There are a lot of camp stoves and griddles to choose from but I’m only going to describe three that I have owned and used. The first camp stove is the classic Coleman two-burner propane stove. Each burner is rated at 10,000 BTUs and uses the small one-pound disposable propane bottles. This camp stove can be picked up at Walmart for around $45.
This is a decent camp stove. It gets the job done but the burners seem to have one setting — high. It can be a challenge to maintain a low flame on this stove. It’s nice that it uses the one-pound propane bottles but I purchased an adapter for connecting to a larger 20-pound tank. I actually have a 4-pound (1 gallon) propane tank, which takes up less space when packing in the car. It also has a flat base and doesn’t tip over but you can buy bases for the larger 20-pound tanks, too.
Another camp stove I have owned is the Camp Chef Yukon. It can be purchased at Walmart for around $130. I really like this one but it’s big. It is 14 inches deep by 32 inches wide and will consume a good deal of cargo space in your vehicle. Each burner pumps out 30,000 BTUs. It’s easy to adjust the flame from low to high unlike the Coleman stove. There are detachable legs so packing a camp table isn’t necessary. Several accessories are available like a BBQ grill box, artisan oven, and a griddle. I have the griddle that covers both burners; it’s a heavy thing. I haven’t packed the griddle along for any camping trips and doubt I will but I can see using it at home.
I have used both the Coleman and Camp Chef stoves while camping in Padre Island National Seashore, where the wind seems to be constantly blowing at or above 30 mph. When using the Coleman camp stove, I had to build a “wall” of storage totes and coolers around the stove to keep the burners from going out. I didn’t have to do that with the Camp Chef but I still tried to keep it out of the wind.
Considering how large and heavy the Camp Chef griddle accessory is, my wife and I decided to look for a smaller dedicated griddle. We found the 17-inch Blackstone Adventure Ready griddle at Walmart for less than $90. It uses the one-pound propane tanks but with my adapter hose, it can be connected to my four-pound or twenty-pound tanks easily. It is a table top model so a folding camp table or picnic table is needed to set it on. I really like using this griddle; it’s a good size for fixing breakfast (I haven’t used it for anything else yet) and doesn’t take up a lot of cargo room in my vehicle.
I’ve played around with the idea of getting a camp stove that falls in between the Coleman and Camp Chef stoves. Is it possible to have too much camping equipment? Maybe that’s a story for another time. Anyway, Camp Chef makes a smaller two-burner stove called the Ranger II, which is 12.5 inches by 19.5 inches. Each burner is rated at 17,000 BTUs and has the same “appliance-style” temperature control knobs as the larger Yukon. It is made of cast iron and weighs in at 17 pounds. I still toss this idea around in my head but wonder if I really need yet another camp stove.
