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Head-to-head · Best Camping Stoves

Coleman Cascade Classic Camping Stove vs MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System comes out ahead by a narrow margin (4.1 vs 4.3). The gap is mostly about Solo backpackers and four-season campers who cook in wind, cold, or at altitude and need a boil that never blows out. — read the strengths below before deciding.

Coleman Cascade Classic Camping Stove
Ranked #5 in Best Camping Stoves
Coleman Cascade Classic Camping Stove
3 sources1 derived$109.99as of Aug 1

The Coleman Cascade Classic earns its budget-benchmark spot on reliability and value. OutdoorGearLab scored it 66 of 100 and called it an affordable, portable, fuel-efficient two-burner; CleverHiker found it upholds Coleman's reputation and even out-simmered pricier stoves on a pot of rice. Boil times are slow and wind resistance is weak. For casual campers who want a dependable stove for a fraction of the price, that is hard to argue with.

Strengths
  • — Excellent value, a fraction of the price of the premium two-burners here
  • — Reliable and easy to use, upholding Coleman's decades-long reputation
  • — Good simmer control that cooked a solid pot of rice, outperforming pricier stoves in CleverHiker testing
Watch-outs
  • — Slow boil time, around 6 to 10 minutes per liter, the slowest here
  • — Low wind resistance compared to the Camp Chef Everest 2X
  • — Modest 10,000-BTU burners lack power for fast, heavy cooking
$109.99 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System
Higher ratedRanked #4 in Best Camping Stoves
MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System
3 sources1 derived$199.95as of Aug 1

In bad weather the MSR WindBurner is the integrated system to beat. Its enclosed radiant burner has no exposed flame to blow out, and CleverHiker, which rated it 4.6 of 5, called it among the best-performing canister systems on the market after a month of flawless use in Patagonia. Boils come fast and efficiently, and it holds steady in cold and wind. Like its peers it simmers poorly, making it a windproof boiler rather than a true cooker.

Strengths
  • — Best-in-class wind performance from an enclosed radiant burner with no exposed flame
  • — Fast, fuel-efficient boils, around 3 minutes 30 seconds per liter in CleverHiker testing
  • — Pressure-regulated burner keeps output steady in cold and at altitude
Watch-outs
  • — Limited simmer control, like most integrated systems, so it is mainly a boiler
  • — Heavier than the Jetboil Flash at about 15.3 oz
  • — Single-pot personal system is not built for group cooking
$199.95 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

Coleman Cascade Classic Camping Stove

Much cheaper than the Camp Chef Everest 2X, Jetboil Genesis Basecamp, MSR WindBurner, and Jetboil Flash, but slower to boil and less wind-resistant than the Everest and less powerful than every other stove here; the value pick rather than the performance pick.

MSR WindBurner Personal Stove System

Beats the Jetboil Flash on wind performance while matching its boil speed, but is heavier and pricier; like the Flash it cannot match the two-burner cooking range of the Camp Chef Everest 2X, Jetboil Genesis Basecamp, or Coleman Cascade Classic.

Specs side-by-side

SpecColeman Cascade Classic Camping StoveMSR WindBurner Personal Stove System
Burners2Enclosed radiant, pressure-regulated
Output10,000 BTU per burner (20,000 total)—
Boil Time~6 min 39 sec per liter (tested)~3 min 30 sec per liter (tested)
IgnitionManual (match-light)—
FuelPropane (1 lb canister)Isobutane-propane canister
WindscreenFold-up side panels + lid—
Simmer ControlGoodLimited
MaterialAlloy SteelAluminum
Dimensions13"L x 13"W x 3"H4.5"L x 4.2"W x 7.1"H
Type—Integrated canister system
Capacity—1 L pot
Weight—15.3 oz
Wind Resistance—Excellent
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