UKC

My very well used MSR XGK is on its way out and I need a new multifuel for a trip this xmas.

I'm having a bit of dilemma of what to replace it with.

I've been really happy with the XGK and have burned a lot of petrol on it over the years without issue. However it is near impossible to remove the burner and the folding legs break. It's great for melting snow and I've never had a problem simmering it.

I've used a Whisperlite quite a bit and found them to be less reliable, but obviously a lot cheaper. For the occasional user like myself this seems like a good option. However because I'm likely to spend a month camping on snow in the few years this seems a bit of a false economy.

The other options seem to be Primius or Optimus. I've not used either of these but have heard good things.

Can anyone who has used any of these stove extensively, ideally for melting snow recommend the best one.

Cheers Tom

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Tom - I think I have a spare Whispherlite International which you can try out and if it's fit for your purposes, then I'll do you a good mate-rate on the price!

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I've used the optimus nova for snow melting on alpine trips and winter camping in Scotland (when too lazy to dig out burns....) and haven't been too impressed. I've had a couple of problems with the pump where the supply tube detached from the unit and the filter from the tube. Optimus replaced the first unit, but had similar problems with the 2nd. Mainly I used parafin and petrol, and it did burn these well without clogging though. Seemed more fuel efficient that MSRs that friends were using.

I've replaced it with primus omnifuel. So far been pleased with it, but not used it extensively or in winter so can't say how it will compare in the cold, or for snow melting. Used it as our main stove for trip to Dolomites this year and a bit of Biving / camping in Scotland and liked it - very controllable, seems robust so far and pretty lean on fuel. Changing jets is fiddly, but I wouldn't be doing that in the field.

Cheers,

Stuart

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I have an XGK Ex so am curious, how are the folding legs breaking?

In reply to StuDoig:

I actually prefer the Nova above the primus. Very little experience in melting snow, but they are quite the workhorses, since a lot of people i camp with doesn't seem to own any stoves.

However mine are rather earlier versions. Mine Nova has a CIGN quick connector, which is super easy to use, when you have remove the pump from the stove and is more quite than my primus. The primus is louder and i somehow always get fuel on my hands when disconnecting the pump, even when i have flipped the bottle and decompressed the pressure in the bottle.

In reply to tjin:
I've had getting on for 200 days use from my omnifuel, including about 2 weeks of snow melting for all our water. No problems apart from the odd blocked nozzle from pasta boil overs, and I replaced the priming disk a few times, mostly just because it was looking nasty. I have no reservations about taking it as my only stove, along with both the pump and burner service kits. The only annoying thing is one of the pump o rings comes separately and is £5 for 3 tiny bits of plastic.

As with the above post, I also find connecting/disconnecting the fuel line leaks onto hands/gloves and once I did actually set my gloves alight briefly when priming. Doh.

For pure snow melting, have you looked at the new jetboil sumos? I was seriously impressed with how quick these produce water, but obviously not suitable for actual cooking.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Had two XGK's for twenty years (shaker and pre-shaker versions) and have replaced with an Omnifuel for the past 3 or 4 years. Overall I think the omnifuel is better. However this may be becuase I'm burning cleaner fuel in the omnifuel.

One thing to consider is that if you are going overseas, particularly himalaya's or N. America, should you have a stove problem you will have a much greater chance of finding spares for an MSR than a primus.

Note also I don't think MSR fuel bottles 'mate' that well with the primus pump. I know many people do without issue, but I only use a Primus bottle, and if taking additional fuel in my old MSR bottles always decant into the primus bottle.

Other thing to note is that due to the connection design you need to depressurise the primus bottle, before disconnecting the stove.

In reply to tjin:

Aye, could be different versions, or even just different years / production batches but my nova did have the Quick Connect coupler as well, which I agree is an excellent design feature. Just that as I said above, the actual build quality on the 2 units I had wasn't up to much. Perhaps just unlucky, but I wouldn't buy one again.

Shame as a lot of features on the nova that I liked on paper.

Cheers,

Stuart

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:
I've used MSR whisperlites and primus omnifuels extensively: Anecdotally: the whisperlite is quieter and the omnifuel is better made. I've had leak from one MSR pump with alarming results, another has broken (the flow control tap sheared off). Final straw was a leak producing a small flame from the join between brass and steel (?) parts of the ignition tube (which passes fuel through the flame and then to the little brass nipple where it emerges as the flame under your pan).
I've gone entirely over to omnifuels, mainly for snow melting in a tent, where safety and build quality are everything

There's a website some where (google primus vs msr or similar) which compares the two. The argument on the webpage is that Omni pumps and bottles are better made.

In whisterlite's favour, I used my first trekking round the Himalayas for six months using some pretty dirty fuel without any major problems.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I own the omnifuel TI and have used the whisperlite internationale (in order to provide a comparison)

From what I've seen, the primus is a bit less well made but it is really, really light. Were I buying again I'd get an MSR one for the shaker jet...it really is frustrating having to unblock it with the provided needle.

R

In reply to Roberttaylor:

Nothing to do with the stove, my X-GK shaker I had to prick and dis-assemble to scour the generator tube and clean regularly. Whilst my omnifuel has never missed a beat. Difference the MSR's I ran on unleaded and varying qualities of parrafin, while the omni-fuel has always been run on a cheaper equivalent to coleman.

If you were to buy the shaker version and run dirty fuel you will still be fiddling, so don't get youre hopes up, or curse the stove.

The standard omni-fuel has a much higher quality of manufacture than the whisperlite, particularly the pump unit. The omni Ti-light...buy light get thinner, lighetr but less robust....a trade off

In reply to LJC:
All you need to do is turn the bottle over to the other side before you turn the stove off. That puts the tube into the air gap above the fuel - it runs for a few minutes and then dies with a hiss after the fuel has been purged from the tube. Turn it off, disconnect, and you're done. No leaking fuel.

In reply to nniff:

Thats what i do, but it still leaks. I even tried to disconnect the bottle after purging the line in such a angle, that the tube in the bottle must be above the fuel level and i still get fuel spilled on my hands...

In reply to tjin:

Me too, always leaks no matter what I do.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

.....Including turning it off at the bottle before the stove? If so, that would be annoying to say the least

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Definitely a fan of the MSR Whisperlite - not had any issues with durability or reliability and mine's been going for five plus years, numerous expeds, camping trips and plenty of general abuse.

In reply to nniff:

Yes, including turning the bottle over and burning all the residue in the fuel line before unscrewing the connector. Still leaks fuel every time.

In reply to LJC:

Strange, mine doesn't. Perhaps try this if you don't already? Once the flame goes out, wait for the rest of the hissing noise of releasing vapour to stop before turning any valves off and disconnecting anything, up to about 30 seconds in my experience.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I've had really good experiences with my omnifuel even running off some really nasty fuel (80 octane with lumps in it) and it did well. The dragon fly we had with us also worked well and fortunately they complemented each other well so when the primus was acting up the MSR wasn't and vice versa. On the whole the omnifuel did slightly better though. The fact that it takes normal gas canisters is also a major bonus I think when you go and do some more civilised camping.

I don't think you are going to be disappoint with either option really

In reply to Hannes:

Cheers for all the helpful responses.

I've managed to fix my XGK thankfully.

I'm off to Kenya at xmas and am expecting to be running my stove off unleaded petrol. Does anyone have any experience of filtering fuel? I was thinking about getting a small plastic funnel and some paper filters and decanting my fuel through this. Will this work as an effective filter or am I wasting my time?

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Primus omni fuel is great, IV only used it with kerosene and Gas though. Much more robust pump bottle than the MSR stoves and easy to disassemble and clean.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I can't fault my Omnifuel, , but I've not exactly tested it to it's limits.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I use one of these filter funnels.

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5103A700T-Filtering-Funnel/dp/B0000AS5QB

It works well.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

Several years ago I purchased a load of dry cleaning fluid in a Nairobi Supermarket. Much cleaner than burning petrol and wasn't much more expensive

In reply to Brendan H:

Well the story about the alluminium pumps vs. plastic MSR pump. The alluminium ones feel far more solid, but actually sturdiness, well haven't figured that out yet. I broke the tab on my MSR pump (the thing that prevents the plunger(?) from being pulled out during normal use), not a total failure, I also had a optimus pump which develop a leak were the pump meets the valve. The point which allows the bottle to be flipped. This was unfixable and took the stove out of commision, you don't want to spill liquid fuel next to a burning stove... (liquid mode, gas canisters still worked fine obviously). This was however back in the days when the primus pumps had a square top.