Propane tank recommendation

Looking for opinions from weekend warriors/car campers/van dwellers using Coleman or similar two-burner stoves: refillable 1lb tanks like "Flame King" or a ~5-11lb propane tank with adapter? Are the space savings of a 1lb tank worth the occasional refill PITA? Is it possible to refill 1lb tanks on the road or is it way easier to find places to refill the larger tank?

Definitely go with the 4lb/1 gallon cylinder.

I used one for three years while living on the road and found it to be the perfect size.

1 lb refillable doesn't make any sense. You'll be filling it all the time and some places have a minimum charge for a refill so you'll often be paying for more than you get. Agree that you should get a 1 gallon container. They're not that big, but they will last quite a while.

I have a 4 lb/1 gallon refillable like the one above that I run my big Jetboil system off of ( which, BTW, is by far the best car camping stove I've ever owned). You can always buy a single one of those green 1 lb disposable bottles to keep around as a spare in case you aren't able to refill. But most RV places have bulk propane refills for the motorhome crowd and can be found without too much trouble.

You can probably get that 1 gallon cylinder refilled for less than the price of a 1 pound disposable. But I always have one of the small ones with me, too, because it's hard to guess just when the bigger one will be empty.

Great, thanks for the advice!

I keep a 1lb cylinder in the camp box for when I forget to bring the 4lb cylinder. Having the 4lb cylinder and a hose is nice because some stoves have a rigid attachment to the bottle (mine is not) which can make it bulky.

Not Hobo Greg wrote: I have a half size tank, 2.5 gallons, has the same diameter as the regular 5 gal tank on your grill, I use it a least 40 mins a day, every day, and get about 3 months out of it.

We have an old one of these tanks also, but with a weekend warrior use pattern we get 1-2 years out of a fill! It fits perfectly in a milk crate for car packing, with room to spare. 

Also, for those of you who want to guesstimate how much propane is in your 4lb/etc tank - look at the tank for the tare weight (which might not include the valve, though) - then weigh your tank and get a rough estimate of what's left.
For our 2.5g tank, after 18+ months of use on the previous overfill (gas station added ~15% too much last fill) we had ~4-5 lbs left prior to a recent trip. As our tank is out of hydro and the valve is old/illegal now, I've been contemplating going to a 1lb reusable setup for space savings. Still need to weigh the size/cost/etc when replacement time comes. I find the 4 lb tanks overpriced and not that much smaller than the 11 lb pancake tank we currently have.

If you can fit it a full tank is by far the most cost efficient. Many places get pissed about filling smaller tanks, and blue rhino swaps are super cheap

A bit is going to depend on WHAT you're using with the propane.  A typical 2 burner coleman vs a 3 burner Camp Chef + water heating device (hot showers) are two different beasts.  I've done a fair amount of 2-4 day weekend warrior stuff and plenty of 2-3 day scouts stuff as well which was all car or minivan based.  I started with a 1gal mini tank which seems super nice at first.  100% this would be my choice for longer excursions.  HOWEVER, I've found over and over that even the smaller form factor is a pain for your usual weekend trip.  Steel tanks are just awkward and need a milk crate or something, then you have to also remember the hose etc etc.  I got one of those new Flame King refillable ones (REI had a sale) and for weekend stuff and just a stove, I'll never go back to the 1gal.  I immediately got a 2nd tank as a reserve.  They both fit in my chuck box easily and require no extra hoses - just the mini reg that fits into my coleman.  Tare weights are written on them and my postal scale is easy to use to check fill level.  AND I can refill them at home no problem with my 20lb tank I have for the fire pit and grill etc.  The mini 1gal is still great on longer trips or serious glgmpng base camp stuff but if you're just cooking Fri/Sat nights the Flame King ones are great.

If you look into the refillable 1lbs, they actually can't be refilled at gas stations, they're meant to be refilled from your 20lb tank at home.

The non refillable 1lb can technically also be refilled in this same way, but it's a PITA, and you risk the chance of overfilling it and creating a bomb.

The 1lbs also take up an annoying amount of counterspace.