Thanks so much! My only real complaint after using it 3 or 4 times a week for months is the optional igniters... They're terribly inconsistent. Sometimes they work great - but I can't tell you how many times I've singed arm hair half way to my elbow :-) Cheers!
Exceptional review, and your detail on the hot and cold spots was insightful. Nice to see a real pro dude doing a real product review. Pancakes looked nice and even, which was good. Looking forward to getting one of these. Cheers!
Thanks for your kind comments! I've run a ton of food across this thing and I'm really pleased with it. I can't remember the last time I turned on the stove :-) If you get one, you won't be sorry!
That's awesome! I've been cooking on this thing two or three times a week since January. I'm really pleased with the griddle. The BBQ box is great for camping, but I'm finding I'm gravitating more to my regular bbq for home use. The challenge is the heat difference in the BBQ box from the front left corner to the back right corner. So, if you have two big steaks for example, it's really hard to get them to cook evenly and finish at the same time. If you can fire up the bbq, let it get hot, then sit for about 15 minutes it seems to help even out the heat. The bbq box will get crazy hot in a hurry though - and that's a good thing. Let me know how it turns out!
I've had the Explorer 2X for several years now and love the thing. I just got around to picking up the 2 burner griddle and can't wait to cook on it. I'm thinking smashburgers for the maiden voyage. Great video, and review. Thanks for putting it together.
Thanks for your kind comments. I'm still ready to get rid of my weber bbq, but its great for camping. I'm in love with the griddle though!! I've seriously considered throwing the BBQ on the shelf and picking up a 36" griddle. Smashburgers would be a great choice ~ happy griddlin'!
I just ordered a cabelas Canada “exclusive” explore 2 combo set and your review helped get me pumped to receive my camp chef !! Cheers from Canada eh 🍻🇨🇦👍
I have the three burner Camp Chef stove and you can feed 30 people with that sucker . I have had it for 15 years and it still great shape . Built too last , good thick metal construction . It can also do anything you want to do , griddle , BBQ , Bake . Brings huge pots of water to a boil quickly , with nice big burners . Great for canning .
I bought this exact same setup a couple years ago. It's worth every penny I paid. It goes everywhere I go camping. I've never used the BBQ box for anything other than as an oven! (I cook burgers on the griddle or over live fire). I use the BBQ box to bake Pilsbury biscuits for breakfast.
Great review thanks you. One thing to add is when you adjust the flame from low to high you suppose to "tune" the flame with the air flow adj. On high you should be able to have a good blue flame once the air flow is adjusted right.
I'm sure you're right. Also, the back pressure from the griddle/bbq/larget pan or pot seems to help. The challenge is, with the explorer II faceplate and igniters installed, you can't really see the flame unless you lift the BBQ box or griddle. Hard to do when it's hot or full of food... After 50ish cooks, I'm finding that med-low gives me 350-370 on the griddle and 550 on the BBQ box. Thanks for your comment!
Nice choice!For Christmas I got the tailgater but it is not as outfitted as yours. I wish that I could have found out where to find this package. Several years ago I had the Camp Chef Sportsman grill. It had the side shelves a burner and a grill. It was nice for camping. Thanks for recording the first usage. I have a better idea of where to start checking it out and kicking the tires
I like the blackstone griddle. Smaller and easy to store . Easy to clean. Nice H design to spread heat out on grill better . Grill is very strong not cheap . Can use small and large cylinders. One small tank will last a long time .
Blackstone makes very nice products. I agree that the blackstone will probably heat the grill more evenly and it probably is smaller when stored. I have a 40' 5th wheel, so durability was a bigger issue than space. The camp chef definitely uses heavier materials and seems somewhat stronger. Thank you for your comment!
Picked up an Explorer 2 for $50 with the bag. Love it! Want to get the griddle and grill setup. I would like the front plate and some side shelves. Not sure if those accessories will work with my grill.
Great video. Very insightful. The one ting I am worried about is the grease dripping on the floor. I have a wood deck and would rather not have to use a mat. any feedback?
Hi Steve. Mine is on a wood deck also so I feel your pain. I just picked up the "Professional Grease Cup." It seems to work pretty well so far. I'd strongly recommend it. Definitely an improvement over the can hanger. No matter how hard you try though, I think there's going to be accidents... At one point I considered putting a clear plexiglass or lexan sheet under it. Heavy clear vinyl could also be an option. I ended up with a mat. I guess I like eating more than looking at my deck :-)
Nice review, however you made me hungry. I noticed you were having an issue with the flame control when you first lit your unit. You have a regulator on the hose nearest the LP tank. In your video your regulator was turned away where I couldn't see the top. Many of these regulators will have an adjustable knob or screw that you can turn inward to reduce the pressure. you should be able to turn your burner to the highest setting without blowing out the flame. if yours does not have this adjustment they are readily available for a reasonable price. That being said and a step often overlooked, if you also purchased the LP tank when you purchased Camp Chef the person that filled your tank wasn't aware that the first fill requires them to purge the tank as they fill to displace some of the air. If this is not done your tank will have too much air pressure trapped and give you the same results. This procedure only has to be done during the first fill. I hope this is helpful and now I will need to find something to eat.
Thank you for the great comments! I checked out the regulator - no adjustment, but I'm certain you're right about an inexpensive adjustable replacement. I'll have to look around a bit. Great tip on the LP tank! The LP tank in the vid was an older one I've had for some time. I've swapped it out since with the same result. The good news is, I'll likely never need that much heat. At low-medium, the griddle holds at 375 degrees, and the bbq holds at 550. Perfect cook temps for me... Sorry - not sorry about the appetite :-) I ended up setting it up on my back deck. So far I'm about 50 cooks in and I'm thrilled with it. Thanks again ~ Cheers!
hi, what size cylinder are you using? at 2 x 8kW this stove would need about a 14kg cylinder of propane and much more than this with butane for the continuous offtake.
I use the standard BBQ 5 gallon propane tank that you see in the video. I cook on it 2 or 3 times a week and have used maybe 8 gallons of propane since January.
There are holes in the front where you can buy and install igniters. One of those long candle lighters will go through the hole and easily light the burner. I bought and installed the igniters (about $15 each) but they’re mediocre at best. The one on the griddle side works, but the one on the bbq side never seems to light the burner. $30 will buy a lot of lighters... The other nice thing about the open hole is you can look through it and easily see your flame. I’m going to keep trying to get the igniters to work, but not for much longer...
I wonder if they changed the design? I can buy the shelves separately but it doesn’t seem to have the handle to support it! (From what I can tell from the photos)
I think you're right! Looks like they've totally redesigned the frame to include folding legs... Maybe your local stores would have an older version in stock? If nothing else, they show up on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace all the time. What a disappointing change!
I just looked at some older used models for sale. To my surprise, most of them didn't' have the carry handles. That was really bugging me - so I just went out and checked out mine. The carry handles are actually bolted on. I tried to find carry handles as an accessory, but no luck. Interesting... Weird that the handles aren't for sale. Maybe contact campchef and see if they sell them?? Looks like most of the 3 burner models have them, so maybe they'd sell you a set.
@@debramack1853 They absolutely have to sell the handles... Every model that has shelves on it has them. Probably just have to call Camp Chef. Their customer service is closed on weekends (I tried earlier)
Great news! I called Camp Chef customer service. When you purchase the shelves, the handles are included. They’re part of the installation kit. How cool is that?
@@crashcopter6000 thanks for the reply Can you please tell me how much longer does it matter the entire with the shelves folded out? I’m trying to figure out how much length it will add. Because I’m limited for space. Thank you for your help.
@@Derek.Naquin With both shelves folded out, it's 28 3/4" wider. Is that what you're asking? You don't have to add both shelves. You could just add one and it would only add 14 3/8".
Inside the BBQ? It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The heat diffuser gets pretty hot and I run the BBQ around 500 - 550 so it pretty much burns everything off. Mostly just ash. But - i use my smoker for burgers most of the time, so that may not be a fair assessment. I use the griddle all the time. I mostly just finish steaks in the BBQ if I have a lot on the griddle.
@@crashcopter6000 not that big of a deal and you underestimated the weight it could hold which was what I wanted to point out. Meaning it's even better than we thought! Also, I should have mentiom what a great review! Sorry. Thanks for posting it
I actually came across this question at work recently and did the math. The impact to weight due to gravity at your elevation is about .9999 something, so not measurable without lab equipment. If you’ve lugged 2 gallons of water for some overnight hiking, that 8 lbs is burned in the memory :). Cheers.
I've cooked on it two or three times a week since January and so far it hasn't been a big deal. But, most of the cooks have been leaner meats like steak, tri-tip or london broil. I do like to caramelize bbq sauce on my burgers and that can get pretty messy... like any bbq though. I've only cleaned it once. I think the heat diffuser gets so hot it basically burns everything off. If you were cooking often with really greasy foods you might have to clean it more often. The grease catcher on the griddle works far better than I expected. You just have to keep an eye on it and make sure the can stays lined up with the hole. I'm still pretty happy with it.
I had that hanger to put a can into catch the grease. It was a mess. If you had any wind forget it, your hot oil would go everywhere. They now have a tray that slides on the lip of the grill. Works great. They have disposable liners you can buy for it too.
@@Baknnana Have you tried the tray? I was wondering how much extra cleanup it would require. Took your advice and ordered one with 20 disposable liners. We'll see!
@Crashcopter . Yes, I have used the tray several times. Works great. I use the disposable liners too. I don’t change the liner every time. Don’t need to.
Finally a review that actually shows the good and bad plus some practical use. Well done.
Thanks, very kind of you. I just tried to share all the info I couldn't find when I was shopping. Hopefully people find it useful!
That’s what I call a actually review of the item . Great video , thanks for taking the time to put it together for us .
Thanks so much! My only real complaint after using it 3 or 4 times a week for months is the optional igniters... They're terribly inconsistent. Sometimes they work great - but I can't tell you how many times I've singed arm hair half way to my elbow :-) Cheers!
Exceptional review, and your detail on the hot and cold spots was insightful. Nice to see a real pro dude doing a real product review. Pancakes looked nice and even, which was good. Looking forward to getting one of these. Cheers!
Thanks for your kind comments! I've run a ton of food across this thing and I'm really pleased with it. I can't remember the last time I turned on the stove :-) If you get one, you won't be sorry!
I've had my camp chef for several years. Your video made me decide to buy the griddle and bbq box.
That's awesome! I've been cooking on this thing two or three times a week since January. I'm really pleased with the griddle. The BBQ box is great for camping, but I'm finding I'm gravitating more to my regular bbq for home use. The challenge is the heat difference in the BBQ box from the front left corner to the back right corner. So, if you have two big steaks for example, it's really hard to get them to cook evenly and finish at the same time. If you can fire up the bbq, let it get hot, then sit for about 15 minutes it seems to help even out the heat. The bbq box will get crazy hot in a hurry though - and that's a good thing. Let me know how it turns out!
Nice. Been thinking about one of these. I may need to go pick one up!!! Thanks for the review.
Thanks buddy. I sure recommend it!
Brilliant video, straight to the point.
Well that's very kind - thank you!
I've had the Explorer 2X for several years now and love the thing. I just got around to picking up the 2 burner griddle and can't wait to cook on it. I'm thinking smashburgers for the maiden voyage. Great video, and review. Thanks for putting it together.
Thanks for your kind comments. I'm still ready to get rid of my weber bbq, but its great for camping. I'm in love with the griddle though!! I've seriously considered throwing the BBQ on the shelf and picking up a 36" griddle. Smashburgers would be a great choice ~ happy griddlin'!
Awesome review!
I just ordered a cabelas Canada “exclusive” explore 2 combo set and your review helped get me pumped to receive my camp chef !! Cheers from Canada eh 🍻🇨🇦👍
Awesome ~ you're going to love it! Cheers to you Mike!
Excellent review! Very thorough. Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Good video . I just got three burner but did not had the chance to use it yet . Now I can't wait . Thanks
Thanks! I'm sure you'll love it!
I have the three burner Camp Chef stove and you can feed 30 people with that sucker . I have had it for 15 years and it still great shape . Built too last , good thick metal construction . It can also do anything you want to do , griddle , BBQ , Bake . Brings huge pots of water to a boil quickly , with nice big burners . Great for canning .
I've been considering a larger griddle... Don't tempt me :-)
I bought this exact same setup a couple years ago. It's worth every penny I paid. It goes everywhere I go camping. I've never used the BBQ box for anything other than as an oven! (I cook burgers on the griddle or over live fire). I use the BBQ box to bake Pilsbury biscuits for breakfast.
Nice! Im still loving mine as well.
Great review thanks you. One thing to add is when you adjust the flame from low to high you suppose to "tune" the flame with the air flow adj. On high you should be able to have a good blue flame once the air flow is adjusted right.
I'm sure you're right. Also, the back pressure from the griddle/bbq/larget pan or pot seems to help. The challenge is, with the explorer II faceplate and igniters installed, you can't really see the flame unless you lift the BBQ box or griddle. Hard to do when it's hot or full of food... After 50ish cooks, I'm finding that med-low gives me 350-370 on the griddle and 550 on the BBQ box. Thanks for your comment!
Great review. Thank you.
Thanks!
Nice choice!For Christmas I got the tailgater but it is not as outfitted as yours. I wish that I could have found out where to find this package. Several years ago I had the Camp Chef Sportsman grill. It had the side shelves a burner and a grill. It was nice for camping. Thanks for recording the first usage. I have a better idea of where to start checking it out and kicking the tires
The variety of accessories is amazing. Good luck on the hunt!
I like the blackstone griddle. Smaller and easy to store . Easy to clean. Nice H design to spread heat out on grill better . Grill is very strong not cheap . Can use small and large cylinders. One small tank will last a long time .
Blackstone makes very nice products. I agree that the blackstone will probably heat the grill more evenly and it probably is smaller when stored. I have a 40' 5th wheel, so durability was a bigger issue than space. The camp chef definitely uses heavier materials and seems somewhat stronger. Thank you for your comment!
Thank you. Great review
1st Cav - nice!! Thanks for your service!!
@@crashcopter6000 did u fly Hueys in 'Nam?
No. Wrong era, but I am retired Army and spent a year in Iraq.
Picked up an Explorer 2 for $50 with the bag. Love it! Want to get the griddle and grill setup. I would like the front plate and some side shelves. Not sure if those accessories will work with my grill.
That's a great buy! If it's a standard camp chef, any of the 14" accessories should work. Happy cookin!
Great video. Very insightful. The one ting I am worried about is the grease dripping on the floor. I have a wood deck and would rather not have to use a mat. any feedback?
Hi Steve. Mine is on a wood deck also so I feel your pain. I just picked up the "Professional Grease Cup." It seems to work pretty well so far. I'd strongly recommend it. Definitely an improvement over the can hanger. No matter how hard you try though, I think there's going to be accidents... At one point I considered putting a clear plexiglass or lexan sheet under it. Heavy clear vinyl could also be an option. I ended up with a mat. I guess I like eating more than looking at my deck :-)
@@crashcopter6000 Thanx for the feedback.😎👍
Nice review, however you made me hungry. I noticed you were having an issue with the flame control when you first lit your unit. You have a regulator on the hose nearest the LP tank. In your video your regulator was turned away where I couldn't see the top. Many of these regulators will have an adjustable knob or screw that you can turn inward to reduce the pressure. you should be able to turn your burner to the highest setting without blowing out the flame. if yours does not have this adjustment they are readily available for a reasonable price. That being said and a step often overlooked, if you also purchased the LP tank when you purchased Camp Chef the person that filled your tank wasn't aware that the first fill requires them to purge the tank as they fill to displace some of the air. If this is not done your tank will have too much air pressure trapped and give you the same results. This procedure only has to be done during the first fill. I hope this is helpful and now I will need to find something to eat.
Thank you for the great comments! I checked out the regulator - no adjustment, but I'm certain you're right about an inexpensive adjustable replacement. I'll have to look around a bit. Great tip on the LP tank! The LP tank in the vid was an older one I've had for some time. I've swapped it out since with the same result. The good news is, I'll likely never need that much heat. At low-medium, the griddle holds at 375 degrees, and the bbq holds at 550. Perfect cook temps for me... Sorry - not sorry about the appetite :-) I ended up setting it up on my back deck. So far I'm about 50 cooks in and I'm thrilled with it. Thanks again ~ Cheers!
hi, what size cylinder are you using? at 2 x 8kW this stove would need about a 14kg cylinder of propane and much more than this with butane for the continuous offtake.
I use the standard BBQ 5 gallon propane tank that you see in the video. I cook on it 2 or 3 times a week and have used maybe 8 gallons of propane since January.
Do you have to remove the griddle and or grill in order to light?
There are holes in the front where you can buy and install igniters. One of those long candle lighters will go through the hole and easily light the burner. I bought and installed the igniters (about $15 each) but they’re mediocre at best. The one on the griddle side works, but the one on the bbq side never seems to light the burner. $30 will buy a lot of lighters... The other nice thing about the open hole is you can look through it and easily see your flame. I’m going to keep trying to get the igniters to work, but not for much longer...
I think your bacon stuck because you preheated the griddle. I usually start it in a cold pan
That's certainly possible - and the griddle wasn't seasoned well. Doesn't see to be as big after cooking on it 30 or 40 times :-)
I wonder if they changed the design? I can buy the shelves separately but it doesn’t seem to have the handle to support it! (From what I can tell from the photos)
I think you're right! Looks like they've totally redesigned the frame to include folding legs... Maybe your local stores would have an older version in stock? If nothing else, they show up on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace all the time. What a disappointing change!
I just looked at some older used models for sale. To my surprise, most of them didn't' have the carry handles. That was really bugging me - so I just went out and checked out mine. The carry handles are actually bolted on. I tried to find carry handles as an accessory, but no luck. Interesting... Weird that the handles aren't for sale. Maybe contact campchef and see if they sell them?? Looks like most of the 3 burner models have them, so maybe they'd sell you a set.
Ugh....I need a shelf. I really didn’t want to go for the 3 burner model.
@@debramack1853 They absolutely have to sell the handles... Every model that has shelves on it has them. Probably just have to call Camp Chef. Their customer service is closed on weekends (I tried earlier)
Great news! I called Camp Chef customer service. When you purchase the shelves, the handles are included. They’re part of the installation kit. How cool is that?
Nice review. Can you please tell me the dimensions of the shelves?
14 3/8" wide, 14 1/4" deep. Hope that helps!
@@crashcopter6000 thanks for the reply
Can you please tell me how much longer does it matter the entire with the shelves folded out?
I’m trying to figure out how much length it will add. Because I’m limited for space.
Thank you for your help.
@@Derek.Naquin With both shelves folded out, it's 28 3/4" wider. Is that what you're asking? You don't have to add both shelves. You could just add one and it would only add 14 3/8".
What kind of mess was left in the grill side?
Inside the BBQ? It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. The heat diffuser gets pretty hot and I run the BBQ around 500 - 550 so it pretty much burns everything off. Mostly just ash. But - i use my smoker for burgers most of the time, so that may not be a fair assessment. I use the griddle all the time. I mostly just finish steaks in the BBQ if I have a lot on the griddle.
I posted a "what I've learned after a year" video that shows inside the BBQ. I've only cleaned it once.
czcams.com/video/zRywWshoHZE/video.html
Are those shelves metal?
Yes. They're painted, so I don't know what they're made of, but my magnetic lights definitely stick to them.
It's 8 pounds per gallon of water FYI.
You're right - 8.3 actually. Apparently I had a "moment"
Water is 8.3lbs/gallon. That's 25lbs. plus the pot!
You're right about that. 25k views and you're only the second person to mention it. I reckon I need to try to edit that somehow...
@@crashcopter6000 not that big of a deal and you underestimated the weight it could hold which was what I wanted to point out. Meaning it's even better than we thought!
Also, I should have mentiom what a great review! Sorry. Thanks for posting it
@@seansmith6929 For what it's worth - I talked to Camp Chef. The shelf kit comes with the carry handles to support it. Thanks for your comments!
A gallon is a little over 8 pounds so that’s pushing 25 pounds.....
You're sure right! I was thinking 7 pounds - I guess I made that up :-) Thanks for letting me know!
I actually came across this question at work recently and did the math. The impact to weight due to gravity at your elevation is about .9999 something, so not measurable without lab equipment. If you’ve lugged 2 gallons of water for some overnight hiking, that 8 lbs is burned in the memory :). Cheers.
@@redsix2225 Calculating weight due to gravity is pretty fancy. I'm happy just surviving my gozintas... Like 4 gozinta 20 about 5 times :-)
Too bad the grill doesn't have a grease catcher.
I've cooked on it two or three times a week since January and so far it hasn't been a big deal. But, most of the cooks have been leaner meats like steak, tri-tip or london broil. I do like to caramelize bbq sauce on my burgers and that can get pretty messy... like any bbq though. I've only cleaned it once. I think the heat diffuser gets so hot it basically burns everything off. If you were cooking often with really greasy foods you might have to clean it more often. The grease catcher on the griddle works far better than I expected. You just have to keep an eye on it and make sure the can stays lined up with the hole. I'm still pretty happy with it.
I had that hanger to put a can into catch the grease. It was a mess. If you had any wind forget it, your hot oil would go everywhere. They now have a tray that slides on the lip of the grill. Works great. They have disposable liners you can buy for it too.
@@Baknnana Have you tried the tray? I was wondering how much extra cleanup it would require. Took your advice and ordered one with 20 disposable liners. We'll see!
@Crashcopter . Yes, I have used the tray several times. Works great. I use the disposable liners too. I don’t change the liner every time. Don’t need to.
@@Baknnana Awesome - thanks!
Great review!
Thanks Steve!