Fox Cookware Cookstation

How well is it built?

The Cookstation is a serious bit of kit. It stands on three curved legs, with the burner housed in a solid base and an olive bowl sitting on top to carry the cooking surfaces.

The griddle plate, the BBQ grate and the lid are all non-stick, so cleaning up after a fry-up should be quick.

Built up, it measures 33 x 33 x 20cm, and it packs to 34 x 34 x 22cm in its polyester carry bag. That's a tidy square for a unit that does this much, although at 4.9kg you'll feel it on a long walk to the swim.

For me, the way everything stacks together is what earns the 9.0. The lid, the grate, the griddle, the pan ring and the bowl each have a job, and they all sit on the same base. Is it overbuilt for a brew? Probably, but for proper bankside cooking I think the build is excellent.

Heat & Performance

With an 8kW output, the Cookstation has far more heat on tap than a compact stove like the Trakker Armolife CG4, which runs at 3500W.

That power sits under a big griddle or grate, so it's built to cook sausages, burgers or a full breakfast in one go rather than one small pan at a time.

The versatility is the other half of the score. You can fry on the flat griddle, grill on the BBQ grate, use the lid as a wok or large pan, or close it up as an oven, and the standard stove configuration still handles a kettle.

It runs on EN417 butane-propane mixed cartridges, which is the right choice for winter, because pure butane struggles when the temperature drops and a mixed canister copes better.

I think 8.9 is fair, as there's enough heat and enough cooking options to cover pretty much any meal you'd want on the bank.

Ease of Use

Lighting it is easy, as piezo ignition sparks the burner at the press of a button, and the control knob sits next to it on the base. Setting up means unpacking it from the bag, adding the bowl and the cooking surface you want, then connecting an EN417 cartridge.

It's a little more involved than a simple burner, with more parts to clean and pack, and its weight makes it better suited to sessions where you barrow everything to the swim in one go than to roving. The carry bag does keep it all together, though.

Never cook or run a gas stove inside a closed bivvy or tent, because of carbon monoxide and fire. Cook in the open or under a well-ventilated porch, on a stable, flat base. With a unit this size and this much heat, that base matters even more.

Overall, I think 8.6 is about right for a cook station that asks a little more of you than a simple burner.

Is it good value for money?

Can a stove this dear be good value? It's one of the dearest stoves for the bank, and dearer than the RidgeMonkey Grilla Cookstation Single Hob.

What you get for that is a griddle, a BBQ grate, a lid that doubles as a wok or oven and a standard stove in one unit, which would cost a fair bit to put together separately.

With non-stick surfaces and a solid base, it should also last for years, so the cost spreads over a lot of sessions.

To be fair, if you only boil water for brews, it's far more than you need, and a fast-boil system like the JetBoil Flash Carbon makes more sense.

Overall, I'd recommend the Cookstation to carp anglers who fish long sessions, cook proper meals on the bank and don't mind carrying the weight. For the angler who treats food as part of the session, I think it's money well spent.