Partner Steel Stove

[donthompson]

Do you own a Partner Steel camping stove? These are actually hand-crafted stoves made of aluminum by a company in Idaho. They sell to a lot of outfitters. I'm looking at the 22" 2-burner model. It doesn't take up much space and it's light: Dimensions - 22" X 12" x 3.5"; Weight - 17lbs. I've read lots of reviews and people love this stove. Unlike the Camp Chef stoves, it is a high-pressure stove so it works really well at higher altitudes, is more wind resistant, etc. The downside is the cost. I'd love to hear from any other Ollie owners who have used a Partner Steel stove.

[Laps]

Excellent find Don. I'm now researching them also.

[Overland]

I don't have one yet, but it's what we picked after a bit of research. Funny because I was just thinking about this today. We're also looking a the wider 2-burner - the regular one I think would be a tight fit for bigger skillets. They do seem to be the go to stove for among guides and seasoned campers - the crowd over at expedition portal certainly think they're the best. I like that they sell repair kits.

 

The only drawback I've heard is that they can be a little tough to simmer on since they have such a high output. That, and the price, of course.

[Commanche]

Think I'll just stick with my ancient Coleman stove.

 

Stan

[KarenLukens]

Think I’ll just stick with my ancient Coleman stove.

 

Stan

 

 

We have an old Coleman stove also :)

Very Old, and was given to us for free :)

Always works when we need it. If I didn't already have enough stoves, the partner stove looks nice enough but way over priced for what you get that I can see and then you still need a table to put it on and propane, pots,pans,a griddle... a pizza oven maybe?. The stove might work at 10,000 feet but unfortunately... Karen & I don't work well ourselves at all over 8000' and it looks just like the $50.00 Coleman. Do you really want a small high tech camp stove that still needs propane just like a small Coleman? I've never seen these in action,they look great, but do they come with everything that you want? Out of all of the outfitters that recommend this stove, how many actually use it for the groups that they take out and cook for? We can cook breakfast for 12 people easily with ours, it comes with its own table built in and works just fine at the 7000' level that we max out at. We usually camp at 5500 or below these days. Where 8000' wasn't an issue 10 years ago, these days Karen can't be safely taken above 7300' or she starts getting altitude sickness and needs oxygen to live up that high. So for us, we have differrent needs and cook for groups when we cook outside, so the 3 burners was a minimum for us.

I appologize for the rambling, I'm just a little biased it seems. The Partner Stove looks great, it just works where we don't, so I'm a little jealous :)

[SeaDawg]

If we were looking for a lightweight, but sturdy, high altitude capable stove, I'd definitely look at the Partner. Great reviews from outfitters taking out big groups.

I'd have to look at the price as an equivalent of our 40 year old PE Luke gimballed range on the boat. Handbuilt aluminum, except for the spiders, which are heat holding cast iron, and pretty much bullet proof as a stove.

We've replaced hoses,cleaned burners, replaced the oven handle , and can't find a replacement oven thermometer, but gee. The Luke was built in 1976... What can I expect?

FYI, camp chef makes a high pressure, also aluminum version, called the mountaineer x, I think. It's a little less. Not handmade in the US. For a few bucks more,and regular high altitude work, I personally would choose the Idaho made partner, but that's me.

 

Camp chef makes some very well reviewed products. However, the portable products they make use a lot of BTu. In stoves, thats measured in consumption, not real world output/gain. Output/gain is determined by many factors, especially wind, however.

A 20# tank is about 90k BTu, I think. If you size pans to burner size, and guard flames from excess wind, you're good with a lot of stoves.

And Commanche, if you still have the vintage Coleman, I'd keep it. For sure. It's a great legacy item. Don't make them the same anymore, especially if you have the early Canadian build.

Sherry

 

 

[donthompson]

Sherry,

 

You provided lots of helpful information--thank you! While I camped for a few days last spring at 10,400 feet, high altitude camping/cooking isn't my most important consideration. The size, weight, and quality are very important to me as well. Most of my outdoor cooking before buying my Ollie has been on tiny backpacking stoves. I've owned at least a half-dozen and quality has always been the primary consideration when choosing a backpacking stove. The last thing you need when you're 3-4 days away from civilization by foot or paddle is a nonfunctional stove! I'm pleased that there is a stove in the Ollie, but it's not very robust and it's nice to get outside to cook as long as the bugs aren't too bothersome.

[Hikegsm]

Do you own a Partner Steel camping stove? These are actually hand-crafted stoves made of aluminum by a company in Idaho. They sell to a lot of outfitters. I’m looking at the 22″ 2-burner model. It doesn’t take up much space and it’s light: Dimensions – 22″ X 12″ x 3.5″; Weight – 17lbs. I’ve read lots of reviews and people love this stove. Unlike the Camp Chef stoves, it is a high-pressure stove so it works really well at higher altitudes, is more wind resistant, etc. The downside is the cost. I’d love to hear from any other Ollie owners who have used a Partner Steel stove.

 

 

We were leaning towards a camp chef stove since it is easy to use with the propane quick connect on our future Oliver. Will it not work at high altitude? I hate to show my ignorance but I thought low pressure meant it could work using the regulator on the camper with a quick connect.????

Yvonne

[donthompson]

The Camp Chef is a great stove. See Buzzy's posts--he's a very happy Camp Chef stove owner. I'm not sure, but I think the Camp Chef will work at high altitude, but it probably won't perform as well as a high-pressure stove and it will consume more propane than a high-pressure stove. The main reason I've decided not to follow Buzzy's lead with the Camp Chef is its weight. It weighs 47 lbs. In his posts about his stove, he's commented that because of its weight, it's not the right choice for all Ollie campers. The performance of the Partner Steel stove at altitude is a plus, but not a game changer for me.

[Overland]

I agree that the weight is the big disadvantage of the camp chef. I didn't know that they made an aluminum version though, so I'll have to take a look at that. We need ours to be compact enough and light enough to take on tent camping excursions away from the Oliver, so the camp chef really wouldn't work for us. We will have a single burner portable induction cooktop with us in the Ollie and who knows, that may end up being our primary cooktop. It's hard to say until we actually get out there and start using it.

 

The coleman fuel stoves are great, esp. the older ones. I just don't like fiddling with the gas and want something that works with 12" pans.

[Overland]

I looked at the Camp Chef Mountaineer - looks like a copy of the Partner for not much less, plus I don't get the hose coming out the front. Looks like everything in that section of their site is either a copy or relabeling of someone else's product. Not that that's necessarily bad in itself, but still.

 

Don, if you get the Partner, you might take a look at these carry bags from Blue Ridge. They look like a nice addition. - https://www.blueridgeoverlandgear.com/2-Burner-Partner-Steel-Stove-Bag-18-p/21ps2.htm

 

And it's not on their website, but they'll add adjustable feet to the bottom if you want.

[Laps]

I looked at the Camp Chef Mountaineer – looks like a copy of the Partner for not much less, plus I don’t get the hose coming out the front. Looks like everything in that section of their site is either a copy or relabeling of someone else’s product. Not that that’s necessarily bad in itself, but still. Don, if you get the Partner, you might take a look at these carry bags from Blue Ridge. They look like a nice addition. – https://www.blueridgeoverlandgear.com/2-Burner-Partner-Steel-Stove-Bag-18-p/21ps2.htm And it’s not on their website, but they’ll add adjustable feet to the bottom if you want.

 

Those were exactly my observations as well regarding the Camp Chef Mountaineer.  I too have looked at the bags from Blue Ridge and would invest in one should I purchase the Partner stove.  I also like the lower burner BTU output of the Partner compared to the Camp Chef, i.e., 10,000 vs 20,000 per burner respectively.  Less BTU I would assume means less consumption and at 10,000 BTU I wouldn't imagine there would be any real "time to boil" difference compared to 20,000 BTUs, for the typical needs of using a 1 or 2 quart pot.  I won't be making dinner for 10 guests.

 

Those adjustable feet certainly would be a good addition, so many surfaces used for a stove are uneven.   However, I was hoping to shop around and get a bit of a better deal than offered directly from the manufacturer, a trade off it seems.