Coleman Classic 3-Burner Propane Stove, 28,000 BTUs

Why it's worth it

The Coleman Classic gives you three adjustable burners, 28,000 total BTUs, push-button ignition, and fold-down wind panels that double as side tables. It's the default first camp stove for good reason.

Three burners is the headline. Most stoves at this level give you two, and the third is genuinely useful — owners describe parking a cast-iron skillet on it while eggs and coffee run alongside. The cooking area fits two 12-inch pans or three 8-inch pans, which covers a family breakfast without staging.

Coleman includes a pressure regulator, which is unusual at this end of the market. That's the component that keeps output steady as a canister drains and temperatures fall. It's why this stove doesn't wilt on a cool morning the way unregulated budget stoves do, and it's the main reason we picked it over the alternatives in this tier.

From our review of 5 portable camping stoves, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +Three burners is the headline
• +Coleman includes a pressure regulator, which is unusual at this end of the market
• +The wind-blocking panels fold down flat and become side tables, which is a genuinely clever bit of design when your only other…
• +It runs on standard 1-pound propane canisters, and those are stocked at essentially every hardware store, grocery store, and gas…

What to know

• –At 28,000 BTUs across three burners, each one puts out meaningfully less heat than a single burner on the Camp Chef
• –The build reflects the price
• –The wind panels help but don't enclose much