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Criteria:-
- for boiling water for tea (for me) and sometimes heating a tin of beans (for the boy) but nothing more complicated that that
- weight not critical but obviously lighter is better
- lowish cost but I'm prepared to pay for something reasonably decent
- don't mind what fuel so a mini trangia is an option
- I prefer the more stable designs than the tall ones but again not critical
So far I've looked at the Alpkit stuff, unfortunately their Jetboil replica is again sold out. Wondered about one of their other stoves and a mug for brews? I see that MSR pocket rockets are only £30 these days.
I'm in no way an expert, but I've had a Coleman Alpine for years. Burner sits away from the bottle so nice an stable, it all folds up aswell.
The newer version seems to go for around £29
I got an alpkit koro and it's pretty neat. Very light for a 3 leg stove, super stable and controllable. Packs in a small pot. I made a small windshield from a roasting tray, works a treat and folds up in the pot.
I've also got a trangia burner that is also great
And I've got an Primus express spider 3 leg gas burner. Also great.
Then I bought an Mkettle that runs on twigs to boil water (it's a miniature kelly kettle. Works a treat and is great fun.
I like stoves I do 😮
Make your own soda/pop/beer can stove. Yes alcohol/meths stoves are slower than gas/petrol but you are talking five minutes instead of 3mins30secs (or similar ratio) and unless you are racing then it's moot point anyway.
Here's a few links on making your own:
[url= https://outdoorsmagic.com/article/make-meths-burner/ ]Captain Paranoia[/url]
[url= http://zenstoves.net/ ]Zen stoves[/url]
There's plenty of other pages.
Total weight of stove and windshield is a mighty 10g! If you don't want to make your own then Stuart over at Bearbones makes a [url= http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/shop/?product_cat=cooking ]couple of sizes [/url]
Optimus Crux. Folds away under a gas canister. Not particularly delicate in adjustment but suitable for boiling water etc.
Pair it with a HE pot if you want to reduce gas usage. The Terra for example.
MSR pocket rocket here.
Spotty Dog imho.
building and using an actual fire can't be beat, but if that's not an option, a gas burner, any lightweight one, is as good as anything, with a tin of gas, obv..
What scotroutes said.
Optimus Crux
Scotroutes speaks sense (again)
I've used them all, what I usually default to is a propane/butane gas spider Stove. Something like the kovea or primus express. Also with a wind guard of some sort. They're simple clean powerful and stable, buy one that does direct feed.
Jetboil is another contender.
There are different options firvwhat you suggested.
Jetboil type - no good for the beans. Only ever heat water in them.
Tower type (crux)- good. But stability issues.
Remote cartridge. (Kovea spider type) - good. Good stability too. Will be larger however as you have a build in stand.
For you I'd suggest the latter. But all will work, and getting out with your lad is what's important.
ive got a bearbones 10g its a great little stove.
Still wouldnt take it out side of ultrafast ultra light solo conditions over my MSR whisperlite which has been at my side for many a year/mile. Its about to travel up the canadian west coast with me - many folk say its/Most MSR kit is heavy , overkill etc etc ... but when they just keep working and dont really mind the cold (so long as you dont get rough with the pump handle in the -xx temp range)compared to gas/meths knowing it will just work.
That said if its recreational backpacking in the uk then a pocket rocket and a gas can will do 😉
The simple requirements are perfect for a penny stove or similar. Use a airline liquid container thing to take a small amount of meths. For short trip.
If you want gas then cheap eBay Chinese stoves are fine. I had a Coleman and one of those. Identical except the coleman was twice the price. And it died with less hours on it than the cheapo.
Jetboil type - no good for the beans. Only ever heat water in them.
Hmmm! I guess I pulled off a miracle a I've cooked beans in them, porridge, rice and a few other things too.
Yeah but eating from a cup is pretty crap.
Fwiw I've been touring with folk who are jetboilaholics.
They look on in horror when I pull out the camp kitchen and cook food as oppose to freeze dried crap. But they dont mind eating the food cooked in the kitchen.
Don't get me wrong I've eaten my share of freeze dried crap when being fast and light depends on what my goal is - but when touring mines to be comfy 🙂
I've never used a freeze dried meal in mine and guess what, just like any you can empty the contents onto a plate or a slate if that's your sort of thing.
Drac, yeah you can cook lots in them.
Jetboil themselves say that they are only good for water.
I think its just that its such intense heat in spots that unless your careful it'll stick & burn.
I only use mine for wet ration pouches and hot water for a brew. Mainly first thing in the morning when they really excel.
That's not to say you can't, but it'll be easier with a pan & stove.
The joy of stoves is that its n+1 on a much more affordable scale! ?
Yup easier with a pan and stove that's for sure but for kncoking a basic and simple meal up they do the job.
Honey stove.
And a trangia burner.
And you can Chuck some wood in and have a wee fire/bbq.
Not the fastest by a long chalk but it's adaptable.
600g though.....
Yeah...but then, that's nothing compared to the excess grammes the buyer is carrying.
I have a few gas stoves which are great for proper cooking on, but for being superlight / just boiling water, coke can meths stove is the winner! Fun little project too 🙂 give it a go!
You can cook decent food in a jetboil - but you have to be careful as things do stick badly / easily.
sorry for the thread hijack, but I'm after a similar thing.
My Trangia is OK in my panniers, but it takes quite a bit of room up in the seatpack, with the pans.
just surfing for scotroutes recommendation, I found this, quite small, but seems quite good VFM.
[img] 
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Does it seem OK for the odd overnighter?
We've had an MSR XKG for ages.
They are truly brilliant bits of kit, no reason to suggest the cheaper models would be rubbish.
It gets chucked in a bag, rattled around, runs on anything flammable and is easy to set up/take down.
Love it to bits, one of my favourite bits of kit.
If you want gas then cheap eBay Chinese stoves are fine.
+1
One of these has lasted me years of hard use and IIRC cost me about £4:
If the OP prefers meths a home made cat stove (Catfood tin with holes punched in it.) works great, can be made in five minutes and weighs nearly nothing.
I've used both to cook those 'beans + breakfast in a can' things and boil water.
I got a tiny titanium one from Go Outdoors. Same as a posher brand's one I think, but way cheaper. Works well enough and it really is tiny and super-lightweight.
We've got an alpkit jetboil copy which is great and vry efficient, but it does take up a lot of room, so I got a Primus Express stove which is tiny and means that I can get a gas cylinder and the burner into an alpkit TiMug. Much smaller, and for S24O's and lightweight bikepacking it does the job well enough.
Yes, it's good kit.Does it seem OK for the odd overnighter?
Thanks for all the suggestions. After a lot of reading I went for the Primus one I linked to. Since it's for going on overnight trips with the boys, who will want to participate in the 'cooking', I reckon the stable design is worth it. Reading some of the real world tests suggests a proportion of the weight can be shed by leaving the case and a couple of other bits behind. And it seems that Prius are a decent brand. The price being down from £90 to £50 is a decent drop too, and makes it as economical as any other option once you factor in the cost of a pot.
I fancy giving the home made ones a try, but perhaps not when I'm camping with two clumsy boys.
600g is a helluva lot for a gas stove/cooking pot ('cooking system' - sigh) these days but if you're not back/bike packing (or get yer mates to carry it) so what.
The big upside is you've ordered the eta pot. On longer trips this will save you 30 - 40% gas which means smaller (lighter) gas cans or bigger gaps between resupply. Both can be good things on longerer trips.
Yeah, that was the only thing making me hesitate. But, this is for taking my two boys camping. We won't be walking that far to start with. Don't they say your rucksack shouldn't way more than 20% of your body weight? That gives me 24kg to play with 🙂
You'll [i]really[/i] enjoy getting out and about with 24kg on yer back 🙂
I spent a week walking through the Fish River Canyon with more than that - canvas tents, solid metal poles, trangia, a weeks food, and a **** off big radio (aerial wire, radio set and a lead acid battery) in a pelicase 🙂 now that was brutal.
You could do worse than a Highlander Blade (jetboil copy) team it with a 'fire maple' gas canister support, I've actually used this set up on numerous wild camps no problemo, works well in wind and is quick to boil, £50 that's all.
Yes, it's good kit.
cheers KM79
ordered, together with the HE cookset that scotroutes recommended,
Anybody want a used once Trangia with spare bits?
I got firemaple stove off amazon or eBay. Basically the same screw on stove as the alpkit one. It's much better than my old msr pocket rocket in that the flames not so concentrated. It's light and affective with a plastic gas canister support. If I weren't so worried about pack size I'd go for a burner with a wider head so the flame spread is better for a wider range of cooking esp if there a few of you. Something like the msr wind pro but the alpkit/ firemaple version.
This any good? Been looking at it for myself, packs very small and doesn't weigh a lot.