It’s cold-weather camping season. There’s nothing better than waking up, crawling out of your frigid tent, and warming your hands on a simmering cup of coffee, brewed fresh over an open flame – coupled, of course, with some sizzled bacon and eggs. We’re talking about camp stoves. Which ones are best, and why? Here are our top picks for particular categories, including the smallest, the most powerful, the overall best value, and more.
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Camp Chef EX60LW 2-Burner Camp Stove
Best for RV camping; fastest boiling time per liter (< 3 minutes)
- Weight: 30 Lb
- BTUs: 30,000 x2
- Boil Time (1 L): 2 minutes, 50 seconds
- Price: $130
Most dual-burner camp stoves are just inconvenient to carry. Usually, you’re stowing it away in the bed of your pickup, in the trunk of your AWD, or in your camper. Well, if you’re going to take up all that space, you might as well grab a camp stove that functions like a proper propane grill. Enter the Camp Chef EX60LW. With a total output of 60,000 BTUs, and a proper four-legged stand for sit-n’-cook comfort, it’s the perfect campsite stove – just don’t expect to be lugging it on any hikes. The 30-pound double burner folds neatly and doesn’t take up too much space and, while Camp Chef offers larger (and much heavier) versions, you gain little in performance.
The only drawback the EX60LW suffers are the legs: they aren’t adjustable, so you’ll be stuck kneeling beside your stove if you don’t pull up a folding chair. But with a generously large top, you can get two full pans or pots boiling and simmering for some real gourmet campfire cooking.
Eureka! Ignite Camp Stove
Most durable; best wind resistance
- Weight: 10 Lb
- BTUs: 10,000 x2
- Boil Time (1 L): 5 minutes, 40 seconds
- Price: $125
If you’ve ever used a cheap campstove with exposed burners, you’ve probably found yourself building a makeshift windscreen with rocks and sticks. The Eureka! Ignite does a great job at buffering against the wind, and its powerful 10,000-BTU burners provide plenty of heat and flame to withstand brisk mountaintops and inclement weather. The Ignite is also, well, solid: it’s just a rugged, well-built, tough lil’ camp stove. It’s made entirely of metal, with a nice, thick lid and hefty folding side skirts. The stove top is all stainless, and the body of the stove is metal, too. For its construction and performance, it’s priced well at about $125.
Although not exactly a featherweight at 10 pounds, it is light enough to carry on a hike if you’re part of a two- or more person team, as it folds into a relatively compact rectangle that’ll fit in the typical 55L bag. If I had to nitpick the Ignite Stove, I’d like to see a higher BTU on at least one of the two burners. The boil time for one liter of water is painfully slow compared to other camp stoves of a similar size and weight. But 10,000 BTUs is still plenty for cooking meals, and for its overall build quality and wind resistance compared to price, the Eureka! Ignite still a great choice for your next camp stove.
JetBoil Genesis Basecamp Stove
Best compact, high-power camp stove
- Weight: 6.4 Lb
- BTUs: 10,000 x2
- Boil Time (1 L): 6 minutes
- Price: $280
The Basecamp is a badass little camp stove. With two burners that fold down atop each other with a steel clamshell case, it’s wicked tough, and it provides plenty of power in a uniquely compact package. You can even daisy chain two or more Genesis Basecamps together, providing 4 or more burners for a veritable campsite kitchen. Weighing just 6.4 pounds, the Basecamp’s one of the only two-burner camp stoves providing 10,000 BTUs per burner that is actually convenient to carry, without forcing you to sacrifice much weight capacity nor room for your other gear. But for this unique, capable little stove and all its wonder, its one drawback is price: At nearly $300, it’s one of the most expensive portable camp stoves out there. You get what you pay for.
Near Zero Mini Camp Stove
Most compact camp stove
- Weight: 0.1 Lb
- BTUs: 9,500
- Boil Time (1 L): 3 minutes
- Price: $25
Although it was covered previously, this absolutely tiny camp stove from Near Zero would be right at home on our list of the best ultralight hiking gear. At 0.1 pounds, it’s practically weightless and yet, it provides nearly 10,000 BTUs of heat with a perfectly respectable 1-liter boil time. Folded up, the Near Zero Mini easily fits in the palm of your hand and its fold-and-rotate storage makes it easy to tuck away in just about any pocket or compartment on your hiking backpack. This writer has relied on the Near Zero before — and I take issue with the manufacturer’s claim that this unit will boil two cups of water in two minutes. That’s simply not true; it’s closer to 3 minutes for a full cuppa.
Overzealous claims of boiling water aside, there really isn’t much to complain about with the Near Zero: It’s a typical, if not microscopic, bottle-top camp stove. These things are about as simple as it gets, and the two areas where build quality comes into play – the flame spout and spring-loaded gas knob – both work dutifully, with good heat dispersion and control. Plus, the Nearo Zero is damn cheap at just $25. It’s the epitome of simple minimalist camping. Grab it for your ultralight kit (just don’t forget fuel).
Home & Camp Burner Black Stove
Most convenient storage
- Weight: 3 Lb
- BTUs: 8,300
- Boil Time (1 L): 4 minutes
- Price: $130
I’ve had so many camp stoves destroy my backpacks over the years. I despise how so many of them fold up all wonky, with sharp metal bits sticking everywhere, poking holes in things. They’re just awkward. The Home & Camp Black Stove finally does something about this, providing a nice, simple, round tube for storing the stove when not in use. The entire assembly folds neatly inside the bottle-shaped compartment, with no tools necessary. In spite of its design, the Home & Camp’s burner is quite large and can host a decently sized pot or pan for hearty meal cooking. Because of its tripod-and-barrel design, it’s also quite stable – no need to worry about shoving rocks around your fuel canister to stop the stove from tipping over. Boil time and total BTUs aren’t terribly impressive, but this stove’s still adequate for light cooking and making standard cups of coffee or tea.
MSR PocketRocket 2 Stove
Best bottle-top camp stove
- Weight: 0.16 Lb
- BTUs: 8,200
- Boil Time (1 L): 3 minutes, 30 seconds
- Price: $105
Getting a solid camp stove with decent, lightweight cookware without spending an arm and a leg isn’t easy nowadays. The PocketRocket 2 from MSR provides a pretty great combo kit that’s priced right: For about a hundred bucks you get a tried n’ true bottle-top stove burner that folds into itself well enough, plus a pretty nice camping pot, strainer, separate handle, and a storage sack. Everything fits inside the cooking pot for easy, poke-free carrying, too.
Plus, the PocketRocket itself is a popular and long trusted camp stove; now you’re just getting some extras you’d otherwise buy – and pay a premium for at your local REI or Dick’s Sporting Goods. The whole kit weighs 13.1 ounces, too (less than a pound), so you’re also saving plenty of weight while ticking off the boxes for camping cookware. Don’t butane and propane? Check out our review of the best wood-burning camp stoves!
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