Camp stove: Looking for opinions and reviews

I've had the Whisperlite Internationale for probably 8 years... runs on white gas or gasoline with one jet, diesel or kero (and allegedly jet fuel) with the other that comes in the package. Gets pretty dirty on diesel and doesn't like wind without using the aluminum shields that come with it, but it's simple and reliable. Fuel lasts for freaking ever; I cooked two meals a day for 3-5 people for 3 days and barely made a dent in my quart of white gas. The hardest part getting it going in the cold is getting the lighter or match to stay lit--the stove works fine, at least on white gas or gasoline.

Essentially it's a lighter, cheaper version of the Dragonfly. The Dragonfly definitely has a better flame control for low heat, though it can be done on the Whisperlite as well.

That Optimus Svea looks pretty awesome. No priming would be great.

Yep, SVEA 123 for me.
Compact and very tough- utterly simple in design with the key being the tool you need IF you feel like pulling it apart.
It works from a gentle simmer to a roaring jet that will fry a steak perfectly.
Shellite fuel is best, but it does very well on Gasoline as well.




Google these stoves, look at how long they've been around, try to find an owner that is not in love with them.
I've played with a lot of different stoves. I LOVE my Svea.

I'll jump in with a vote for the Svea 123 as well. I bought mine in 1974 so that makes it just a pup at 38 years old. Good as new.

I worked in a big sporting goods/camping store back in the '70s. I was always amazed at the charred soves, lanterns and heaters that came back to the store on Monday. I was more amazed that there were not more injuries. Gas appliances demand care and respect.

I've got one of the original (larger pot, all in one) jetboil helios styles and freaking love it. Just took it on a week long ride and went through about 1 can of gas cooking with four dudes for dinner and coffee in the morning. What space you take up in gas canisters will be made up in speed and efficiency of cooking. The all in one systems are nice because your whole kit is in one compact place (including your cooking pot) and does not have a bunch of weird little pieces... if you are like me, you loose little pieces. Boils a litre of water in a few minutes literally. The pot is SUPER easy to clean and unscratchable. I clean mine with a little water mixed with some dirt and sand and it does the trick, no weird coating on the pot to mess up.

If you cook and drink coffee daily (two stove uses per day) I would ration a minimum of a can per week.

*** i agree with the rest that the pot it comes with works best for water based meals and boiling water. If you plan on cooking steak, eggs, etc (I guess some people have space to bring coolers or time to stop for fresh food before camping ) simply line it with some foil or bring a seperate frying pan, the larger jetboil style easily supports a mid sized frying pan. ****

Svea 123 since the early 70's. Still works fine.

For Svea users...I have figured a way to easily warm it. I use an eye wash bottle of white gas. I use a Bosche and Lombe eye drop bottle. Open the drip hole a small amount, then suction up some gas. On start up, I can just squirt a bit of gas into the ring without taking off the wind shield. This saves some messing around on startup. The 1/2 ounce B&L bottle lasts about a week.

I am personally a fan of the alky stoves.

Ive carried MSR, coleman 442, and other liquid fuel, and pressurized canister fuel stoves for years.

for my own reasons ive settledon alky stoves for 99% of the time now.

the largest drawback to the alky stove is that its hard to see in the daylight, thats it, the ONLY drawback.

slx denatured alky for fuel from lowes, walmart, any hardware store. ( this is a $14 gallon can-enough for about 200 days of stove usage)



or fuel dry HEET ( about $2 at any auto store, grocery store or gas station - try finding your pressurized iso-butane cans here) these little plastic cans pour easily, and reusable and they dont leak in your bag. bottle is enough for a weeks worth of meals.



I dont care if it takes 5 minutes to boil 800ml of water, im typically not in a hurry.
but ive usually got water warming up before other folks have the stove connected, lit, or pumped up..

also, I carry 2 alkyu stoves usually, one gets hot fast, and burns about 7 minutes on 1 oz of fuel ( this will boil a quart of water, and then burn another couple of minutes.

I carry one smaller stove that will burn about 20 minutes on 1 oz of fuel, but it wont boil water, I use it for simmering, or cooking in a pan, yeas actual cooking, not just heating water.

I had a coleman 442 stove leak unleaded into my backpack one time miles from the truck, on a 2 day excursion into a wilderness area, MISERABLE mess.

for that reason alone, Ill never carry another unleaded gas stove in the same bags as anything else I have to depend on.

Particularly with the stoves where the fuel tank is directly below the pot, don't use too large a pot. This applies to both canister stoves and liquid fuel stoves like the Svea 123, a stove that I used for many years. There's often a temptation to put a tight windscreen around the stove in blustery conditions. Both of these can concentrate heat to unsafe levels. If you're hungry and cold, there is also a temptation to over prime with stoves that need it. Make sure your stove is in good working order.

The rescue I mentioned before occurred because of a perfect storm of ignoring all these provisions with a Svea. The kids involved were cold, wet, and hungry. They over-primed the stove, and then placed a huge pot of water for spaghetti on the top. As it was kind of unstable, they circled the stove with rocks to make a pot support. I didn't find this out until after the explosion. I was the caretaker at the tent site, and it was a busy weekend.

It was near dark when this happened, and they couldn't fly the rescue helicopters to the top of the mountain until morning. It was a horrible night.

There are plenty of great stoves out there. One big decision is if you want a stove for cooking or a stove that is a simple water boiler. If your trail or road-side cooking involves heating water and prepared foods, you can get by with a lot less. I have both a Coleman single burner multi-fuel and an Optimus which is a virtual twin of the MSR. They are both very good. I used a Svea 123 from the time I was 14 until it was stolen a couple of years ago.

I rarely take the gas stoves out any more, except when I'm with a fairly large group, or when I'm in a canoe where baggage space is a relatively small issue. I simply don't cook elaborate meals roadside.

My water boiling gear is an unbranded butane stove which fits in a box the size of a bar of soap, and an alcohol burner made from a Red Bull can. I use the Esbit pot kit that Reddog* pictured above, and a piece of flashing for a windscreen. While neither rig boils water as quickly as high-end stoves, there's near zero prep involved. My total investment is minimal. A canister of butane lasts me about two weeks, and a bottle of Heet will last about five days. If someone gets sticky fingers, I'm not out that much.



An alcohol stove that I put together which is now being used by inmate Jackpiner57:

+1

Depending on how many are in your party, still works for two, this is my go to stove for solo work. small light self contained.

+1 to the MSR Whiserlite.

Use the smallest bottle they have and refill it from the bike when needed. Packs uber-small, too.

Purchased mine new in 1976, Can't kill it, bought a repair kit with it and have never opened it, has
never failed me in 36 years of use.

This is a pretty good read for general stove info ----> http://zenstoves.net/StoveChoices.htm

Had a few gasoline stoves over the years, Coleman and MSR mainly. Got tired of the ball of flame that is required to preheat the stoves in fire sensitive areas here in the west, the smell of gasoline in your sidecases after dis-assembly and packing, the jet-engine noise on beautiful morning at the campground, lots of components to fail, and so on.
Switched to a Trangia 27-5, will never regret that. Look here:http://trangia.se/english
Great piece of kit, very compact, well thought out.

We used the Coleman Dual Fuel for a week on the trail. Its a bit larger than some folks would want but wasn't an issue with our Zega Pro Panniers. Worked like a charm and had good temperature regulation. I left with a full tank in the stove and a gas bottle on the Panniers with unleaded and it lasted a week.

We released the presure when done cooking so we were'nt riding with a pressurized tank. We were concerned that if the fuel regulation leveler twisted open in the panniers it could fill the box with gas fumes. That could be a potential unsafe situation. That could happen with any stove but with a level action vs a turn nob its probably more likely with the lever.

Overall we loved the stove and think its a better all around solution for ADV riding than the canister stoves because of the versatility of using unleaded fuel the price point at 50 bucks and the good temp regulation that you don't get on the higher end stoves like the Jet Boil. Folks love the Jet Boil but i suspect they aren't doing a bunch of actual cooking. Make sure you tighten the cap before storeing in your panniers so you don't leak gas on your stuff.







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Just saw this post, so I'll weigh in too,

This is an excerpt from my "Equipment" post, http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19686135&postcount=1612

My other stove (I carry 2 stoves) is the old Multi-fuel 1st generation Optimus-Burton Nova "Made in Sweden" with the Cejn connectors - later models were crap and dangerous apparently, so if you want a GOOD one, read this http://adventuresinstoving.blogspot.co.il/2011/03/stove-of-week-optimus-nova.html.

Mine has been pretty good most of the time. Always carry a rebuild kit (any stove). I've more than once had to do field repairs.


Also, this site is just about as good and comprehensive as it's ever going to get if you want to know about stoves...
http://www.spiritburner.com

Then check this out if you haven't for various fuel names around the world, something I'll post separately,
http://fuel.papo-art.com/

Have fun

I've been using a Brunton Raptor for several years now. LOVE IT. Small and easy to use, also has a built in ignitor.

Seems to be discontinued though

http://www.trailspace.com/gear/brunton/raptor/

Brunton Raptor Foldable Canister Stove At last, a simple butane stove that does everything well. The Raptor stove integrates an electric Piezo ignition onto a burner that gives you high output on a sturdy stainless steel platform. Crank out 11,000 btu with this reliable new cooker, and boil a liter of water in just over four minutes. Raptor folds down small and weighs a mere five ounces soaking wet. -1.7" x1.5" x2.5" stove folded -5 oz · Fuel: Isobutane canisters -Rating: Approximately 3200 watts / 11,000 btu -Burn time: Up to 1.5 hours at high output (one 8 oz canister) -Boil time (1 L of water): Down to 4 minutes (varies with fuel, climate, altitude, temperature, etc.) -Super compact, lightweight design -Piezo electric ignition -Precision simmering control Large, sturdy pot supports -Tough nylon case included -One-year warranty

Posted "International Fuel Names" http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=838236.

Just as a general rule you don't want a stove that requires a special canister. Your not going to find it at some little country store. You also don't want to have to take multiple canisters on a trip. Find a stove that you can burn unleaded in because you'll find that at every gas station.

I made one of the small alcohol stoves, I used HEET(yellow bottle) and it worked great on my last trip and the stove was free.

I use the Coleman 400 back pack stove. It is extremely light weight and takes up very little space. I was able to eat all my meals off the bike on my trip to the Black Hills this year.

Ok i did not get my Svea 123 in 1974 but had mine since 1976. They are a rock solid stove. I still runs great and can simmer very well. Yes my whisperlite will boil water about as good as the nuclear reactor at work but for an all round stove the 123 is it.