Brunton Profile Two-Burner Range

In the past, two-burner stoves pretty much resembled oversized toolboxes, and manufacturers put little effort into making them attractive. But these days, practically every type of gear has received a facelift, with modern curves and lines. Sleek and brightly colored, the Brunton Profile is certainly one of the most stylish two-burner stoves we’ve tested. And when it’s time to fire up the thing and cook a meal, the Profile performs admirably. But our tests, which included numerous car-camping trips, revealed a couple of issues that need to be addressed.

First, when we initially pulled the Profile out of the box, we were impressed with the spiffy look of the shiny silver lid and pumpkin-colored base. Aside from the color palette, the stove’s dimensions also set it apart from many other two-burners. Measuring 21.5 inches by 11.75 inches by 3.25 inches, it’s longer but less tall and not as deep as others we’ve tried. Is there an advantage to a more compact two-burner stove? Honestly, car campers probably won’t appreciate the space savings if they have a large vehicle compartment to haul gear. But, the stove does fit nicely on a relatively narrow shelf in the garage, whereas most models are too deep.

As we picked up the stove, we noted that it was pretty darn light. While the Profile is made of steel, it weighs only 9 pounds, which is about 3 pounds lighter than most two-burners on the market.

But, when we tried to lift the lid, we immediately ran into problems. After releasing two latches, one tester tried to raise the lid, but it wouldn’t budge. He pulled and tugged, but no luck. After closer inspection, we discovered that an edge of the steel cook top was not properly attached to the stove base, and some of the misaligned metal was bent and snagging the lid. At first we thought the stove was damaged during shipping, but it looked more like the stove was not constructed properly. We’re used to Brunton producing high-quality products, so we’re surprised by the defects. We browsed customer reviews on other websites, and saw that others had similar issues with Profile stoves shipped to them.

Fortunately, once we started to use the stove, our frustrations largely melted away.

Where it counts most, the Profile worked well, allowing us to effectively and efficiently prepare meals. It runs on propane or butane, and we used 16-ounce canisters of propane during our testing. A 2.5-foot hose with a regulator screws onto the base of the stove easily and connects to the fuel source. We liked that the hose was long enough to reach a lower shelf on a camp kitchen table we were using, so we could get the fuel bottle out of the way.

The stove has two burners, each of which offers up to 12,000 BTUs and has its own dial to adjust the flame. To ignite the stove, you simply turn the dial on the right burner to start the flow of fuel (you have to ignite the right burner before igniting the left one), and then twist a knob, which has a Piezo ignition. All in all, it’s a simple system that’s easy to use, and it’s safer than putting a match flame to a burner. Granted, Piezo ignition systems can be finicky, and on two occasions we had to turn the ignition knob more than once for it to work.

Otherwise, the burners worked well and allowed for a wide range of cooking. We liked that we were able to lower the flame enough to simmer a pan of red beans for 25 minutes, and crank up the other burner to heat a large pot of soup. Due to the length of the stovetop, there is room to place a large pot or pan on each burner simultaneously.

The heavy-duty steel grate that covers the burners can hold plenty of weight, and it lifts off of the cook top easily when it’s time to wipe the stove clean. But we did discover the second issue during cleanup.

While wiping the interior of the lid, one of our testers cut his finger on the sharp metal edge of the lip of the lid. Ouch! We then noticed that there were sharp edges at the point where our stove top was not aligned with the base, as mentioned earlier. We recommend that Brunton round these metal edges to avoid potential injuries.

Certainly, Brunton needs to review the manufacturing process of the Profile to eliminate assembly problems and fine-tune the design. With a couple of minor tweaks, this stove could be a very welcome addition to our camp kitchen. And, even if it’s not perfect, we appreciate that a company is working to make the two-burner stove — an old camping standby — lighter, less bulky and more eye-catching.

SNEWS® Rating: 3.5 hands clapping (1 to 5 hands clapping possible, with 5 clapping hands representing functional and design perfection)

Suggested Retail: $122.45

For more information:www.brunton.com