UKC

One of my friends is lookin for an ultra light back packing stove, he asked me what I think.

I told him there are stoves such as the MSR pocket rocket, the Coleman F1 lite and the snwo peak giga power titanium stove, but you have to carry gas which is heavy.

Meths stoves are better because the fuel last longer and so you don't have to carry as much, so have a look at the mini trangia, the problem being the burrner is quite heavy. There is also pepsi can stoves etc but these can be sturdy in the bottom of your pack it would be crushed after a week back packing in scotland.

Is there a answer?

In reply to ianslade: Meths takes longer to burn but a decent gas stove (eg. optimus crux lite, 76g) with a windshield and good pan will boil a litre of water in about two minutes. Use it with a little 110g canister and suddenly it's a much better idea than waiting ages for your meths burner to gently warm your water at the weight-saving equivalent to clipping your toe-nails.

In reply to steve456: The only problem is carrying enough gas to last a week, walking around (for example) fisher feild forest which is remote with no chance of buying any more gas.

Would he not need at east a 500g gas for a cupper in the morrning and some grub at night

In reply to ianslade: http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm check someofthese out... they come free with a bit of effort!

In reply to ianslade: http://www.vargooutdoors.com/store/VARGO-OUTDOORS-VARGO-TITANIUM-SERIES/c12...

Or these chaps for a bought in titanium superlight achohol burner...

In reply to mike kann: Thanks

In reply to ianslade:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BYjn8Urk7YA

In reply to ianslade:

Depends what you cook, what you cook with, and how cold it is. There are tales of people getting a week out of the tiny canisters. MSR say the burn time for a "100g canister is 26 minutes" which with an efficient pot and windshield will equate to about 13 litres of boiling water.

How much meths would you plan on taking? Anyone who has sat for days waiting for a trangia to make anything other than tepid water would never use meths again. On a cold day you can have situations where your water cools faster than the meths can warm it and you end up with the not particularly good figures of infinity meths per litre of boiling water.

In reply to ianslade: during 4 days and 4 night exped in early november last year me and a friend didn't even get through a full 230 canister using a pocket rocket, that was enought boiled water for porridge in the morning and 2 sets of dehydrated meals and deserts in the evening.

In reply to ianslade: He currently has a primus gravity stove which he feels is to heavy and an MSR Titan Kettle which be boils water in for de-hydrated food and warm drinks. He's planning a trip around northen scotland in august so it could be any where from 5 degrees upwards realisticaly.

How much meths would you recomend he takes?

In reply to ianslade:

My cooking arrangement consists of a MSR Pocket Rocker and an MSR Titan(ium) 'Kettle'. I use this all the time for cooking boil in the bag meals, boiling water for tea etc.

Good points to the system:
Super lightweight
Gas canister fits inside the 'kettle'
Pocket rocket really is a rocket

Bad points to the system:
Pocket rocket has a small burning area, good for small pots, but can burn food in the middle, so keep stirring!


That is the only bad point i can think of.

I rate it really high for one man stuff.

In reply to ianslade:

What your mate needs is an msr pocket rocket (weight 27grams!!!!) it is immense. I have had mine for 4 years now and I am hiking with it every other weekend in the cairngorms. It is a bomber piece of kit and I don't know if you could go wrong with it.

The only thing ive found with gas stoves is that if you are wanting to do a lot of winter walking the cold affects the pressure of the gas so that it lowers it to that of its surroundings and therefore the gas is not released at such a great pressure as it would if it was warmer. I get about this problem by cutting a bit of neoprene fabric and placing my cas canister on that before lighting it.

However those are cold weather conditions and it is incredible any other time of the year. If the idea of a fuel stove did attract your mate then something like the primus omnifuel might be a good idea. It's fuel attachment also has the ability to take gas canisters so it is very flexible in that respect.

With regards to a pot. The MSR titan kettle is ace. you can fit your msr pocket rocket in it and then some room.

I got my MSR titan kettle at the same time as my stove in a pack and it was about £50. So again a very attractive deal.

What a rant!! lol

anyhoo hope this was all useful

best wishes tom

In reply to ianslade:
msr pocket rocket for sure. and the bendy windshields. a bit of silver sided insulating foam to sit it all on and using propane or a mix sorts out cold issues. chuck the lot in a 750ml titanium mug with a lid.

meths doesnt ever seem to burn hot enough and is messy to deal with. gas maybe a bit heavier, but its easier to use.

a bit of the silvery foam mat taped into a tube that fits round the mug makes it more thermo efficient - your ramen wont be chewy from cooling too fast.

In reply to ianslade: Why is it better that the fuel lasts longer? Meths is far less energy dense than gas, sure it lasts longer, but puts out much less hear.

In reply to deeview:


As far as I know, that doesn't work. Unless it's ridiculously baltic then the temperature of the canister will be *lower* than the outside temperature once the gas has started moving through it and so you will be insulating the canister from the relative 'warming' effect of the outside. Sticking the canister in a pan of warm (or even room-temp) water does work.

In reply to deeview:

I think you must be just weighing the empty box, have you checked that it is in there?

(Weight actually about 90grams).

In reply to ianslade: my jetboil is quite light and due to you eating from the pot all you need to take extra is a spork and you are away, limited to what you can cook though

In reply to ianslade:



Pack more carefully?



Try putting the burner inside the pan. That will protect it.

Meths is about half as energy dense (the raw fuel) than petrol or gas. So you have to carry twice the fuel weight. Hoever, on short trips, you can take a small plastic container, rather than a metal fuel bottle or gas canister. About two or three days is the break-even point.

I'll plug my Squeezebox Stove again...

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/news/article/mps/uan/5644
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/forummessages.asp?URN=5&UTN=25772&am...

In reply to ianslade: get him to look at the whitebox stove from www.backpackinglight.co.uk made from a aluminium beer bottle in the USA its in the same style as the pepsi can stoves but much stronger. Has quite a broad spread of flame so best used with a pan rather than a 'kettle'

Steve D

In reply to deeview: Prius micron stove is much better than pocket rocket, first it doesnt act like a blow torch and only cook the centre of your food and second it may be heavier, but has built in piezo ignition, so no worries about damp matches.

IRT OP: if you're going gas, make sure you get the good stuff with plenty of isopropane in as it burns better at low temps. We sometimes ed up cuddling the gas canister to warm the gas to cook faster!

In reply to ianslade:

Just to add some more options, how about either of these?

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product397.asp
http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/product398.asp

If it were me I'd take a pocket rocket and titan combo. Great wee stove and pot. Can be a bit instable though(even with a stand).
I have a gravity too for when weight is less of an issue or more involved cooking is on the cards. It's only 200g more than a PR so would still consider taking it if only for the ease of use aspect.

In reply to SFM: Just to add to the weight debate, Steve House talked about his equipment on the Patagonia site, i think it will be on you tube too, for longer trips he doesn't use titanium pots as the poorer heat conduction means you have to carry more fuel. So you might have to carry 2 gas cans. With a Ti pot where one would do with a Al pot. Working out the breakeven point is definitely at the nerdy extreme, but its worth thinking about.
Steve