I wanted a portable butane stove to use in emergencies. I spent a long time reading reviews of different models, and had a hard time making a rational decision because, to tell the truth, stoves of this kind hardly differ in their feature sets at all. They all use the same 8oz butane canisters, all have piezoelectric igniters and let you adjust the flame from high down to nothing. As far as I know they're all light (including this one -- some online data I saw gave its weight as 7 lbs., which is misleading at best as it's really more like 4) and I think most of them come in a plastic case. I finally chose this one because it had many reviews on Amazon, most of them positive, featured a 10,000 BTU burner, and had a carrying case right in the product photo so I knew for sure it came with one.
Although I only expect to use my stove in emergencies, I tested it out when I first got it. I put a pan of water on, and it boiled in a very reasonable time. However, there are some annoyances that I have to point out. First of all, as others have said, you have to make sure the notch on the fuel can is lined up with the pin on the fitting before you press down the lever that pulls the can into the fitting. Unfortunately there's no kind of guide to help you line it up, you just have to eyeball it. In contrast, I found an instructional video for the Sterno ActionStation stove, and it has a little tab that folds down into the slot so you know it's lined up correctly. In hindsight that would be a nice feature to have. Second, when you do push down the lever, the torque of the lever-driven assembly pulling the fuel can into the fitting causes the entire stove to bend a little bit out of shape until things are fully seated. This is a little alarming, so it would be nice if the stove were just a little more rigid. Third, the control knob is a little wobbly so it's hard to tell whether you have the gas set on "max" or "min" without actually looking at the flame. Finally, like most butane stoves of this kind, this model has only four supports for your pot or pan to sit on (as opposed to my kitchen range, which has eight). This makes it seem a bit precarious if you're using a small-diameter saucepan. It would be nice if the supports extended a little farther toward the center of the burner to provide better stability.
All in all, this stove is just fine and I'm going to keep it, but I can't give it five stars.
(15 customers reviews )Customers Rating=4.0 / 5.0
More Detail For
Portable Butane Stove- high heat 10,000 btu
- brass burner
- safety shut off
- adjustable heat range
- piezo ignition system
