Experience with Camp Chef?

[PBCDad]

Looking for a griddle mainly for camping as I don't have a good place to set one up in the back yard, especially with all the rain we get here. I found this ad on CL for a Camp Chef Denali Pro 3x, a 3-burner stove with a 1-burner griddle insert. I've also found an ad for their 2-burner griddle, and I would probably pick that up too.

Questions:

• Is this overkill for a family of 4 camping plus occasionally a few more?
• Anyone have experience with Camp Chef, and specifically this unit? I've heard it is hard to set to a low heat, though I've also seen in some reviews that the middle burner isn't as powerful.
• Any concerns with not having a dedicated grease system?
• I'm debating whether I should get this one now plus the double griddle (I would try to talk them down on price) or just get through the next few camping trips and wait for the Blackstone to go on sale again. Thoughts? Can a dedicated griddle boil water and satisfy other camp cooking needs?

[texastweeter]

I have a 2 burner that is my flat top. I also have the Italia 14 inch pizza oven topper, and a smoke vault. They have all been solid products and get used quite often. I have no problem on my 2 burner getting the heat down low. Assuming you are using it for camping, I would not imagine it would be a problem with no dedicated grease channel, as the volume would be much lower than for bigger cooks. Besides, if you decide you need one the accessories are easy to find and or order from camp chef. They have actual griddle toppers with a grease channel that they sell as well as many many other modular pieces.

[Frozen Smoke]

Grab that thing now! You will love it! I have the Camp Chef Pro 90X 3 burner camp stove that i use as a flat top and a stove. I researched heavily for about a month. I decided to stay away from the dedicated flat tops like Black Stone and the Camp Chef dedicated flat top because this thing gave me much more versatility and did everything the dedicated flat tops do.
Plus it is designed to be much more portable. The Black Stones can be a beast if you want to transport. The griddles have a hole in the grease trough. Camp Chef makes a little wire gadget that hangs in the hole and will hold a soup can to catch the grease so you do have a dedicated grease catch.

The camp stove will do a lot more camping tasks then the dedicated flat tops will. Here are some pics of my Camp Chef set up.

Mine has the side shelves. I believe Camp chef will sell you these as a add on.





Love the versatility!



I love the separate griddles. I do bacon or sausage and potatoes on the larger one and keep the smaller one for eggs. I don't like my eggs coming off the griddle looking all brown a greasy from being cooked in the meat grease. I like fluffy bright yellow eggs and that's what i get off this. I'm weird when it comes to this I know.



Here it is all packed up for going on the road. You're not going to get the dedicated flat tops to breakdown like this. If you want portability it's the only way to go.

[EdF]

Great post!

[PBCDad]

Well the original CL post never called me back, but with one day before leaving for our camping trip, I found another one of the same model, more heavily used, and I got them down to $120! They loved it and were only selling because they just got an RV and it didn't fit nicely.

I underestimated how big this thing is, it is huge! I'll pick up the 2-burner griddle at some point, but for now it should work perfect having a large griddle on one burner and space for two pots on the others. And this thing puts off a serious flame too! I'll try to take a few pictures of it during our camping trip, if my phone is charged.

[PBCDad]

Oh and it came with a full 20 lb propane tank too!

[smokenoob]

deal of the day!

[Frozen Smoke]

Congrats PBCDad you will love it!