Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Coleman Exponent Apex II Stove > Owner Review by Luke Middleton

Owner Review- Coleman Apex II Dual-Fuel Exponent Stove

Biography

Backpacking Background: I've been camping for longer than I can remember (which some days, isn't very long), but I probably began backpacking about 15 years ago when I became a teenager. During that time I've camped in quite a variety of conditions, but in the more recent years I've remained mostly in the Midwest, taking short weekend trips several times a year, and a longer excursion in Colorado about once a year. As a backpacker I probably can not be considered one who packs light. For example, I once strapped my very heavy feather pillow to my pack for an extended trip in the Rockies. My aging body no longer allows such extreme extravagances, but still, my goal on a packing trip is comfort. If that means toughing it out on the trail with a pack a bit heavier than absolutely necessary, so be it. I'll reap the rewards in camp, whether it be from a softer bed and better rest or from a more tasty meal. This isn't to say I strap on weight willy-nilly, but I'm also not going to be drilling holes in my toothbrush handle or cutting off the bon-bon on top of my ski cap.

Product Information

Review

I've had this stove for nearly four years now and have probably used it on close to two-dozen trips. I've backpacked this thing near and far, used it in the summer and in the snow on a below-freezing night, and from the prairies of Kansas all the way up to approximately 10,000 ft (3,000 m) elevation in the mountains. I may as well say at the beginning that I love this stove and am excited about finally writing a review on it, but I will nevertheless strive to be objective.

The stove comes in a very nice cardboard box with a shiny red 22 oz (0.65 L) fuel bottle and the combination fuel pump/attachment hose. I elected to purchase the optional Maintenance Kit as well as the Service Parts Kit, which includes spare O-rings and other items that might wear out or easily become lost. I've not needed to avail myself to either of these since I've owned the stove, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have them.

As for the stove itself: it is unlike any other stove I have seen in the stores and magazines. It has its heritage in the old-style (yet sill widely available) Coleman backpacking stoves, and yet possesses several features found in the newer featherweight stoves that are so popular now (light weight and external fuel tank). What it shares with the old style Coleman stoves (the ones with the built-on fuel tank) is the robust burner assembly: the Apex II burner is stout and relatively wide at 4.5 in (11.4 cm) in diameter, and with five lateral spokes for the pot to rest on, it offers a very stable platform. But unlike the old-style Coleman stoves, this burner assembly is screwed on to a very lightweight aluminum stand, underneath which are three foldout "feet" or foot-pads. These look remarkably like those on Buzz Aldrin's lunar lander. The footprint of this stove with the feet extended is just over 7 inches (17.8 cm) in diameter, which in my experience is about the widest of any backpacking stove I have examined. A very slick and useful touch can be found on one of the foot-pads, which is outfitted with an adjustment screw. By pushing that foot downward and securing it in place with the screw, I can cause the stove to sit perfectly level even though the feet might be resting on an uneven surface. This makes what is already an otherwise stable stove even more so.

The pump assembly screws into any Peak1 fuel bottle, but as I mentioned, a 22 oz (0.65 L) bottle is included. Since I can only fill the bottle 2/3 full in order to leave air for the pressure pump, the amount of fuel I can actually put in this bottle is about 16 oz (0.47 L). However, on longer trips I carry an extra fuel bottle that I can fill to the brim if I want.

The fuel pump consists of the pump itself as well as the On/Off valve for the fuel. Since this valve is located on the pump it allows me to pressurize the fuel bottle even if it isn't attached to the stove, and it will maintain pressure without spewing gas out the hose. This hose extends from the pump and is sheathed in a very durable steel braid. The hose attaches to the stove at the hose inlet. When not attached, there is a plastic cap which covers the end of the hose to keep it clean. The plastic cap, however, serves more than just one purpose. It is the second very nifty feature of this stove:

On the stove itself, as mentioned, is the hose inlet. When the pump hose is not attached, there is an aluminum insert or plug which fits into the inlet to keep dirt or other contaminants out. It's fairly difficult to push in and requires equal effort to pull out, but I've always considered that a good thing, because I wouldn't want the plug to accidentally fall out and get lost (a spare plug is included in the aforementioned Service Parts Kit). This protective plug is the only loose piece that could conceivably be lost on the entire stove. But on removing this plug from the inlet and inserting the pump hose into the stove I found that the protective hose cap also serves as a keeper for the plug which is now lying loose. The plug fits very snugly into the plastic hose cap, which is attached to the hose with a sliding ring so that it can't fall off. What's more, at the base of the pump assembly is a small receptacle into which the hose cap fits, keeping it and the inlet plug away from the stove and pointing in a direction where it can't be damaged while I pump away at the bottle (which for me, typically involves getting the bottle all scraped up on whatever rock it is I've propped it against).

Operating the stove is not complicated at all. First I lay the fuel bottle on its side (with the pump attached), as the instructions indicate that it should be pumped while horizontal. I then pump about 50 strokes. Whether I do this with the hose attached to the stove yet or not doesn't matter, and often I choose to attach it afterwards because the stove can get in the way. After pumping and attaching the hose to the stove, not only do I have to open the fuel valve on the fuel pump assembly, but I have to turn the simmer control valve located on the stove to "High." Yes, there are two valves: one which lets the fuel travel to the stove, and another which controls the size of the flame. At any rate, when both of these valves are open, I then typically use a match to light the stove. All these instructions are printed in detail on the side of the Peak1 fuel bottle, so if I ever forget them it's no worry.

Once lit the instructions say to let the stove warm up for about a minute. During this time the flames from my stove are yellow and can shoot up several inches. After about a minute, however, the preheating tube which the fuel flows through heats up sufficiently to completely vaporize the fuel, and the flames begin to make a much smoother and high pitched (but not loud) hissing sound. At that point the flames turn a bright blue and retreat down into the burner, and at that point the instructions say to pump the fuel bottle another 25 strokes. I often do a bit more than this to really get the stove going.

I've never had a problem with the stove lighting, even when I've used it in sub-freezing temperatures. In those instances it might have taken the stove a bit longer to warm up, but once it did it ran as usual. I've never needed to use heat paste or any other extra procedure to get it going.

Although the stove is named "Dual-Fuel," technically it accepts three types of fuel: unleaded gasoline, white gas, and kerosene. However, to burn kerosene the stove will need an optional kerosene generator, which I didn't buy. It cost about $10 but I didn't think I'd ever need it, and so far I haven't. White gas and unleaded, on the other hand, will work with the stove as it comes and without modification. Personally I always use Coleman Fuel, and if I understand correctly, Coleman Fuel is essentially unleaded gasoline.

In operation the stove is a pleasure to use. Coleman states the stove will run for 2.1 hours on 16 oz (0.47 L) of fuel, and although I've never let my stove run until the fuel bottle was completely empty, their claim is probably an understatement. On my last trip I kept close track and found that I ran my stove on High for an hour and twenty minutes and used roughly half of the fuel in the bottle; or in other words, 8 oz (0.24 L). On a recent four day trip at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) altitude in Colorado, my partner and I used the stove twice a day (coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, then pasta or stew for dinner) for a likely total of close to four hours, and we didn't burn more than 24 oz (0.71 L) of fuel.

The flame adjustment valve on the stove is easy to turn and sticks out far enough that I don't feel like I'm going to burn my fingers off to change the heat setting (it also folds slightly so that when I pack the stove it doesn't get bent or damaged). The flame can be adjusted through quite a range of operation, though it seems to vary more at the high end than the low. Right when I get the flame adjustment to the very lowest setting the flame seems to drop down a notch or two, so that there's an area between the lowest setting and medium that the flame just skips. Still, at the lowest setting the flame remains steady without any tendency to go out, and in my experience the low setting is just about perfect for keeping the coffee hot or the pot of pasta simmering.

Occasionally when I run the stove for an extended period of time (times approaching an hour), the flame becomes less intense and I'll need to pump the fuel bottle a bit to get it back up to full power. This is where I think the designers could have made a slight improvement. The fuel hose that connects the fuel bottle to the stove is only about 5 in (12.7 cm) long. The pumping action can become quite vigorous, and with such a short hose length, I feel like I run the risk of jerking the stove and tipping over my pot full of steaming food: sure to make the critters happy, but not me. To avoid this very thing I always take the pot off the stove and set it down on a nearby rock while I pump the fuel bottle back up. That's fine, but there's not always a convenient rock nearby to place a hot pot of food, and I'm not usually keen about setting it down in the mud. In fact, the instructions somewhat humorously caution that I should always keep the fuel bottle at least 5 in (12.7 cm) away from the stove, when in fact it couldn't be kept any further away if I wanted it to. There's been many a time when looking at my stove piping away it's seemed to me that the design keeps the bottle tethered awfully close to the flame, though to be perfectly honest I must say I've never had a problem with the flame heating up the fuel bottle.

Coleman states that the average time-to-boil for 1 qt (0.95 L) of water is 4 minutes. I think this bears out pretty well, so long as I'm near ocean level, not at altitude. I have a 6-cup coffee pot that I routinely use on my stove, which equates to about 1.5 qt (1.4 L). I can easily have the water boiling in five or six minutes, even when starting off with cold water on a brisk, fall morning.

The stove, as I've mentioned, is very durably constructed, and it also seems to be resistant to the elements. Several times I'll leave the stove out and exposed for the night, and although it has been rained on occasionally as a consequence, it's never seemed to be any the worse for it. In fact, because of that observation I've recently not been averse to swishing the stove around in a stream or scrubbing it with water in the mornings before I pack it up if, during the previous evening, it got muddy or food was spilled on it. I only do this to the stove itself; never with the fuel bottle attached. This probably isn't something the manufacturer would recommend, but I've never noticed it to cause the stove any harm. Although it's constructed of steel in addition to aluminum and brass, the water has never caused mine to corrode or rust in any way.

I purchased the Peak1 stove stuff-sack to store this stove in. It's a very lightweight, padded nylon sack. I've been glad to have it and it works very well, though it apparently isn't cut to fit this stove exactly: it's about half again as big. The padded sack not only protects my stove while packed, but it also protects the non-stick coating of my pots, inside of which I keep my stove when backpacking. With the foot pads folded back, the stove takes the shape of a 4.75 in (12.1 cm) cylinder, 3 in (7.6 cm) tall. This is small enough to fit in any pot, and makes packing easy. The fuel bottle is as easy to pack as any other sort of bottle I might carry, though I usually put mine in a plastic bag: not so much because I'm afraid it will leak, but just because I don't want my pack smelling like fuel fumes.

Summary

The Coleman Apex II Dual-Fuel Exponent stove is a very reliable, durable, and stable stove. In the four years I've been using it I've never had it fail to light or in any other way present me with problems. Although it isn't as light or as small as some of the newer fancy stoves, my personal feeling is that it makes up for this by offering a more stable base for cooking. And even if it is slightly heavier than some stoves, at only 10 oz (283 g) for the stove itself, it could never be called heavy.

Things I like:
1. Nifty features like level-adjustable foot pads and a well thought-out method of making sure the protective cap and plug don't get lost
2. Stability when cooking
3. Absolute dependability

Things that could be improved:
1. Fuel hose length could be made longer, to make pumping with stove attached less tenuous
2. Flame adjustment could be a bit more precise
3. Stuff sack sold separately: it could easily be provided as standard with the stove

Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Coleman Exponent Apex II Stove > Owner Review by Luke Middleton