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by Will Reitveld
Backpacking Light is the magazine of lightweight hiking and backcountry travel, founded by Ryan Jordan and Alan Dixon of Bozeman, Montana. This review, based on rigorous objective testing, compares ten… lightweight backpacking stoves that weigh less than 6.2 ounces each. While it's several years old, this is one of a pair of reviews by Backpacking Light that are the most comprehensive stove reviews we found. Using MSR IsoPro fuel canisters and titanium pots (except for the Jetboil's built-in pot), each backpacking stove is tested for boiling time under four conditions, including 12-mph winds with and without a windscreen. Fuel use is recorded under each condition, and "gas mileage" is estimated for average field conditions that vary from calm to windy. Although the Jetboil Personal Cooking System (PCS) is the most fuel-efficient in windy conditions, its weight counts against it. Top rating goes instead to the Coleman F1 UltraLight for the best performance overall.
by Will Reitveld
This second impressive review from Backpacking Light compares 17 lightweight backpacking stoves that use alcohol as fuel, testing them for heating efficiency under both calm and windy conditions, then… testing the top four with different windscreens. After rigorous testing, each stove gets ratings for usable features (including weight), ease of use, cooking performance, heating efficiency, durability and value -- plus an overall rating. The tests show that the manufacturers' boiling-time claims are quite far from accurate and that the stoves vary enormously in heating efficiency. Speed isn't necessarily correlated with fuel efficiency, and some stoves excel in calm conditions but not in windy ones. However, rated here as the best-performing alcohol stove overall is the ThermoJet MicroLite, which comes with a windscreen, pot support, simmer band, fuel bottle and carry sack for a total weight of only 3 ounces.
by Dan A. Nelson
This article reviews three "integrated cook set" products. They feature pots made specifically to attach to the stoves and high-efficiency heat dispersers. Testers took the stoves on hikes through the… Sierra Mountains in California and Olympic National Park. All three brands - Jetboil, MSR Reactor and Primus EtaPower - fared well but the Jetboil was the top overall pick. Hikers considered ease of use, efficiency and versatility. The MSR Reactor was deemed easiest to use. The Jetboil was the only stove to rate tops in two categories: efficiency and versatility. It boiled the most water (23 liters) from an 8-ounce gas canister and has many attachments, including a French press coffee maker.
by Dave MacLeay
Trailspace is a website founded by Dave and Alicia MacLeay, dedicated to helping people find dependable outdoor gear. Three big names in integrated stoves are tested and compared for boil times, fuel… efficiency, wind performance, weight, compatibility, cooking and ease of use. This article contains very specific product information, as well as testing methods. No clear "winner" emerges; rather, each stove has its strong points. The Jetboil PCS is the pick for those looking to camp by themselves and pack light; the MSR Reactor is the strongest performer in a variety of weather conditions; the Jetboil GCS is best for bigger meals.
by Art Simon
This review compares nine alcohol stoves based on testing, as well as offering information and links on even more models. There's useful information on the pros and cons of alcohol stoves here, noting that… they're ideal for solo hikers who want a quiet stove, but not suitable for group cooking or melting snow. After field-testing, the author's favorite is the stainless steel 5.6-ounce Clikstand S-1 used with a Trangia burner, since it's stable, fast and packs compactly with windscreen into a .9-liter pot. (The Clickstand can also use fuel-tab or homemade alcohol burners.) A windscreen is optional. Of all the stoves tested here, the Etowah is the trickiest to use and, while stable, it's noisy.
by Jeff Porcaro
GearReview.com is a website dedicated to finding the best outdoor equipment. Eight backpacking stoves are field-tested and reviewed here in a backpacking stove roundup, with ratings provided on a 5-point… scale. Other models are reviewed individually. The liquid-fuel MSR DragonFly is praised for starting quickly and easily, with precise flame control. The favorite canister stove is the Coleman Peak 1 Xtreme, though the heavier Peak 1 Xpedition is recommended for group cooking. The Peak 1 X-series stoves use canisters that are easy to recycle. They can also be punctured and crushed en route, saving pack space. This review recommends against stoves that mount directly atop the canister, such as the CampingGaz Micro Bluet, finding them too unstable. In addition, single-product reviews cover more recent stoves, singling out the MSR SimmerLite and the Jetboil PCS for the most praise, though warning that the Jetboil lacks stability. Editors here favor liquid-fuel stoves for backpacking, since it's irksome to carry partly-used pressurized fuel canisters and difficult to know how much fuel is left in them.
by Jerry Goller, Chief Moderator
The camping stove owner reviews here are much more complete and detailed than at most review sites, with a large number of stoves tested - 40 at the time of this report's update - and a wide range of… models, including a homemade Pepsi-can stove. The downside is that many are reviewed by just one person, who may or may not have reviewed other models. The format is also inconsistent - some reviews include three tests - initial, field and long-term - but others don't. This is a great place to look once you've narrowed your stove search down to a few specific models.
by Marcus Woolf and Dennis Lewon
Outside Online is the website for Outside Magazine, which publishes annual buyers' guides. Four stoves are briefly reviewed here in narrative form, with no mention of how they were tested. Each review is… glowing: The Brunton Flex is said to crank a lot of heat for its lightweight, 3.4-ounce frame; the Coleman InstaStart Fold N Go Two Burner Stove is praised for solid construction and collapsible clamshell design; the MSR Reactor Stove is said to be fuel efficient and windproof and the Optimus Stella+ is ultra compact yet can handle large cookware. We'd rank this review more highly if editors discussed how products were tested.
by Douglas Gantenbein
Outside Magazine's "Gear Guy" column is a regular Q&A. In this short article, a reader asks about fuel types. Douglas Gantenbein recommends a canister stove for traveling, based on the wide availability of… its fuel (propane or butane), its low weight and fewer airport restrictions, which limit or prohibit traveling with liquid fuel. Based on its low, 2.7-ounce weight and ease of use, the Vargo Jet-ti is recommended as the top choice, followed by the comparable but slightly heavier MSR SuperFly and the Snow Peak Giga Power. While no testing methodology is shared, these are the most recent recommendations we found.
by Douglas Gantenbein
This brief article compares compressed gas with white gas stoves. Douglas Gantenbein doesn't give any ratings but mentions a few models: MSR WhisperLite Shaker stove and MSR PocketRocket white gas stoves… and the Jetboil PCS in the canister stove category. He concludes that for camping trips of five or fewer days, a compressed-gas stove would be lighter and more reliable. For longer trips, he'd take a liquid gas stove.
by Marius Luessi
The ratings here are helpful because they specify whether a backpacking stove is recommended for one person, two or more. Unfortunately, of the dozens of stoves available, only eight have been tested and no… new models have been added for several years. Of these, two are recommended for both solo and group hikes: the Trangia 28 (Mini-Trangia) and the MSR WhisperLite Shaker. The Optimus Svea 123 is recommended for two or more hikers, presumably because of its weight, as is the Coleman Peak 1 Feather 400.
by Cam Burns
Mountain Gazette is a magazine about mountain life and culture. This review covers 12 backpacking stoves, organized by type. Cam Burns reviews these stoves with a touch of humor, but he did apparently… field-test every stove reviewed. No favorite is picked among the lightest stoves that mount directly on a fuel canister, but the larger 4.5-ounce Coleman F1 PowerBoost gets praise for smooth burning and excellent spot-support stability. (The MSR SuperFly can use more types of canisters than most stoves, but the author finds "considerable flaring" when it's used with Camping Gaz fuel instead of MSR fuel.) Top pick is the 8.4-ounce Primus Gravity MF (multi-fuel), which uses a cable to connect with the canister for stability, and can also use liquid fuels. Compared with the MSR WindPro and Coleman Xtreme, the Gravity MF sits lower, for less effect from the wind.
by Rich Johnson
This review of 17 two-burner camping stoves for family camping use is disappointing because it never makes it clear why these models are picked from the dozens available. It does point out distinguishing… features, and the Brunton Wind River range is picked as Editor's Choice. Only two Coleman stoves burn unleaded gasoline and white gas (Coleman fuel), so either of these two would be best for disaster preparation as well as campground use. Most of these stoves use propane and some are already equipped to use either bulk cylinders or smaller ones.
by Paul Nanian and the Editors of Thru-Hiker
This site offers two older reviews based on objective tests, plus articles calculating how stove and fuel weight add up during 14-day and 28-day trips. For trips of 14 days or more, the MSR WhisperLite… stove and fuel weigh about twice as much as an alcohol or canister stove, but the article may not be taking wind effects into account. (In really cold weather, only a liquid-fuel stove will be effective.) The Esbit fuel-tab stove is the lightest solution by far, but it's very susceptible to wind and cold. In a review comparing two homemade alcohol stoves, the Cat Stove and the Pepsi Stove, tests show the Pepsi stove is slower but lighter, and it also cooks longer (better when you want to cook, not just boil water). A review of the MSR PocketRocket (using a butane/propane Coleman canister) find that it uses an average of 0.25 ounces to boil a pint of water, but in the field, wind can double or even triple fuel consumption.
by Jesse Gunderson
by Contributors to OutdoorReview.com
This is a good site to check user reviews and ratings of backpacking stoves, although some newer models aren't included. Still, quite a few models have accumulated plenty of reviews and you can sort the… entire list by average rating for both best and worst stoves. More than 50 stoves are reviewed, with some brands racking up over 200 individual reviews. The top-rated stoves that have over ten reviews are the Primus Himalaya Multi-Fuel, the Optimus Climber Svea 123R and the MSR SuperFly.
by Contributors to Trailspace.com
This is one of the most convenient sites for checking user reviews of camping stoves because you can look up ratings a variety of ways - by brand, type of stove and price. You can also sort according to the… top-rated models. Three camping stoves on this site that garner more than one review each earn perfect five-star ratings: The MSR WindPro, the Snow Peak GigaPower Stove and the Optimus Nova. Bear in mind, though, that most stoves on this site have received few reviews.
by Contributors to The Backpacker.com
The user reviews and ratings here aren't as convenient to read here as at Trailspace.com and OutdoorReview.com, because you can't sort the list to see the top-rated stoves first. Rather, stoves are… alphabetized, leaving you to do a lot of digging to find the top-rated models. That said, there are many stoves reviewed here. Of stoves with more than 20 reviews, three earn a perfect five-star rating: the MSR PocketRocket, the Optimus Svea 123 and the Trangia Alcohol Stove.
by Contributors to Amazon.com
Unlike many other products on this vast website, camp stoves have received very few reviews. Popular stoves include the MSR PocketRocket and a number of Coleman models. The Coleman H/T Two-Burner InstaStart… Propane Stove is lauded for being sturdy and easy to set up. Users say the Coleman 2 Burner Propane Stove is good for small jobs, but won't handily feed a family. The liquid-fuel Coleman 414-700 Powerhouse 2 Burner stove earns extremely mixed reviews from another seven users. Some users love it, while three complain of poor quality construction.
by Contributors to Epinions
by John Stanley
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