Quick answer
The best Campingaz camping stove for most UK family campers is the Camping Cook CV at £45 to £70: twin 1.8kW burners (3,600W total), removable dishwasher-safe pan grids, 1.9kg, and a clip-on CV470 Plus cartridge with the hose and regulator included in the box, so there is nothing extra to buy. Campingaz runs three gas systems that do not mix, so match the stove to the gas before you buy anything: CP250-class cassettes power the Camp Bistro, CV470 Plus cartridges power the Camping Cook CV, and refillable 904/907 cylinders power the Camping Kitchen 2 and the Camping Chef through a separate regulator and hose. If you want a grill as well as two burners, the Camping Chef adds one for around £65 plus the cylinder setup; if all you need is one ring on a table, the Camp Bistro cassette stove is about £25.
Our pick: Campingaz Camping Cook CV
- The pick of the range: Campingaz Camping Cook CV (£45-£70)
- The famous one: Campingaz Camping Chef (~£65)
- Cylinder-fed twin hob: Campingaz Camping Kitchen 2 R (See listing)
- Budget cassette stove: Campingaz Camp Bistro (~£25)
Campingaz is probably the most recognisable name there is for campsite cooking, and my own introduction was the classic one: a friend's Camping Chef, borrowed a few times before I bought a stove of my own. The burners on that stove did everything our breakfasts asked of them. What nobody tells you, on the campsite or on the product listings, is that the brand behind it runs three gas systems that do not mix.
A Campingaz stove takes CP250-class cassette cartridges, or CV470 Plus clip-on cartridges, or refillable 904/907 cylinders, and the three are not interchangeable in any combination. Buy the wrong gas for the stove and nothing connects. It is an easy mistake to make, the listings rarely spell it out, and the check takes two minutes before you spend a penny.
So that is the order this guide works in: the three gas systems first, then the four stoves that matter, including the one I think leads the range. The brand sits inside our wider best camping stoves guide too, where it competes with everything else on the market.
Buy the Campingaz Camping Cook CV on AmazonWhich gas does my Campingaz stove take?
Work out the gas first and the stove choice almost makes itself. The real dividing line is what comes in the box: the cartridge systems arrive ready to connect, while the cylinder system leaves the regulator, hose and gas as separate purchases. Here is the whole map.
| Gas system | How it connects | Which stoves | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| CP250-class cassette | Cassette slots into the stove body | Camp Bistro family | Cheapest way in and the simplest to run; one ring, fair-weather format |
| CV470 Plus cartridge | Clips on via the EasyClic Plus connection; the Cook CV ships with its hose and regulator | Camping Cook CV | Resealable cartridges on sale in practically every outdoor shop; cartridge gas costs more over a season than cylinder gas |
| 904/907 refillable cylinder | Regulator and hose, bought separately | Camping Kitchen 2 R, Camping Chef | Biggest day-one spend, cheapest gas per meal after that; the system seasonal family campers end up on |
Cassette stoves are the plug-and-play end: the cartridge locks into the stove and you are cooking. CV470 Plus stoves run on clip-on valve cartridges: the EasyClic Plus connection means a part-used cartridge can come off and go back on, the gas is on the shelf in nearly every outdoor shop and garden centre in Britain, and the Camping Cook CV comes with the hose and regulator in the box, so there is nothing separate to hunt down. Cylinder stoves arrive with no gas connection at all: the regulator, hose and cylinder are extra purchases, and the reward for making them is refillable gas that works out far cheaper over a camping season.
Two numbers make the cartridge-versus-cylinder gap concrete. A CV470 Plus cartridge holds 450g of butane/propane mix; the refillable 904 and 907 cylinders hold 1.81kg and 2.72kg. And the incompatibility runs deeper than the connector: cartridge stoves burn gas at high pressure straight from the cartridge, while cylinder stoves are built for low-pressure gas stepped down through a regulator, so the burners themselves are jetted differently. That is why there is no sensible adapter route between the systems.
So the check is simple: find which system your stove takes before you buy any gas, and never assume a cartridge from one system fits a stove from another. It will not.
Can you use a Campingaz stove indoors?
No, and that applies to every stove on this page. Never in a tent, never in an awning, never in the kitchen: NHS and fire service guidance on this is absolute, because of fire risk and carbon monoxide, and an open window does not make it safe. The full reasoning and every safe route to hot food is in our can you use a camping stove indoors? explainer. The same outdoors-only rule applies on the night a camping stove doubles as your power-cut cooker.
Worth knowing before you shop, too: the simple plug-and-play stoves are selling fast on Amazon right now, with stock looking low in places. All the more reason to buy a reputable brand while you can still choose one, and Campingaz qualifies.
Campingaz Camping Cook CV: the pick of the range
This may well be the best of the current Campingaz offering, and it is the one I would point most families at first. The Camping Cook CV is a twin-burner stove on the CV470 Plus system: the cartridge clips on through the EasyClic Plus connection, the hose and regulator come in the box, and at 1.9kg it is light enough to live in the boot all summer.
- Burners
- 2× 1.8kW (3,600W total)
- Gas system
- CV470 Plus clip-on cartridge (EasyClic Plus); also runs the smaller CV300 Plus
- Hose and regulator
- Included in the box
- Ignition
- Manual (match or lighter)
- Pan grids
- Removable and dishwasher safe; pans up to 22cm
- Weight
- 1.9kg
- Size
- 45 × 30 × 10cm
- Price
- £45-£70 across retailers
The case for it is how little stands between you and cooking. Two proper gas rings, so the beans and the kettle run at the same time, everything needed to connect already in the box, and a cartridge supply you can top up mid-trip in any outdoor shop you pass. The removable, dishwasher-safe pan grids are the detail that matters on day three of a trip, when the stove goes in the washing-up bowl queue like everything else.
Two limits to know about. Ignition is manual, a match or a lighter, with no piezo button, so the lighter lives in the stove bag. And over a long season of heavy use, cartridge gas costs more than cylinder gas: Campingaz quotes about 1 hour 40 minutes from a CV470 Plus cartridge with both burners flat out, longer at everyday settings. If you camp a fortnight a year, that trade is firmly in the Cook CV's favour. If you camp every other weekend from Easter to October, read the Camping Kitchen 2 below before deciding.
Families who want two real burners with zero gas-system homework. Clip the cartridge on and cook.
Campingaz Camping Chef: the famous one
The stove you have already seen on a dozen campsites, and the one I can speak about first-hand, because it was a friend's Camping Chef I used a few times before buying my own stove. The folding double burner and grill is the classic of the type: two 1.5kW stainless steel burners, a 1.5kW gas grill underneath, piezo ignition, a water compartment that stops falling grease baking onto the stove, and a folding lid that doubles as the carry case.
- Burners
- 2× 1.5kW stainless steel
- Grill
- 1.5kW gas grill (4.5kW total output)
- Ignition
- Piezo
- Gas system
- 904/907 refillable cylinder
- Regulator and hose
- Required, sold separately. Cartridges do not fit
- Cleaning
- Water compartment catches falling grease
- Weight
- 4kg
- Folded size
- 60 × 33 × 9cm
- Price
- Around £65 at the time of writing
My borrowed-stove verdict is simple. The burners work great, but the grill is utterly useless unless you like to wait 45 minutes for a piece of toast. It is a great little starter and perfectly adequate, and when I came to buy my own stove I bought a different one, a Cadac, so that probably tells you all you need to know. Judge the Chef as two good burners with a famous badge, treat the grill as a bonus rather than the reason to buy, and it is a perfectly sensible first family stove.
The gas is the part buyers miss. The Chef is a cylinder stove: it runs on refillable 904/907 cylinders through the right regulator and hose, and none of that comes in the box. Cartridges physically do not fit it. Budget for the regulator, hose and cylinder on day one, and in exchange you get the cheapest gas per meal in this guide: Campingaz quotes about 12 hours of cooking from a single 907 cylinder.
First-time family campers who want two proper burners from the household name and are happy to buy into the cylinder system from the start.
Campingaz Camping Kitchen 2: the cylinder-fed hob
The Camping Kitchen 2 R is the modern cylinder-fed twin hob: two 2,000W stainless steel burners, removable dishwasher-safe pan supports with room for two pans up to 24cm, and heat-resistant side panels that double as wind protection, running on the same refillable 904/907 cylinders as the Chef through a regulator and hose. No grill, no pretence of one, just the most hob power of any stove on this page, in a 3.5kg case with a locking steel lid.
- Burners
- 2× 2,000W stainless steel
- Gas system
- 904/907 refillable cylinder
- Regulator and hose
- Required, sold separately
- Pan supports
- Removable and dishwasher safe
- Pan size
- Up to 24cm, two pans side by side
- Wind protection
- Heat-resistant side panels
- Ignition
- Manual (match or lighter)
- Weight
- 3.5kg
Pick it over the Camping Cook CV if your camping is frequent enough that cylinder gas pays for its setup cost, or if your pans run big: 24cm is a proper family frying pan, and 2,000W a side behind those wind panels is the output that gets a full pan of sausages going on a breezy morning. Pick it over the Chef if your campsite menu is pans and a kettle rather than grilling, because you are then paying for burners only, with no grill in the price. Check the listing for the current price before you buy, as it moves around.
Regular family campers already committed to the 904/907 cylinder system who want maximum hob power and big-pan room.
Campingaz Camp Bistro: the budget cassette stove
The entry point to the brand. The Camp Bistro is the Campingaz stove on the CP250-class cassette system: a single-ring tabletop stove where the cassette cartridge slots straight into the body, no hose, no regulator, nothing else to buy, for around £25. It is an Amazon best-seller holding 4.6 stars across a five-figure review count at the time of writing, and the price explains most of that on its own.
One ring boils a kettle, fries one pan and feeds a couple. It does not cook a family breakfast in one sitting, and the cassette format is a fair-weather, spring-to-autumn system rather than a frosty-morning one. As the cheapest route into the Campingaz stable, a festival stove, or the backup ring beside a bigger stove, it earns its place.
One warning before you buy gas for it: CP250-class cassettes only. The CV470 Plus cartridges from the Cook CV will not fit it, and neither will anything with a hose.
Couples, festival campers and anyone who wants one cheap, simple ring from a traceable brand.
Every Campingaz stove compared
| Image | Product | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | The pick of the rangeCampingaz Camping Cook CV | £68.48 | |
| Twin 1.8kW burners (3,600W) · CV470 Plus clip-on cartridge · hose and regulator included · 1.9kg · dishwasher-safe pan gridsBest for Two real burners with zero gas-system homework. The one to buy first. | |||
 | The famous oneCampingaz Camping Chef | ~£65 | |
| 2× 1.5kW burners + 1.5kW grill · 904/907 cylinder, regulator and hose required · piezo · 4kg · folding lid caseBest for The classic starter from the household name, with the cheapest gas per meal once the cylinder kit is bought. | |||
 | Cylinder-fed hobCampingaz Camping Kitchen 2 R | See listing | |
| 2× 2,000W burners · 904/907 cylinder, regulator and hose required · wind-protecting side panels · pans to 24cm · 3.5kgBest for Maximum hob power and big-pan room for campers already on the cylinder system. | |||
| Budget cassetteCampingaz Camp Bistro | ~£25 | ||
| Single ring · CP250-class slot-in cassette · no hose or regulator · 4.6 stars and a five-figure review count at the time of writingBest for The cheapest reputable route to one gas ring on a campsite table. | |||
Which Campingaz stove should you buy?
The Camping Cook CV is the best Campingaz stove for most UK families, and here is how to judge it: two 1.8kW burners, a clip-on CV470 Plus cartridge with the hose and regulator already in the box, 1.9kg in the boot, and gas on sale in every outdoor shop between your house and the campsite. At £45 to £70 it is the stove that gets a family cooking this weekend with the least homework, which is exactly what most buyers are actually asking for.
Buy the Camping Chef instead if you want the famous starter package and the long-run gas savings of a cylinder, with your eyes open about the extra kit it needs on day one. Buy the Camping Kitchen 2 if you are on cylinders anyway and want the biggest burners and the biggest pans. And if the whole brief is one ring and £25, the Camp Bistro is the answer, on its own cassette system.
Whichever you choose, match the gas to the stove using the table above, buy it while stock is healthy, and use it outdoors every single time.
Check the Camping Cook CV price on Amazon