My Platoon of Cavalry Scouts in the us army, here in Iraq, spend weeks at a time living out of our trucks at various locations away from most forces. We have a wide variety of multi fuel types of personal stoves in our platoon, and by far Coleman brand has proven to be the best. The most reliable, even in high winds, the fastest and most effective at heating our water for coffee and food, and the most compact and travel friendly out of the five other brands we have with us. Coleman Exponent Multi-Fuel Stove
I purchased this a few months ago after the power at home went out for 6 hours and I could not heat up any dinner. My thought was you always have some unleaded gas around the house (in your car or for the boat).
I forgot about it until we had the 6.1 earthquake Sunday here in Hawaii - I opened the box, found some unleaded gas - filled it up, pumped the tank up a few stokes, and lit the burner - hot coffee in no time. This burns very hot and heated a tea kettle of water in about 5 minutes - burns clean with no soot or smoke.
I'd highly recommend one for your emergency kit - you never know who long the power might be out.
This is a Coleman 550, also known as a 'modern' Peak 1 stove. It will burn Coleman fuel (naptha), unleaded, and if you change out the included generator (a short brass tube) - kerosene. I purchased this stove to primarily burn kerosene, as it is a safer flammable, plentiful in my area, and is also used on my 70-year-old antique Optimus No. 1 'roarer' stove.
The 'Exponent Multi-Fuel' stove came in a small box with a set of instructions and a spare generator. The naptha generator is installed at the factory, but if you want to use kerosene (found at Wally World in the blue plastic qt. bottles), READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. Changing out the generator to kerosene was simple and quick by first undoing a thin bolt at the top center of the burner. After undoing the generator nut at the valve, remove the burner plate and the generator. Replace with kerosene generator - but don't forget to turn the valve to low after connecting the funky 'L' hook of the stainless wire in the generator.
Here's where there are some problems with this stove (not deal-killers, mind you). Priming kerosene stoves (and lanterns) is best accomplished using denatured alcohol (SLX from Homeless Despot, etc.). Although Coleman states to use a 'paste,' such material is not readily found everywhere, unlike alcohol, and is messy to boot. This stove will prime just fine with alcohol, but you have to be careful to not pour too much into the INNER burner ring. If Coleman had made the inner ring one-eighth of an inch deeper, this would be a kick-butt kero burner! Too much soot is an indication of a low-temp prime, BTW. After nearly a dozen firings, there are just two spots of soot on the opposite side of the burner head from the kerosene jet - IOW, this stove burns clean (you will get a little stink after shutdown, but it goes away).
Minus one star for poor priming design. But kudos to Coleman for offering a nice little plastic priming bottle with a brass spout on-line for a few bucks (check out the kerosene lantern parts listings).
Next bad point: The valve knob is made of plastic. It is too close to the burner head. It is covered with an adhesive label (just like the main body of the stove). Why Coleman didn't at least choose to use one or more painted indents to indicate OFF, L, or H is beyond me. Also, the valve goes from off directly to high and THEN low, unlike any other stove designs i've experienced. I predict we'll see many of these stoves with melted valve knobs and missing labels in the future.
Minus another star for cheaping out on parts. For Gawd's sake, Coleman, put a nice folding wire knob on the valve or use painted indents!
Other than these failings, this is a decent performer on kerosene. I fill with Coleman kero, pump a dozen times, pour a half-ounce of alcohol into the inner ring, prime, and then blast on high until a nice blue ring appears. My stove is a bit 'twitchy' on settings, but it is easy to find the sweet spots of low blue flame and a roarer setting without too much orange. Combine this performance with easy availability of parts, and you'll have a nice little kero burner for camping or the back deck.
This was a great piece that we were actually issued prior to leaving for A-Stan, but I would buy one if I had to go back or go to another lovely 3rd world country. The brass line is easily swapped to use JP8, which is all we had. A great work around for the "warming gel" is simply to use hand sanitizer. The alcohol is the key ingredient and the gel form keeps it burning until the unit is properly heated. Small, lightweight and easily packed along with a plastic water bottle or two of fuel make a GREAT morale boost when (yes I know instant sucks but...) all you have is instant coffee and it's in the high 20's at night and the sun won't come out fast enough while your freezing your A** off while standing post. Definitely recommend also to cook Ramen in a canteen cup or the newer cups issued with the 32oz Nalgene bottles. AWESOME PRODUCT! If your significant other, family or friend is deploying to a small COP or OP then I would definitely recommend buying a cooking kit including camping utensils or just mismatched metal utensils.
Coleman's Exponent stove is a great performer...rather a hidden gem! I have used it at sea level to 5000 ft to the top of 14000 ft peaks and it has proven to be flawless in operation. Bypassing the priming stage with this stove is great unlike other competitors which I have used (kerosene will require priming gel). In some sub-zero F (-22 and -18 were the temps)conditions, a little priming paste/alcohol gel under the gen-tube does help it along faster....not necessary at all for stove to operate but sped things up a little prior to lighting. Stove WILL work fine in sub-zero, just takes a minute longer. Weight is heavier BUT when you include the fact the tank is attached, no hoses to wrestle with, fuel bottles rolling away, minimal seals to go bad and a weekend of fuel is already inside...the stove just can't be beat. A rotating bezel on the bottom slides around to adjust the feet high/low for uneven ground. Very stable on ground with 2 L pot on the burner with ~1L of water in it - since the fuel is in the base it is much more stable - center of gravity is low on the stove. High winds (~40 mph+) had little effect on the burner since the designed wind screen does its job magnificently. Well thought out design and with fuel it comes in around 2 lbs. Filter fuel (I use only coleman white gas) putting in about 10 oz and primed the pump with about 40-50 strokes. When it turns on, "HI" comes first and reduces in intensity as you rotate it so be prepared for a larger flame initially. Really had no issue with "monster flame ups" upon lighting. I usually light as I am turning PAST high to somewhere in the MED to LOW range and this technique works great. 15 to 30 seconds later the yellow disappears in the flame and a nice blue color settles in as the generator heats up to help vaporize the fuel. Excellent burner control from simmer/cooking eggs Sunny Side-up to wide open "blowtorch" high for melting snow for drinking makes it indispensible. You will have, when cooking, little need to have it on "HI" as the flames wrap up around the pot(even my 2 L titanium pot) making it hard/unsafe to repressurize the fuel tank. If you have to, it is best to remove the pot, lower the flame to "LOW" THEN repressurize. Another trick is to follow the Coleman instructions to the letter and pressurize by using the maximum number of pumps. eg- fill fuel cold, pump 50 times, light, and when burner settles down and goes blue, turn flame to low and pump 30 more times THEN do your cooking. I can run it for 20+ minutes without having to repressurize it again. Most often all the cooking will be done by then anyway. For deeper snow or powder get a decent metal snow pad to support it from sinking when heavier pots are on top. I have not used it with kerosene but the kerosene gen-tube comes with it (has a groove on the generator nut to ID it) in case you can't get white gas (overseas). Replacement parts for the pump etc are readily available all over the U.S. BUT if you disassemble it you lose the Coleman lifetime warranty. Check the stove before you leave so you have time to send it to Coleman for R&R and still maintain your warranty. The tether on the filler cap is nice so it doesn't get lost as it would have many times with me. A drop or two of oil into the hole on the pump will help it slide much easier...good thing to do pre and post trip to keep it sliding nicely. - Camping Stove - Stove - Backpacking - Coleman'
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