I bought a RationZ Hexamine stove a while ago...it's basically the Esbit style stove with Hexamine fuel cubes. I picked it up as the solid fuel seemed better than toting a bottle around for my alcohol stove.

I wanted to see what it could do on the stove top before I need to rely on it out there in the great unknown. I've done some testing with my Vargo Titanium Triad alcohol stove so this is all I really had to compare it to...but since the two were competing for space in my pack right now, it seemed fitting.

For the test I boiled just over 1 cup of water in my GSI stainless mug.

I first tried to light the fuel cube with a firesteel. This did not work at all. I soon found out why. I lit the cube with a Bic and had to keep my thumb down so long I nearly burned my fingers. Once lit it burned with a blue/yellow flame which sooted the bottom of my cup nicely...much like a big candle. At first the cube burned slowly and I was looking forward to the 15 minutes of burn time as advertised. It burned with some smoke at first but there was no smoke once the cube completely lit.

The cube burned for aproximately 8 minutes. In this time the water heated but did not boil beyond some bubbles forming on the bottom of the cup. Had I needed to sterilize water, I'd have run out of fuel cubes before I'd sterilized even a liter of water as the stove only holds four cubes and the kit came with 8. Seemed like a good deal for $11 at the time.

Just to be sure I dumped out the water and fired up the Vargo with Methyl Hydrate stove fuel. Just to add some insult to injury after the poor performance of the RationZ stove I lit the Vargo in a single flick from my Spark-Lite striker. I even let it warm up completely before putting the cup on the stove.

In 9 minutes the cup was at a full rolling boil. To test longevity I left the cup on the stove and just let it boil until it ran out of fuel. The flame wavered at 19 minutes and at 20 the flame puffed out.

While the Vargo cost me $30, it seems to have won this contest hands down. I could go on for hours about the pros and cons...wind protection (winner: RationZ), weight (winner: Vargo), and fuel cost/weight/efficiency (winner: ?) but personally the Vargo never ceases to amaze me (it weighs 1 oz.!!!) and the RationZ stove makes me want my 11 bucks back.

Two things I may test in the near future is using Esbit brand Hexamine fuel as well as other alcohol fuels in the Vargo...never know when you'll need to boil some water with gas line anti freeze.

http://www.militaryfoods.com/accessories.htm
http://vargooutdoors.safeshopper.com/181/1452.htm?952