looking for a back packing stove

Hello all,
I am looking for a stove to use while backpacking and camping. I want one with a refillable fuel container like the MSR Simmerlite. I used a simmerlite on a recent backpacking trip, with my class, and liked it. I don't know much about backpacking stoves. What kind of fuels can I use? Can I mix fuels? what spare parts should I get? What do I need to be careful about? What kinds of features are there? Any advice would be much appreciated.
thanks

Also check REI for some info on stoves.

Lee

With certain MSR models you can use fuels other than white gas (aka. coleman camp fuel) but they don't burn as clean or as hot and can gunk up your stove. Do not mix fuels. If you're camping in the US white gas should be widely available so there's really no need to use secondary fuels such as kerosene, etc. Stoves like the MSR you used put out a lot of heat and are very efficient. On the downside, they require a bit of care and maintenance, (the pump assembly alone has quite a few components), and the fuel is extremely volatile. To most this doesn't matter, but I prefer simplicity, bulletproof design, and a non-explosive fuel so I switched to alcohol stoves. The tradeoff is less heat and longer boil times. If you decide to go with an MSR white gas stove I'd get a standard repair kit
(o-rings, etc.) if it doesn't already come with one. And of course a fuel bottle.

The Primus Omnifuel Stove is very flexible in what fuels can be used, probably the most flexible in the world as it can use propane/butane gas resealable gas cartridges as well as white gas. It will also burn diesel, petrol and even kerosene (these are really not recommended though because of the toxicity but sometimes needs must) and has an adjustable flame. You can even get one made from Titanium. One of the main criticisms of the MSR multifuel models is the plastic pressurization pump.

If your looking for a purely gas cartridge stove the Optimus Crux is really neat because of how compact the stove is.

well what kind of stove are you exacly looking for and what purpose?

What kind of fuels can I use?: depends on the stove
Can I mix fuels?: NO!!!
what spare parts should I get?:depends on the stove
What do I need to be careful about?: depends on the stove
What kinds of features are there?: Depends on the type.

Too many people in mine opinion are really over killing with there stove’s.

If you go on short trips only, on low altitudes, with the temperature well above freezing and fuel is available. Than a stove burning propane/butane mix is ideal. They are very easy to use and light weight.

If you go to places where fuel is harder to get, the temperature is lower, higher altitudes and your travelling for longer periods. Than a multifuel or gasoline stoves comes to its own. A build in cleaning needle is always a nice feature and it’s good to consider a silent or a roarer type of stove. One is silent (like the whisperlight) the roarer types sounds like a jet engine…

If you want to ultra simple, light, reliable, but a bit slower, go for the trangia style stoves.

I'll second the Dragonfly. I was with a friend in the Adirondacks and we used one - I liked it so much (easy to operate, nice and stable, efficent and quick) that I went out and bought one. I have since used that Dragonfly on a weeklong trip in the Smokies with no concerns/problems. Though there are stoves that are a little lighter and a little quieter if that is your thing.

Matt

I switched from the "normal" backpacking stove to home made alcohol stoves a few years back. Went from 3-4 pounds to around 1/2 pound for my whole kitchen. You can make a functional stove out in the woods from a discarded soda can in about 5 minutes with just a knife. I use fuel line de-icer (HEET) in the yellow bottle as fuel. Its cheap and found everywhere.

A great alcohol stove resourse: http://zenstoves.net/

When I went from "normal" to alcohol, I chose to go to a method of cooking called "freezer bag cooking" in which you just have to boil water and add to whatever you are cooking.
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/


Lightweight backpacking sites: hikinghq.net and whiteblaze.net


Going from 60 pounds base pack weight to 30 pounds will do alot for you, believe me.

HEET is 100% methanol and leaves no soot at all. When my pot is cooled down I just put it right back in my food bag. No mess to clean up with freezer bag cooking.

I know i'll get some groans and muffled snickers on this
but a Peak Feather stove has served me well on over 20
years of canoe tripping..the stove got a months worth of
daily use every year and some long weekends..yes its a bit
heavy but think "bomb proof"..the pump is built into the
stove so you not taking it out when re-fueling so there is
no wear and tear on a O ring..and your not pluging a hose
into the stove all the time..every O ring and every connection
is a weak spot that could fail..the tank is large enought for
several meals..more if all you do is boil water for rehydrating meals..i do a lot of simmering and get 4 meals..
i have taken other stoves along as back up and "try outs"
such as a Seva 123,Optimus 71..Wisperlights..MSR GK..
but for ease of use the Peak seems to work out best..
it has a wide burner so you don't get a hot spot..it's quite.
stable..run's well in cold--50's--weather..a Gaz stove i took
on one trip would not run hot enought to boil a cup of tea
on a cold evening unless i put my hands around the tank to
keep it warm..if you ca find the older square case/cook kit
for the stove you will have the pots you need ..
keep in mind i don't hike with this all day so that may taint
my view a bit..i know the ultra-light walkers go for pop can
stoves and such but the Peak is my suggestion for a good solid
Coleman fuel stove..i always direct people to "classic camp
stoves" a website out of the UK for EVERYTHING you wanted to
know about camp stoves..



---or you could use a kerosene stove like this..kero
is cheap and avalable..unlike Coleman fuel and gas it
not flare up and the vapors don't blow up like gas will.
untill gas stoves became popular these were the standard
camp stove and were used in homes all over Europe and in
Asia are still used by those who can afford them..

I love that old stove in the photo!
I used to work in an outdoor store that buys used gear and we would keep any of the really old stoves (and climbing / mountaineering gear) as collectables. We would then display them all over the shop. The place is kind of a museum.
Some of those old stoves will run forever.

Seeing that blast from the past stove reminds me of what we used as kids. I still have my folding Sterno Stove around the basement somewhere. I'll have to find it and show my son, so he can laugh at the primitive stuff his dad used in the dark ages! I don't want to think about how much Dinty Moore has been reheated on that thing, not to mention the SPAM, Cheese, SPAM, SPAM, Eggs, and SPAM.

Now, fyi, when backpacking I use a Jetboil system. It uses Iso/Butane canisters, so it's not quite what you were looking for. The only time I think I'd need white gas would be for sub-zero temps. Coldest we camped this winter was single digits, and it was fine., The JetBoil is compact, fast, and easy to use. I bought mine in '04. It's been really reliable. Of course, those cans of Sterno were reliable too...

Roger Caffin has a good description and the pros and cons of various stove technologies at

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

I second this, though I have moved away from the pocan stove up to the more durable Trangia alcohol burner found in Swedish Mess kits.

-Blast

The Trianga is VERY nice. But I am VERY cheap.

My problem is I'm a klutz. The popcan stoves work GREAT but after accidently crunching a few I decided I needed something more, well, Blast-proof...

-Blast

That's like trying to find something that is sailor proof! I hear the occasional rumour, but I haven't seen anything yet!!!

I have to second the Peak Featherlight stove. I've had mine almost as long as caneodogs, although I haven't used it nearly as much. Still going strong.

My only complaint is that the gas can be a pain, and it's dangerous. I was thinking of getting this. http://www.zzstove.com

DESERTFOX..
i have an older model Zip stove..the battery is in
a case below the stove..they work very well and toss out
alot of heat like a blacksmiths forge..the only drawback
is that you need a ready supply of wood small enought to
drop into the burner..pine cones and such work well of course.
i know when i'm camping it's sometimes a chore to find small
sticks for kindeling,so to use this you would need a heavy
knife or small axe to keep yourself in chips and chunks..
if you had rechargeable batterys and a solar charger you
keep the thing useable long after gas supplys had run down.

Geez, how long are you backpacking for? I think I've only seen one person top the 60 lbs limit. After we pulled out 2 jumbo Dinty Moore cans and ate his watermelon, the pack was much more managable!

Yes, I agree, a 30 lbs pack is MUCH more manageable.

Jimtanker:

You can get a Swedish Mess kit on e-bay for $9.00 right now.

My own preference is a stove that uses Coleman fuel since it is so easy to top off the tank before each trip.

I own and enjoy an older MSR Whisperlite. One of the scouts used his newish Whisperlite last weekend to heat up water and pasta sauce.

People have commented that it is nearly impossible to simmer with it, but I brought along one of those metal mesh squares with ceramic in the middel that they use in chemistry classes and put it between the stove and the pot. It worked VERY well. We simmered the sauce for 15-20 minutes without any burning or scorching. Bought them from sciencelab.com. Search using the word "guaze".

If you've got the cash, everything I've read says that the MSR Dragonfly is the best of the breed, but it is twice the price of the Whisperlite. In my view the Whisperlite with the wire/ceramic gauze does the same thing for a lot less.

Oh, and I was surprized to see that the newer Whisperlight has a glass-fabric wick that soaked up the fuel for priming. It worked very well. My 20ish year old Whisperlite doesn't have that. I myself carry a little squirter bottle of alcohol to use for priming - the bottle originally held fish "ich" medicine.

Wow 22 replys in less than 24 hours cool. Thanks for all the great info and links. I think I am leaning towards a white fuel stove but I have always wanted to make one of those POPcan stoves.

"...those cans of Sterno were reliable too..."

Yup, guaranteed to not boil anything, and take forever to heat anything. I have used a lot of them over the years, better than nothing, but not much...

"...I have always wanted to make one of those POPcan stoves..."

No reason not to make one, or several. I have made more than I can count. Some I carry and use, some got recycled, but they are easy and cheap to make, so why not spend a few evenings making one or three???

Yeah, I should have had a smiley face on that... I was realizing how far we've come with the small backpacking stoves today. The only thing Sterno did reliably was cause burns because we'd forget they were lit sometimes, especially in bright sunlight when you wouldn't see the alcohol flame and, well, you can probably piece together what happens when you pick up an aluminum can full of essentially burning napalm...

Good to keep in mind. Plenty of wood where I hike.

Does it work if the battery dies?

FOX.. not any better that a coffee can with holes in the
bottom would..and then you may as well just have a open
fire..it's the forced air from the fan that makes this
thing such a winner..

For someone starting out ...simple success goes a long way towards confidence building. Propane/Butane cannister type stoves are simple and easy...hard to not be able to get lit and cook stuff. Relatively cheap if you don't get the titanium versions. With some planning you can get pots or cups that hold the cannisters and maximize packing efficiency.
This is my choice as primary stove for my kit and I have also included a cool pop can stove with fuel...which are ridiculously lightweight, though easily damaged if abused. I'm quite fond of having a backup, but like small and lightweight even betetr so this pair works well for me. Especially since both burn so clean ...I've used Esbit stoves as backup before...they work and are cheap (always a good thing) but leave a sticky residue that can be annoying.
I have a Whisperlite too ...its got to be 20 yrs old so doesn't have the sexy new features, but works good. I should try that gauze trick metioned above.
Am considering intergrating a Kelly Kettle as the idea of cooking on top of the kettle while it heats water is pretty cool.
Better to start small rather than the opposite.

Another idea for "scorch-proofing" stoves is this:

The thing I like about this is that it has nice rounded edges and doesn't have a ceramic disk that could (theoretically) break.

Go to http://www.backpackerspantry.com and search using the keyword "scorch".

I really like the propane/butane stoves for one main reason. I'm lazy. I don't like fiddling with anything after hiking all day, I just want to open my backpack and start cooking. I remmber using the white gas stoves when I was in the scouts, they were nice, but too much fuss for me. They also only have two settings, off and blowtorch . I'm guessing the Simmerlite has solved that problem, or it would be a really misleading name.

Right now i have a Snowpeak Gigapower, but it's about as simple as you can get. Screw onto fuel container and turn the knob. You can have adjust the flame anywhere from simmer to burning a hole in your pot. No priming, no pumping, no hoses to connect or stands to setup, no nozzles to clean, etc. You don't even need a lighter, it's got a piezo start built in (highly recommended). If you live in CA and don't have to worry about low temps, look into a vapor fuel stove, they're really convienent. One drawback for a propane/butane stove is you can't check the fuel level in the container. I don't really have a problem with it, if in doubt I carry an extra cannister, it's still lighter than a bottle of white gas. Also, supposedly they fuel isn't as readily available in foreign countries, but I've never checked if that's the case.