To get myself back on topic a bit, I've drooled over all those cool multi-fuel/exotic fuel/blended fuel component/contained backpackable stoves, and realized that nothing seemed to work any better for me than the el cheapo screw on propane bottle stove I've used in the past. No windscreen included, just a simply 8,000 or so btu burner made of stamped and perforated sheet metal with heavy wire legs or more sheet metal struts. No pumping, no priming, cheap as you can get bottled fuel that lasted me and two other guys all week long. If I wanted it to make even hotter fire, I splurged and bought a bottle of Mapp gas and lived it up. It didn't seem to noticably weigh down my pack any more than the expensive ones I borrowed from friends, and you couldn't beat the economics ($15 for the stove and 99 cents a bottle back then).

You might have to tuck the bottle under an armpit and suffer for a couple minutes in the nastiest of weather, but that wasn't so different from some of the other touted systems. If it broke or got lost, well, go back to the store and get another one.

I used two of those little el cheapo propane stoves to do an awful lot of expedtionary and impromptu cooking, and they've held up pretty well, have been totally reliable, and are still in my grub box ready to go. Coming up with my own refill adapter for a 20 lb tank cut the cost on them little bottles down to almost ziltch.