Both easily avoided, too.Originally Posted by bobp
"It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss
I started with the Snow Peak GigaPower. Its a great little stove, works well, and the variable temperature is nice. I even used mine to brown dinner rolls in the woods a few times, inside an empty pot with a bit of wire to support them.
But - Ive gone to a very simple fancy feast alcohol stove (just a can with some holes punched in it) and haven't looked back. Its SO much lighter, and there's no canister waste. It also packs smaller in my cook kit. I still have the snow peak and might consider using it on an upcoming 5 day trip, as the longer the trip, the heavier and bulkier the alcohol gets.
Please don't read my blog at theosus1.Wordpress.com
"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).
If you want to hear a woodpecker peckering or an otter ottering or a loon looning or a tree squeeking then you might want to try Shugs's goto stove. He's tried them all and has settled in on just one:
pocket rocket canister stove
I've try most all the types out there, but for easy, fast,an dependable, is's hard to beat a canister stove ( make or model doesn't madder) that said I still like my Whisperlite.
Would you go with de MSR Pocket Rocket or the MSR Micro Rocket ?
Just like someone else said, it just depends. I'm thru-hiking next year and have decided to go with the BSR mini-style pocket rocket and the small isobutane canister. Personally I love my alcohol stoves but after hiking all day I want to eat quickly and hit the hammock. My second choice would be Esbit cubes. They don't weigh much but the residue is a pain. Alcohol would be my last choice.
And what about that 'black goo' that builds up along the bottom and sides of the cook pot? How do you deal with that! It gets all over everything!
I like my whisper light because it was free and works.
I switched to a jetboil from a snowpeak canister stove. The jetboil was so much faster. We did have some trouble finding canisters though. I don't think the alcohol folks had any problems.
My graduation through stoves went something like: Coleman double-burner propane (car camping) > Coleman single-burner propane (still car camping) > MYOG alcohol stove (which worked, bless it, just not the best or anything) > Caldera Cone alcohol > Caldera cone Ti/wood > Fancee Feast alcohol > JetBoil > no cook
I'm a lazy bastard and happy to eat peanut butter and honey tortillas all day. Yum! I also don't have a coffee habit, even at home. And I'm a vegetarian thanks to having contracted Alpha Gal (aka "meat allergy"; do tick checks, folks). So a stove mostly served as a way to heat up water for rehydrating what few vegetarian meals I could find that were available and appetizing, though you kids these days have it much better what with Mary Janes Farm and other places popping up to do really good vegetarian dried options.
Which is all a very long post to say: There is no best for everyone. It depends. It depends on many factors: what do you eat, how much of a cook do you desire to be, do you have a coffee habit, etc.
If you are lazy and just as happy to eat jerky and carrots, don't get a stove. If you have a coffee habit and are otherwise going to eat dehydrated food that you will rehydrate in their containers, go with an alcohol stove of your choice (I prefer those with integrated pot stands that you just light and go such as the Caldera Cone or Fancee Feast). If you plan to simmer stuff, and stir fry stuff, and fry up an egg from time to time, a canister stove or Svea is your friend.
And just remember that if you do go stoneless and are suddenly gripped with a compulsion to fry up an egg, you can always dig out a trench and lay a twig fire in it to get you that fried egg you so dearly want, without need of carrying a stove or fuel (though you will need to have egg frying equipment besides).
+1. I have a couple of Primus canister stoves. Very reliable. I love to experiment with alcohol stoves, and the original cat can stove is foolproof, has no moving parts, and you know how much fuel you have, but I keep going back to the simple canister stove.
Be careful if you make a Supercat stove. They have been known to stick to the bottom of your pot when lifting it up once the water comes to a boil. Alcohol condenses on the pot bottom at times and causes a "seal" to form on the stoves rim to bottom of pot. The stove may still have fuel in it and when you least expect it, the stove will drop off the bottom of the pot and flames will scatter on the ground and maybe your legs.
I have several stoves that I use for different situations. I have a heavy Coleman Peak 442 that is great for when I plan on cooking a lot and has excellent simmering capability. However, for long trails I'm all alcohol with either an Etowah stove or a supercat stove. Normally I use Everclear alcohol to fuel my stoves, though down south in dry areas I use what I can pick up from the hostels/outfitters. I think using grain alcohol could get me into trouble...unless I added something to it.
I have a 442 myself one of my favorite stoves next to my svea 123 or my svea alcohol and my trangia
"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."
By Doug Larson
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