Product review: Tegstove portable gas camping stove

It wowed the panel on Dragons' Den, but did it light our fire?

What is it?

You might recognise the Tegstove from an episode of Dragons' Den early 2016, when company founder Spencer Turner sparked a bidding war between the Dragons. It's a gas camping stove that stores the power it generates as you cook, which can then be used to charge electronics. 

How does it look?

Like some kind of rocket ship; it's a long cylinder with foldout legs – pretty handsome as far as camping stoves go.

Does it actually work?

The butane cylinder clicked in easily enough, but the legs were a bit stiff and didn't slide out quite as they should – it took two of us to wrangle them open.

The instructions attached to the product miss out one crucial step: the fact that you need to fold out the metal platform at the top before cooking. At first we put the pan straight on the unfolded top, and the stove started sputtering rather alarmingly (presumably it couldn't get enough oxygen) but the picture on the box helped us work it out – again, though, these arms were very stiff.

Once set up correctly, it was very easy to use: you just turn it on (it lights automatically) and get cooking. It was very stable – despite a curious dog's best attempts, and a large pan of water balanced on top. The expression “a watched pot never boils” isn't quite true – on the Tegstove it only took about eight minutes.

The charging function worked a treat too, though we didn't try to use it as we cooked (phone + dog + boiling water = disaster waiting to happen). It can recharge a totally empty phone battery, and you can also precharge the stove with a micro USB if you want to be sure you'll have enough power.

What's the verdict?

The £156.60 price tag (including postage) may sound a little hefty, but you'll be saving money and space if you would normally want a portable charging device to take camping with you. It's light and compact, and – once you've got the hang of it – pretty simple.