Style and function in the best-looking two-burner camp stove on the market
Primus is one of the most-trusted stove brands on the market, so when they asked us if we’d like to test the new ONJA 2-burner camping stove, we happily obliged. Straight out of the box, the ONJA looks pretty damn cool we have to admit. It kind of resembles a trendy oversize lunch box (it even comes with a with handy carrying strap) and at 7-pounds it’s in the middle of the pack in the two-burner catagory as far as weight is concerned. The designers seem to have been given free reign with this stove, and it shows — it’s both fashionable (if you care about that kind of thing when you’re camping) and functional.
Two fuel bottles (Primus only) fit nicely inside the whole system and it folds out, kind of like the wings on an X-Wing Fighter, in about three seconds flat to a wide, stable platform. A nice little touch is that it comes with its own wooden cutting board that acts as a protective shield for the burners. We took it on a 3-day self-supported whitewater SUP trip and it fit quit easily, and laid flat, into a 47-liter drybag. Unlike a normal backpacker-style Primus stove, there is no pumping or priming involved, which meant we had our first ‘appetizer’, some nice hot coffee and Baileys, in about 5 minutes from set-up to first sip.
They are intended to be used with family or friends, for cooking outdoors, eating together and simply enjoying yourself,” saus Primus CEO Lars-Ola Brollinson. “It focuses on the social and culinary aspect of outdoor cooking.” He considers the stove as a campfire alternative rather than a speedy expedition stove and, as such, has named the whole range ‘CampFire Products’.
The Pros
- Minimalist design with ‘Euro’ style
- Super, duper easy to set-up and take down
- Wooden cutting board for prep (not a cheap piece of plastic crap)
- Handy shoulder carry-strap
- Very compact double-burner camping stove
- Uses sobutane fuel canisters that heat up faster than propane
The Cons
- In a stiff wind, the burners will undoubtedly get blown out. There is no wind-guard like you’d normally find on a lay-flat two-burner stove.
- It sits pretty high, which can create a potential nightmare scenario of having one of your pots or pans of food topple over.
For more info, check out http://www.primus.eu/
