- A 12 volt camp oven is the ultimate accessory,
but Travel Buddy or Road Chef, that's the question.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, it's Lauren from Snowys here.
I've got in front of me the Road Chef by Camp Easy
and my very own beloved Travel Buddy,
both 12 volt ovens awesome for fresh baked goods on the go,
and a really common question is how do they compare.
So, let's take a look.
At a glance, both units are really similar.
We have the same dimensions of around 32 centimetres wide,
30 centimetres deep and about 20 centimetres tall,
and internally, we are also looking at 27 across,
about 25 centimetres deep,
and approximately 10 centimetres high.
In terms of materials, both units are 100% insulated
stainless steel and both weighing in
at around about 5 kilos each.
Now when we are comparing them,
the main differences are the features,
so we'll take a closer look at those.
The first thing let's have a look at
is our mounting brackets.
Now, on the Road Chef here, we have a provision for both
floor mounting and also roof mounting.
Whereas on the Travel Buddy, we only have a provision
for the floor mounting,
and these come with the brackets here that simply
just slip in like this with a screw point.
We also don't have any Travel Buddy mounting brackets
here to show you they do come with them.
Now, on the front here, let's take a look at the doors.
On the Road Chef, we have our stainless steel door latch.
On the Travel Buddy, we have a little door knob.
Now as you can see here, a hot surface on the Travel Buddy.
This is because the door itself gets hot when in use
due to there not being any insulation on the inside here.
Whereas the Road Chef, does have a fully insulated
front panel.
Now both ovens come with two oven racks
and each of the oven racks have a little pin function
there that sits underneath your rails,
which means that neither trays will bounce around
whilst you're driving.
Now, in terms of the quality of the units,
both are really solid.
They're both made from really great quality steel.
There is a bit of a difference in the finishing.
I think that comes down to the Road Chef
being factory made,
whereas the Travel Buddy being hand made.
Now at this point, I do also want to point out,
because the Travel Buddy is my loved unit from home,
it's taken a bit of beating, so it's not as pretty
as the ones that you get straight out of the box.
A hot tip that we just got in from another Snowys customer
is you can get these awesome stainless steel,
custom trays for your oven.
You can either get two half trays or a single full tray
from some of your metal works in Victoria,
and that really adds versatility
to how you're using your oven.
Now moving down here, we can see the difference
between the two knobs are pretty obvious.
Now having had a play with both of them,
I personally quite like the Travel Buddy knobs better.
They're just a bit easier to grab onto and turn.
The difference in temperature settings we've got here.
The Travel Buddy can go up to a maximum of 200 degrees
whereas your Road Chef has a maximum of 180.
Another main point of difference is your Travel Buddy
has a timer that goes up to two hours,
however it also does have a straight run function,
and your unit is running for an unlimited period of time,
whereas your Road Chef has a timer for 120 minutes
or two hours, and that's your limit.
Now your Travel Buddy is drawing 10 amps from 120 watts,
whereas your Road Chef is drawing 8.3 amps from 100 watts.
So, with both units being fairly power hungry,
they're designed to be used whilst your driving.
Now in terms of power, on our cabling here with Road Chef,
we have a Anderson plug at the end
of a 110 centimetre cable,
and it also comes with an Anderson to 12 volt or merit plug.
Cable extension, which is approximately 30 centimetres long.
The Travel Buddy itself comes with a 160 centimetre cable
and I've done a DIY modification on mine to put
an Anderson plug on, but it will actually come with your
12 volt and merit plug attachment.
Now, I've moved to the Anderson plug
for more consistent power,
as well as the fact that sometimes
when you're driving off road or the road's fairly bumpy,
your 12 volt can come loose.
A really good point to note at this stage
is that if you do decide to do what I've done
and chop off your 12 volt and chuck an Anderson plug on,
you're not going to be voiding your warranty.
Now we've preloaded the Road Chef and the Travel Buddy
full of party pies and pasties.
We're gonna set our temperature, set our timer.
Ideally, you should be preheating your units
before you're gonna cook them, but we haven't here.
We're gonna do a side by side cook comparison
and come back and see the results.
Right guys, we're back.
So, both of our ovens have been cooking at 180 degrees
for about 60 minutes, or one hour.
In terms of a heat test, both of the units are not hot
on the outside at all.
You definitely are able to touch them without an issue.
Interestingly enough, now despite the fact that the
Road Chef itself has the insulated door panel,
both doors got quite hot in the process of cooking.
And we did bit of an experiment with the Snowys crew
and between all of us, we couldn't really determine
which one was hotter or not, which is interesting.
Now, I'm pretty excited.
Let's have a look at the pies.
All right, let's open this up here.
See what we're working with.
Okay.
Whoa, look at that.
Beautiful.
Right, so first up, let's have a bit of a test test,
crunch test, of our Road Chef pie.
Now a little bit soft on the bottom.
Mmm, it's hot,
but not burning my mouth and actually quite crispy.
As I said before, a little bit soft on the bottom,
but it's got a nice crunch to it.
Right, Travel Buddy.
Also a bit soft on the bottom.
A little bit--
(coughs)
Sorry, a little bit hotter in the centre.
Although, probably a tiny bit less crispy
than the Road Chef.
All right, let's shut these up and go.
Now both 12 volt camper ovens
come from Australian-owned businesses.
The Travel Buddy is handmade in Victoria
and that contributes to low supply issues
for the high demand of the oven.
And that's one of the reasons why Snowys
got the Road Chef in.
Now whilst it is made in China,
there are a lot of fantastic quality stuff
that comes out of China,
and this oven looks like one of those things.
As someone who owns a Travel Buddy,
and I really really love it,
having reviewed the Road Chef,
I'm actually really pleasantly surprised
and I think it's a fantastic alternative.
However, if you want Australian made
and you don't mind the wait,
the Travel Buddy is the one for you.
You can get both of these awesome ovens
at Snowys.com.au.
If you have any questions or comments,
chuck them below, give us a like, or head here to subscribe.
Catch you later, Snowys fam.
I'm gonna eat my pies!
(upbeat music)