Review Date
December 28, 2007

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Reviewed by: nickycohen ,  Car Camper

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Have purchased 2 of these units, hoping the first (faulty) unit was a one-off stroke of bad luck. It wasn't. This is a crap product! The flame is unstable. Sometimes it's blue (and clean). More often it's yellow and inclined to leave a coating of (hard to remove) soot on the base of the cookware. It would be great if it worked well because the concept is appealing, but it doesn't. It's not an elegant design either. It's bulky, rattles like mad and the edges are sharp enough to cut you. Coleman, this product detracts from what is an otherwise sound brand.

Review Date
September 1, 2007

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Reviewed by: Martijn(Unregistered User) ,  Car Camper

Price Paid:  $150.00 at Bever Sport

Summary:
My wife and I were very happy with our MSR Whisperlite in our childless period. So when we went camping with our two kids we wanted a white gas stove with 2-burners and chose the Coleman 424. We've used it for two weeks and it has been rather disappointing. The burning performance of the stove is very unstable. Sometimes it starts burning blue right away, at other times we get yellow jet flames. We once even had a fire going inside the mixing chamber, resulting in a damaged coating. After the ignition fase you still can't rely on a carefree cooking session, as the stove will sometimes give yellow flames again or the flow can become erratic.

Customer Service:
-

Similar Products Used:
MSR Whisperlite

Review Date
April 17, 2007

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: John(Unregistered User) ,  Car Camper

Price Paid:  $73.00 at Walmart

Summary:
Owned the stove for one week. Lighting and operation was fairly straightforwarded though understandably more involved than the propane stove that we were used to. The stove provided a lot more cooking heat than our propane stove but gave off heavy combustion fumes. It really bothered me and my family members. After each use the stove would leave a layer of soot on the pan and grate surface. The pan soot just wiped off but the grate soot was almost baked on and very difficult to remove. We would get soot all over our hands when packing the stove away. Very messy. We contacted Coleman customer support who told us these things are normal for the liquid fuel stoves. We decided to return the stove for a refund and continue using our old propane stove which left no soot, no detectable combustion fumes and no problems in 5 years (just like our kitchen range).

Customer Service:
Excellent - Refund given

Similar Products Used:
Coleman Dual Burner Propane stove. Excellent performance and troublefree.

Review Date
February 9, 2004

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3 votes

Reviewed by: tg9858(Unregistered User) ,  Car Camper

Price Paid:  $25.00 at used

Summary:
Bought mine used for car camping purposes.

The unit appears to be in great shape as the owner claims less than 10 usage. Immediately I notice the flame lingers about 15-20 seconds after the nob is shut. Otherwise the fire is hot and the burner performs well in cold/wet conditions.

It's a decent product for 3-5x weekend car camping trips. If you can get it for $30 or less and the unit is a good shape, then it's probably worth it as it'll provide years of service.

Customer Service:
not so far

Similar Products Used:
older Coleman dual fuel models

Review Date
November 1, 2003

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by: cooler(Unregistered User) ,  Car Camper

Price Paid:  $27.00 at Ebay

Summary:
I bought my barely used 424 Duel Fuel after my 425F quit working. I had the 425F since 1980. It never failed me.

Just after I opened the box, enclosed owner's manual for 424 showed me how to fix the generator problem. Instead of buying a new one, I just cleaned the needle (with 220 grit sandpaper) and the coil (with a Dremel wire brush) inside the generator tube, and reinstalled the assembly. I wanted to install a new one, but the local hardware store priced it so high, that it was not worth buying for a 23 year-old stove. My 425F now works just as good as the first day I bought it.

424 Duel Fuel is a much updated version, not merely offering the use of two types of gasoline. The notable differences are: bigger secondary burner for faster boiling time; removable grill for ease of cleaning; flared mouth for the pump cylinder for ease of reinsertion; and the attractive textured (thicker) paintjob.

The firepower and the flame control were superb, and the flame extinguished immediately when the control knob was turned off. There was no lingering flame in the burner. (Caution: if you max out the flame while using only the main burner with a wide frying pan covering the most of the grill, the paintjob near the fuel tank will burn and darken. The main flame gets that large!)

My 425F always had some of the lingering flame, and it had increased somewhat over the years of use. I used to pull the generator out of the expansion chamber, so I do not have to smell that nasty, incomplete combustion.

On 425F, the secondary burner is so small, it takes too long to get a liter of water to a boil. It is only good for simmering, in my opinion. Now 424's secondary burner will bring it to a rolling boil. Now you can cook the pasta while you get the meat sauce ready.

Both box stoves are rather bulky and heavy, but they provide a sure platform anywhere on dry land. If you are driving to a destination, those points are of no concern.

The cover serves as a large windshield, and the side windshields are quite effective on a windy day. If you are going to cook for a group, you cannot ask for a better stove than Coleman 2-burner stoves.

Customer Service:
Never needed it.

Similar Products Used:
Coleman Peak 1 400, 425F