Coleman Peak1 Max Xpert Backpacking Stove on right compared to typical Coleman integrated stove on left.

As our stove experts can testify, stoves are a matter of personal taste, and oftentimes a deeply religious issue.

Personally, I use a Coleman Peak1 Feather 442 multi-fuel stove, as it burns gasoline from my airhead, so I don’t have to carry spare fuel. I also like it because it fits inside a set of metal tins that do double duty as cooking pots and pans. I have been using this set-up for many years .

However, tastes and needs vary, and you can’t easily pull the gas line on the K-bikes or my new oilhead GS, so I thought I would try a different stove for a change, the Coleman Peak1 Max Xpert, Model 9710-701. This stove received brief mention in Jeff Singer’s "On the road camp stove review" published in ON's Camping Issue previously.

This product is much like other backpacking gear available from Gaz, Bluet, Svea, Primus and other manufacturers. Coleman is a trusted name and their products offer decent quality at a lower price compared to premium backpacking & mountaineering equipment. The Xpert costs approximately $55, and at 13.5 ounces, it isn’t the smallest or the lightest stove of this type available, but in terms of quality construction, it compares favorably to stoves costing twice as much.

Quoting Jeff: "[Coleman] Peak realized the pitfalls associated with blended fuel stoves and set about designing their own. By re-engineering the canisters themselves, Peak has been able to use the available fuel more efficiently and keep the fuel flow relatively constant regardless of pressure or fuel level. To make the Xpert more environmentally friendly, the cartridges can be punctured with the Green Key and tossed into the recycling bin with the rest of your aluminum cans."

Sturdy and steady

Unlike an integrated stove, where the fuel tank and the cooking surface are a single unit, the Coleman stove features a compact, collapsible cooking platform that connects to the fuel supply with a braided steel tube. Good materials and workmanship are featured throughout.

The cooking grate unit is constructed from two pieces of cast aluminum, that cross each other in an X configuration (similar to scissors), with a pivot in the middle. This allows the two sections to fold flat for storage, and to fold out into a very stable cooking surface that is approximately 6" square. The braided steel line that connects to the gas bottle is attached to the base on one end and has the connector for the canister on the other. The entire assembly fits in a small nylon pouch with drawstring closure, and is very easy to pack into a nook or cranny of a saddlebag.

Due to their small base and rather undersquare dimensions, integrated units can be a little tippy at times… and are happiest when placed on a flat surface like a picnic table. The Peak 1 stove is about half the height of a typical integrated unit, which makes for a lower center of gravity. Plus, thanks to the X configuration, it’s easy to set this stove up on a less than smooth surface, level it up and get cooking.

The cooking grate’s surface actually consists of curved steel wire rod pressed into the top of each X section. The curvature allows most pots to nestle in the cooking grate instead of sitting on top of it. This serves to automatically center a pot over the burner, and makes it much harder to knock it off or tip it over compared to a flat cooking surface. This is important to me because I cook a lot of things either in an irregularly shaped canteen cup or a square cooking pan. Both sit squarely on the stove and don’t slide around.

Fuel for thought

These types of stoves require the use proprietary fuel containers. (Mountain Research brand being the notable exception, which burns white gas and other fuels stored in their pressurized container). The Peak 1 uses only Coleman cartridges, which contain a special mixture of Butane and propane gasses. Coleman claims that this mixture assures maximum performance even at high altitudes and subzero temperatures, a key weakness of other cartridge-type stoves. The cartridges are recyclable, and are supposed to be punctured with Coleman’s GreenKey™ to remove any remaining pressure prior to disposal.

The cartridges connect to the stove with a twist & click connector that is at the end of the braided steel line that is part of the burner assembly. The flame is regulated using the valve that is an integral part of the connector. Cartridges hold 300 grams (10.6 ounces of fuel), good for about 70 minutes of cooking at the highest setting. At 9" long and 2½ " in diameter, the cartridge aren’t small, but they do pack very easily. I have found that two cartridges give me plenty of margin on a 1-week trip, and even though I have seen them in just about every camping supply store I visit, I always carry a spare cartridge even on short weekend trips. The cartridges cost approximately $7.00.

Cooking

A significant advantage of these types of stoves is even heating and superior temperature control. This is important to gourmet cooks, but not to me because I mostly use my stove to boil water for hydrating backpacker meals and for making coffee and soup.

To that end, this stove boils water quickly, (1 liter takes 3½ minutes) even at high elevations. Probably more quickly than my Feather 442 because it takes less time to warm up. It also heats my mess kit frying pan evenly to cook my morning Spam. Beyond that, I can’t judge because cooking just ain’t my forte.

About the only negative comment I have about this stove is that it is loud. Loud? Yep, I found this stove to make quite a whooshing noise when in operation… but when I compared it to other stoves of its type, its sound wasn’t any louder. I guess that I am just picky in this respect, being that I am out there in the middle of the woods with no other man-made sounds present.

In conclusion, this stove has a high level of quality, especially considering the $55 price. The higher-priced stoves typically net you additional weight savings and smaller size, two criteria that are more important to backpackers than they are to motorcycle tourists. In that vein, the Coleman offers people like us a decent level of quality at a very competitive price.

Coleman
P.O. Box 2931
Wichita, KS 67201
Phone 800.835.3278
www.coleman.com