What's It For?

A Coleman butane/propane gas stove for starting out. Four long arms gives greater stability for large pans so suitable for car camping for one person.

The Techy Bits

You'd be forgiven for thinking a stove is a stove and that's the end of the story. Sure you can get multi fuel stoves, you can get meths stoves and you can get gas stoves that seperate the canister from the burner - but most of us use some form of canister-top gas stove. Take a look around any outdoor shop though and you'll find racks of different makes of canister top stoves, all looking pretty much the same. The stove screws on to the top of the gas canister - nothing technical there, but there are differences. The two main properties of a stove are weight and power output, and on the first there's nothing special about the weight with 153gm coming in at more than double that of some competitors - and that's without the carry pouch.

At 700W output with a gas flow of 515gm/hour, however, the output is amongst the higher rated stoves on the market. The four arms are longer than many, increasing the surface area for large pans to sit on, and the F1 Power PZ has a locking ring to keep the arms secure once extended.

How It Performed

The F1 Power PZ is one of several stoves in the F1 range, targetted at solo backpackers. It's not the lightest stove on the market, and not the smallest but it's got definite advantages for the beginner. The four long arms give a noticeable improvement in stability, especially when using large pans or kettles, and the arm lock ring works well to help avoid accidents. In good conditions the 7000W burner, with a wide spread, can boil a litre of water in around two and a half minutes - and about 3 minutes longer when the wind picks up. The simple flame adjuster worked well, as did the piezo ignition (the PZ in the name), making it a simple stove to use. At 153g it's not going to win any lightweight awards, with stoves less than half the weight available, but the extra size and weight aren't as much of an issue if you're car camping and the extra stability of a fourth arm makes a difference.

Verdict

A good entry level stove with 4 arms for extra pan stability and a well designed locking ring to keep them in place during use. The F1 Power PZ is ideal for the car based camper not worried about the extra weight.