View Full Version : sierra zip stove?
can I get some feed back on this type stove..I have pretty good fire starting skills..so thats not a issue..I like the always available fuel.but is it a good choice for a fall/winter thru or better suited to spring/summer???:-?
max patch
08-24-2006, 17:50
Like so many other things, its a personal choice.
I've had a zzip ztove since around 1990. I like to play around with it on weekend trips. I would not use it on a thru because of the "hassle factor" involved. Your pot will get sooty. Finding kindling is a easy chore -- but its still a chore that you don't have to do if you use gas or alcohol.
Weary used his on his thru. He will diagree with my comments when he sees this thread and responds. Like I said, its a personal choice.
:-? actually I was thinking of a zip and an alcohol or some combo.I also like the jet boil..I dont know.I am soooo confused..lol
max patch
08-24-2006, 17:59
:-? actually I was thinking of a zip and an alcohol or some combo.I also like the jet boil..I dont know.I am soooo confused..lol
I guarantee that if you start off with 2 stoves one will get mailed home when you reach Neels Gap.
Like so many other things, its a personal choice.
I've had a zzip ztove since around 1990. I like to play around with it on weekend trips. I would not use it on a thru because of the "hassle factor" involved. Your pot will get sooty. Finding kindling is a easy chore -- but its still a chore that you don't have to do if you use gas or alcohol.
Weary used his on his thru. He will diagree with my comments when he sees this thread and responds. Like I said, its a personal choice.
I found the soot "problem" to be insignificant. Every store I shopped at insisted on putting my purchases in tenth ounce plastic bags, which I used to house my Zip, thus keeping soot off my gear.
Nor did I find kindling a chore. I just picked up useful stuff as I walked during the day. Without hardly thinking about it I ended up most days with enough wood to cook my somewhat elaborate, long-cooking meals, and to boil a couple of quarts of water for the next day, thus eliminating the need for a filter pump, or the hassle of long waits for chemicals to work.
I tended to use generic rice -- both because it is much cheaper and tastier than quick cooking Liptons and similar stuff. That was easy with a Zip because fuel was never a problem, but more difficult with the alternatives.
But I agree, this is a personal choice. If you are appalled at the thought of putting a sootty pot in your pack, choose another kind of stove.
Otherwise, I think the Zip is a perfect backpacking stove for spring, summer and fall. With winter snows on the ground, a zip is still functional, but at such times I usually carry my Whisperlight.
Weary
i guess i don't get the point of a zip stove. the idea is to save on fuel weight by using sticks, right? but the stove itself is heavy as hell, much heavier than any number of alternatives. so why use one?
well my thought was use a zip in the evening to cook and use a alcohol in the morning for my coffee and grits, oatmeal..an such and I would have a speacil bag/cover for the zip..the weight of the alcohol stove is almost irrelavent use the same pot..heck I could proubly put the alcohol stove inside the zip burn chamber and use it as a wind screen?? have to try it..tell me what u think:rolleyes:
well my thought was use a zip in the evening to cook and use a alcohol in the morning for my coffee and grits, oatmeal..
..tell me what u think:rolleyes:I think you should re-read Post # 4 :D
fiddlehead
08-25-2006, 01:14
I carried the zip on many trips including my traversing most of the globe in '92 and i must say it is a great choice. Sure it is a bit cumbersome and heavy, and sure it is not quick. But, YOU DONT have to worry about fuel!
We burned peat in Ireland, cardboard in the winter in russia, sticks in Nepal. and most importanly, in Thailand i started a morning get together where i supplied the hot water and everyone came to my bungalow for our morning breakfast bringing everything else necessary including the smokes. I love this stove. I say use it if: you like lots of tea/coffee, like to cook more exotic meals with healthy rice, beans, etc. Like to minimize your town time and don't want to go searching for fuel at the hardware store/gas station, that just closed shop for the night.
The zip stove allows you to simplify your life. when hiking above treeline, you can pick up a stick on your way up and have plenty of fuel for supper and breakfast.
Cons: smoke in your face (and fellow hikers may bitch) , finding fuel when it's raining (look for hollowed out logs or the small twigs on the base of a pine tree, weight, black pot (no con for me cause i cook on fires every once in a while even when carrying my pocket rocket) (why waste fuel if someone has a fire going?) , you must replace the battery about every month or two, and i don't like disposing of batteries, they are very harmful to the environment. So, i use rechargeables although i wouldn't mail (drop box) them if i didn't have other uses for my batteries ie: camera.
Anyway, i don't use the zip as much now but still would on a long trip in unfamiliar territory.
We burned peat in Ireland, cardboard in the winter in russia, sticks in Nepal. and most importanly, in Thailand...
Mmmmmm.... Thai sticks. :D :D