That $40 camping stove that barely boils water

Picked up a no name brand camping stove from a discount bin for $40 about 3 months ago. First trip out to Hocking Hills it took 20 minutes to boil a single cup of water. The flame kept sputtering out whenever the wind picked up even a little. Second trip the regulator straight up broke and now it's just a paperweight. Who else has gotten burned by cheaping out on gear and should I just save up for a Jetboil next time?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora5420d ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. I did the exact same thing last summer at Caesar Creek State Park. Picked up some off-brand stove for $35 thinking I was being smart. First morning there, I'm trying to make my coffee and the thing takes forever. The wind would gust and the flame would just disappear, then come back like it was playing games with me. By day two the little plastic knob that controls the gas flow stripped out and I had to use pliers to even turn it on. Ended up eating cold granola bars for breakfast the rest of the trip because I couldn't trust it anymore. Aren't these cheap stoves just designed to trick us into wasting money?

riley_coleman19d ago

Swapped mine out for a simple Coleman propane stove after that disaster and honestly it was night and day different lol. I found one at a garage sale for like 20 bucks and that thing still works perfect years later. The cheap ones just dont hold up to any kind of real weather or repeated use. I learned the hard way that spending a tiny bit more upfront saves you from eating cold granola bars and getting annoyed every time you want a hot meal.