Camp Chef Outdoorsman Review

The Camp Chef Outdoorsman is a high-end, rugged stove for large group meals while car camping or doing field work/school. With four removable legs, it transforms from a freestanding stove into a tabletop stove. It has 60,000 BTUs per burner, making it immensely more powerful than other stoves in our review. The unparalleled BTUs mean this stove doesn't simmer as well as some of our lower-octane models, but you're likely drawn to this stove more for its power than its finesse.

Performance Comparison

Boil Time

To evaluate the power of each stove, we do two boil tests — one with 2-4 mph of constant “wind” from a box fan and another with no wind — then we rank all the stoves based on the average between the two scores. No surprise, the powerful Outdoorsman outperformed all the other stoves in our review with an average boil time of 2 minutes 22 seconds.

To assess boil time and wind resistance in a controlled manner, we placed each stove next to 2-4 mph of constant wind produced by a box fan on low. We then measured how long it took to boil water in the presence of this “wind.” The Outdoorsman was completely unphased by our box fan, boiling 1 liter of water in 2 minutes and 34 seconds. In our wind-less test, it boiled 1 liter of 58°F water in an impressive 2 minutes and 30 seconds. That is a difference of only 4 seconds! Even without a drip pan to protect the burners, this stove is so powerful as to be unaffected by our wind test. With two 60,000 BTU burners, the Outdoorsman has at least double the power of any other stove in our review. In truth, it has more than double the power of most burners in commercial kitchens, let alone your home range. This undoubtedly contributes to it having an unsurpassably quick boil time with or without wind.

That said, wind gusts in the “real world” somewhat affect the flames' consistency. Further, we would not recommend using this stove without a wand lighter, as the burners produce such a powerful flame that shorter lighters may risk singing all the hair on your arms.

Fuel Efficiency

In addition to measuring boiling times both with “wind” and without, we also look at fuel efficiency. Like other stoves that are only compatible with large propane tanks, the Outdoorsman is incredibly fuel-efficient. This is why it was among our top-ranked stoves for fuel efficiency.

In each boil test, the Outdoorsman consumed an average of 2.24 ounces or 1% of the fuel in an 11-pound propane tank. It burned only 2.56 ounces of fuel in the wind test and 1.92 ounces in the wind-less test. While these scores are incredible, it is valuable to note that we have to use different scales for the stand-alone stoves that are only compatible with large propane tanks. This may mean that some fuel usage is unaccounted for in the tests. Regardless of how fuel efficient this stove appears to be, when you have a stove with 60,000 BTU burners, there will be some unnecessary fuel consumption because few cooking activities (aside from pressure canning) require that much output. In our isolated “lab” test, this stove was very fuel efficient. However, in the real world, it will likely consume more fuel than stoves that feature well-designed but lower-BTU burners.

Simmering Ability

To evaluate each stove's ability to simmer, we make a pot of rice and evaluate how well the stove is able to sustain a low flame while steaming the rice. Unsurprisingly, it was challenging to rein in the immense power of the Outdoorsman well enough to simmer.

Even though the burner knobs are tight, and you can dial down the flame quite a bit, they produce too much power to simmer well. We were able to make a decent (albeit al dente) pot of rice with the Outdoorsman, and this stove could handle stir-fries, stews, and curry with ease. But if your camping meal plans consistently call for delicate sauces, we recommend checking out one of the simmering champions in our review.

Ease of Use

Even though the Outdoorsman is fairly simple to use with minimal instruction, it cannot compete with the straightforward setup of most tabletop stoves in our review. That being said, it became much easier to use with a little practice and patience.

We appreciate that you can use this stove with or without the included legs, though its usable height with the legs will be too low to be ideal for most tall people (our lead reviewer is 5'8", and it was somewhat low for her).

The Outdoorsman comes with a detachable and foldable windscreen that affixes to the lip of the stove via four tabs. This was very easy to install, but again, not as easy as the more traditional windscreens that swing out from the stove's lid. We were also disappointed that this premium stove does not come with a piezo igniter, doubly so because it would have made it safer to light.

Like other freestanding stoves, it is pretty easy to clean as it does not have a drip pan to clean, but we found it somewhat more challenging to clean than stoves with a fully sealed drip pan. While it does not have a drip pan to catch all your food, there are a lot of little nooks and crannies to scrub should your pot boil over. That being said, you don't have to worry about losing food in the false-bottom drip pans that protect the internal components of most stoves. Finally, unless you want your camp kitchen to turn into a bear den, you do need to be more mindful of picking up flying food that escapes from your pan, as there is nothing to catch it but the ground.

Portability

With a weight of 31.01 pounds, the Outdoorsman is one of the heaviest stoves in our review. It is also relatively awkward to carry. Still, as long as you don't need to carry it very far, it is pretty easy to move between your rig and your campsite.

As you may have noticed, the Outdoorsman isn't one of the more compact stoves in our review, so you'll want to make sure you have sufficient space in your car for transport. We are pleased that the windscreen and legs can be stowed away in a stuff sack, but it proved to be little more than glorified packaging, as we promptly broke the drawstring and punctured the fabric within minutes of opening the box.

Should You Buy the Camp Chef Outdoorsman?

Depending on your needs, this high-output stove could be an excellent value or a colossal waste of funds and power. If you intend to make large meals for fieldwork, outdoor education, your family, or a huge crew of friends, then the Outdoorsman is a worthy contender. This stove could also be a great choice if you spend weeks outside every year or if you need a freestanding outdoor stove for canning or brewing. Truth be told, most folks don't need as much power as this stove produces, but for those who do, we think you'll be impressed.

What Other Camping Stoves Should You Consider?