may want a smaller one. You don’t need to cook as much, so why would you like to carry an unnecessarily large stove?
Minimum weight Weight 820g. Coming close to almost a kilogram, you also want to conserve weight when hiking or camping. Haven, 820g just on your stove, is quite heavy. On an overnight, I aim for my pack to be 20kg or below. Again not ideal if you are going out solo as you have to carry everything yourself. I believe this number excludes gas, so keep that in mind.
Volume 2.5 Liters. The pot that comes with this burner can hold 2.5 litres. This will help it cook for more people because it has a bigger pool than most.
According to MSR, one MSR IsoPro 227g canister can burn for approximately 95 Minutes. This is a significant burn time and will easily make you loads of meals and coffees.
Small stove
For our more miniature stove, we are going for another one by MSR, the Pocket Rocket 2. This sells at the lowest I saw while doing research, £37.36, and the top price is £45 (the RRP is £45, but with most things, you can find it cheaper if you look around). This is the most miniature, most basic stove you can find. You can get much the same as other outdoor companies such as Vango (this is even cheaper, coming in at £21).
The best thing about this portable stove how small these stoves are; you wouldn’t even notice them in your pack. However, you can get one any size as it just sits on top. The stove is also so small you can probably pack it inside the pan. Again remember gas, but these aren’t big and can stuff in a pocket or possibly onto your pan.
Let’s look at the specs;
Size 3.3cm x 7.87cm. This camping stove is so tiny you could easily slip it into your pocket and forget it is there. It is perfect for one person and takes up little to no room.
Minimum Weight 7g. Coming in at 7 grams, this system is so lightweight. They are making it perfect if you are looking to save some weight. This is about as light as stoves come.
According to MSR, one MSR IsoPro 227g canister can burn for approximately 60 Minutes. And with a whole canister, you can boil about 16 litres of water. The burn time is much less than the larger unit, by 35 minutes. I believe this is because it is a smaller burner; you need to have more gas released to cook as much food as the more practical option. This is why I always suggest bringing a backup gas canister just in case you run out (it will still be much lighter and smaller than the Wind Burner Stove System Combo.
All-in-one stove
I don’t want this post to be biased in discussing one brand. Even though MSR do all types of stoves, for the all-in-one stove, I am going with one from Jetboil. The Jetboil Flash Cooking System, to be exact. The RRP for this system is about £120, but I have seen it for as low as £90 while writing this post.
This stove is an all-in-one system, meaning the pan and heating element comes as a package. It packs away light, but this being all in one means you have limited choice on what pot you can use (the one it comes with). Compatible Jetboil accessories are all that can be used on this stove and have to be purchased separately. That is the main downside; I think the extras can be pretty expensive if you want different accessories.
Let’s look at the specs;
Size 10.16 x 18.03cm. This is quite a compact unit; the burner and pot come as one. This number hear for the whole thing (excluding gas). This makes it a good size and shape to fit in your pack.
Weight 371g. Weighing 371 grams, it is quite a bit lighter than the Wind Burner Stove System Combo but much heavier than the Pocket Rocket 2.
Being light, gas efficient and practically windproof, this stove is a great all-in-one choice bringing features from the other two into one. As stated before, my main downside is that the accessories are costly and must come from Jetboil.
Overview/ Rundown
looking at all three side by side, they all have great specs and reasons to buy each. The Pocket Rocket’s lightweight, the Jetboil flash’s compactness and the Wind Burner’s multi-person capabilities.
So what do I think? There is a joint first and a close second if Irank these Portable camping stoves.
Rankings
- MSR Wind Burner Stove System Combo and Jetboil Flash Cooking System
- MSR Pocket Rocket 2
I have ranked them like this because I believe the two in the first place are designed for two occasions. Solo or duo hikes go for the Jetboil, but it has to be the MSR for two or more people.
Then I put the Pocket Rocket 2 slightly lower because it lacks a few excellent features the other two have. It is suitable for solo, but that’s it, and it has no absolute wind protection on it ( it does have some, but it’s not the best). It isn’t relatively as fuel-efficient as the other two, meaning your fuel won’t last as long.
It’s up to you what you purchase. I hope this post has helped you decide what type is right for you depending on your need.
Hey, thanks for checking out this post about camping stoves. Are you heading out camping soon? You may like this review I wrote on the Vango Nova 200 Tent.
