Camping/Backpacking Stoves?

[false_aesthetic]

I've been doing some research on camping/backpacking stoves. Seems like a decent amount of weight + waste to go the route of JetBoil or MSR.

Those cat-food/coke can alcohol stoves look pretty dope.
Are they a true trifecta of light, cheap and good?


FWIW, I've visited the camping forums. There seems to be a binary response to them. I'm hoping for a bit more nuanced response.

[robin3mj]

How often are you gonna camp, for how many nights in a row, and how much of a gourmand do you need to be on the trail?

The MSR Pocket Rocket is tiny (as long as you can get on board with canisters), dirt cheap, and idiot proof.
Mine is 15 years old and nary a hiccup.

That said, it isn't too stable for any pot wider than about 6" and is pretty basic. So it's a good one for someone who is a) hiking fast/light/far, or b) just wants to unplug and cook a one pot meal while camping.

I have no other opinions because after deciding between this and the Dragonfly all those years ago, I have no need for anything else.

One of the best meals I've had in my life was cooked on this- a bushel of fat greenblack mussels in NZ cooked in white wine and butter. Cost maybe $5 usd and I can still taste them sometimes. Though that has nothing to do with the stove.

[false_aesthetic]

I have a hard time seeing myself doing more than 7 days in a row right now and I'm happy to eat anything from boiled snickers bars to prairie dogs.

I didnt think much of DIY stoves until I saw that Andrew Skurka used one for several weeks in Alaska and for the entire Pacific Crest Trail.

[christian]

The alcohol stoves are just DIY versions of the Trangia/Swedish mil mess kit in a lighter, less integrated solution. They are fine if you don't need to simmer, and if you value light weight and are going for absolutely maximum simplicity. In my mind, they are for heating food, not cooking.

For anything less than a week, a canister stove can't be beat for simplicity. I use a snow peak but all the common ones are good. Not great in cold weather though.

For longer trips where cooking is needed, I think I still favor multi-fuel stoves. Good ones are very reliable and the weight of the stove can be offset by fuel weight. But to me that's a specialized usage window now -- trips where white gas is easier to find than alcohol or canisters and long trips in cold temperatures like ski touring.

[Bobonli]

I concur with Christian. The MSR canister stoves (or similar) are the bee's knees. One of the best camping purchases I've made.

I started out with white gas when a scout in high school. No complaints if you use the stove frequently and maintain it. They can get gummed up, particularly if you allow your gas to sit around for long periods. When my kids arrived, the notion of having the fuel sitting around where it could be ingested or just grow stale turned me off to white gas. About 3 years ago (right before a hurricane!) I bought a canister stove, with the intention of doing some bike packing/camping. I looked at the alcohol fuel DIY rigs and came to the conclusion that they were just a little too DIY for my intended uses. I like to cook, boil, simmer, blast and the DIY rigs don't allow for that range of control. I also think some things don't need to be eff'd with; the canister stoves have a proven track record and allow ample control, so why waste your time cutting up cans and dispensing alcohol.

I don't find the canisters take up significant space, and I don't find them to be a pain in any way. I can run the stove, disconnect, re-cap the canister and move on. I keep 2 or 3 on hand. The stove head itself is pretty tiny. During Sandy, I cooked on the canister stove and my Weber grill for nearly two weeks...and by cook I mean not just boiling water for freeze-dried rations, but making meals and sauces that required temperature control.

My only nit (and most people's nit) is that the stove head will not support a giant pot or skillet, but I don't think that was the intent of the design to begin with.

Yes, more expensive than cutting up coke cans etc but mine has paid for itself several times over. I bring it with me when I take my kids hiking, to brew up hot chocolate, soup etc to help them learn some self sufficiency and that they don't have to eat junk food when outdoors.

[steve garro]

This is amazing: Ti Stove - Backcountrybiking IT FITS IN YOUR SPOON!!!Backcountrybiking

But I bet it's not for simmering, and I hate it when they dump all your chow in your lap or set your shit on fire……it's SMALL!

And from personal experience, this works just like it looks here:

But for long term I like my fuel bottle/burn anything Primus, it burns diesel, alcohol, leaded, grain alcohol, gasoline, kerosene……….here is the most recent incarnation from their site: OmniLite TI – Primus

Then when you bump up to three or four weeks on the beach or the river, I have one of these that I converted to a 2 gallon propane tank:
Primus Profile Stove at nrs.com

- Garro.

[Shoogs]

I'm a fan of the MSR pocket rocket, had it for years... It, my manual grinder and my aeropress come with me everywhere.

[Blakey]

my manual grinder and my aeropress come with me everywhere.

Porlex?

True weight weenies would just carry preground beans (or instant coffee (or caffeine pills)), but I'm not a savage.

[ryker]

Ha - I made a few Aeropress coffees this winter using my Pocket Rocket. It was great to have good coffee on the tailgate of my truck during snowshoe outings. This is how I use up my emptyish canisters.

[Shoogs]

Hario. And sacrifices must be made, life's too short to drink swill.

[lukasz]

Digging the soda can stove Garro posted but my friend is chewing my ear off about carcinogens from the epoxy resin on the inside of cans. Personally I think it is a negligible amount to be worried about when boiling water outdoors but what do I know. Maybe he wants to buy me a Tangia if he's worried about my health.

[jscottyk]

I'm a bit of a stove junkie myself and it's good to see there are a few more like me among us. Lots of good words written about a variety of excellent options but if you like the lightweight alcholol options check out the Caldera Cone System options from Trail Designs. It's top notch kit!

[ericpmoss]

I'm throwing money at the question, buying several stoves, and testing them all.

Alcohol stoves are neat, simple and quiet, but I'm prepping for the JMT this year, and read they are not allowed after a fire was attributed to them. That, and convinced me to more or less avoid them.

My criteria for getting into the runoff are: remote burner, quiet, simmerable, efficient.

My runoff contestants based on reading are:

Primus ETA Spider (multi-fuel, low-profile, remote burner, ceramic-coated pans, mostly metal, efficient, simmerable)
Kovea Spider (cannister, remote burner, excellent quality for price)
MSR WhisperLite Universal (multi-fuel, remote burner, simmerable, QuietStove/BernieDawg compatible)
JetBoil Helios (huge discount, remote burner, simmerable)
Soto Muka (multi-fuel, superb construction, simmerable, liquid fuel doesn't require priming)
Fissure Ti-Tri (burns scraps, ultra-light; won't take on JMT since wood-based).
m-kettle (not a serious contender, but extremely English, and therefore neat)

I am skipping the on/off non-simmering stoves -- though by far the light-weight champs, my experience with re-hydrated food in a pouch has convinced me I'd rather cook my own foot than eat that crap. Ergo, actual cooking is now at the top of my list. I also want a full wind-screen to minimize fuel use, and only remote burners allow that.

Assuming I don't set myself on fire, I'll report back on my favorite.

[JoB]

Not sure how quiet the Whisperlite really is but the MSR Dragonfly is great for simmering. it has the QuietStove capability AFAIK, but it's pretty loud without.

I'm throwing money at the question, buying several stoves, and testing them all.

Alcohol stoves are neat, simple and quiet, but I'm prepping for the JMT this year, and read they are not allowed after a fire was attributed to them. That, and convinced me to more or less avoid them.

My criteria for getting into the runoff are: remote burner, quiet, simmerable, efficient.

My runoff contestants based on reading are:

Primus ETA Spider (multi-fuel, low-profile, remote burner, ceramic-coated pans, mostly metal, efficient, simmerable)
Kovea Spider (cannister, remote burner, excellent quality for price)
MSR WhisperLite Universal (multi-fuel, remote burner, simmerable, QuietStove/BernieDawg compatible)
JetBoil Helios (huge discount, remote burner, simmerable)
Soto Muka (multi-fuel, superb construction, simmerable, liquid fuel doesn't require priming)
Fissure Ti-Tri (burns scraps, ultra-light; won't take on JMT since wood-based).
m-kettle (not a serious contender, but extremely English, and therefore neat)

I am skipping the on/off non-simmering stoves -- though by far the light-weight champs, my experience with re-hydrated food in a pouch has convinced me I'd rather cook my own foot than eat that crap. Ergo, actual cooking is now at the top of my list. I also want a full wind-screen to minimize fuel use, and only remote burners allow that.

Assuming I don't set myself on fire, I'll report back on my favorite.

[PaulE3]

I still have and use a MSR Whisperlite International from 1992. I bought it for when I was bike touring through Greece for several weeks and several of us carried and used the MSRs without issue. They are multi-fuel, don't take up too much space, and you can simmer / cook / blast with it. I liked its stability the most for cooking with a covered pot. If you are in a group, not everyone has to carry a stove so you can divide up gear like stoves, tents, cookware, etc... amongst yourselves.

I can still smell the fuel and hear the hiss of the flame... it takes me back to boiling water for Nescafe in the early cool morning while sitting outside of a mountain top church overlooking the valley below... ahhhhhh.

[jclay]

I've been doing some research on camping/backpacking stoves. Seems like a decent amount of weight + waste to go the route of JetBoil or MSR.

Those cat-food/coke can alcohol stoves look pretty dope.
Are they a true trifecta of light, cheap and good?

FWIW, I've visited the camping forums. There seems to be a binary response to them. I'm hoping for a bit more nuanced response.

I only car camp for a few days at a time, generally at the beach but I still favor small and simple with few parts to fail (including from age and lots of non-use).

I gave away my MSR Whisperlight. Never had any problems but plastic pump, O-ring and hose seemed a bit fiddly, more to go wrong, leak, break. Replaced it with a Svea 123, simpler, fewer things to fail, like it a lot. Later, was given a Trangia alcohol stove, simpler still. Doesn't generate as much energy but enough for me and can be shuttered to a low flame for a nice simmer. Fuel is easiest to find in my experience. The soda can versions I've seen don't have the shutter for flame adjustment.

You can find info on the fuel/energy budgets for each, which might be of interest if a hard core LD through hiker, but that's not relevant to me.

[jclay]

I only car camp for a few days at a time, generally at the beach but I still favor small and simple with few parts to fail (including from age and lots of non-use).

I gave away my MSR Whisperlight. Never had any problems but plastic pump, O-ring and hose seemed a bit fiddly, more to go wrong, leak, break. Replaced it with a Svea 123, simpler, fewer things to fail, like it a lot. Later, was given a Trangia alcohol stove, simpler still. Doesn't generate as much energy but enough for me and can be shuttered to a low flame for a nice simmer. Fuel is easiest to find in my experience. The soda can versions I've seen don't have the shutter for flame adjustment.

You can find info on the fuel/energy budgets for each, which might be of interest if a hard core LD through hiker, but that's not relevant to me.

An additional data point, even if past the sell-by-date of this thread: Having used the Trangia a bit I find that I have no use for the Svea, never mind a more complex white gas stove. I still prefer hammers to rocks and matches to flint but for me the Trangia is perfect. Plenty of heat, easy to light, nothing to break short of crushing it, cheap fuel available anywhere I've ever been, simmer-able, and a near infinite variety of stands and accessories for various conditions and preferences. If I could turn the clock back to the time I purchased my first backpacking stove I'd detour around all the pressurized white gas stuff, get a Trangia cookset and still be using the same equipment until I turn to dust. I assume there are some extreme conditions that require it, but in the main I wonder why the pressurized stuff even exists; an addiction to gadgetry perhaps.

[WMdeR]

Bonus on the Trangia: the pressure is low enough that it does not become a bomb. A SVEA's tank will eventually rupture given enough heat cycles (many), and it is a very bad day in the woods when it does. I have seen it twice, both on very heavily used machines.

The whisperlite design is safer. I use a netbook these days if I am impatient, and a Trangia otherwise.

Best,

Will
William M deRosset
Fort Collins CO

[WMdeR]

... I use a netbook these days if I am impatient, and a Trangia otherwise.

Best,

Will
William M deRosset
Fort Collins CO

Yep, autocorrect. That would be "Jetboil" not netbook....

Cheers,
WMdeR

[lumpy]

I've only had a Svea rupture that way when the stem got hit and bent. It was indeed very scary. But I wouldn't want to use an alcohol or unpressurized stove to feed multiple people or if it was well below freezing and/or breezy.