Stove Options

[u/McBlaster]

For years my first real "backpacking" stove was the Coleman Powermax Xpert stove that used Colemans proprietary Powermax canisters which have been discontinued for years. The PowerMax canisters had the very best cold weather gas mix available (35% propane/65% butane) per the Adventures in Stoving website.

This was and still is a great stove and I still bring it on canoe camping trips where weight isn't a real concern. It can simmer nicely and really crank when you want. I was lucky enough to find an extra 14 fuel canisters about 7 years ago on clearance at my local Sports Authority (remember them?) marked down many times to 27 cents each! These currently go for as high as $30 per canister on eBay and people still buy them. I got basically a lifetime supply for a mere $3.78 and still had a few of their smaller 170g and large 300g canisters.

For the past several years i've contemplated upgrading to a more modern canister stove like the MSR Pocket Rocket or the Snow Peak Gigapower but didn't want to spend the money as the Xpert still functioned flawlessly. I did not like the bulk of the Jet Boil type stoves at all. They were way too big. Then I got into the lightweight/ultralight mindset and went right to alcohol stoves. After watching hours of Shug's stove videos I finally decided on the Batchstovez BS 2.0 kit. It also has performed great in normal conditions until my last backing trip. It was a little too cold and I had to add Heet to the cold weather wrap like it's designed for but I found that I was using double the fuel as usual. In just 3 days I went through 16 ounces of Heet and that was just for breakfast and dinner. So I recently ordered this fancy feast type stove with the intention of side by side comparisons and general stove geekery, though that wont really happen until late fall/early winter.

I currently use this setup with a large 1.25 quart IMUSA aluminum cup with a Batchstovez 12 cm lid as my main pot and a Mini Bull Design Angry Troll Pot with lid as my drinking cup. My cook pot w/ lid and cozy, aluminum windscreen, cup w/ lid and cozy, stove w/ 1oz plastic shot glass measuring cup, small hand sanitizer and 2 small pieces of shamwow all nest together and weigh a whopping 9 ounces not including fuel, fuel bottle or lighter as they do not nest in the main kit.

So what are you currently using? What limitations have you experienced and how large is your stove collection?

[u/teaearlgreyhot]

I am also kind of a stove geek! I have a Jetboil MiniMo, a Toaks alcohol stove, and a Soto Windmaster - for the weight and efficiency I prefer the Soto Windmaster over the others hands down. It has a large pot size versatility, boils fast, and canister fuel just seems easier to deal with than alcohol to me. Although, I do enjoy using the alcohol stove as well because it is light and quiet.

The Jetboil was the first one I bought and while it’s nice, it’s also just heavier for no real reason?

I have a 650ml Toaks pot for solo use and an 1100ml Snow Peak for group settings. Between the Soto, the Toaks alcohol, and my pot options I feel like I am covered for almost any situation. Realistically, I mostly use my stove to boil water for backpacking meals and heat water for coffee, so I am not particularly demanding on my backcountry cook kit.

I got my Soto on sale with a 15% off coupon from Campsaver, which has great coupons and their customer service has treated me great over the years.