View Full Version : Best stove for a thru hike?
susiegear
05-04-2015, 10:30
Hello, i am getting my gear together for my thru hike next year. For years i have been using alcohol stoves of one variety or another, all DIY. Last year on the SHT i ended up on fire, literally. That particular stove had been used for about two years successfully. I had filled it with fuel and went off to do something else. When i came back a couple of minutes later I couldnt remember how much fuel I put in it. i swirled the stove around just a little so I could see the fuel level. I am not sure what happened but when I went to light it the flame shot up on my hand and started burning th backside of my hand. i am generally very careful about not getting heet on myself when filling the stove for obvious reasons. I used the same stove the rest of the trip since it was all i had but am a bit leary of it now. I am thinking about switching to a canister stove and really like the looks of the MSR windboiler. What do you all recommend? Stick with the alcohol stove and just be more careful or switch over to canister fuels? I have some friends that have different jetboil stoves and from what i have seen I like the design of the MSR better. Thoughts?
BirdBrain
05-04-2015, 10:45
There are no right answers. It is possible that there are wrong answers. It is a matter of opinion. You might get some strong opinions. I preemptively fully disagree with anyone claiming they have the best anything. I use an eCHS. It is, in my opinion one of the most functional and efficient alcohol stoves that can be built. It is also one of the most difficult stoves to build right. I cannot argue with those that have other priorities. Those priorities compel them to chose stoves that are built easier or that go with canisters. What is "best" is determined by your personal preferences and priorities. If there was a "best" we would all be using it and there would be no debates.
Walkintom
05-04-2015, 11:25
I like to build alcohol stoves. It's fun and cool.
I've used alcohol stoves, solid hexamid fuel, gel fuel, wood, and canister stoves on trips and I keep going back to the convenience of the canister stove. I turn it on and off, up and down as I please and it's highly convenient for me. I want cooking to be like that. I don't mind carrying an extra canister if I have a partially full one, which would be a problem for some folks - that's how I wind up with lots of my partially full canisters - people leave them.
A lot depends on your preferences. Unless you're just too scared of your current setup to continue using it I bet that will be your most enjoyable way to go.
As far as which canister stove is best - there's a lot of contention there. I'll go so far as to say this - even the worst ones aren't bad. It's hard to go wrong.
On both my NOBO thru's i used a MSR Pocket Rocket, in my opinion the pocket rocket is the best stove for a thru-hike.
Get a safe stove that fuel won't spill out once it's put in.
The ever popular "StarLye Stove"
http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/starlyte-stove.php
garlic08
05-04-2015, 21:45
I agree there is no best stove. If there were, there would only be one stove and that's never going to happen.
Mags has a very good article (http://www.pmags.com/stove-comparison-real-world-use) on stove selection.
Stove safety is one of the reasons that made stoveless hiking attractive to me. I had a near-miss on my PCT hike and on that same hike I saw one wildland fire started with a stove and one bad burn. I have not carried a stove in the last 7000 miles I've hiked.
CarlZ993
05-04-2015, 21:56
Lots of variables in stove choice: weight, speed of boiling, availability of fuel, fuel efficiency, ease of use, etc. For weight, it's hard to beat most alcohol stoves. For speed, it's hard to beat the MSR Reactor/Windboiler or the Jetboil. But, they're much heavier. For simplicity, it's hard to beat a standard canister stove (PocketRocket, SnowPeak Gigapower, Soto, etc). For fuel availability, I think it's pretty much a draw between alcohol or canisters. Both seemed readily available (although alcohol was probably more prevalent).
On my AT thru-hike, I used an alcohol stove from Zelph: Fancee Feast stove. Very light & efficient. Easy to use. It isn't as fast as a canister stove (nature of the beast).
On most of my other hikes, I use a canister stove. Sometimes the MSR Reactor (when I'm w/ my wife). Used to, I'd primarily take the SnowPeak Titanium Gigapower stove. Now, I've gone to the Soto Windmaster stove. Much more wind resistant & faster boiling with less fuel used. I'm quite pleased with that. If I were to do the AT again, I'd probably use the Soto. In fact, I'm planning on taking the Soto stove when I hike the Colorado Trail this summer.
Anyway, good luck in your decision.
I use an alcohol stove when it is not really cold like many do. I have made a few of them but they never work all that well and I never liked any of them. So I buy commercial ones.
I currently have Caldera Cone system (VERY nice) and my previous one which wore out was a Etowah. There seem to be a number of good ones. What I really like about the Caldera is it is very stable which tends to be a weakness in most stoves no matter what fuel they use.
I have been through just about every type of stove from the "Zip" and Esbit up to and including a multitude of alcohol/Heat contraptions that all worked up to a point, this was beginning in the late eighties when canister stoves weren't popular owing to the scarcity of fuel sources but all that has changed. The canisters are now as common as ticks on the Trail and the stoves are simply infallible. Mine is a Snow Peak with that is now nearing 10 years old and it has never failed or caused me any concern. I'm getting older and the last thing I want to do at the end of a long days hike is fiddle with a stove. Carry a windscreen to conserve fuel and you'll never look back!
fastfoxengineering
05-09-2015, 03:27
ahh the age old question of which is the "best" gear.
There are so many stoves it's not even funny.
It's best to break it down to the most common types for a normal thru on the AT. Canister, alcohol, and wood. Not going to include white gas or esbit.
They each have their merits. It would help if you have gave us some input on your cooking style.
I have a ti-tri caldera and mainly burn wood now. I carry the esbit or alcohol burner to supplement.
Picking which stove you like best comes with experience and trying them all
The Splitter
05-09-2015, 11:18
I have a Snowpeak titanium and love it. First stove I bought and probably the last. I love Snowpeak gear in general, very high quality stuff.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
4eyedbuzzard
05-09-2015, 11:41
Over 40 years I've owned everything from Svea, Optimus, Bluet, Whisperlite, ZipZstove, Alcohol, etc. For the very small weight penalty over alcohol, I just can't get past the convenience and reliability of a canister setup, be it a PocketRocket type or integrated unit like a JetBoil.
As others said, there is no best.
Toss a coin between an alcohol stoves or a canister stove. Really doesn't matter esp on the AT with no fire restrictions and frequent resupplies.
earlyriser26
05-09-2015, 16:04
Like others have said, no one correct answer. If you want to go the easy, bullet proof route, go with a canister stove. Small differences between stoves, but I use the MSR pocket rocket.
I agree on the canister stoves. Get one with a striker lighter and you don't even need matches. Wonderful, trouble-free operation.
Forget alcohol stoves...
I agree on the canister stoves. Get one with a striker lighter and you don't even need matches.
You should always take a lighter or matches. Those PZ starters have have a tendency to fail.
MuddyWaters
05-09-2015, 23:09
I prefer alcohol, mostly because its quiet, but also because i know exactly how much fuel i have.
But an efficient cannister setup is fine too. Its all personal preference.
If you do anything but just boil water, cannister will probably be best.
As others said, there is no best.
Toss a coin between an alcohol stoves or a canister stove. Really doesn't matter esp on the AT with no fire restrictions and frequent resupplies.
Ahhhh! which one will Shug choose ;) the noisy one or the quiet one........watch and see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKAFAsPfC4s
MSR Whisperlite. Never let me down. I'm sticking to it!
swjohnsey
05-10-2015, 09:23
MSR Whisperlite. Never let me down. I'm sticking to it!
Or to save a few grams, Simmerlite.
Feral Bill
05-10-2015, 11:32
Or to save a few grams, Simmerlite.
Or, to cook in style, a Svea.
My husband and I have used the Esbit stove for 6 years and half the AT. I would never consider anything else. Lighter, more compact, easier, more efficient, safer, dependable...it is all good. You always know how much fuel you have. Perfect for bounce boxes. One tablet for dinner cooks most meals if you have a pot cozy, windscreen and lid.
I grew up on 123 Svea stoves, graduated to whisperlite, looked at cannister & alcohol stoves....none have all the esbit benefits.
My husband and I have used the Esbit stove for 6 years and half the AT. I would never consider anything else. Lighter, more compact, easier, more efficient, safer, dependable...it is all good. You always know how much fuel you have. Perfect for bounce boxes. One tablet for dinner cooks most meals if you have a pot cozy, windscreen and lid.
I grew up on 123 Svea stoves, graduated to whisperlite, looked at cannister & alcohol stoves....none have all the esbit benefits.
What is that particular odor that comes out when the foil cover is removed from the esbit...is that fish soup? raw fish? soon they will make bear canisters just for esbit:D just kidding....love the smell of esbit:)
Odd Man Out
05-25-2015, 18:28
What is that particular odor that comes out when the foil cover is removed from the esbit...is that fish soup? raw fish? soon they will make bear canisters just for esbit:D just kidding....love the smell of esbit:)
That would be ammonia and formaldehyde. Yum!
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01487a001
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298668991375191?journalCode=aiha20
ChrisJackson
05-25-2015, 18:41
My husband and I have used the Esbit stove for 6 years and half the AT. I would never consider anything else. Lighter, more compact, easier, more efficient, safer, dependable...it is all good. You always know how much fuel you have. Perfect for bounce boxes. One tablet for dinner cooks most meals if you have a pot cozy, windscreen and lid.
I grew up on 123 Svea stoves, graduated to whisperlite, looked at cannister & alcohol stoves....none have all the esbit benefits.
I love my little Esbit stove as well. I use 2 tabs per day. I like to switch between my alcohol stove and the Esbit, but so far this year it's been all Esbit.
If you must varry a stove, the MSR Pocket Rocket is awesome. I sent my stove home about a month into my thru-hike once the cold weather left and haven't regretted it at all. NoStove is the best stove.
I love my little Esbit stove as well. I use 2 tabs per day. I like to switch between my alcohol stove and the Esbit, but so far this year it's been all Esbit.
I recently created a stove to use both esbit and alcohol. It has carbon felt on the bottom to absorb alcohol so it won't spill out and a Brian Green Esbit Tray that sits in the center for use with esbit. The best of both worlds ;)
30822
earlyriser26
05-26-2015, 02:13
I prefer alcohol, mostly because its quiet, but also because i know exactly how much fuel i have.
But an efficient cannister setup is fine too. Its all personal preference.
If you do anything but just boil water, cannister will probably be best.
It is funny that the thing I liked about my 40 year old Optimus 8R is the roar that it put out when cooking.
bikebum1975
05-26-2015, 11:01
It is funny that the thing I liked about my 40 year old Optimus 8R is the roar that it put out when cooking.
Same me reason I still dig my old Coleman peak one. Sure love quiet stoves to but something oddly soothing about the old torch sound.
Those old stoves like yours are killer. Was my first intro to white gas heavy as hell but ya can't kill them
rojotide
05-27-2015, 10:05
MSR whisperlite
rocketsocks
05-27-2015, 12:14
Same me reason I still dig my old Coleman peak one. Sure love quiet stoves to but something oddly soothing about the old torch sound.
Those old stoves like yours are killer. Was my first intro to white gas heavy as hell but ya can't kill themMy Coleman featherlight is still going strong, and yes the roar signals end of the day, supper on the stove.
I use a super cat on my own and a pocket rocket when I'm hiking with a partner.
ChrisJackson
05-27-2015, 14:30
I recently created a stove to use both esbit and alcohol. It has carbon felt on the bottom to absorb alcohol so it won't spill out and a Brian Green Esbit Tray that sits in the center for use with esbit. The best of both worlds ;)
30822
tried to PM you...do you have this for sale? Can you PM the link? I like this versatility. Thanks.
tried to PM you...do you have this for sale? Can you PM the link? I like this versatility. Thanks.
It's a work in process stove. This video will show you what the stove looks like with the esbit tray. The light was too bright to show the flame pattern under a pot so I cut it short and made another one in the garage but it turned out too dark:rolleyes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwMdoNZW03c
If you want a canister stove, save yourself lots of money and buy the 3.25 ounce (3.9 with case) generic canister stove (with Piezo igniter) off Ebay for $5.58. THEY WORK. If you're worried about a good canister stove wind screen, buy the Optimus Clip-on. It is around $10 and weighs 4 ounces or less and it should nest around your pot while in your pack.
Same me reason I still dig my old Coleman peak one. Sure love quiet stoves to but something oddly soothing about the old torch sound.
Those old stoves like yours are killer. Was my first intro to white gas heavy as hell but ya can't kill them
Sitting here laughing as I just finished replacing an o ring on my MSR Dragonfly this evening and lit it up. My neighbor came up wondering what the noise was!
bikebum1975
05-30-2015, 16:32
Sitting here laughing as I just finished replacing an o ring on my MSR Dragonfly this evening and lit it up. My neighbor came up wondering what the noise was!
Ah ah yes gotta love the sound of the of jet engine.
I grew up on 123 Svea stoves, graduated to whisperlite, looked at cannister & alcohol stoves....none have all the esbit benefits.
Having used and maintained both, and having seen Whisperlites fail at the pump handle, the pump body, and the fuel connection, I dispute that one "graduates" to a Whisperlite from a Svea. The only failure modes I know about on a Svea are two that I've read about (gasket failure and overpressure causing relief valve to release), but have never experienced in years of use.
barefooter333
06-01-2015, 10:11
love my msr pocket rocket stove only thing I will ever use
Get a safe stove that fuel won't spill out once it's put in.
The ever popular "StarLye Stove"
http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/starlyte-stove.php
I couldn't agree more. If you go with alcohol, go with one that is spillproof such as the Starlyte. I used a woodstove on my hike with the Starlyte as a backup. I have a few of Zelph's stoves and they all of the spillproof variety. They are SO much safer.
Feral Bill
06-01-2015, 20:02
Having used and maintained both, and having seen Whisperlites fail at the pump handle, the pump body, and the fuel connection, I dispute that one "graduates" to a Whisperlite from a Svea. The only failure modes I know about on a Svea are two that I've read about (gasket failure and overpressure causing relief valve to release), but have never experienced in years of use. Both easily avoided, too.
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.
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKAFAsPfC4s
Lone Wolf
06-02-2015, 14:42
pocket rocket canister stove
BARKEATER
06-06-2015, 15:02
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 ?
The Roaming Gnome
06-28-2016, 12:35
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.
That would be ammonia and formaldehyde. Yum!
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01487a001
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298668991375191?journalCode=aiha20
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!
AfterParty
10-03-2016, 19:23
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.
theinfamousj
10-03-2016, 22:43
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).
I like to build alcohol stoves. It's fun and cool.
I've used alcohol stoves, solid hexamid fuel, gel fuel, wood, and canister stoves on trips and I keep going back to the convenience of the canister stove. I turn it on and off, up and down as I please and it's highly convenient for me. I want cooking to be like that. I don't mind carrying an extra canister if I have a partially full one, which would be a problem for some folks - that's how I wind up with lots of my partially full canisters - people leave them.
A lot depends on your preferences. Unless you're just too scared of your current setup to continue using it I bet that will be your most enjoyable way to go.
As far as which canister stove is best - there's a lot of contention there. I'll go so far as to say this - even the worst ones aren't bad. It's hard to go wrong.
+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.
turtle fast
10-04-2016, 23:47
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.
bikebum1975
10-05-2016, 02:39
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