Table of Contents
This week’s Test Trek was full on! I had the nCamp Wood Burning Stove, Prep Surface and Café to utilize for all my meals. Did they meet all my outdoor culinary demands? Find out in my review of this innovative nCamp trio.
Looking for other cooking gear? Check out these other popular cooking products:
- Firebox Stove
My Verdict on this collapsible wood burning backpacking stove
| Professional Camping Rating | Usability Score | Weight & Size Score | Durability Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.2 | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★☆ |
The nCamp Wood Burning Stove, Prep Surface and Café have made their way onto my essential hiking list. Luckily, I don’t have to clear much room in my pack as nCamp stove have made these tools as portable as possible. My outdoor cooking experience has greatly improved due to this selection of lightweight cooking equipment.
Features
Wood Burning Stove
Let’s start with the stove. Whenever I’m packing for a camping trip, portability is in the forefront of my mind. Some of my hikes are miles long and I don’t want to lug heavy or cumbersome equipment with me. The nCamp Wood Burning Stove is a great example of clever design and engineering for purpose. The whole stove folds down to an impressive 1.5 inches using a genius collapsible combustion chamber.
When needed, the stove’s leg’s fold out to create a firm platform for your stove. Despite its compact size, I was able to fill the chamber with sticks and twigs from the forest floor and create a roaring fire within moments.
Additional to the intended purpose, the stove doubles as a pretty effective heat source. On a mild evening, I could happily use this as a portable fire pit.
Café
The nCamp café is the perfect pairing to the nCamp Wood Stove. It fits perfectly on top of the stove to filly utilize the heat from beneath.
The café again has been well thought-out when it comes to design. The coffee cup is stored on the top of the cafe. The café also folds out to give you a useful handle. I made some excellent espresso-style coffee on the forest floor. The feeling of brewing a great cup of coffee on my own wood burning stove made me feel like I was sat in nature’s very own coffee shop.
Prep Surface
The nCamp Prep Surface was a useful accompaniment to my current cooking setup on the test trek. When I needed a stable surface for chopping vegetables or resting ingredients, it was the perfect size for a mini work surface.
I also found the Prep Surface provided a much-needed flat surface for drinks. I can’t count the litres of wasted coffee soaked into the ground because my cup has toppled on the uneven surface or I’ve knocked it with my foot without noticing. Not so with this portable surface.
Usability
When I’m out on the trails, one of my biggest complaints is poorly thought-out equipment. I’m literately carrying these tools on back. If they’re not effective, then I’m lugging it around for no reason.
The guys over at nCamp have clearly sat down and designed a set of products to solve problems, not just to add another generic product to the market. If you’d like to see stove options you can see my pick for afirebox stove.
The Wood Burning Stove is compact and lightweight yet it’s sturdy and provides a great amount of cooking power. The Café is only just the size of a water bottle but it is both a cup and a coffee maker combined. The Prep Surface is a great multi-purpose table yet also folds down to a miniature size for easy portability. It even comes with a case.
Weight & Size
I’ve already touched on the portability of these nCamp stove products. Let’s talk stats. The Wood Burning Stove weighs under 29oz. For a stove. That’s madness! Back in my youth, my very first stove barely fit in my truck. I can balance this one on my little finger. The Prep Surface follows suit at a tiny 8.5oz. These lightweight tools make them first choice for my camping kitchen.
Another great design choice by the nCamp team was to make both the Wood Burning Stove and the Prep Surface fold flat. They slide into my pack with no bother and without me having to dig them out from between other items in my pack. A very smart design.
Durability
Hiking can be a rough game. There’s a pile in my shed of all the equipment that I’ve broken over the years. I can’t quite bring myself to throw them out. The point is, tools and equipment need to be tough to endure the wild ride that can be scaling cliff faces, kayaking down the rapids and traversing tricky trails.
nCamp have made a good effort to balance a light weight and a sturdy design. The Wood Burning Stove is built from aluminum and stainless-steel while the café is also made from stainless-steel. These quality materials show good promise for a long life in my hiking toolkit.
Overall, the trio of nCamp products provide good value for money given their clever designs and well-chosen build materials. If you’re in the market for a new outdoor kitchen set-up then these are the tools for you.
The n Camp Wood Burning Stove, Prep Surface and Café are welcome additions to my camping kit. They make preparing my meals easier whilst only taking up a small percentage of my pack and carrying capacity. If you want to experience this brilliant outdoor cooking experience, head over tonCampand check them out.
