DPower Ultralight Stove Review

One of the fun perks of this hobby is that while I’m out adventuring I get to try out new gear. This round we have a butane/propane stove from DPower with built in piezo ignition. With the advent of cheep international shipping we have so many cool pieces of gear avialable to us at reasonable prices. Let’s take a look at what $20 will get you:

Features

• 4.8 oz
• 500 ml boil time: 5 minutes
• Max Output: 2.6 kcal / 3kW / 10.2 BTU
• Burner Stove: 2″(5cm) in diameter
• Adjustment valve
• Stove Base Material: Stainless Steel
• Support Material: Aluminum Alloy
• 11″ Stainless mesh hose
• Packing Dimensions: 3.1″ x 2.9″ x 4.1″
• 12 Month warranty
• MSRP: $20 (currently on amazon)

Testing

Well, we’ve tried several tests of this stove, everything from sausages, eggs and hashbrowns in a 12″ thick aluminum pan to boiling water in a 2 liter pot.

What did we think?

First off, stoves like this one are designed for more than just boiling water for one person. These stoves have a higher BTU output than your standard UL stove. They’re designed for higher capacity and of course wider pots. As such, you’re carrying a slightly (emphasis on slightly) bigger carrying pouch (included) in your kit. Despite that, we found it packed smaller… much smaller than our Jetboil Helios setup. And it’s much more economical.

The legs and supports fold on this stove, offering a smaller size when stored while still supporting heavier pots (like our 1960s heavy duty aluminum stovetop frying pan). Holding two liters of water (4.4 lbs) caused no strain whatsoever.

The burner on this stove is your standard style. It’s designed for larger pots meaning a better heat pattern for larger containers. This should translate to less burning and hot spots when cooking for families. It has the benefit of working with my Primus ETA pot as well.

The adjustment valve offers great flame control, allowing a simmer with almost no problem. The nice thing about this one over my Helios is that reaction to adjustments is immediate. The Jetboil, being an inverted canister design would some times take 30 seconds before an adjustment was noticed.

The piezo ignition functioned right out of the box. It’s an excellent addition. Now I don’t have to worry about forgetting a lighter on a trip.

The one thing I worry about is the mesh hose. It functions perfectly, but being softer than usual I wonder about its long term performance. That said it has held up to a beating so far.

Conclusion

Camp stove technology has mostly peaked. The fact that you can pick up a great quality stove like this for $20 is awesome. It means that the outdoors are accessible to those who can appreciate them and benefit from them the most.   I would definitely recommend this stove to anyone looking to cook for 2-4 adults on a backpacking trip. For $20 it’s hard to go wrong with this setup.

 

Disclaimer: I received this stove free of charge to review. All opinions are my own, and what I’d recommend to family and friends.