Saturday, January 11, 2014

Reviews of Camp Chef Pro 60 2 Burner Stove

Pro 2 Burner Propane Stove Red/Black
Customer Ratings: 5 stars
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Camp Chef Professional Series DB-60D Pro 60 2 Burner Modular Cooking System, Red/Black

I thought this was a great way to show how quick this comes out of box and "ready to cook"

Pros: Cast Aluminum burner (great for rust protection)

Lots of power 30,000 btu's 5 times most home stoves.

Quality blue flame, white flame makes your cooking stuff black.

Cons: since it is so heavy duty, it is not super portable

You can update it will all the accesories in the modular cooking series.

I hope this is helpful, and watch the video Steve and his sideburn tribute to Elvis...

Take Care

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love love love this... we bought it last summer to replace our tiny RVQ (which had low btu, tiny grilling surface and required a rv mount on the wall) after 2 summers of use including a 24 day camping trip we can only repeat we love this stove. Our only negatives are

needs a wind screen on the under side where the burners are they extinguish very easily in a cross wind... we use this on the outer banks trips and there is much cross wind there so grilling is a bit tricky there (we are going to get a local metal fabricator to make a screen we can hang on the legs) (we called company they don't make a screen for bottom)

its Really Really heavy....

legs some times collect water in them if you leave it out in the rain (drill a hole in the bottom to stop that..)

pros

its very well made (hence very heavy)

its super powerful high btu-we have no issues cooking a steak and getting an awesome char on it.

its very versatile -we use it as our emerg cooker for hurricane season, RV bbq, and secondary bbq for big picnics

lots of accessories

very stable legs have the perfect angle to give good stability.

works as stove or a bbq etc

side shelves (optional) double as a cover no need for a fabric cover.

easy to clean with degreaser, a kitchen brush and a garden hose :)

the controls are well calibrated you can simmer or sear without issue

big surface area to accommodate large pans, or griddles.

enamel surfaces are very durable they have not chipped or even scuffed after 2 summers of use and frankly we are pretty rough on our camping bbq gear... only item that scuffed was the legs

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I purchased this stove because it looked easy to set up. I'm not sure the windscreen helps much. First time I used it the wind blew the fire out on low. The wind comes from underneath. I used a diffusser plate under the cast iron one burner griddle it seemed to be hot all over. This stove has plenty cooking power. Medium was plenty hot for the griddle. This 2 burner is about as heavy as I want to be lifting around. However the 3 burner is only 5 inches longer. My first breakfast cook out I seemed to run out of burners. So since then I have purchased a one burner Camp Chef to go with it. This is neat the Griddle & BBQ grill fit right on it. I purchased a carry case for the two burner Camp ChefCamp Chef Professional Series DB-60D Pro 60 2 Burner Modular Cooking System, Red/Black and after putting in it the first time I was disgusted. The hardest part of breaking up camp was putting the stove back in the carry bag. So now I just have it in the back of the pick-up. The zipper is already shot after one use. Just use the box the stove came in to store it and you will be a happier camper. I purchased all this cooking equipment from Amazon.com with one click and it shows up at my door from UPS. I love shopping this way because you can get what you want. Not what the store has in stock.

Honest reviews on Camp Chef Pro 60 2 Burner Stove

On one side, the legs bend inward, then outward. The other side, with straight legs, has a 'stabilizer' bar that screws onto them. Obviously there were problems with these tipping over, and the 'solution' was to add this screwy bar, which DOES NOT lay flat on the ground, or have any rubber/vinyl feet.

The grill legs CAN NOT be folded (or unfolded) with the stabilizer attached. So if you thought (like I did) that this would be more 'convenient' than the cheaper model, with the screw-on legs, you are wrong. It would be MUCH easier to assemble the cheaper grill with the detachable legs, than use this with the recommended safety stabilizer bar.

The legs ONLY fold one particular way, and the stabilizer bar (not shown on the product image) must be removed to fold or unfold the legs. The stabilizer bar is difficult to install/remove. They didn't... quite... get the legs and welded-on leg sockets lined up. So you get to fight with removing it, to get it off, and fight with it to get it on. I've already 'shaved' plastic off the caps on the bottom of the straight legs, and some paint, trying to fit/remove the bar.

General fit and manufacture are about what I expected of mass produced sheet metal and tubes construction. It is no lightweight breeze to carry, the fold-over table sides DO NOT clamp, as they appear to be designed to, so they'll flap around as you try to carry it, and between this and at least one not-really 'optional' cooking surface, you have quite a bit of equipment to move around, when you take it with you. Realistically, this grill is part of a truck or SUV camping excursion, so really no big deal on the weight.

I would not recommend cooking without the stabilizer. As inconvenient and shoddy as it is, having the whole thing tip over, lit, with whatever hot, greasy things on it doesn't sound like a good plan, either. You're just going to have to beat it on, chip the paint, etc. Of course, now you have one more accessory to carry, or to futz with taking off BEFORE you unfold the legs, then with putting on AFTERWARDS. This would be *extremely unstable* with a large pot of water (or two) on top, without the bar. Only a little dicey, with the bar.

I have not lit it up. I've only unboxed, set it up and inspected it. But this detail is likely to remain my main complaint. They added this 'safety' wart, and didn't redesign anything else to work with it, and apparently DO NOT CARE how bad it sucks. Hopefully a 'DB-60E' will have this better integrated to allow the legs to fold while installed, or something. Realistically, people who buy this will 'forget' that stabilizer. It's a horrible, horrible design. Or I should say, COMPLETE LACK OF DESIGN.

I think they added this stabilizer, not so much as a fix to prevent tipping, but as a fix to prevent tipping LIABILITY. "Oh, you didn't have the hideously inconvenient, almost impossible to install, concrete scratching, poorly fitted kludge accessory installed? It's ALL YOUR FAULT your kid was burned alive!"

It's not enough to make me want to return it. It's more than enough for me to not recommend it over the substantially less expensive Camp Chef Explorer Series EX-60LW 2-Burner Modular Cooking System, Black, with the completely removable, wider stance legs that I should have bought.

DAY 2

I'm less annoyed by the stabilizer kludge. +1 Star. It is definitely more stable WITH, than WITHOUT.

Got the steel griddle + grill attachments, today. They were loose in a huge box with some wadded butcher paper, bouncing around with some AAA rechargeable batteries that had almost got lost to UPS land. Not something to count against the grill, but I guess it's a lesson not to order 'itty bitty' things mixed with large things, when making an Amazon order.

Had to chug a beer to have something to catch oil, as I decided to 'season' the pan a bit more before cooking. Maybe that put me in a better mood. The oil catching thing was obviously not... quite... designed for beer cans, unless you cut the top off. But most any kind of can should do. But an interesting tidbit. On the left side, the griddle drains DIRECTLY over the lock pin and its wire retainer, the one for keeping the leg deployed. They obviously put holes in the back for the same pins, but elected to keep both of the pins in the front. So for future reference, put the griddle on the right, or move the pins to the back. It looks like I can take the bolts out, and attach the pins in the back, where they will be out of the way, and near the CARRYING HANDLE, which I did hold to unfold the legs so I wouldn't scuff the paint. Good. Too bad they didn't think to BUILD IT THAT WAY, in the first place.

I got some propane, and cooked some spicy chicken burgers from Trader Joe's, and toasted the buns with butter, all on the steel griddle. They were yummy, and did not last to the point of taking a picture. Have not used the grilling box attachment, yet.

Minor annoyance about the griddle. It has a nice, convenient carrying handle. It doesn't stay put, and it gets really HOT. It dangles directly in front of the control knob for the flame under the griddle. You can still adjust the temperature... only very, very carefully. After the griddle cooled down again, I discovered that it can, indeed be stowed in such a way that it is completely out of the way. Just not after the griddle is already hot.

A note on 'seasoning'. The griddle may be pre-seasoned, but that does not mean 'non-stick'. It only means a steel spatula will clean burnt/caramelized stuff off easily, leaving more burnt/caramelized stuff behind, to protect the metal. So I call that a 'complete success'.

Day 3:

Grilled the other two patties on the 'grill' box attachment. Had to wait an hour or so, as it emitted an awful greasy chemical odor, probably from the painted surfaces getting hot for the first time since they were painted. The cooking surface its self had the same kind of 'pre-season' coating as the griddle. Once the odor was gone, it cooked as expected, with nothing particularly noteworthy beyond that.

Cleanup on the griddle + grill cooking surface was pretty easy. Both fit into my kitchen sink well enough to scrub a bit. Almost all the charred bits fell into the catcher under the grill, where it was easy to dump into the trash, knocking the bigger debris loose with a paper towel, once it had cooled off.

DAY 8:

Finally got the Camp Chef Patio Cover for 2 Burner Stoves w/Folding Legs at my door. It reeks of unspeakable, ghastly chemical horrors. Something like Cthulhu rising from a Rubbermaid toxic waste dump. Not a big deal, it's for outside, and just heating up the grill should drive away any lingering scent. Open it outside, keep it outside, and in a few days, it should lose the 'aroma'.

As with the legs and pin location/drainage choice, there are some problems with the cover and the accessories. For one thing, the little 'side tables' can't fold at all with the steel griddle on the grill. So much for storing that ON the grill, under the cover. I found a place to hang it by its handle, so that's not really a big deal. With the BBQ grill box in place, the table on that side can fold up to 90 degrees, but I ended up just shutting them and setting the two halves of the grill on top, rotated 90 degrees.

CONCLUSION:

All in all, now that I've used it a few times, and have all the accessories that I ordered with it, I recommend the less expensive Camp Chef Explorer Series EX-60LW 2-Burner Modular Cooking System, Black. And a cheap TV tray. The built-in 'tables' suck, and cleaning grease off of them will be a chore. The cheaper model stows and fits RIGHT in all of the various covers/bags that others have reviewed, and it's can't possibly be any more bother fitting and screwing on four legs, than wrestling with this thing to set it up or collapse it or try to 'store' it, or even just cover it. This one doesn't really work with even the cover, unless you have somewhere else to put all the accessories.

It's a horrible bunch of kludges built on kludges, with no thought given to use at all. The fact that they sold it without the stabilizer kludge, and none of their own pictures feature it shows they didn't even think about basic SAFETY, when they initially came up with this thing. No thought, design or effort put into it at all, and you'll regret it every time you try to put this away, or set it up.

And I'm taking a star back, for those 'tables', and all the problems I keep encountering. At any time except when you're cooking and need to put something small and lightweight on them, they're an absolute hinderance.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Camp Chef Pro 60 2 Burner Stove

-Excellent heat for large cooking projects.

-Must have correct pots and pans for this. Heavy cast iron or stainless steel. Does not go low enough for use with lightweight aluminum or cheap stainless steel.

-Setup is a breeze vs. the same model with removable legs. Have used both and this one wins hands down.

-Make sure you cover in a rainstorm because water will pool in the burners making it very difficult to light.

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