View Full Version : Vargo hexagon wood stove?
This thing any good?
http://fiww.vargooutdoors.com/Hexagon-Backpacking-Wood-Stove (http://www.vargooutdoors.com/Hexagon-Backpacking-Wood-Stove)
in titanium, of course.
I like cooking over wood, but it's bit of a hassle for 1 person on the AT. Now that I'm hiking with my girlfriend wood makes some sense; I'm a bit quicker so I can get to camp and get the fire rolling while she catches up.
Small fires work fine, but when it's soaking wet (which is often on the AT) it's hard to boil water quickly.
I like my Vargo Wood stove. This is my third backpacking wood stove. My first was a Sierra Zip Ztove i still use for short trips in the Sierra. The battery powered fan means you can use wetter wood and melt snow more quickly but at a weight penalty and of course you need batteries.
My second woodstove is a home made "hobo" type stove using a large soup can with hole punched in it and the lid from my Snow Peak mug as a firebox.
My third stove is the Vargo Titanium Hex.
Ironically i no longer cook on Long Distance hikes except for when I have a few weeks of snowpack to cross like the Sierra and San juans in early June.
I use my woodstoves here at home because they are free, the house's propane stove costs money.
What i like most about the Vargo Hex is that little door it has. Makes it very simple to load with bits of wood as you cook and also provides a mini campfire feeling I don't get with my Zip or Hobo stoves since with those the fire down inside.
I will say this; My Sierra Zip Ztove cost me $19.95 (bought the first year they came out). My Hobo Stove cost me $3 for a can of bean. My Vargo cost me $50 bought from REI.
All three stoves do exactly the same thing.
My advice is to make a cheap HoBo stove and try it out at home to see if you like woodfire cooking.
The soot on the pot, fiddle factor, smoke etc. are not for everyone.
I have three woodstoves because i am a total pyromaniac.
Here is a picture of my 3 dollar HoBo in action:
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My buddy Lint used a Bushbuddy for the PCT. His trick to lighting it in wet weather was to have a few cotton balls soaked in vaseline. Another fantastic firestarter is Birch Bark. I was fortunate to have someone from Maine send me some Birch Bark, since we don't have many of those trees here in the people's republic of CA. Birch Bark will burn even soaking wet. Keep a bit of that in your stash and you will have fire under even the most brutal circumstances.
Here is how the stoves compare size wise.
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The great advantage of the Vargo is that it folds completely flat. Then again, my Hobo stove fits inside my mug. Either way the "kitchen" is only as small as the mug.
You can see the little door the vargo has. It sounds a little wierd but i really enjoy the ambiance of seeing the fire from the side view while cooking. This is something my hobo and Sierra Zip are missing.
As for weight, my Hobo can stove is lighter than either the Vargo or Zip.
The Vargo is Titanium so will never rust out.
The Hobo can be extinguished simply by inverting the mug over the top of the can, no water required.
The Sierra is heavy, needs batteries, and makes noise, but still boils water faster than the others and burns even the wettest wood easily.
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In this last picture the mug is a Snow Peak 900. The Vargo does not fit inside the mug. The Vargo is 5 1/4 inches measured on the flats and 5 3/4 inches measured on the widest pointed side. It is just under 1/2 inch thick folded flat.
A word about woodstove cooking. You are gonna be fiddling with bits of wood while you cook/boil water. About every minute you will be adding a twig or two. Each time you do so there will be some smoke as the fresh wood heats up then the smoke goes away for a few minutes until you need to load again. This is defintely not a "set it and forget it" stove the way canisters and alcohol stoves are. Some folks might either find this to be a PITA or part of their wilderness experience. The end result is that there is no free lunch. If you cook with wood your fuel is free for the taking and weightless since you don't have to carry it but you "pay" for this by having to fiddle a bit with the fire while cooking. Also you will need a bag of some type to store your mug or pot because woodstoves leave a fair amount of soot and creosote on the pot. Your fingers will get dirty everytime you cook using your stove too.
Then again there is the sublime bliss of cooking trout over fire without leaving a trace:
here my Zip Ztove does exactly what I intended it to do..
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The Vargo is a nice stove, but if you want a really light, right-sized, collapsible, titanium wood burner, you cannot improve on the FireFly stove. Since I make em', I'm biased, obviously, but hey!
Consider the Emberlit-UL. It's small, light, and flat-pack foldable without any extra pieces to lose. Plus, adding fuel while cooking is easy through the side feed port.
http://www.emberlit.com/
hikin_jim
03-12-2012, 22:35
So many woods stoves! I just reviewed a couple on my blog (the Bushbuddy Ultra (http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2012/02/bush-buddy-ultra.html), the Ti-Tri Sidewinder (http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2012/01/ti-tri-caldera-cone-ultimate-ultralight.html), and a comparison of the two (http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.com/2012/03/bushbuddy-vs-ti-tri-caldera-cone.html)), but there are so many others out there. I keep hearing about the 4 Dog Bushcooker, the Backcountry Boiler, the FireFly, and the Emberlit. Hopefully I'll get my hands on a few of them to review.
HJ
Thanks everyone!
How easy is it to reload your stove Qiwiz? My staple foods on the trail need to be cooked for 10-15 minutes or so (quinoa, pre-dehydrated beans, etc)
I cooked over fire for the PCT--just a small open fire surrounded by my titanium tent stakes. A zip stove is ok, but it's kinda heavy for a backpacking item for me.
The AT has just had too much of a fiddle-factor during rainy spells for cooking over an open fire without a firestarter.
kevperro
03-13-2012, 23:57
Rob: If you want to send Jim a stove to review I'll buy it. That way you get a review out there.
hikin_jim
03-14-2012, 00:50
If someone is willing to send me one, I'm more than willing to review it and post it on my blog. I get a fair amount of traffic on my blog. Lately, about 1500 visitors per day.
HJ
The Vargo is a nice stove, but if you want a really light, right-sized, collapsible, titanium wood burner, you cannot improve on the FireFly stove. Since I make em', I'm biased, obviously, but hey!
I looked this up... slick, and really lightweight. Once I have money to spend on hiking gear again, I'm going to consider this.
Rob: If you want to send Jim a stove to review I'll buy it. That way you get a review out there.
Sure, we could do this. Are you saying you will pay for a stove that I would send to Jim and then he will give to you after he is done with it?
Consider the Emberlit-UL. It's small, light, and flat-pack foldable without any extra pieces to lose. Plus, adding fuel while cooking is easy through the side feed port.
The FireFly is going to have a FuelPort option in the very near future. I'm working out the best size and location for the port. You can get a sneak peak of a prototype at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zj6X2uI5Tw&sns=em
I like the look of the stove. I see it is 3.25 x 3.25 x 4" tall. I wonder how it might perform if it were sort of sloped in a bit, like a truncated pyramid. Maybe 4 x 4 at the bottom and 2 x 2 at the top and perhaps a bit taller at 6". The cross pieces at the top could still be 4 x 4 for stability. Just curious. Also I wonder what could be done to insulate it from the ground, other than the screen. Just wondering. Stove looks great as it is. For when its really cold out it could be a little bigger, I think.
I liked your analysis at the Gear Deal site. Spot on.
"Anyway, at the risk of encouraging dissent, here are some of my thoughts on woodburning stoves in general from having made and used many of them over the years: [1] ignoring stove weight for a moment, a larger firebox makes a stove easier to light and easier to keep going; [2] you want a good air inlet under your fire and a good air exit above your fire but under your pot. So the trick in making a light woodburner is to satisfy #2 while making the firebox as small as is reasonable (but not too small) out of the lightest material you can. Titanium is what works best as a material, but adds expense (Oh well). The current size of the FireFly is as small as I would want to use myself. I could make a smaller FireFly, but it would be less stable in use and harder to keep going because it would not hold much wood. A 2/3 size FireFly would save maybe .75 ounces but would not work well IMO. Your opinions may vary."
The nice thing about the fuel port isn't so much to feed fuel, although a continuos feed of a long stick is a nice option, but its nice to see the fire and get a little heat directed out towards you while your fussing and cooking.
It would be interesting if you could make a stove that could be put together in different ways, using the same pieces. One of the advantages of a stove you can take apart to lay flat is that you might be able to put it together in different configurations for different purposes or different conditions. Food for thought.
Thanks everyone!
How easy is it to reload your stove Qiwiz? My staple foods on the trail need to be cooked for 10-15 minutes or so (quinoa, pre-dehydrated beans, etc)
I cooked over fire for the PCT--just a small open fire surrounded by my titanium tent stakes. A zip stove is ok, but it's kinda heavy for a backpacking item for me.
The AT has just had too much of a fiddle-factor during rainy spells for cooking over an open fire without a firestarter.
A twig stove like the FireFly does need to be fed fuel to keep burning. You can easily boil 2 cups of water without adding twigs beyond your initial load, but 4 cups or longer burn times like you like to do will mean adding twigs. This is not difficult to do with the FireFly, but does require that you do it. If you walk away for 5 minutes, you may have to start the stove back up again. Now the option that you will want to get, which I expect will be available as soon as this weekend, is the new FireFly FuelPort.
Here's a sneak peak at a prototype of the FuelPort. I'm still working out the ideal size and position of the port. The ventilated titanium floor (another new option) does not have to go on top of the mesh as the video seems to indicate. Stay tuned.
http://youtu.be/7zj6X2uI5Tw
I like the look of the stove. I see it is 3.25 x 3.25 x 4" tall. I wonder how it might perform if it were sort of sloped in a bit, like a truncated pyramid. Maybe 4 x 4 at the bottom and 2 x 2 at the top and perhaps a bit taller at 6". The cross pieces at the top could still be 4 x 4 for stability. Just curious. Also I wonder what could be done to insulate it from the ground, other than the screen. Just wondering. Stove looks great as it is. For when its really cold out it could be a little bigger, I think.
I liked your analysis at the Gear Deal site. Spot on.
"Anyway, at the risk of encouraging dissent, here are some of my thoughts on woodburning stoves in general from having made and used many of them over the years: [1] ignoring stove weight for a moment, a larger firebox makes a stove easier to light and easier to keep going; [2] you want a good air inlet under your fire and a good air exit above your fire but under your pot. So the trick in making a light woodburner is to satisfy #2 while making the firebox as small as is reasonable (but not too small) out of the lightest material you can. Titanium is what works best as a material, but adds expense (Oh well). The current size of the FireFly is as small as I would want to use myself. I could make a smaller FireFly, but it would be less stable in use and harder to keep going because it would not hold much wood. A 2/3 size FireFly would save maybe .75 ounces but would not work well IMO. Your opinions may vary."
The nice thing about the fuel port isn't so much to feed fuel, although a continuos feed of a long stick is a nice option, but its nice to see the fire and get a little heat directed out towards you while your fussing and cooking.
It would be interesting if you could make a stove that could be put together in different ways, using the same pieces. One of the advantages of a stove you can take apart to lay flat is that you might be able to put it together in different configurations for different purposes or different conditions. Food for thought.
Interesting ideas, to say the least. Worth cogitating on. I'm still working out the final specs of FuelPort option, some additional floor options (mostly to use with the FuelPort), and I now have a prototype of a FlexPort, which is a FuelPort that can be opened when you want to feed longer pieces and closed when you want a quick chimney burn.
A few comments. The firebox has the dimensions you list, but the stove is actually 4.5" tall due to the space under the mesh floor. Because ash and even small embers can drop out of the stove, I would always use it on top of a piece of foil. I use regular aluminum foil, but you could use titanium foil if you wanted the most durable option. No other insulation is needed to protect the ground. A bigger stove would require less attention during operation, but would be heavier. I routinely heat up 4 cups of water for dinner (2 cups of tea and 2 cups for my meal) and the FireFly takes care of that nicely. If melting snow or slow cooking something (like rehydrating and heating dehydrated veggies for a soup), I would recommend the soon-to-be available FuelPort, which will be available as an option for new stove purchases and as an upgrade/addition for previously purchased stoves.
kevperro
03-15-2012, 22:38
Sure, we could do this. Are you saying you will pay for a stove that I would send to Jim and then he will give to you after he is done with it?
Yep.... contact Jim with his address and I'll be happy to buy it. We can talk off-line via email for more details.
Interesting ideas, to say the least. Worth cogitating on. I'm still working out the final specs of FuelPort option, some additional floor options (mostly to use with the FuelPort), and I now have a prototype of a FlexPort, which is a FuelPort that can be opened when you want to feed longer pieces and closed when you want a quick chimney burn.
A few comments. The firebox has the dimensions you list, but the stove is actually 4.5" tall due to the space under the mesh floor. Because ash and even small embers can drop out of the stove, I would always use it on top of a piece of foil. I use regular aluminum foil, but you could use titanium foil if you wanted the most durable option. No other insulation is needed to protect the ground. A bigger stove would require less attention during operation, but would be heavier. I routinely heat up 4 cups of water for dinner (2 cups of tea and 2 cups for my meal) and the FireFly takes care of that nicely. If melting snow or slow cooking something (like rehydrating and heating dehydrated veggies for a soup), I would recommend the soon-to-be available FuelPort, which will be available as an option for new stove purchases and as an upgrade/addition for previously purchased stoves.Thanks for the info and the tip on aluminum foil ground pad/reflector. I will see if I can mock something up in cheap steel to see how it runs, and then maybe play with shapes, but I like your stove as is and will look to buy one from your before I do anything with Titanium. Your fuel port modification sounds very good. If I think up some workable multiple configuration shapes I'll send them to you.
How's that fuel port design going, QiWiz?
How's that fuel port design going, QiWiz?
Thanks for asking. You can actually now get a FireFly stove with an optional FuelPort or FlexPort 4th side (or 5th side, if you want to be able to swap it out). There is information about this and pictures in the WB Used Gear forum thread as well as on my website. You can order either of these options today with your FireFly if you want. I really like these options, though some folks will do just fine with the standard FireFly.
BTW, Hikin Jim has a FireFly in hand courtesy of kevperro (who will get it when Jim has finished with it) and has agreed to put it through its paces when he gets the chance.
hikin_jim
03-23-2012, 18:45
Thanks for asking. You can actually now get a FireFly stove with an optional FuelPort or FlexPort 4th side (or 5th side, if you want to be able to swap it out). There is information about this and pictures in the WB Used Gear forum thread as well as on my website. You can order either of these options today with your FireFly if you want. I really like these options, though some folks will do just fine with the standard FireFly.
BTW, Hikin Jim has a FireFly in hand courtesy of kevperro (who will get it when Jim has finished with it) and has agreed to put it through its paces when he gets the chance.
UPDATE: FireFly arrived yesterday in a very nice Tyvek envelope with a resealable velcro closure.
FIRST IMPRESSION(s): There's a stove in that little envelope? You've got to be kidding. Nope, no kidding, it really is that compact. In weighing things, I'm getting 3 oz (86g) for the non-fuel port option and 3.25 oz (92g) for the flex-port fuel port option. Add 2g to the above weights if you plan to use the optional cross supports for very small pots.
The flex port looks like a nice option. I'll probably start the stove with it closed to get a good updraft and then open it to feed in larger sticks. It'll be a little trick to open the port when the stove gets hot, but hopefully the point of my knife will do the job. The fire box is fairly small compared to some stoves I've seen, but the flex port may be just what the Dr. ordered and will hopefully compensate for the small size of the fire box.
I need to rig up some kind of a floor for the stove. I may just use doubled aluminum foil.
I'm taking it out on the trail in the morning. I'll report back when I return.
HJ
hikin_jim
03-23-2012, 19:06
Oh, and I'm including the weight of the Tyvek envelope/pouch in those weights since I think that's the way to go. The envelope weighs 10g, which would give you 76g/2.68oz and 82g/2.89oz, respectively, without the envelope. Weights do not include any type of "floor" or ground protection.
HJ
Cool, looking forward to your review jim
hikin_jim
03-24-2012, 10:35
Cool, looking forward to your review jim
Should be interesting. I've got a FireFly and a BackCountry Boiler on hand as we speak, and an Emberlit is on it's way. Dang! There are a lot of wood stoves out there.
HJ
When you double the alluminum, is there a simple way to make it puff up a bit for an air gap, like some duff or something? Might be a way to make char at the same time.
Sounds like a cool stove. I think I'll play around mocking up fold-flat stoves today.
I've updated all three FireFly stove videos. Find them on YouTube or on my website. Shows new floor, FlexPort, FuelPort, notched ti floor option, all the cool stuff. ; )
how's the wood stove testing going?