Coleman Camping Coffee Maker,Black

Alrighty, let me start this by saying that I was born and raised on coffee! When I was a baby, instead of Infamil, my folks used to put Maxwell House in my bottle and yes, Juan Valdez finally named his donkey after me (that's called tongue-in-cheek humor for those who don't have a sense). Seriously, I'm a coffee lover to the N'th degree and always have been. Hot coffee, iced coffee, latte, cappuccino...in my world, coffee -IS- the spice of life! As such, I know a little something (more than a little) about coffee makers. In my not so humble but highly experienced opinion, this has to be the single greatest invention since coffee itself...or at least since the advent of French Vanilla flavored creamer!I had purchased this product for use in my camper after some less than successful experiments with more traditional coffee makers (including a small 12 volt unit). While I don't mind "roughing it", I just can't live without my morning coffee. Unlike many people who take their campers to a campground and just plug into the 110, my camper is rigged to be self-sustaining (including a solar panel system) so we can actually camp in the woods and get away from people. I never really understood the point of a "camp ground" where people are loud, rude and obnoxious...the reason I go camping is to get away from that. Anyways, while my camper does have a 1000 watt inverter, a typical 900 watt electric coffee maker is just a bit more than the system can handle (at least at present), so I needed an alternative. The small 12 volt technically worked, but it took forever and only produced one cup (small cup by my standards) at a time. I should also add that I just do not like "percolated" coffee either. I love my coffee...and I love STRONG coffee...just not "chunky style". I was getting desperate, so even at the retail price of $40, after having looked at them for a couple of weeks I figured this Coleman unit worth a shot.Now I have to say here that this Coleman coffee maker is -REALLY- easy to use...so easy in fact, that I had to read the instructions because I couldn't figure out how it worked! After nearly 50 years of having to "plug in the coffee maker" (including the little 12 volt), because this thing (more or less) looks like a pretty typical coffee maker, right out of the box I was totally befuddled by the lack of a power chord! Really..."How does this damn thing work???" LOL!!! Seriously though...ya just set this thing over a burner on your camp stove, put a filter in and add coffee, fill it with water, light the stove and presto! Fresh coffee! It really is THAT easy. The instructions say this unit works with one or two burners stoves but honestly, I haven't had to fire up a second burner...with just one burner this thing actually makes the coffee FASTER than my Proctor-Silex or my Mr. Coffee. While I haven't tried it yet (maybe later this summer), I suspect this thing would work equally well with a can or two of Sterno.As for the unit itself, it's well made and with average care and cleaning, I suspect it should last a good many years to come. The bottom of the unit is metal, obviously for use over a stove burner and the plastic portions seem to be a bit heavier than your average coffee maker. The carafe or "pot" is....well....ummm...it's a coffee pot. The pot itself is made of glass, so extra care during transport should probably be observed (as with globes on camping lanterns). Personally I wrap the pot in the sleeping bag while traveling to keep it safe. I would also add that unlike my electric Proctor-Silex, this one doesn't "dribble" when you pour a cup!While this is probably a bit subjective, I also have to say....as a person who's had a fair deal of experience with coffee makers...this thing really makes a lovely cup of coffee! I don't really know if it's just the higher heat of the camp stove, maybe the quality of the plastics and glass Coleman uses or simply the fresh woodland air I like to wake up to when I'm camping, but the coffee that comes out of this thing really does taste better than the stuff I have here at home every day (and the wife has said the same).Seriously...I just can't say anything bad about this unit. A decent little camp stove is all this thing needs to work. If you're looking for a coffee maker that doesn't require electricity, look no further. ..this is the one you've been looking for!

For those who're unfamiliar with the terminology, "dry camping" for RV owners is utilizing ONLY the resources within the vehicle; without external connections, such as water, electric or sewer.After reading the heartfelt but negative reviews on Amazon about this coffee maker, I was hesitant to buy it. Fortunately my experience using this coffee maker has been positive. My wife is an early-riser and wants her coffee right away. Usually by 6 a.m. we have the coffee maker brewing in our motorhome. As long as we're at a campsite where there is an electric hook-up our Mr. Coffee, which cost less than half as much as I paid for this one, performs admirably. However, at many of our national parks, national seashores and at many big RV rallies, there are no electric hook-ups or the hook-ups are outrageously expensive. Not only does it seem to be a waste to run our 5.5KW motorhome generator to brew coffee, many of the campgrounds prohibit running generators before 7 or 8 am. Brewing coffee, using an inverter, quickly drains our coach batteries.I thought, what the heck, I'll buy this coffee maker and give it a try based upon the mostly positive reviews. Before I actually brewed coffee, I washed the pot and basket and gave this coffee maker a test run on our three-burner propane gas range using plain water. The front burner is the fastest, so that's the burner I used. I centered this coffee maker over the burner and turned the burner to its highest setting. This coffee maker took fifteen minutes to pump all of the water out of the tank and into the carafe. If it had failed to perform, I was prepared to return it to Amazon for a refund.Since then, while dry camping, I've brewed more than a dozen delicious pots of coffee on my RV's gas range. All have been as tasty as the brews that I make with our Mr. Coffee when we have electric power. Both coffee makers allow us to remove the carafe while it is brewing without spillage. Our twelve-cup Mr. Coffee takes about ten minutes to make ten cups of coffee. This coffee maker takes about fifteen minutes to brew ten cups of coffee, which is its rated capacity. Instructions with this Coleman coffee maker say to immediately turn off the heat when the brewing is complete, which is what I do. This coffee maker won't keep a carafe of coffee warm for a long time, but we usually drink what we brew right away.At this point I have no complaints aside from the fact that this specialized coffee maker cost me more than twice as much as its electric equivalent. However, I have already saved much more than it's premium price by avoiding electric hook-up charges at RV rallies. Even more important, my wife is happy to get her first cup of coffee right away without having to wait until "quiet time" is over, so we can start our generator. Whenever I'm at a campground with electric hook-ups, I'll still use my Mr. Coffee because it doesn't consume our expensive propane and is slightly faster. But for all other situations, this coffee maker makes a tasty brew without requiring electric power and it uses the same paper filters. I have uploaded a photo that shows this coffee maker in action; brewing on our propane gas range..