About this deal
What we like: Good all-around performance—with a recent boost in power—for less than the competition. The Coleman oven has a max temperature of 600ºF, which is certainly impressive. That is 200ºF more than the Camp Chef oven, so if you need something capable of reaching extremely high temperatures, the Coleman oven might be a better fit for you. It has a heat indicator on the front, so you can easily tell exactly how hot it is inside the oven.
I think that if we were having an indoor propane setup we would maybe be less enthusiastic about the oven and would have evolved more like you have. We haven’t been in touch with much Dutch oven users and while we have tried some basic pot-in-a-campfire recipes, we have opted for a pressure cooker [ours is also anodized!]. Camping in high altitudes and little wood around for us makes the choice for a pressure cooker more obvious. And since space is always an issue we don’t want to add something that we would barely use… for now. You know things change and as we are driving around South America now we don’t find the need, but that might change if we are driving in another continent… Regarding functionality, you have ovens that can be described as general-purpose types, and the other group designed especially for pizzas. The body is a 304 stainless steel and the inner chamber is completely sealed. As you realize, it has a glass viewing window and an integrated thermometer that will help you dial in the oven for baking. The inner baking chamber measures 6 x 6 inches (15 x 15 cm) and it has two internal shelves. The oven weighs 11 lb (5 kg). We’ll cover everything from top heat to how many things you can cook simultaneously, so by the end of this comparison you should have a good idea of which portable oven is the better option for you. So, read on to figure out which camping oven you should buy! Weight And PortabilityThe Coleman oven is a better fit for people who have lots of cooking experience and need an oven that gets really hot. With a max temperature of 600ºF, this gets hotter than some household ovens! But the only way to control the temperature is to open the even and let the hot air out, so it will need your attention while there’s something inside. Pay attention to the internal size of the camp oven as well because this will affect the size of the dishes that can fit inside. If you’ll be using the oven to prepare meals for a larger group, think about the serving size and the measurements of your cookware. Heat source That tiny thing can handle four different pots at the same time, which is more than enough for a three-course meal and then some. It’s also easier to use, it just needs a propane tank to work and it doesn’t get so hot that it will burn everything if you don’t let out the heat for two minutes. Coleman Vs. Camp Chef Oven: Final Thoughts The only issue is that you can’t really force it to stay at a certain temperature the whole time. So, even if you need to cook something at a really high temperature, you can’t just put it in the oven and then forget about it. You will have to monitor the temperature and open it up every now and then to let out some of that heat. Otherwise, it will stay at 600ºF, and that will just scorch anything inside.
There is not a lot to compare this oven to. The Camp Chef Outdoor Oven is a different product. It has it’s own burners built in, and therefore is a stand alone oven. While the Camp Chef Portable Outdoor Oven is self-serving with a butane tank, the Coleman oven depends on another stove. Both of the above ovens are very nice, but the Coleman adds a little different twist.
Tips
So, even if you were to buy two separate things, you would still spend a lot less money than you would on the Camp Chef oven. I’ll tell you more details about both ovens later, but for now, suffice it to say that if you were to bring just the Coleman oven on a camping trip you’d be carrying around a useless scrap of metal. It only works when it’s placed on a burner or a stove since it’s not capable of generating heat on its own. The biggest difference between these two ovens is the convenience of use. The Coleman oven doesn’t have its own heat source. Instead, you have to mount it on top of a stove, a gas burner, or anything similar that is able to generate enough heat for this oven. The other way of looking at the issue of choice is the oven’s purpose. You have seen some that are designed specifically for pizzas. But perhaps something of a general purpose would be more useful.