Backpacking stove

[Theosus]

Just recycle the canisters. I'm on the fence. I made my own alcohol cat food can stove, and copied the caldera cone idea using cheap aluminum flashing. It works, and stores inside a plastic gas station cup which can be used to get water from shallow streams. Even with 2 oz of alcohol it's lighter than my snow peak giga power and canister, but the ease and reliability of the snow peak, especially for longer trips, is surely nice. You dont waste fuel with the canisters, either. Its easy to use too much alcohol and youre stuck until it burns out. That bad thing about both is the flame is almost impossible to see in daylight.

[LinuxRacr]

I have a MSR Whisperlite International. Used it last year at RMNP in Colorado above 8,000 ft. Let's just say it took longer than we expected for the water to start boiling. I had forgotten that we were up that high...

[ppine]

MSR whisperlite and an Optimus propane/butane stove like a Pocket Rocket. I miss the old brass stove like Svea and Optimus and the satisfying roar and hiss they made. They were a lot of company on solo trips, but I never liked that moment after they were turned off and it was back to the quiet. A few of them blew up though and it is best to forget about them. I will be using the propane stove for the first real trip next week.

[ppine]

Refrigerator,
I am happy to hear of your stove collection. Propane seems handy for the warm weather. I use a Primus Crux. I miss the old vertical Primus 80. It cost $8.75 made in Sweden. Now they are $90. A friend was medi-evacted after a SVEA blew up in her face in the Sawtooths of Idaho. I like the MSR whisperlifte but got tired of leaky fuel bottles. I would love to get another brass Swedish stove to go with the Kelty pack from 1970, but it won't be a SVEA.

[Grandpa]

I hike with a lot of people and have seen then trying to use about every means possible for heating water or cooking. Friends have everything from the pop can alchohol to the twig wood burners but for 3 season camping, the cannisters are the number one choice. Their biggest drawbacks are the cold but knowing that, I have used my pocket rocket at 10 degrees with no problems. The cannister sleeps with me so it stays warm. When I get up it goes inside my shirt under my coat to stay warm. When I get ready to cook, an aluminum shield around the stove and cannister keeps the fuel warm and the fire hot. I just fold about 4 layers of aluminum foil together to make a lightweight shield that I can bend to fit the need. I have boiled water at 13,500 feet just to see how long it would take and it heated fast.

Msr's Pocket Rocket, Snow Peaks Giga Power, Bruntons Raptor are the models I am most familiar with and all are in the 3-3 1/2 oz weight. A large cannister is 8 oz of fuel, 12 oz gross weight so the whole package is under a pound, I drink a lot of hot beverages and get about 6-8 days out of one full cannister. The little alcohol pop can stoves are much lighter but every time someone brings one of them along, it seems they spend the entire trip with burnt finger tips. I'd hate to call my friends Klutz but burnt fingers seem to come with those little stoves.

Jet boil makes a neat system which also is about a lb. It works great and consumes less fuel and the one lb total weight is because they use a 5 1/2 oz cannister of fuel instead of 8 to get the same 6-8 days. My worry with jet boil is it is a total system. If something breaks, the whole system is junk. The $100 bucks vs $40 is my reason to stay away from it.

White gas is great for campground, canoe, or other means of travel but I do not want any free liquid petroleum in my backpack. Also, between the whisperlite and enough fuel for my 6-8 days, you are talking about 2 lbs to my one pound.

The cannister cannot be refilled. This is an environmental waste but neither can the packageing for my food which adds up to a lot more than 4 oz for a week trip. I consider the 4 oz cannister a small price to pay considering the benefits it offers. If I really was that serious about "green", I'd just stay home and not burn the gasoline to get someplace, live in a cold house so I didn't increase the demand for energy and basically call life to an end in the interests of saving the planet. I think I'm not that green.

[wvbreamfisherman]

I'd have to vote for the Whisperlite, myself, for any extended trip or anything but soloing. You can kinda sorta simmer it, but you have to stay right with it to catch it before it goes out.

I have a Trangia mini cookset for solo overnighters. It has a simmer ring and works very well, although the heating value of Ethanol isn't teriffic. Nice and quiet though- just bring a good bit of patience to the show. One advantage to the Trangia is that you can bring Everclear along on the trip for fuel or for internal use....

I also built a twigburner out of some stainless steel scrap that works very well. You really have to stay on top of it because the actual fire is so small than the twigs burn up pretty fast.

[Gunny Webb]

Grampa said a mouthful. There is no perfect stove, and I have about 30 different stoves to prove that. The Jetboil comes close if your an overnight to three day trip guy and want something simple and self contained. I like it in the cold damp and wind. It gets very good gas mileage. The cat cans are good if it's not windy or real cold. But add up 8 day's worth of alcohol and it's too heavy. The best heat per pound is the esbit, but I dislike the huge black sooty mess it makes. The Whisperlite is a powerhouse and is a miracle at altitude, but heavy. It's ok if you have two people using it, but too much for one. The isobutane stoves are a cheap, reliable stove. For $30 you have a stove that can be used with almost any pot.
If you see one you like, buy it and be happy. You can argue for or against anything out there.