Gone are the days when a camping stove was a simple affair with two basic burners and the acceptance that boiling water or cooking food took a lot longer than the fancy stove in your kitchen at home. Sure, you can still buy a stove at the cheaper end of the market and it will do the job. However, if you’re after a more fancy design with cutting-edge technology, you can’t go past the Coleman Hyperflame Fyreknight.
I’ll be honest; I was rather cynical when I read about the Hyperflame technology which supposedly boils water twice as fast when compared to a standard burner. Add to this the innovative Windblock feature and I wondered if this product could deliver what it promised.
OUR TEST
We picked a windy day to trial the stove so we could give the equipment a run for its money. Carrying the Hyperflame Fyreknight by its three-piece pivoting handle, the stove is easy to transport and weighs 7.1kg. It’s a sizeable piece of equipment at 38.5cm wide and 69cm long but it does mean you can use large 30cm pots on the two burners. The non-skid feet are great as they ensure the stove sits firmly on any table, eliminating the risk of sliding. All the corners have been reinforced to protect the nice-looking unit.
Setting up the stove is fairly straightforward. After opening the lid, you pull down a bracket which holds the lid firmly in place. The Hyperflame Fyreknight features two burners with a unique downward-stair- stepping design which reduces the flames’ exposure to wind. The top of each burner is dotted with uniform holes to increase the burner’s heating area.
Two pan supports fit snugly across the burners, creating an impressive wind shield thus eliminating the need for separate side shields. The use of multiple vents, spaced along the pan support, is extremely effective in keeping the wind out and the heat in. Like most Coleman stoves, this piece of cooking equipment comes with Instastart electric ignition so one push of the button and you’re in business. Each burner has a large, fully adjustable knob to regulate the heat.
So how long did it take to boil water? Chris filled up the camp kettle with one litre of nine-degree tap water and lit the stove. Initially the burner was very noisy and produced a whistling sound, however this stopped after 10 seconds or so. The heat output was impressive, consistently delivering 12,000 BTU’s of cooking power. Compare this to the common camping stove which produces between 6000-9000 BTU to appreciate the massive difference.
After five and a half minutes the kettle whistled which is, in fact, twice as fast as most stoves. We repeated the experiment a couple of times and consistently came up with a similar result.
THE VERDICT
So, what’s the verdict? The Coleman Hyperflame Fyreknight is a rather impressive camping stove which delivers on its promises. The stove has been designed for use with propane cylinders but with the appropriate adaptor a standard gas bottle can also be used.
The full feature appeared in Caravan World #557. Subscribe today for the latest caravan reviews and news every month!