GSI Pinnacle Pro 2 Burner Stove Review
If you aren’t desperate for space then I recommend passing on buying the GSI Pinnacle Pro Camp Stove until improvements are made. This stove was first announced in the summer of 2020 with an expected retail MSRP of $170.00. Fast forward to market debut 9/2021 and GSI website listed it for Retail at $250.00 before it quickly sold out within an hour.
With a weight of 11lbs and a retail price ranging from $199.00 to $250.00 plus buying an additional propane hose adapter $24.95 and a transport bag $29.95 that puts the price at $230.95-$280.00 before taxes.
I found the propane hookup hose inside the box wrapped around the outside of the cardboard wedges that are used to hold the stove in place.
Stove Features Listed by Manufacturer.
- SKU56015
- Weight (lbs)9.7000
- Dimension: 20 in x 12.4 in x 1.4 in
- Material: Magnesium, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Steel, Brass, Rubber, Non-Stick Coating, Polyester Cloth.
- 2 Burner Heads
- Pot Support
- Upper and Side Wind screens
- 2 flame adjusters
- Independent burner igniters
First Impressions
Right out of the box this camp stove feels extremely heavy. It was such an obvious heft that I immediately weighed it before doing anything else and no there wasn’t any excess packing material.
#1. Weight: This stove was supposed to weigh in at under 10lbs. It weighs in it at a whopping 11.3lbs on the kitchen scale and 11lbs on the bathroom scale! What happen to the 9.7lbs described on the manufacture website? For me this is the biggest negative aspect of this camp stove, that it is 2lbs heavier than my current Coleman camp stove.
#2. No Securing Closure: This stove arrives with a piece of tape holding the lid closed. This tells me that even the manufacturer acknowledges that the lid doesn’t stay closed while being transported. This could have easily been resolved by adding a latching closing mechanism or by riveting a closing strap to the bottom and top of the stove. Instead consumers are left paying more money for a transport bag to ensure safe portability.
#3. Propane Hookup: Why not engineer a quick connect system that doesn’t require threading hoses together each and every time? I wouldn’t mind paying extra money for the hose if it were a quick connect system!
#4. This stove requires being handled and carried with both hands. The stove is heavy and it’s difficult to manipulate and move around and cannot be handled or carried with one hand. This could have been slightly alleviated by adding finger inlays on the sides of the stove. Just enough space added to both sides of the stove where people’s fingers could grab ahold without having to go underneath the stove. Currently there is a lot of smashing of my fingers. Here is a side view of the stove showing the flush side panels and zero clearance underneath the stove when fully collapsed. There is no good way to grab and lift the stove out of my camping bin unless grabbing the front of it by the unsecured lid.
#5. Chipping paint: Brand new straight out of the box you can already see where paint is chipping from the lid rubbing while closed against the bottom of the stove.
#6. The wind block: there is a piece of metal bar that holds each of the wind block wings to the lid. This bar however is loose and moves up and down freely and is easily dislodged and loses its securing contact with the wind blocks whenever the stove is inverted to access the propane connection! This means that the wind blocks fall off this bar and needs to be re attached to the wind block panels!! This could have been prevented by simply bending the bar back in on its self.
CAUTION: the wind blocks gauged and permanently damaged the nonstick Teflon cooking burner surface. While removing the grill for cleaning the wind blocks came loose.
#7. Grill spacing: So a lingering question of mine has been, will my GSI espresso maker fall through the stove grill? The answer is two fold Yes and No. If placed directly on the center of the grill it doesn’t fall through but if even the slightest bit off center it will fall through the grill. Lastly GSI customer support says
Place the burner in a low flame when using the espresso maker so as to ensure the flame does not extend beyond the base of the espresso maker.
Coleman Camp Stove vs GSI Pinnacle Pro 2 Burner Camp Stove
What I don’t like about my Coleman 2 burner Camp stove:
#1. The Coleman camp stove burner drip tray is not a flat surface and cleaning spilled food quickly becomes a chore because it can’t easily be scrapped or wiped off. The dripped food becomes baked into these nooks and crannies of the drip tray.
#2. It is bulky and takes up an excessive amount of storage space in my camp kitchen dish bin.
#3. The propane adapter attachment is a pain because it sticks out of the side taking up precious table space.
#4. My GSI espresso maker doesn’t fit on the cooking rack.
The Coleman camp stove wouldn’t register a weight on my bathroom scale! The kitchen scale registered 9.07lbs.
The Coleman camp measures in at roughly 21.25” L x 12.5” W (excluding heat control knobs). 3.25” H
In the Field Use
We got to test out the camp stove on a 5 day trip to Zion National Park Oct 24-29 2021. This type of camping where we stay in one location for an extended period of time is uncommon for us. Let’s get to it! The Stove igniters were glitchy and unpredictable as to when they were going to work. The overall cooking experience was noticeably better but we also added an ignik 5lb propane tank that also had its debut on this trip. The side wind blocks chipped and gauged the stove burner plate when removing the grill for cleaning. By the last day at camp the black paint of the grill had disappeared. I used only GSI cookware on this stove, GSI pressure cooker, GSI frying pans, and our espresso maker.
Lastly the side wind blocks did very little on a windy night but I am not sure if any outdoor cook stove could have done better. We had to bunker down and button up camp in preparation for a rain storm and I found myself packing the stove away and I said to Eric “this was built to be outside? As soon as this thing gets wet it’s going to start rusting.” So we packed it away! I did buy the travel bag which allows me to completely remove and pack the stove in an alternative location and frees up my camping kitchen bin for more important cooking accessories! The stove is amazingly thin and I was astounded that I actually found a place to stow and carry it!
Final Thoughts
After camping with the stove for 5 full days I am surprised that the stove is already damaged and now the grill is missing paint. the stainless steel finish is awful as it easily shows oily finger prints and grime. Unfinished stainless steel was a bad idea for kitchen appliances and it was a bad idea For an outdoor camp stove. It’s awkward and heavy and the little cover for the propane hookup nearly broke off a few times when setting up and dismantling. However the cooking performance was better than expected and I do not store this in the kitchen camping box anymore!
I called GSI the day the kickstarted ended and had just missed out on buying into the Kickstarter by a matter of 7 minutes, they ended the Kickstarter at some odd ball time of 7:34AM. So I have eagerly awaited this camping cook stove for over a year now.
I initially liked the Pinnacle pro on paper because of the slimmer profile which is extra helpful to me when we are over landing, during packing and transport. I was under the impression that it was roughly around the same weight as my Coleman camp stove based on the GSI descriptions of 9.7lbs but this is horribly false advertising. I was unaware that the GSI Pinnacle Pro 2 burner Camp stove would not be supplied with the additional propane hose adapter that every single basic camp stove seems to come with. Overall I am disappointed in the GSI camp stove as a first impression. The stainless steel lid scratches easily and looks greasy from normal handling.
In reality what I gain in space I lose in an excess of 2lbs of weight with the GSI camp stove. At first glance it looks as though the GSI Camp stove burners cannot be dismantled for cleaning like the Coleman camp stove but I could be wrong. Additionally it lacks the most basic of amenities such as a lid closing latch or grab handle access. Only time will tell if the excess weight is worth the 1.4in wide footprint. So far the GSI Pinnacle Pro has not won me over but maybe with time it will.
After packing the GSI Pinnacle Pro Stove into my camp kitchen bin I have gained enough extra space that I can now pack my GSI espresso maker, a milk frothing pot and still have room for an additional frying pan or more! Before I would pack just the bare necessities, there wasn’t any room for my espresso maker and frothing pot to say the least, and the lid for the bin would be bulging with the Coleman camp stove inside and it was a constant game of Tetris to get everything perfectly packed so the lid would close.