Zebra Stainless Steel Billy Review: Great quality and long lasting!

Written by:  Jess Crisp traveller and blogger at Red Dirt Roaming

If you have ever been inside a quality camping shop you would have seen Zebra brand stainless steel Billy's. Zebra have a very good, justified reputation for making quality gear. We have been using our Zebra Camp Kettle for 10 years now & since we have been on the road have used it everyday for the last 5 months.  

Our invaluable Zebra Camp Kettle performing in the outback! 

What we like about our Zebra Camp Kettle

It is tough. After 10 years it is still going strong. We boil our Billy over a fire whenever we can, so it has been subjected to a lot of heat. We thought that the knob on the lid would of melted by now due to all of the heat, it does have a few cracks in it, but still works perfectly. 

We also liked these features of the Zebra Camp Kettle.

• It can be used on a variety of heat sources - fire, gas, butane, stove top. 
• It holds a decent amount of water. We use our Camp Kettle Billy only to boil water for hot drinks & make our tea straight in the Billy. It easily serves 4-6 people when full. 
• It holds it's heat well once boiled, meaning you can always have that second cuppa on a cool morning!
• The pouring spout of the Camp Kettle makes them much more functional & safer for pouring hot drinks while camping. 

A brand new shiny Zebra Stainless Steel Kettle - ours looks a lot different now!

What improvements could be made to the Zebra Camp Kettle?

The only thing we don't like about our camp kettle is that the handle of the Billy won't stay in the upright position. When it was first purchased it did, but after all of the use the rivets on the handle have worn loose & it falls from the upright position. By leaving the handle in the upright position while boiling the Billy it doesn't get as hot, so pouring the Billy is easier. We just make sure we use a pair of welding gloves to combat this issue. So an improvement would be to have tighter rivets on the handle of the Billy. 

Purchased all those years ago we paid about $50-60 for our Zebra Camp Kettle, although now you can find them at Tentworld for half that price, making them a very affordable part of your standard camp kit. Are they worth the extra money compared to cheaper Billy's you see on the market? In our opinion definitely yes, they are high quality Billy's that are made to last years of camping adventures. 

What piece of camping equipment do you own that you would never do without?  Let us know in the comments below!