Customer Reviews

Coleman 2-Burner InstaStart PerfectFlow Propane Stove

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My dad had some Coleman gear when I was a kid about 40 years ago, but I haven't gone camping in those intervening decades, so had no idea what had happened with the legendary Coleman name in all this time.
As soon as I pulled this stove out of its carefully-packed box I could see that they still were building high-quality equipment.
The stove sets up within a couple of minutes, and provides a very stable base. Stability is of paramount importance if you're going to use it in reality-based situations (instead of on the back porch) because nature is not flat nor smooth in most places.
In a disaster or other emergency things are dark, confused and in a huge mess, one of the last things you need is for some of your dwindling food supply to topple over while the stove happily starts your shelter on fire. That will not happen with this Coleman stove on the ground.
The two gas valves are large for precise flame control and have a silky feel to them. The "off" position cinches the valves down tight.
The lid and side wind shields hook together and stay that way until you want them to come apart. The chrome grill comes off easily for cleaning.
Propane for this stove is inexpensive and readily available at our local stores. You can disconnect a partially-used propane cylinder and use it again later.
I got this one to add to our emergency gear for when the next power outage hits, wish I'd done it two outages ago.

Overall: This is a good stove for car camping or outdoor cooking.

Positives:
- Set up and operation is easy
- Burners can put out a huge or tiny amount of heat as needed; controls are excellent.
- Fuel is inexpensive and readily available

Negatives:
- The stove should have rubber leveling feet for safe use on non-flat surfaces.
- Pushing the igniter pushes the stove. Again, it needs rubber feet.

Troubleshooting:
A common problem with the spark lighter is that the sparker is slightly misaligned. To fix, bend the sparker a little bit so the spark was in the right spot relative to the burner.

Nice and portable, and a terrific convenience for the money.

I'm really glad that I went with this $56 "next model up." It's a great stove. It's your garden variety Coleman-size model - a sauce pot or a coffee pot and a standard frying pan would fit easily at the same time. If you needed to fit two large frying pans or wanted to use a large stock pot, you would want to also get a hefty single-burner. However, cooking standard stuff for a few people, this stove is great and the price is certainly right.

One of my favorite features is the side flaps, which can be used as a windscreen when flapped up, or a utensil tray when down. It also seems more solid and sturdy than the tinny, rattling, old-fashioned Colemans I remember. It's nice and tough, and I would not hesitate to put a few decent weight pans on it.

Great stove!

I bought this stove at the recommendation of the Grub Master for my son's scout pack. Usually I'm a bit scared of anything having to do with gas and flame, so I got it with some hesitation. I was happily surprised at how easy and NOT scary it is to light. The instastart button really does work. An added surprise is that it's really a great gas stove. It heats up VERY FAST, you'll have to keep a close eye on anything you're trying to cook on a lower heat. The best part, boiling water for coffee in the morning faster than I get at home...what else can you ask for?

I recently bought two of these stoves and they are great! They are small and compact. They set up quickly and work perfectly. The instant start feature is really helpful because it seems I can never find the matches.

I have used Coleman equipment all my life, so I knew that I could get good equipment from them. I was therefore extremely dissapointed with this stove. When I first fired it up, I tried the "instastart" feature, which appears to be a piezoelectric type. The button was very difficult to push without placing my hand on the backside of the stove, which might be hot if I had already been using the stove. The crystal did produce a spark, but repeated attempts did not start the flame, so I had to fall back on my zippo (never go camping without many sources of fire). The first thing I noticed was flame from the wrong spot, so I stopped using the stove and cooked over a wood fire. This would not have been possible if I had been camping in one of the many places that no longer allow wood fires. When I got home, I took the stove apart to see if I could repair it. The stove required lock ring pliers to take apart, which I would have to do after every camping trip to clean under the burner pan. The burner pan has a razor edge, and I will have to treat the resulting wound after I finish this review. I found that the leak was from the copper feed tube, where it is brazed into the burner port. The damage was probably caused in shipping, but would not have occured if the manufacturers had added a quarter inch of tubing to allow for flex. This part would have eventually failed just by having it in the back of my truck, and driving on dirt roads. I was able to braze in a new, longer tube to allow for vibration and flex, and grind down the razor edge, but I will still have to disassemble the stove every time I use it to clean under the burner pan, so as to prevent drawing animals into my camp. This stove will probably work well for casual campers, but I wouldn't recommend it for serious campers. If you plan to camp more than a mile from a paved road (I usually rock hound fifty or more miles into the desert), look elsewhere for a stove.

This product works perfect. Easy to set-up, easy to store, easy to carry, easy to start, all around very simple and perfect for what it is for. The only downside I experienced was trying to use 2 medium/large pans on it at once. I could do it, but I had to take down one of the wind shields. It was kind of windy at the time, but the burners still stayed lit, so obviously it was not much of a problem.

This thing gives off plenty of heat and is so easy to start, use and set-up with no tools required. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Decided to replace two 5400 Coleman stoves for our scout troop when a regulator failed. They have been so reliable that no one has any idea how old they are. Purchased this model as it seems to be the closest replacement and in the higher end of the current product line. After 1 solid week of camp, the stoves are OK, but we miss the old stoves. Not sure, but I think I should have stuck with the 5430.

- The 10,000 BTU burners crank out a lot of heat.
- The instant start switch worked 1 click each time.
- The large regulator knobs are flimsy plastic and stick out too far from the stove. I know they are going to break off. Also, they really don't give you much fidelity in burner control. Full flame is in about 30 deg rotation.
- Don't be deceived by the photo, the lid wont stay up unless 1 of the wind guards is locked in. Bet these tabs break off too. As other reviews say, fit and finish just ain't what they used to be.
- The biggest complaint we have is there is no good way to clean these stoves. The cooking faces are nickel plated (good old chrome is banned), and the manual says to not use abrasive scouring pads on the surfaces. Yeah right! After 1 week , there is already some discoloration. Also, the manual says you can't take the cook top off the stove, so how am I going to clean the pancake batter out from under it?

In a nut shell, they work well, and weren't too expensive, but I doubt they are going to survive 10-15 years like our old stoves :)

Amazon gave the best price with their shipping deal. Next time, I am gonna check these out in the store better first.

Lights easily and the burners are powerful and consistent. Not much more you can ask for from a camp stove.

Great stove. These things work well, Amazon was the best price I could find anywhere. Instastart works well.