... I really wanted to like this thing. It's pretty, and the design is clever. Bought it because I wanted something more compact than my old, finicky 2-burner white gas stove. I liked the folding design, easy ignition, simplicity of propane fuel, claim of consistent performance even when fuel is low.
Day one of a 3-day trip, fuel bottle 80% full, stove roared to life easily, cooked hot. Valve very touchy, couldn't open it more than 1/6 of a turn w/o overheating. By day 3, bottle 25% full, opened the valve 2 complete revolutions and still the flame wasn't hot enough to cook a pancake. My daughter, who usually likes my pancakes, was unimpressed to say the least.
Reasons: 1) lack of windscreen. With even a light breeze, the heat just blows sideways. 2) very high pot support. Distance from burner to pot more than double that of other stoves. Exacerbates problem #1. 3) poor regulator.
I took the stove back to the store and swapped for a less expensive Century model. Using the same depleted fuel bottle that didn't have enough pressure remaining to brown a pancake on the Coleman, I cooked a whole batch of pancakes with the Century--AFTER boiling water for rice. Saved enough $$ on the exchange to buy a large refillable propane tank. Now I'm a happy camper.
BTW, before you buy any stove that uses disposable fuel bottles, think about how you will get rid of them. Especially if it's a product like this, which renders the last 25% of your fuel virtually useless. ...
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