Handy dandy $20 butane cookers

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Jun 7, 2000
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Anyone use one of those $20 butane cookers. Not sure of brand, seems like I've seen about 20 different versions sold, all the same. Watching the Outdoor CHannel recently, the shows the have the kitchen cooking game segment seem to use them alot. Anyone have experience? Seems useful campside or river side for the money.


dave
 
A cheap butane cooker is just that... a cheap cooker..

In the end, it will actually cost more than other options.

I've been an avid backpacker/hiker for a while and have pretty much burned everything I can get my hands in the search for the perfect cooking/heating stove, and although I do not profess to be an expert, I have found what works well for me.

Butane, although convenient, turns out to be the most expensive option no matter how cheap the stoves are. They make their money on the butane cartridges that become useless if the stoves malfunction, or at certain altitudes and temperatures. This type of stove is best used by the dayhiker who does not venture too far into the wilderness and during relatively good weather. For any other heavier use, a liquid fuel stove is a better choice.
 
Dave,I used one for over a year while stationed in Korea.I paid like 5 dollars for the cooker and butane was a dollar a can.But this thing was only used in the barracks to make ramen noodles.You don't have any altitude or too much cold weather in Mississippi so it would probably serve you just fine.
 
Okay, but now that we're in the states,
Butane is 3.50 to 5 bucks a can, and goes real quick when you cook anything more substantial than ramen.

If your cooker breaks, the fuel you carry is useless for anything else till you get another cooker.
 
The ol' Coleman single burner propane does well. A little tall and tippy, but fires up hot coffee fast. Bottles are everywhere in the states, and can be refilled with an adaptor off the 5 gal tanks. It is just getting a lot harder to fly them. Liquid burners can fly dry and if multifuel, use whatever you can find local, so that might divvy up where you should use what.
At home the propane does offer versatility by interchanging from cook stove to lantern to cat heater, but this is more a mechanized load than back pack.
 
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