I’m an avid outdoorsman in many disciplines; so, when my sister and brother-in-law wanted a camp stove they asked me to find them one. I found this stove at an REI garage sale for a grand total of less than $6. Apparently the person who bought it was just like most of the folks who wrote reviews…they followed the directions like good little boys and girls, but used no intuition. The stove works perfectly, but not if you follow the directions. It shoots up all kinds of yellow flames at first. Just let it shoot up the flames for one or two minutes; then, pump it up to about 70 pumps or so (not the 35 that the direction say) and let her rip. It cooks like an angel! Happy camping…and don’t forget to use a little intuition! :)

Have owned this stove for three years now, use it for car camping (MSR Whisperlite or Pocket Rocket for backpacking). It has probably been used around 30-40 days total. Burner control is good in my experience, and usually trouble-free to light although occasionally it flares up and needs to be left alone for a while. It is an OK product but with some notable drawbacks. It seems to take up much too much space, while still being a bit small for cooking with two pots or a frying pan. It rattles madly, has a lot of sharp edges (drawn blood several times), is tricky to clean, and has recently started leaking gas around the tap. Taking it apart revealed that the o-rings had totally disintegrated.

It's definitely not a high end piece of equipment, and I would pay more for something with a little more design flair.

Similar Products Used:

Trangia, Whisperlite, Pocket Rocket, Peak 1

This is a good stove but not perfect. Sometimes when you light it the flames shoot up and it is very difficult to get the flamne down to the normal blue flame where it should be. Then you just have to quit and start over, but in general it's a pretty reliable stove.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Purchased and took it straight to the State Park. Worked perfect right out of the box. We bought a non-stick gridle for later trips. Very satisfied with this stove. I recommend it.