HikeArizona.COM

In honor of the new LNT links and due to my general interest, I'd like to hear what sort of campstoves everyone uses. And since summer is almost upon us I would like to encourage everyone to ditch the ol' campfire and pick up a stove if you haven't already.

I have always used white gas or solid fuel stoves. My favorite is an old Primus Optimus. Recently I found a Bluet and a Peak One Apex Two at a garage sale. I have tested them out in my kitchen but I would like to know more about these types of stoves and how efficient they are in the wilderness. Especially the peak one. It used a tremendous amount of fuel, more than I thought it should. Is this just how they work or am I doing something wrong

I bought an MSR Whisperlite when they first became available in mid 60's. It still works like it was brand new. The trick is learning how to light it without the flare-up.
2 years ago I bought a Soto Windmaster & haven't looked back. I always start any hike with a full 4oz container by using the GWorks Fuel transfer valve. I've never discarded an empty 4oz fuel canister. Soto is made in Japan & is the company that designed, engineered, & first manufactured a fuel regulator for canister stoves.

I never had any problems whatsoever with my Svea but it is not titanium so likely no weight savings over your Solo Stove. Maybe compare specs on the web.

I use the BRS stove. Weighs 1 ounce. Inexpensive. Very small. Might be too small for some. I like it.

@johnlp
Yep. I switch between my BRS and pocket rocket; pocket rocket is still only 2.5oz so pretty significant weight savings even with that over the solo.

I got this from youtube and made a couple.
[ youtube video ]
They work well with wider titanium pot captures more heat.
I have a titanium Vargo wood stove https://vargooutdoors.com/collections/s ... wood-stove
I use as windscreen instead of tinfoil only weighs a few ounces and can be used for wood burning /boiling water w/out alcohol. Problem is so many burn bans these days and neither meets requirements.
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If there aren't fire restrictions, I use a Caldera Cone (alcohol). Otherwise I use an Olicamp Ion in most conditions or a Kovea Spider in cold weather.

big_load wrote:Olicamp Ion

Which is sold as the Fire Maple FMS-300T in other countries. That sound suspiciously like the BRS-3000T to you? The BRS is basically the IP theft version (funny enough, a lot of people think the olicamp is a ripoff of the BRS since the BRS is so ubiquitous in the thru hiking community). Some people report lower quality but it's popular in the thru hiking world with people getting thousands of nights of cooking on it so may just be just some bad apples mixed in.

One thing to note is that the BRS/Olicamp, you're not going to be doing anything but carefully boiling water. If you want to bring a pan for some luxury dinner/breakfast (I'm a fan of pancakes on some trips, sue me), I wouldn't recommend them which is why I still have my pocket rocket

xsproutx wrote:Which is sold as the Fire Maple FMS-300T in other countries.

Yes, Fire Maple is either corporately connected to or licenses their designs to Olicamp. They have so much commonality across product lines that other situations seem unlikely.

xsproutx wrote:That sound suspiciously like the BRS-3000T to you?

Yes, that's quite similar.

@big_load
I have the Kovea Spider too! I use it for winter weather so I can turn the canister on its side or upside down for better flame reliability. I also bought the adapter so I use it with propane when car camping.
My regular backpacking stove is the SnowPeak Gigapower. It has a few features that make it superior to the PocketRocket, in my opinion, including 4 supports for the pot instead of 3, a wider flame, and better flame control. This is especially important for me because I like doing real cooking, not just boiling water.
I also had the MSR Wind Pro for a number of years. It was a great stove, but eventually it gave out. I don't know if it was clogged or what, but the flame was really weak. So the Kovea Spider was the replacement for the Wind Pro.

kyleGChiker wrote:SnowPeak Gigapower

That was my main canister stove for many years, until I switched to the Ion. The Gigapower is a tad more fuel efficient in my experience, but not enough to matter for most purposes.

kyleGChiker wrote:MSR Wind Pro

The old Windpro (before the redesign) was my main canister stove before the Gigapower. I never had any performance problems, I was just trying to get lighter and less bulky.

Hmm, and I've just used a 16oz Talenti jar for the past several years. It's light and I don't need to worry about fuel. It doesn't work too well in the cold though, maybe that's why I tend not to winter camp?