We had a small local power outage this morning. I got up and My Other Half (MOH) was already lighting candles. I cranked up the Dietz lantern I purchased after the last power outage and let there be light. The outage wasn't long, (long enough to warm up the 'fridge a bit), but it was timed to coincide with making coffee, oatmeal et al. Rather than break out the hiking/camping stove I have used in the past, this morning I was able to try out the new GAS ONE Portable Gas Stove.

I set it up in the kitchen and dropped in a Butane canister. It lit on the first attempt and brought the water to a boil faster than the kitchen's electric range (when it has power). I used my all copper Revere Ware kettle rather than the Corning Ware I normally use, so maybe the copper helped the speed. MOH liked it a lot and her one comment that stuck out was that we need to buy more fuel (I only bought a 4 pack of cans); I one up'd her though and ordered a second stove. In bad times we could cook an entire dinner on a pair of these and they aren't very expensive.

my $02, YMMV

Good question, I ran it to boil enough water to make coffee and then the power came back on. If anyone else has experience with this type stove please comment. What does 7,650 BTUs per hour translate when using 8 ounce butane cans?

Regardless, I picked up a few more cans while out and about this morning. This stove was so easy to set up and use, and it performed so well I'm surprised they get so little mention.

- Type: Portable Stove
- Size: 13-1/2" x 11" x 3-1/2"
- Fuel: Liquified Butane Gas
- Fuel Consumption: 0.15 Kg/h
- 7200 BTU
from Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Butane-Gas-Range-Stove/dp/B00170F0J8

I've been very pleased with that stove. So far I've only used it sear steaks and burgers to avoid smoking out my house. It could be stronger but it's not bad. Can't comment to run times for sure but it seems like the ones we use at work will go about 4 hours on the same cans...I don't use them as much as I used to so I'm struggling to recall. I've used them for years on omelette stations and for desserts.

I've also used it for cooking eggs while camping. The same cans fit my Iwatani torch, too.

Thanks kd7fqd. I could have read Amazon's description of the stove I bought for the answer. I s'pose those numbers are for running it at full throttle so that's worst case. I usually back it off a bit so maybe two hours per can as a plan. $1.25 plus tax per can ($10.75 total for eight cans at a local Korean market) is cheap considering the convenience and performance.

Iwatani's stoves are quality. They're better built than some of the other brands I've examined, and restaurants use them. (They advertise a safety mechanism, but I don't know much about that.) I, too, got a chance to test out my stove during a blackout, and I have no complaints.

The down side is that the stoves seem to require or prefer proprietary fuel cans. I'm not sure whether the common fuel cans also fit (never tried). But it sounds like from Phaedrus' experience that other cans should fit. Iwatani claims their fuel cans and fuel mixture are better. I have no basis for judging the validity of this one way or another.

My torch is an Iwatani but my stove isn't. The stove was an impulse buy based in part on the fact that I knew they used the same gas cannisters. I agree the Iwatani stove would be better but you can buy four GasOne stoves for the price of one Iwatani. Since mine isn't a heavy use item but something I use occasionally I find it adequate for my needs. I will say, FWIW, that it's as good as the ones we're currently using [at the restaurant] were I work.

The Iwatani ZA3HP is slightly cheaper than the GasOne:

http://www.restaurantsource.com/iwatani-...ZA3HP-7984.aspx

Maybe you were thinking of one of their better models (35FW, for example), which would be perhaps more suitable for restaurant use than either the ZA3HP or the GasOne because of its high output.

I am not a spokesman for Iwatani. I'm just a consumer who was just annoyed at the low quality of the butane stoves available at the local stores, so I did a bit of searching to find something that will last longer. With this sort of low tech, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot. I never did side by side comparison of the Iwatani vs. the GasOne, so I cannot speak to which is better. It sounds like either would be able to get us through a blackout without blowing up.

i have seen these,or ones like them,used at breakfast buffets and they seem to be the best little stove for the average person to use.while my eggs were frying the cart ran out and the chef changed over and got back to cooking in a minute.the carts are cheap compared to camping Gaz and the low design and simple controls make it safe to use inside.i would get one but i have a few Coleman suitcase two burners and know how to use them.

A place we sometimes go for Sunday breakfast has 8 or 10 of these the omelet chef uses. Don't know what brand. It seemed to me like he was constantly changing fuel cans.