What Stove?

[CHILL_TX]

When factoring in actual weight of fuel, not JUST stove and fuel container, I don't feel there is much weight savings with alcohol. There would have to be a serious weight savings for me to give up the convenience of a canister stove.

I feel like the trend to go stove-less has a lot to do with so many people getting tired of cooking on their alcohol stove. For me, a hot meal can really be a mood booster after a long day.

[ggreaves]

If I were to do it again, I'd use an upright canister stove that had a fuel regulator (fuel flow was constant to the stove with dropping fuel pressure in the canister). I'd take my Soto Windmaster stove. It fits that mold and is the most wind resistant upright canister stove I've seen.

+1 on the regulator. It makes a huge difference in fuel economy and you can get the last dregs out of every canister. I have an MSR reactor. It's a little heavy but it'll boil water fast in high winds when most stoves won't boil at all. The stove and pot weigh almost 15 oz which is a little heavy but it's the fastest stove there is. And it is the most fuel efficient stove out there. Jetboil fans should try the MSR windburner. It's got the same radiant burner tech as the Reactor and it's windproof. I've heard great things about the Soto as well.

[Rhughesnc]

Thank you all for sharing your experience. I have both. The Esbit alcohol/solid fuel combo, great for overnight. For longer hikes, the canister just seemed to make more sense.

[Greenmountainguy]

I have obtained and tried (in town) a Chinese wood/alcohol stove. It works very well indeed and is well constructed of stainless, with carefully rolled edges and great engineering, but... This is a really big but the thing weighs 13 ounces. One online writer estimates that the savings in fuel does not equalize for something like 50 or 55 meals. That kills it for me on mostly weekend jaunts. I suppose it might be fun to play with though on some easy weekend trips.

[Greenmountainguy]

The fuel bottle that came with my Peak 1 holds 15 ounces of white gas. Not exactly huge compared to the 29 ounce capacity of the fuel bottle I use with my Primus stove. Somewhere I read online that 1.5 ounces per day is a conservative estimate of white gas consumption. Looks like I could cook more food than I can carry.

But that Peak I still has a big capacity when compared to my old 8R which had like an 8 ounce fuel tank.

[zelph]

Oh the value of "quiet" Shug has tried many a stove and zeroed in on one for his goto:

[Rex Clifton]

Oh the value of "quiet" Shug has tried many a stove and zeroed in on one for his goto:

Shug's not the be-all and end-all. He uses an imusa mug with the goofy handle attached! Good pot, but hacksaw off the handle and wrap with a fiberglass wick for crisesakes! For me, a white box style stove is better than the Fancy Feast.

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[zelph]

Shug's not the be-all and end-all. He uses an imusa mug with the goofy handle attached! Good pot, but hacksaw off the handle and wrap with a fiberglass wick for crisesakes! For me, a white box style stove is better than the Fancy Feast.

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That's too funny :-) Cut the handle off and add 3 times the weight by adding heavy fiberglass. ;-) And to top that off, one wrap of fiberglass will do ziltch for making it insulated so you can pick it up. Too funny!!! LOL

[Crossup]

I prefer a gas stove in general and of course like all choices there are aspects that are less than perfect. One of them with gas is its difficult to know precisely how much cook time you have for a given amount of fuel. Sure you will dial it in with experience but that isn't much help when you'd like to use the stove more than planned, or if its really windy increasing cook time etc.
So my answer to that is to have a backup stove and given that one can of course carry an extra cannister to cover the scenerios above, to me a back up stove has to have some advantage over doing that. One way is a biomass stove that weighs a fraction of the weight of a fuel cannister. There are a couple stoves that fit that bill, two that appeal to me are the Bushbox Ultralight and Qiwiz's Firefly. No doubt there are others too but both of these are under 3oz.

I chose the Bushbox because its triangular, that allows it to function as a windshield for my D-power burner(or other 3 leg units), it holds a Trangia alcohol(or others around that size) stove, Esbit or any solid fuel and of course burn biomass.
I also like that it has no need for wire supports or other fiddly trivets etc. for any size of cup, pot or different stoves or fuel types- it has 5 parts that snap together, none of which are of a size that would be easy to loose. Using all 5 parts its is incredibly rigid and stiff, and leaving off the small pot trivet its still up to any thing a camper would put on it.

Having two stoves has other advantages as well- I can heat water for a shower(yes I do that without going to town) while making dinner(I do my MH in a pot rather than pouch- that way I can use part of a 2.5 serving pack as well as mix them(chili and spagetti, yum)), make tea or coffee/chocolate with a meal or my favorite make MH raspberrrys and cookie crumb desert. And while I have not done it yet, the wood stove is well suited to grill a steak vs messing up your burner with drippings, its as easy as wrapping a frozen steak in some foam insulation and eating that as the first meal out. Again, with two stoves I can have potatoes with it, both ready at the same time.

The only potential issues I see with the Bushbox is the metal is VERY thin so one needs to be careful assembling it to not get a cut- thats only going to happen if your not paying attention or have had wet softened hands from a day hiking in the rain

[Rex Clifton]

That's too funny :-) Cut the handle off and add 3 times the weight by adding heavy fiberglass. ;-) And to top that off, one wrap of fiberglass will do ziltch for making it insulated so you can pick it up. Too funny!!! LOL

Almost as funny as charging $20 for a cat food can.

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[jjozgrunt]

here's an easy way to extimate water temp - check to see if it's shrimp eyes (155-165), crab eyes (165-175), fish eyes (175-185), string or pearls (185-200), or DRAGON EYES! (200-212, full rolling boil) http://teamasters.org/five-stages-of...ter-to-a-boil/

So now I need to carry a shrimp, crab, fish some pearls and a dragon eye with me. Judging how hot the water is is getting heavy and after 5 months will be pretty smelly.

[cmoulder]

Perhaps take one stove and have a twig fire as your backup?

twig_fire.jpg

Or, if using canister and a BRS-3000T, carry a .9 oz 'repair kit' in the form of another BRS-3000T.

(Prolly mentioned previously but I didn't want to read thru the whole thing again.)

[zelph]

Almost as funny as charging $20 for a cat food can.

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Who dat? Who dat?

[biloute]

For those of you who might be interested (and I apologize if someone’s mentioned this, but I haven’t read through all the multiple pages yet) I was in contact today with MSR about upgrading my stove. Apparently it’s possible to upgrade a Whisperlite International with the stamped legs (not wire legs) with a conversion to the Whisperlite Universal. This would allow you flexibility to carry the bottle of fuel (white gas, kerosene, or gasoline) or use the stove with a canister. It’s only $35 plus shipping one way in the US and Canada. They do the conversion and send it back to you. You’d have to contact a representative to inquire if you’re in any other country.

[Greenlight]

Caldera cone ti-tri with a starlight burner. It can use alcohol, esbit, or biomass. One of my best hiking purchases. Expensive? Yup. Worth every penny.

Here it is, as simply as I can state it: what stove would you recommend for a distance hiker that does not expect mail drops?
I once, decades ago used the first MSR white gas stove and it is still going strong, The fuel issue however advocates against it, I do not want to carry huge quantities of fuel and I doubt small amounts can be bought en route.
I have an MSR multi-fuel, but the issues above still obtain.
A canister stove, like an MSR Pocket Rocket. The light weight intrigues, but the fuel canisters are expensive and I would think, hard to find in small town stores. The weight savings would also seem dubious given the weight of the canisters and the need to pack extras and empties as well.
I have a Sierra ZZip stove I have played with but never taken long distance. I am put off by the mess and the inability to quickly make a beverage and get going in the morning.
Some version of the Solo stove (actually a Forfar Stove) that also allows an alcohol option. I could use the alcohol for a quick beverage and alcohol is easy to find everywhere.
I am leaning toward the last since I can use twigs at night, do not have to worry about a battery dying and can fall back on alcohol.
What do you think? For what it is worth, I do not ever want to carry more than 5 days food. That is pushing my 30 lbs. limit pretty good.
Thoughts?
Thanks

[1azarus]

campfire.jpgThis is clearly a conversation that should take place around a campfire.