Updated: 24 Nov 2009

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Introduction

Get the right gas cooker - and enjoy hassle-free outdoor cooking.

We’ve tested two single-burner portable gas cookers ideal for brewing tea or coffee, doing some casual cooking, or heating the baby’s bottle.

We also tested five 2-burner models aimed at family cooking – one even had a toasting rack.

Models we tested

This report contains test results and recommendations for the following portable gas cookers:

What we found

Our test covered heating and simmering performance, ease of use and running costs.

Performance

Fast-heating
We heated one litre of water in a saucepan for five minutes. The water temperature was measured before and after.

• Out of the 2-burners, the Coleman (pictured) heated the water fastest. However, the Kiwi Camping and the Campmaster were so close behind that the time difference wouldn’t matter. The Gascraft and Gasmate took slightly longer.
• Of the single-burners, the Campmaster was slightly faster than the Gasmate (but not enough to matter).

Simmering
To see how low the burners could be set, we turned down the flames as low as possible (in a sheltered location) and heated the water for six minutes.

• Of the 2-burners, the Gasmate could be turned down the lowest; next came the Gascraft.
• The Gasmate single-burner could be turned down a little further than the Campmaster single-burner.

Ease of use

Portability
The two single-burner models were the lightest and most portable – they’re self-contained (the gas canister can be transported in the stove).

The Campmaster, Kiwi Camping, Gascraft and Gasmate 2-burner models were a similar size. The Kiwi Camping had a folding wire carry-handle; the Campmaster, Gascraft and Gasmate each had a punched-out “finger slot” in the base; the slightly bulkier Coleman had a plastic carry handle. Unlike the single-burners, all the 2-burners required their gas cylinder or canister to be carried separately.

Setting up
All the 2-burners were equally quick to set up. But the Campmaster, Gascraft and Gasmate hoses were too short to let us put the gas bottle on the ground when the cooker was on a 900mm-high bench. (The Coleman hose was plenty long enough; the Kiwi Camping hose just reached.)

The single-burners were very quick to set up: just remove it from the case, press the fuel lever and turn the control knob fully around to the ignition position.

Controls
The marking of the Coleman’s control knobs was confusing and their shape made them less easy to use than the knobs on the other models.

Features

Kiwi camping G2BD1

• Ignitors: None of the 2-burners had self-contained ignitors, even though both single-burner models did. You need to use a lighter of some sort with the 2-burners.
• Windshield: All the 2-burner models had an opening lid with hinged fold-out “wings” that form a three-sided windshield. The single-burners had no windshield.
• Toasting rack: The Kiwi Camping (pictured) had a fold-out toasting rack connected to one of its side “wings”. It toasted well – once the burner was turned down low enough.

Cooking convenience
The Coleman was the easiest of the 2-burner models to cook on: its larger size provided more room for items such as big fry pans. The Coleman and the Kiwi Camping both had stainless-steel drip trays – but when we cooked rice on the Kiwi Camping we found any boil-over would run through the gap between the burner and drip tray. The stove then had to be dismantled for cleaning.

Any large spills on the single-burner models would drip straight though the stove to the bench underneath.

Running costs
We calculated how much it costs to boil one litre of water. The 2-burners were all much the same, although the Coleman was slightly more expensive. The two single-burners didn’t vary much.

The big difference was between the 2-burners and the single-burners. This relates to the cost of the gas: in 220g canisters it costs around three times more than in 2kg LPG cylinders (this is just the gas price and doesn’t include the price of the LPG cylinder).

We recommend

For full details of all the models we tested, see the Test results.

2-burner models

• 

  Coleman 5469-700XA

  $200

  Good points

  Very good fast-heating. Good simmering. Easy to use. Big cooking area for large pans. Drip tray. Long hose.

  But

  Slightly bulkier than the other 2-burner models.

  User Reviews 0
• 

  Kiwi camping G2BD1

  $180

  Good points

  Very good fast-heating. Good simmering. Easy to use. Drip tray. Toasting rack.

  But

  Required dismantling to clean up boiled-over rice water.

  User Reviews 0
• 

  Campmaster CM1025

  $130

  Good points

  Very good fast-heating. Good simmering.

  But

  Only OK for ease of use. Short hose. No drip tray.

  User Reviews 0

Single-burner models

• 

  Gasmate PCO2

  $40

  Good points

  Good fast-heating. Very good simmering. Easy to use.

  But

  Relatively expensive to run. No windshield.

  User Reviews 0
• 

  Campmaster CM2170

  $44

  Good points

  Very good fast-heating. Good simmering. Easy to use.

  But

  Relatively expensive to run. No windshield.

  User Reviews 0

Our advice

• A 2-burner portable gas cooker is more suited to outdoor cooking for several people and for extended use. It has about one-third the running costs of a single-burner model (excluding the cost of the LPG cylinder).
• Single-burners are highly portable but their higher running costs make them more suitable for occasional or emergency use. There are several makes. They’re all so cheap and the single-burners in our test were so close in performance you might as well buy the cheapest. Almost identical designs can sometimes be found for less than $30.

 

Report by Bill Whitley.