The Gun Counter

I think I'm about ready for a new backpacking stove. I've been using a soda can alcohol stove for quite some time. It's light; it will boil a pot of water; fuel's cheap. But it won't simmer, and it runs out of fuel pretty shortly after the boil (I know - increase the reservoir size). I think I'm ready for more control.

I'm looking at:
Mfr / Model / Weight / Simmer / Fuel / Price
MSR / SimmerLite / 8.5 / Y / WG / 99.95
MSR / DragonFly / 14 / Y / Multi / 129.95
Optimus / Nova / 15.3 / Y / Multi / 140
Brunton / Vapor AF / 16 / Y / Multi / 149.95
Optimus / SVEA / 18 / Y? / Multi / 89.97

Similar boil times except the SVEA is 7 minutes vs 3.5 for the rest. I like the multifuel option because... you never know. I kind of don't like the jetboil option because of the fuel restrictions.

So. Does anyone have experience with any of these? Recommendations?

I use the Firefly a lot and it replaced the Optimus Crux old style which is sitting in the cupboard ready to use if needed...

Some others to consider:
Brasslite
Kovea
Kunzi -- An old version sits in the trunk of every vehicle
Mini Bull
Primus
Sierra
Trangia -- Amazing stove
Zen
ZZ Stove -- Turbo driv

And a few others of the Survival Nature
Bush Buddy
Esbit -- One sits in the glove box of every vehicle, no control just heat but better then a candle!
QVist
Sol Huma -- Neat design
Stratus
Trail Designs -- Caldera Cone System works great, like the Jetboil but smaller...

Your Choices
Brunton -- Vapor is quite nice
M S R
Optimus

I've been fiddling with a homemade "twig" stove made from bean and tuna cans, and one made from soda-cans that burns alcohol. The "twig" stove actually works quite well with a triox bar as well.

I have an idea in my head for a "wood gas" stove - a hybrid of the "twig" and "alcohol" design that should - if I could make it work - burn hotter than either and consume fewer twigs...

DD

Can't go wrong with an MSR.

No one suggested a JetBoil yet?

I'm a fan of the Svea 123. It's not dual fuel, and it's not the best at simmer, but it is the VW or Model T of stoves. Tough and reliable to a fault. There are some in my old Boy Scout troop that are 36 years old and still going strong.

There's this one I came across a few weeks ago. I've been looking for something I can use to heat up canned food during extended power outages, such as huge tornados (07) or huge ice storms (08). Since I have a plentiful fuel supply for it out in the yard I figure having one of these in the supply closet of my all electric house is a better idea than a small charcoal grill and a few sacks of charcoal, which is what I have right now.


http://www.kellykettle.com/

Johnnyreb wrote:There's this one I came across a few weeks ago. I've been looking for something I can use to heat up canned food during extended power outages, such as huge tornados (07) or huge ice storms (08). Since I have a plentiful fuel supply for it out in the yard I figure having one of these in the supply closet of my all electric house is a better idea than a small charcoal grill and a few sacks of charcoal, which is what I have right now.


http://www.kellykettle.com/

I had one of those for years and years back when they were called Coal Miner's or Irish (Paddy) Cookers...Went were all things go, up in smoke!

It went geese and upland hunting with us all the time...Great to "Billy a cuppa" after the morning's goose hunt and before heading into the coverts for Grouse (to tease us) shoots...

They work amazingly well and you'll get a roiling boil on in no time--dependent on the fuel used of course...In the instruction manual it said not to use charcoal (something IIRC too intense heat or too long burning) so over the years we had it, it never burnt briquettes but it does not say so on the web site so either it's in the manual or they've improved upon it…We’ve had water boiling using nothing but junk mail…

The store that sold them, long defunct now, always carried only two sizes—2.5 and 1 pint--but the company’s website shows four…We only ever had the largest one available and the new larger three pint one would be the one I’d get now…

There is also a French Cooker along the same principles but designed differently--more peasant haute couture and a Nordic Fisherman’s Stove with also a slightly different design...

Oh, a word of first hand advice, don't put "chunky" stews or soups in them unless you have a means of cleaning them thoroughly after poring…I thought it a good idea at the time to heat up chicken noodle soup...

I have to go on record with a propane stove. For $20, you get a Coleman one-burner propane stove that's as light and small and agile as anything on the market. I've used one the better part of 25 years, over some pretty rugged terrain, at altitudes as varied as below sea level to 14,000 feet, and in temperature extremes from 115 degrees to below freezing, and it's been absolutely amazing. Guys say propane will freeze over, but I've watched seasoned backpackers struggle to get a liquid stove to light when my propane stove started with zero effort.

There's my advice; worth exactly what you paid for it.

The reason why they say "propane will freeze over", is often, because when you buy "propane" it's actually, Butane - which is all but identical in terms of burn characteristics(BTU/lb, jet size, etc), except heat of vaporization, and freezing/boiling point). - The reason why they do this is simple, it's cheaper. Most people buying it for they're summer grilling, won't notice, because the summer temps are high enough that the difference is irrelevant. BUT, when you're in cold weather, the difference between the boiling point of Propane(-44C) and Butane(-.5C) is VERY IMPORTANT - if it's below 31 deg. F, BUTANE WON'T VAPORIZE.


HTRN