+1 for the MSR Pocket Rocket. It has served me well. I've seen some of the ultralight sleeping bags and I'm not quite convinced. They seem pretty skimpy in person. Condensation can cause the interior of your small backpacking tent pretty clammy if it's cold out and you have the rainfly on, and I'd worry that I would wake up damp.

I've got a Coleman Peak 1 Butane stove and lantern. I got them this summer for Field Camp and I haven't had any problems with either. They both sip fuel. I can boil a pint of water in a few minutes and the lantern puts out a great amount of light (perfect for working on geologic maps at night when there weren't enough lanterns to go around). They're also stable considering the butane bottle is low and wide and bottom heavy.

I've heard great things about the MSR pocket rocket, and the various other stoves and mini-lanterns, but lantern, stove and a bottle fuel cost me less then $40 and haven't let me down yet.

I prefer Coleman fuel or 'white gas' over propane or isobutane (or other similar combinations of 'tanes'.

The stove of choice for 'white gas' is the MSR Dragonfly. Its not cheap, but it is a VERY nice stove.

It burns Coleman fuel, 'white gas', kerosene, unleaded auto fuel, diesel fuel, and jet fuel. From a survival perspective this is a huge benefit.

These fuels are not as affectec by cold weather as propane.

It has very good flame control, which allows the user to simmer and limit fuel use.

It has wide support at the pot end and the ground end.

It folds up pretty tiny to fit inside a pot.

The fuel tanks have been in use for many many years (25?) with no leakage issues.

It gets great reviews.

Fuel tanks can be topped off before a trip, and, like propane, when one tank is empty I can just swap it out with a full one with no pouring of fuel.

I second the choice of MSR dragonfly for a great backpacking stove for the same reasons as KenK. If you keep your eye on ebay, they can sometimes be found at a much more reasonable price than retail. I purchased mine because of the light weight and multi-fuel versatility. I have only used coleman fuel in it, but knowing that I can burn almost any other fuel gives a lot of peace of mind.

Yup, I bought my Dragonfly stove on ebay for just over $80 ... plus the shipping ($5 or so). That is much better than the $120 on most on-line stores.

Like I said in another thread (and another board), I have a Dragonfly too and like it a lot, but here in SOCAL I'm not dealing with frigid temps or high altitude. Tthe convenience of IsoPro canisters and the small size of the pack Pocket Rocket makes it ideal for me. I could go back to the Dragonfly easily, I've hot three gallons of Coleman fuel in the garage.

Hi KenK,

I prefer the Primus Omnifuel stove as it burns everything the MSR dragonfly does including LP gas. (Butane, Propane, Isobutane mixtures etc)

http://www.primus.se/primus/Flash/Produktfilmer/player_promnieng1stor.html

Combine this with a Gasmate adapter and a Markill Campingaz Adapter and you can burn the majority of gas cannisters on the market.

BTW it would have to be really cold i.e. around -40 degrees Celsius for propane to be affected. Even liquid fuels such as Colmans White Gas would start having difficulties at these low temperatures. Using a standard Coleman 30/70 propane/butane mix cannister using a Primus Omnifuel with a liquid gas feed i.e (inverting the cannister in the same way as the Coleman® Exponent® Powermax® Fuel Adapter), operational temperatures of around -20 degrees Celsius are available.
The gas cannisters are lighter, more reliable than using mechanical pumps, easier to use and don't need any priming.



Coleman® Exponent® Powermax® Fuel Adapter