SwampDonkey,
Not to disagree with the group here, but I was glad (20 years ago) to dump my Svea 123. Without the mini pump, it is a pain to use at altitude or in the cold, even with the pump it could be better. It is not particularly fast, but for some that is not important. I never used auto gas (the stove was clearly marked not to use it), but even then it required cleaning. The prick (before shaker cleaning) was easy to break or loose. The one piece design is too tall and hard to stabilize in rough terrain or on an ensolite pad in the snow (I finally made a plywood base). If you like this type of stove, I think the Optimus 8R was a much better design (again, get the pump), but I shifted to an MSR XGK and never looked back.
The two piece design works very well, keeps the center of gravity low and, with the original ridgid fuel tube, made a very broad base. The newer ones use a flex tube, but include feet for stability. I have not had a problem with the plastic parts even though I am a klutz :-( and carry lots of hard stuff in my bag. They are also the easiest stove I have seen to repair in the field. The designer actually used them in the field! Parts are available in most of the world (try finding Coleman parts in Katmandu).
I recently replaced my original with the new EX model and it is even better. I have not used auto gas in either one, but the old one ran mostly on aviation gasoline. In both cases, in the old days, the biggest safety hazard was the lead in the gas. Clogging is not hard to deal with. If you want to simmer with this type of stove, get the Dragonfly or Simmerlite (I think the Dragonfly has a larger range of fuels). It is a bit of a problem with the XGK, but it is the best water boiler of the bunch.
Respectfully,
Jerry
I’ve had just the opposite experience. I run gasoline in my Svea, it has a cleaning needle built into it. Open the valve all the way and it pokes up through the orifice and cleans it out. I have done this while the stove was running and at not had to even turn the stove off to clean it.
Several years ago I had an MSR Whisperlite and it clogged up all the time. I had to have a repair kit with me and take it apart in the field to get it up & running again. I will never buy another MSR stove, taking it apart twice in a week long campout made that decision for me. Why does MSR sell so many field repair kits for each stove and also a yearly rebuild kit for each of their stoves? Answer, they need it. I have read a lot of reviews on MSR stoves, and almost all people love them, but then they say to make sure you buy the repair kit. Reading between the lines it tells me I was not the only one that has clogging problems. Even your post says they are easy to field strip, this kinda says you have had to take it apart to clean it while out camping. I have no idea how to take my Svea apart, I don’t think I will ever need to as it fires up all the time every time.
The Svea does need to be put on a level surface, but don’t they all? I have never knocked over any stove while cooking. I think the Svea is 4700 BTUs output and newer stoves can be as high as 9000 BTUs. This is not a big deal to me as it seems to cook more then fast enough. It will boil a quart of water in 5-min. As far as getting it to lite up, I squire some Denatured alcohol into the cup and all over the generator and light it and let it almost burn out, then light the stove. It works great. I don’t have the pump for it, I never felt I needed it. I don’t do much winter camping now, but in the Boy Scouts we did several weekends a year. And it always worked well for us in the winter.
I don’t have a R8 stove, but sooner or later I would like to get one just to play with, I have read that the R8 is not as hot as the 123. But that’s not a big issue, who cares if a quart of water takes 5-min or 5 ½ min?
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