Review: Coleman Cascade and 1900 3-in-1 Camp Stoves

At the end of every circle, you find yourself back at the beginning. This is the best way to think about Coleman's new Cascade and 1900 series 3-in-1 stoves. After playing around with interesting designs in stove shape, burner design, and power, as well as cooking surfaces, Coleman is coming back around to where it started. Its newest stoves look much like the classics from the 1950s and before (which are still much sought after in the used market).

That doesn't mean these stoves are clones of the old ones. Both the Cascade series two-burner and the 1900 series two-burner feature modern updates like electric ignition, hot plates, and grill plates. Most importantly, both burn propane and not the mixed liquid fuel sources used in stoves of yore. Still, in other important ways, they are indeed throwbacks to an earlier age. The result is a camp stove that's both classic in design and modern in function.

Photograph: Coleman

Outwardly, the new Cascade series two-burner camp stove and the 1900 series two-burner camp stove are nearly identical, except for their color. The Cascade is a pale green, a throwback to the company's pre-1960s stoves (and perhaps a nod to Gen Z Green?), with silver latches and hinges. The 1900 series is black with gold latches and hinges, but they are otherwise exactly the same shape and dimensions—25 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and 16 inches tall when open.

That makes both slightly larger than the top pick in our guide to two-burner camp stoves, the Coleman Classic, and just slightly smaller than our top pick for families, the Primus Profile stove. In terms of usable space and room for pans, though, both are every bit as spacious as the Primus. If, like me, you find the Classic slightly cramped (I'm cooking for five when camping with the family), the Cascade and 1900 series are a much more usable size.

The Cascade and 1900 stoves also share the same windscreen design, which features deeply scooped sides that made me nervous at first. How could this possibly block wind as well as the much larger side windscreens on the Classic, when they have so much less material? The answer is that they really only need to block wind at the base, to keep the flame from going out. At the base, they're no different than any other windscreen on any stove. I did much of my testing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in up to 30-knot winds. Both stoves did as well as could be expected, though it's worth noting that no stove will cook well in 30-knot winds.

The burners of both stoves are the same as what you'll find on the Coleman Classic. Which is to say that, while a larger pan will fit on the stove because it's wider than the Classic, the ring of flame is the same size. Both the Cascade 3-in-1 and the 1900 3-in-1 are capable of delivering 12,000 BTUs per burner.

The burner size leans smaller, though. With large pans, the outer edges get significantly less heat. Using a digital thermometer to check the temp around a 12-inch cast-iron pan, I found that temps varied by as much as 100 degrees from the center to the edge. Now, it's possible to use this to your advantage by putting food you want to cook quickly in the center while the rest is around the edges, but I find this is more trouble than it's worth in practice. You'll get the best results with 10-inch and smaller pans, which heat much more evenly and in my testing rarely varied more than 50 degrees from center to edge. If you really need to evenly heat larger pans to get your group fed, I suggest something like the Camp Chef Pro series stove.

The good news is that Coleman's burner control knobs are the best I've used on a stove of this size. It's easy to light, thanks to the electronic ignition switch, and it's not difficult to dial it down to get your sauces simmering or crank it up to get the perfect sear on that red drum you landed surf fishing.

What really sets these stoves apart from other Coleman offerings (like the Classic) is the cast-iron grates. The heavy-duty cast-iron burner grates make cooking on these virtually indistinguishable from cooking on a gas stove in your home.

My number one issues with camp stoves—not just Coleman, but all camp stoves—is that you can't heat and cool stainless steel bars for too long before they begin to warp. I've never really held this against any of the stoves I've used over the years, because this is just how nearly all camp stoves are designed. Some are better than others. This is part of why the Primus is an upgrade pick in our guide, because it has heavier metal grates than the Coleman Classic. That said, it too eventually began to warp.

The warping doesn't affect the function of the stoves much. But now that I've cooked on these Coleman 3-in-1 stoves for a couple of weeks, it is really nice to know that it's never going to warp. They're incredibly stable, and they're unlikely to develop a wobble over time. That's part of the throwback aspect of these stoves. They're built like things used to be built, with solid, heavy-duty materials that will last.

The 3-in-1 in the name refers to the cast-iron grill pan and griddle, which come with both stoves so you can swap out the two-burner grate for a grill and griddle. I prefer grilling over charcoal or wood when camping, but sometimes it's nice to get some grill marks on your chicken without spending 15 minutes getting the charcoal ready. (It's also your only option in places where fires aren't permitted, which is an ever-increasing number of places.) I also found that you don't really have to remove the two-burner. You can put the griddles on top of it, which gives you even more cooking versatility.

The flip side to the great construction and cooking abilities of both stoves is that they aren't cheap. It's $230 for the black and gold 1900 series. For reference, you could buy 4 Coleman Classic stoves for the same amount of money. However, the ability to fit larger pans make these a great option for families. If you have the money, and do enough camping to justify it, the Cascade 3-in-1 is a really nice upgrade. With some care and attention, it should last decades.