Trying to decide what stove system to buy, with Jan's Mach n Back in mind, but there seems to be a bewildering choice. Just looking to boil water at this stage, for a good brew and rehydrating meals.

Like the idea of being able to pack it all down into one pot to save on space. Shouldn't need much more than 0.5l of capacity. Everything i find seems to be a lot bulkier than that and not so easy to carry.

Meths or Gas? I keep changing my mind :?

Wondering what peoples setups are before i splash my cash..

... Uhm, having messed about with just about every stove known to man, I'd go with meths.

Nearly every 'bought' meths stove I've tried has been a little slow compared to a homemade stove (others have just been plain crap). The only exception is a White Box which'll cost about 18 quid, light, fast and compact, reasonable fuel efficiency too.

If you fancy going the homemade route I'll be putting a MYOG on the blog shortly ... you'll require - aluminium water bottle, hack saw, drill and a file, a vice would also be handy but not strictly required. The end result is robust, light, fast to boil and doesn't require any type of pot stand or support.

I had a play with one of these over the weekend.

http://www.proadventure.co.uk/acatalog/ ... er997.html

I used the burner and stand, it did what it's meant to but it is very steady (everyone was eating while I was waiting) BUT it's very well made, quite compact, you can store enough fuel in it (without it leaking) to burn for about an hour. It'll fit inside a normal 90(ish)mm pot without trouble. The flame pattern is also well suited to narrow/smaller pots and mugs.

I bought the Evernew DX stand and stove with their 500ml pot (known as the Appalachian set outside the UK). The stand and burner fit inside the pot nicely, I then place that inside the 400ml mug, that isn't perfect though as the handles on the pot stop it from sitting flush.
Here's a shot of it in action:

I few folk have said I should have bought a Jetboil...I'm perfectly happy with what I've got though!

Caldera Cone & Alpkit Myti Mug

Has it's faults but for uber lightweight fast reliable boils then it's superb

Both the Evernew and Caldera would be a good choice. If I were going for an Evernew I'd just use the stove and trivet with a foil windshield (although using the DX stand does make for a nice intergrated set up) ... you can use the stove without any pot support but you'll close the top jets off, which at times may be a good thing.

Trail Designs list just about every pot you can think of to use with their Caldera Cone ... if your pot/pan is something a bit out of the ordinary you might not get one in the UK though.

http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/caldera-cone-system

*GEEK MODE NOW OFF

Whitebox stove is my go to stove.
Jetboils are a bit one trick pony though.

Just to add to the confusion ... there's always the Rodir meths stove. It's about the fastest meths stove I've ever used, if you don't mind the extra size and use a wide(ish) pot it's fantastic.

http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/p ... views.html

s8tannorm wrote:Just to add to the confusion ... there's always the Rodir meths stove. It's about the fastest meths stove I've ever used, if you don't mind the extra size and use a wide(ish) pot it's fantastic.

http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/p ... views.html

Just seen your hammock review on that page. Want!

Is this the stove where the review concludes:

The Bottom Line - if you're looking for a light, compact and simple way to warm something up then you shouldn't go far wrong. If you need to boil water then you might be better served elsewhere.

Don't you like him or something

Is this the stove where the review concludes:

No that's a different stove

Meths, lazy flame in the cold until it's going. The white box is ok, useless if not on level ground though, a Trangia will be ok as the are Swedish in design (used on the Artic Ultra). Gas canister stove will freeze as the canister is used, so unless you make a preheat system for them they are useless, this is the same for the regular jetboil, unless you go for the Sol which is designed for extreme conditions (which interestingly 4 years ago they claimed of the original jetboil, it wasn't and I hated it) So if it's freezing and with snow on the ground the best stove is MSR XGK, so that'll be most likely my stove of choice for Mach n Back.

Meths, lazy flame in the cold until it's going

I find most stoves crap until they're going

s8tannorm wrote:

Meths, lazy flame in the cold until it's going

I find most stoves crap until they're going

Actually a gas canister stove is the opposite, and performance will drop as the can ices up due to the pressure drop.
The issue with a 'lightweight' meths stove is the small reservoir of fuel, and the time and fuel required to prime the stove in sub zero temps. So while the petrol stove takes 2 minutes to prime a large bottle of pressurised petrol feeding the flame thrower ensures the perfect winter stove.

The white box is ok, useless if not on level ground though

Surely that's operator error?

Thanks Everyone.

The Evernew system seems to tick the boxes for me. Anyone know if the stove will fit inside an Alpkit MyTi mug? Still unsure if i want to go for there full system or just get the stove, trivet and the Alpkit mug :?

Hi there Chew,
The Evernew stove fits very neatly in the Solo Set (http://backpackinglight.co.uk/product499.asp?PageID=100) they do, with the DX stand in there too. Without the DX stand you can get the trivet and stove in there with other bits and bobs (brew kit, lighter etc.) easily. Internal dimesions of the larger 750 ml pot are 90mm diam x 116mm high. There is also an 800ml pot that takes the lot too (like a Ti Russian doll!).
I have used just the Solo Set and stove + trivet.... you could get away without the DX stand unless you want to burn soggy wood sometimes!
DX stand external dimensions when packed are 82mm diam x 70mm high.
Sorry but not sure of the Alpkit mug dimensions.
All this packs into one small bag (including foil cosy thing) 125mm diam x 140mm high... easily get this into a seat pack with other stuff packed around it.
HTH

Some more meths stove geekery,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSp6GLAG ... AAAAAAAEAA

If you fancy going the homemade route I'll be putting a MYOG on the blog shortly

For anyone slightly interested part 1 is on the blog now

http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.com/

Part 2

Cut bottom off,
Drill some holes,
De-burr,
Pour in Meths and light

Looks good

Part 2

Cut bottom off,
Drill some holes,
De-burr,
Pour in Meths and light

No, it's a proper double walled, semi-pressured affair.

Oh well, excited now and have and old bottle waiting to be hacked up.

Oh well, excited now and have and old bottle waiting to be hacked up.

Stop right there fella, don't go getting too excited, it'll only result in disoppointment

Making it now based on part 2

i just made a stove from a small metal vaseline tin. Very light, will test it tomorrow and take some pics... (I don't appear to have any meths).

Is there a standard stove performance test used to prove who's made the best stove? ;-)