UKC

I know that MSR(Mountain Safety Reasearch),are supposed to be quite good.Does any body have any experiance with Optimus and Primus stoves?

In reply to Tim D:
sorry dont have any experience with any of those stoves, however, im sure that Optimus Primus was the big lorry bloke in the Transformers (robots in disguise).

In reply to andy r:
What a load of tripe you talk, Optimus Primus was one of the senators in Up Pompeii,any fulm buff thinks that.

I am happy to say I have no experience of any modern stoves being a luddite who has an optimus half pint paraffin stove bought before Andy was born. Occasionaly leaky and smelly (and also possibly heavier than modern stoves) but until I get back to climbing alpine peaks it will do me.
That means they last for ever, take your pick.

In reply to sutty: Is it the one built into its own case? That takes me back. I remember a bivvy when I was aged 11, on somewhere called Dove Cragg in a small cave, the Leader had one, was I impressed, at that age it seemed almost magical in its ability to boil water that quick. Now use a MSR gas stove for the UK summer or campsite, In winter I have to have reliability and speed and bomb proof so I take my MSR XGK stove. Which are on sale at field and trek at the mo for a good price.
P.S. Petrol stinks, a fact that was brought home to me when I didn't store my fuel bottle properly and it leaked.

In reply to ICE 'B':
The stove I have is a paraffin one, Optimus 96 which weighs 600g with windshield, prickers,lighting paste,(although that may be useless now).
The one in a fold down case was a Svea I think, lift lid, drop down front, prime and go. That was petrol and very light.
There was another Optimus one that you opened like a sandwich box that ran on petrol but it was a bit heavy.I think it was built from tank spares.
Does anyone use any of these old stoves still?

In reply to sutty: I always preferred Galvatron..

In reply to sutty: It was the one built from tank spares, it was well heavy. The chap who owned it was a Vicar named Steve, one of my dad's friends tried to bribe him into staying in the pub, rather than do the bivvy but being a man of God he was resolute, we did the bivvy and my love of the outdoors started that night. I don't know if he's still alive, he was getting on a bit back then. Used to work at Langdale outdoor centre, (now timeshare hell hole). Thanks for jogging that memory.

In reply to Tim D:I've got an MSR Dragonfly and its the biz - easy to set up and clean, fully field serviceable and boils in no time. Some folks prefer the XGK - dunno why.

John

In reply to Helpfull people:thankyou for your helpfull suggestions,Primus are bringing out a multi-fuel type expedition stove in March(my birthday).So i shall wait till then before deciding,once again thankyou for your advice

In reply to Tim D: It is an updated version of the Primus Himalaya multifuel - burns literally anything including gas canisters with the adapter.

I've got the OPtimus Nova (? I think it's called) - burns everything except gas...and is brilliant

In reply to all:Thanks for all your advice.It is a while since this was posted,but is the hymalayan Primus stove cleanable by shaking?(Like the MSR Wisperlite,the one that costs £60?).

In reply to Tim D: Yes, I have both optimus and primus stoves, used them for years but only the parafin type. Petrol is far to dangerous. For long stays in the alps etc they are great for base camp, one gallon of fuel will last six or seven weeks and only cost a few quid. To heavy to carry on the hill, to much chance of fouling your gear and not allowd in huts, best to use the butane/propane gas,It's clean, works well high and in the cold but expensive. I've never used MSR or such, people I met have had nothing but problems. I could go on for ages but just realised what a drag stoves have always been and looks like will be forever. Spike.

In reply to Tim D: The Primus is not cleanable by shaking like the MSRs, but my (limited) experience and that of others who contributed to some of the links above is that the Primus doesn't need cleaning as much as MSRs for some reason. The Primus does come with cleaning tools for the pipework and the jet included.

In reply to Tim D: Optimus sell a converter that allows the nova to be used in a trangia. I havbe never used one but it sounds like a neat idea.

In reply to sutty: I hAve had an optimus 96L for 25 years, used a few times every year and still going strong, spare parts still available. Parafyn is available most places, although in Yosemite I had to buy it as scented lamp oil.

Hands up all those who spent a fortune on an MSR and never take it more than 10 yds from the car in Pembroke and Cornwall. Having said that I have just got one of those big double burners with a re-fillable gas bottle, getting old and soft

In reply to kevin:
My 96L is going to Scotland in Feb.
Buying a double burner is not soft, just sensible when in a car. I used to have one of the folding Bluet ones but it went missing on the way to the alps one year.
Has anyone got one of those double paraffin ones still kicking around?

We've just finished a week in wqales training - actually got some ice and snow gulleys! Anyhow, I ran my MSR dragonfly, which was superp throughout, never had any trouble apart when initially I tried to run it on meths when I bought it back in the summer. The meths wouldn't allow the burner to get hot enough and vapourise the fuel effecively enough before it reached ignition point, thus it never burnt properly, but with petrol it's worked brilliantly in the alps, at 4000m and at -10, and seems very efficient. Paul on the other hand had an optimus, not sure which model, but compact, and also multifuel. He tried meths and had exactly the same problem. The one area that interested me was the very small heatshield on the optimus, and although solidf as oposed to the soft metal shield for msr, it didn't seem to work very well. I would still by the dragonfly over the optimus even at £100.

Question. We're going to the himalaya in march and I'm looking for a few robust multifuel lanterns to light the team's basecamp. any suggestions? The colemans are inadiquette.

Thanks, ross

In reply to all:Thanks a lot for your help

In reply to Tim D: Plenty of opinions in here already but here goes with mine: The Primus Himalaya is the best option to go for if you want to use gas cartridges most of the time, but it's pump is not as neat and light as either Optimus Nova or any MSR multifuel. For total versitality with liquid fuels I reckon the Optimus Nova is the most soild all rounder. Can't beat a good old MSR XGK for climbing use, solid fuel line makes the thing totally stable, even if you have to have it on your lap! My mate actually reversed his car over his XGK and it still worked (albeit a bit out of shape) The MSR Dragonfly is a beautiful burner and is totally controlable but more likely to pick up physical damage than the Optimus Nova due to the way its base/pan supports fold in. The MSR are definately the most fun for anyone who loves to do the maintanance required. What would I have? Nova, but I would feel bad about abandoning MSR as I have not a bad word to say about them. In fact, I'd definately get a Pocket Rocket gas stove for those super lightweight trips as well!

In reply to Tim D:
I am a great fan of the MSR but you have to know the maintenance bits and have the kit. What about hi altitude, how well do these things work above 6000m.

What are the alternatives.

I have had an MSR up at 5500m but it kept going out, the only reason I could find is that it wasent getting o2 fast enough as if you opened the wind shield it improved. Comments