Hi bigmothertrucker,

I personally would forget about alcohol stoves because of the weight penalty on longer periods out in the wilderness/bush. For anything over a 4-5 days, alcohol stoves become quite inefficient due to the specific energy properties of the alcohol fuel. The same situation applies to Esbit or hexamine fuel stoves. They are excellent for 1-2 days though.

Roger Caffin's analysis of the most efficient stove which gives the best performance for the lightest weight over a 5 day period is the gas cartridge stove.

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Efficiency.htm

If boiling water rather than actual cooking takes priority then the Jetboil stove is pretty difficult to beat.

http://www.sailgb.com/p/jetboil_camping_stove/

Although MSR Reactor stove may have the edge on the Jetboil

These stoves use flux ring heat exchanger technology and claim to boil up to 50-60% more water for each gas cartridge used.

http://www.msrgear.com/stoves/reactor.asp

the ones in the green bag? didnt know they sold them anywhere.
then again I could probably get all my not for sale to civilians gear off of ebay should I ever loose it.
I am a fool. I didnt notice the vargo is titanium. It must be worth the 30 bucks for sure. I may get one to test as I am sure it will be better than making a pop can just to have it squish in my gear.

heres another stupid question. will it burn all types of alcohol or just the de-whatever ed type?.

also. where the hell do I get one?

I have a Trangia alcohol stove and an Esbit stove. I have used the Esbit stove for years, but have just recently bought the Trangia stove so I am not to familiar with it right now. The little I have played with it it seems it will do fine. I have used and made a couple of the pepsi can stoves over the years too, And like every one else between the Esbit and pepsi can stove it's a toss up and just depends on what you want to carry. Both have their pros and cons. The only thing I would suggest is go to one of the links above and no matter which stove you choose make one or two of the pepsi can stoves, if nothing else you can always flip it over and use Esbit tabs with it.

I have purchased several of Tinny's stoves and have been very happy with all of them. I currently use a Trekker 2 which uses a primer pan and a Trekker 3 which uses a fiberglass wick wrapped around the stove to prime, so no primer pan needed, but have ordered an Isofly for my birthday coming up since it performs much better in cold weather than the pressurized stoves.

Customer service has been great and product is a good value. If you wonder, check out his Youtube videos posted under the user name Minibulldesign. He has over 100 videos on lots of topics, but specifically his stoves.

I bought mine at the MEC. I know for a fact that the Edmonton MEC has one in stock right now unless they've sold it in the past few days...doubtful. I believe they're $29

Generally these types of stoves will burn several different types of fuels commonly available. zenstoves.net has a crazy detailed list of fuels and their pros and cons. I use Methyl Hydrate because I can buy it at the MEC just down the street.

http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm

If you decide to go with a canister stove, MEC has a good selection of those too. I picked up my Optimus Crux there for (I think) $42 but they have other options in that price range.

cool thanx.
I have a raptor and it dont get much smaller than that. problem is the dammed canister. I am really looking for something that can fit into a TAC pouch or even a fishing vest to heat a cup of coffee but not really to cook with. good for long patrols or non tactical ex where the boost given by a hot drink is worth its weight in gold. I read your review on IMPs and you will notice that a few of the items need hot water. usually you can just pour the water in from a small cup but we rarly have the time for even that. the MRE heaters will do to warm the rats to an acceptable level but I have eaten the frozen during a tac situ. your ham steak in mustard sauce is less of a thrill to eat that way but you wont actually die from it. if I dont have a hot coffee I will die. Or I will wish I did die.

I really like coffee.


price is not a big deal to me. If I like it I will buy it. thats why I edc a 500 dollar folder.

I will make do with what I have but given the choice I prefer to survive in style.

Intersting site with some good information. It's too bad he seems to have a bias against what he refers to as the 'fabled' Pepsi can stoves...he doesn't seem to like the 'American' way of hiking either.

In his own 5 day chart, the Hexamine and Alcohol stoves are overall the two lightest options but in his conclusion he claims the cannister stove is the lightest over 5 days...I don't get that. He also makes a lot of assumptions...he uses the word assume or assuming, etc. at least 12 times hehehe. I'd rather see experimental proof than 'based on years of experience'. But I can understand how hard that would be. My personal reviews on this site are based on experience too so I guess I can't fault him too much.

He does make good points about the 'dead weight' of the empty cannisters however. This is a popular myth. I don't mind the weight so much as the shape makes it harder to pack in my backpack compared to the nice slender Trangia bottle

I just tried the penny...didn't make any difference. Boiled 2 cups in about 9 minutes and total burn was 17 minutes (kitchen cook top test). The flames seemed more stable than without the penny but I've had longer total burn times. I did it twice just to see and it took about a 1/2oz. of fuel (by weight) to boil 2 cups of tap water and needed 1oz (by weight) to fill with enough extra fluid to prime in cold but not super freezing weather.

Hacksaw Most of the commercial alcohol stoves I have looked at have large holes on the burner. If the holes are to large or their are to many of them then the stove can't build pressure, maybe thats the problem.

I don't have time to read all of the responses so far, so I hope that this is not a repeat.

For military use I would not even think about a Pepsi can type stove, only because they are made out of thin aluminum, and can easily be bent out of shape and stop working as designed. I would get one of the Swedish brass ones, or a commercial alcohol stove made out of tougher materials...