Going away cycling and camping in france this year and was thinking of getting a Trangia. What do people think of them?

I've had a Trangia for nearly 20 years and although bulky and perhaps heavy I have cycled and hitched around France etc. many times and it has always been totally trouble free. Highly recommended but I have never used anything else so I can't compare.

Simple, but slow.

I've had one for about 15 years now which still gets used on and off.

If you're going properly lightweight they aren't the best option, as the fuel and the stove add up to quite a bit. I've been using Greenheat in mine recently rather than meths, as it's a bit more packable than carrying around a Sigg bottle and less messy.

However they are relatively cheap, windproof, a lot more controllable than something like an MSR Whisperlite, and if you're going to France you'll be able to get proper alcool a bruler, not the foul purple stuff that taints your bacon of a morning.

A bit of a marmite thing. Advantages very simple and work well in foul conditions. small gas stoves are affected by the wind and the cold – trangias are not. Very very reliable.

disadvantages – you need a lot of meths which can be hard to get at times compared to gas cylinders and you need a lot of it as they can be thirsty on fuel. Meths tends to stink up your kit. They can only be used with the trangia pans really.

I have used all sorts of camping stoves over the years and all have advantages and disadvantages.

They're a right faff and require a bit of a breeze, not at all adjustable on the heat levels. Presonally, I would buy a fast boil propane/butane stove, clean, adjustable and much quicker to start and use/adjust heat. Propane/butane canisters get a bit unpredictable as they run out, but the pros outweigh the cons overall. The P/B canisters are generally widely avaiable in the EU.

Just like Pegasus had mine since they came out 32 years?

I used to envy people with lighter easier controled cookers, but mines never ever let me down and when it's really stormy it works even better.
Out of desperation I used a clear fuel whilst in Switzerland it worked fine and did no harm.

Good but slow and bulky. Also due to the way they go together you willl have to keep it really clean IIRC

Agree with TJ you won't get any surprises with a Trangia. You can see when the fuels going, and wind/rain/cold/heat aren't a concern.

Eve – I have had a propane/butane stove partially fail due to cold reducing the pressure in the cylinder to the point at which it would hardly cook my tea. A trangia would have worked then.

If i had a pound for every time ive been away on a trip where someone has had their posh expedition stove break down and my twenty year old trangia has saved the day, id have about six quid 🙂

TJ, well prehaps, but how often? I've happily used a P/B in all sorts of silly conditions, with little problems.

Worst camping spot in the Lakes.

Red Tarn, Helvellyn.

3000m Bivi below the Ecrin Hut, Dauphine, France

Its happened to me a couple of times – a mix of a half empty can, cold weather and a wind meant the stove hardly worked.

Totally as TJ says. I've had mine for 30 yrs now. It has NEVER let me down. MSR etc are faster and way more dramatic/ fun/ technical. But have failed at times. The Trangia always works. It is heavier- but that's because you get everything- base, winsdhield, cookset, burner, handle. I've never weighed it against a MSR or equivalent but I'd not be at all surprised if the Trangia was very close. And the range of spares/ accessories is outstanding.

Meths fuel in the UK is dosed with bitter purple dye to try to stop alchoholics drinking the stuff (btw, there are several ways around this) and this purple is what can give a bitter taste. Answer, like at home, be hygienic, keep things clean. Petrol in your food tastes pretty foul too!

Abroad, it is far easier to get alcohol than here in the UK and has never been problematic at all. Gas canisters that fit have been impossible to source in a few places I've visited.

wasn't there a STW podcast about stoves n stuff n things?

You have to weigh up the pros and cons, there are ways and means to Boosting life into a cold P/B stove. 😉

Had mine 25 years, and still works flawlessly (wouldn't expect it any other way). Only thing to fail is 1 (replaceable) rubber o-ring seal, which is pretty much expected after all this time. Even then it's only an issue if you want to store unburned fuel in the burner (I never have).

Main thing I like is its stability. Pretty much everything else just looks so top heavy to me.

Used it in US on denatured alcohol from Walmart with no problems. I guess much the same is available in most places if you shop around.

Absolutly eva .

I have use original primus stoves, Optimus petrol burners, trangias, MSRs as well as other stoves I can't remeber the name of. all have advantages and diasadvantages. these days I have a mini gas stove for ease, flexibility and lightness. They do have drawbacks but in france in summer its unlikely to be an issue

I'm just saying, I've used various multi-fuel stoves including Trangia and 99% of the time they are a pain in the arse and unnecessary. Unless you are in the depths of the Himalayas or in very extreme conditions, they offer no real alternative to just immediately banging a propane/butane stove on full blast for a quick brew, 99% of the time (gas canisters are widely available, even in B&Q). God knows, I've faffed around with Trangias and multi-fuel stoves over the years. Priming and all that bollox, when you could have a brew on immediately with a gas stove. With P/B, working out how to keep the gas going in extreme cold is pretty obvious, if just a little dodgy. 😀

Also, to add a point, we used to use Petrol and Kerosene stoves in the early 1980s. Camp food tasted so much more 'interesting' then.

I to love my trangia. But if you have budget and space, buy the gas attachment to make it really fly!…kinda makes it not so compact at all anymore, but you get all the windproof advantages of a trangia but with extremly quick boiling from the gas… I have also used the greenheat tins and prefer them to meths.

Trangias are great, with a pair of scissors (soft aluminium and the base is full of holes) I managed to convert mine to take a MSR whisperlite. The trangia surround and pans work well with it. Best of both worlds, petrol stove and the stability and user frendliness of the Trangia kit.

julioflo +1

I've got another 20+ years Trangia but haven't used it with meths for about 10 years since I got the gas kit. For touring though I stick with the Pocket Rocket though as the Trangia's a bit bulky.

yadda yadda yadda – seems this discussion has run it's course, but here's my 2p anyway.

it depends what you want to eat – if you are happy with foil pack ready meals, 'wayfarer' etc. then you would be better off with a mini gas stove. If you want to cook flexibly – for example buying stuff as you go that's just regular meat and veg – then you will be better off with the Trangia. Gas stoves are great for 2 minute cooking or boiling but the trangia really comes into it's own if you have time and space to cook with fresh ingedients.

Another plus is that it's silent – so if you are wild camping it doesn't 'break the mood'

trangia are like brookes saddles and marmite, you either love or hate.

good bit of kit, pack up nicely and you can clean your hands with the meths, but a gas conversion kit makes them better.

if you do get one and use meths, make sure you put it on to boil water for your cup of tea as the first thing you do when you get to yoru camp – by th etime you have done your tent, bend etc it will hav *just* boiled.

how about a kelly kettle instead?

ive been using a trangia for 25 years…

…. and Im still waiting for it to boil some water – ha ha

utter toss stay away from the things.

Love 'em!

As someone said above, the heat is just about right for cooking, not super fast boiling though. You can speed it up a fair bit by dunking a bit of dry grass/cotton in the meths to act as a wick.

Other advantages that no ones picked up on………..

They run on anything, I've stacked up the embers of a fire in the base with a few bits of dry wood in the morning to get a cup of tea.

You can take them to places/camsites where gas cannisters are banned

Butane liquifies at -0.5degC, yes propane is better, but you can gaurentee that the one time you're out and the temperature dips you'll be running on butane. Even if you've got a mix, the propane will boil off quicker than the butane at low temperatures leaving you with a load of half full cans.

FWIW – I'd recommend the Jetboil Cooking System – fast and compact.

Boils a litre of water in a minute.

+1 Rootes1
As a qualified mountain leader, woodcraft instructor and scout leader I would heartily recommend a trangia with a gas converter.

That way you can run meths if you want or simply clip in the gas head and you have all the advantages of gas- hotter, boil quicker, less weight than meths along side of all the advantages of a trangia- entire kitchen packs into one package, windproof, tough.

I will be climbing all over the Cairngorms in two days with one of these and a bivvy bag

As for the “it’s bulky and heavy” naysayers- you can get small lighter alloy versions for backpacking trips where weight etc is an issue if you really want one.

I've been using trangias for nearly 20 years. Never seem to struggle to boil water as fast (give or take 1 minute) as anyone else in the groups I was with (who swore by their gas stoves), never struggle to control temps though dropping the control ring onto the burner takes a little practice, have used it from +30 to -10C without problems. I genuinely have no idea why everyone thinks they're slow. You need to wait for the burner to "stabilise" – it goes from burning in the centre to burning only the outer ring with a pop after about a minute, at that point its ready to have a pan put on, if you put it on too soon it seems to take longer to get up to temp.

At last check it uses about 1 burner-full of meths to do 500ml of curry and rice and 2 mugs of boiling water and half a pan of morning fryup.

Thanks for all the valuable info guys. It does seem a bit of a love hate thing and I reckon I need to look at one in the flesh before deciding. I like the idea of everything fitting together for storage and I'm not really bothered how long it will take to heat water. The gas conversion does seem a good idea if I decide its too slow but what canisters does it use and has anyone used the multifuel burner?

Trangia the Rohloff of the camping stove world? Discuss

More the singlespeed IMO

I wouldn't bother with the gas conversion – worst of both

a trangia will do the job, slowly, a gas burner will be fine and no doubt lightest. I have had an MSR whisperlight for about 15 years its never let me down so I use it, but if it would break I'd get some sort of gas burner,

love mine. ive got a 1.5person sized one.
ive used gas in the past, and ive got an msr pocket rocket, but thats like cooking on a blowtorch, not very relaxing, and easy to burn your fud!

trangia is a slower cook thing, NO fun in the freezing rain, but if your comfortable, loads better.

if its miserable and windy and cold, ill eat cold food, rather than wrestle a gas burner now.

stick the trangia on, kettle only so theres no washing up, and have a brew to warm you up with no maintenence effort.

really clever design. dont know if its obvious to most people or not, but the holes down one side, are your heat control.
rotate the whole trangia, with the holes into the wind/breeze for hot burn, and away from he wind for cooler.

crafty eh!

As Gavinski and others have said, if you also enjoy cooking from scratch the trangia is great. I've made moules mariniere among other treats on beaches in france, irish stew in Ireland (of course!) and making tea never seems to take that long.

personally i dont like them!

for D of Es and general camping i use the msr pocket rocket with the carry mat around it to shield it from the wind for better efficiency. 😉