Hi all
Thinking of buying a new camping stove, looked at the MSR micro stove and with integral cooking pot, what about the Alpkit system or Jetboil.
what are you guys using

Are you carrying it or is it just for car camping? Are you after something light or compact or both? There’s so many stove aimed at different uses.

Context means everything. I use a Jetboil if walking/cycling but a Primus petrol stove when motorbike camping because I have a ready supply of emergency fuel!

Oh – and it’s nit so bad to the environment as gas cartridges

Rachel

Also, do you aspire to heat anything beyond water? My jetboil clone will burn even soup..! Many of the small gas stoves are similar – a really focused hotspot in the middle of the pot.

For making a brew when out paddling / cycling its ideal though.

For camping when I may want actual food then Trangia is my go-to stove.

Jetboil for me. But its hard to cook on rather than just boil water but possible with imagination. the jetboil is so efficient and fast at boiling it uses much less gas than a conventional gas stove

Allthegear – I refill little gas cans from a big one so reduce the waste

Supergeeky discussion on the bike and bivvy facebook page if you want to join in.

All stoves are a compromise. the jetboil is a bit heavy and inflexible but so fast at boiling water. You can get / make tiny meths stoves with big weight savings but slow and fiddly. MSR pocket rocket good for cooking but inefficient. MUltifuel stoves are very flexible. Trangias just work. Gas can be an issue in cold weather unless you use winter fuel and finding cans can sometimes be tricky. Petrol is available everywhere

Not great for bikepacking but for three seasons car camping we’ve always used CP 250 cartridge stoves i.e.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Campingaz-Camp-Bistro-Gas-Stove/dp/B000Y854WC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505207401&sr=8-1&keywords=campingaz+bistro

Those Campingaz ones are only a tenner in a lot of places and we’ve yet to have one fail. Using two of them together you can knock up some fancy meals. On their own they are great for one pot stuff.

I know someone will inevitably be along shortly to tell me that they are no good and their £200 Titanium Bear Grills Ultra Light SAS Commando Bivi Meths Stove is really what you need for a family weekend away, in true STW style. 😆

For 20+ years I have been using a MSR XGK. Very cheap running cost, and with a couple of fuel bottles you will be good for a decent length trip. But the downsides are ‘field maintainable’ means you will definitely be fixing the thing in a field on a regular basis. Seals do eventually fail, so make sure you have spares with you. Other than that – awesome stove.

But now most camping is at a bike race or family stuff, so cheap gas stove does just fine. Got a primus something or other.

I have a JetBoil and think it’s the ducks nuts.

However I’d like something smaller and lighter that would fit in my mug for day rides. Some of the smaller gas stoves look possibilities, but I also want the fuel container to fit in there too.

But the downsides are ‘field maintainable’ means you will definitely be fixing the thing in a field on a regular basis.

or the Primus Omnifuel – then you have something field maintainable but without the constant maintaining 😉

Rachel

epicyclo – one of the coke can / bearbones meths burners?

However I’d like something smaller and lighter that would fit in my mug for day rides. Some of the smaller gas stoves look possibilities, but I also want the fuel container to fit in there too.

How big is your mug?

My Alpkit mug is wide enough for a 100ml gas cartridge and my Optimus Crux guts in easily too (with a folding spork and an igntitor)

I’ve a few stoves 🙄

Gas wise there’s a few variations/copies of the pocket rocket around, I’ve one from Vango. Disassembled and in its little bag it and a small gas canister will fit inside an Alpkit 650 mug along with a lighter and soft things like a zip-lock bag of tea bags to stop things bouncing around.

The MSR XGK is an amazing stove but it can be a bit like using a Saturn V rocket to nip down to the shops!

If you aren’t in a rush then a homemade alcohol/meths stove is more than enough. It’s not that much slower, in summer at least, probably a minute longer to boil 500ml of water. In winter meths stoves are much harder work.

We’ve got a couple of the alpkit Ti mugs, a small gas canister fits in one of them and we’ve got a minimal Primus gas stove which screws on top. also for usability there’s a clip o set of legs which goes onto the base of the canister to stop it all falling over.
The jetboil clone is very good at boiling water, but is bulky and there’s no opportunity to do anything more than store the canister and burner in it, whereas the more minimal mug + canister + primus screw on can be put into a bar/ stem bag or similar.

Depends on what you want to do with it really? if its just heating water for boil in the bag stuff then gas is quick. If you want to cook or simmer then gas is just too hot and burns stews/soups to the base of the pot, and is a nightmare to clean afterwards.
A trangia is a good compromise and it can be made lightweight if you need to, just use the burner and one pot/mug and the super lightweight Trangia triangle. Meths is pretty much available from most hardware stores, garages even chemists. I’ve never had a Trangia burner leak, just don’t extinguish the flame using the lid, use the simmer ring, and don’t top up when hot!
Nothing to go wrong with a Trangia.

The MSR XGK is an amazing stove but it can be a bit like using a Saturn V rocket to nip down to the shops!

That too. 😀 I hope the new ones haven’t got quieter.

I probably now have nearly as many stoves as I have rucksacks… I have a lot of rucksacks!

Really depends on usage – what sort of camping and what sort of cooking?

The former dictates weight/size/packability, and the latter dictates design/cooking pot

Jetboil is a good design for a waterheater, not much use for anything else without the extra bits. I leave mine in the car for impromptu brews

Cheap and cheerful car camping would be a little suitcase style stove

Petrol/multifuel would be overkill (The only time I’ve used my Primus Omnilite Ti recently is cooking sausages for the kids on the beach!)

Trangia is reliable and a great design, very robust, but not very powerful

Gas is fine for most things, but you need to think about your pan set if you want to cook, very easy to burn stuff if you don’t concentrate

@Yak – I remember using mine to make proper chips at 4000m on Mt Kenya. Runs on just about any combustible liquid – we used dry cleaning fluid in Kenya as it was the cleanest fuel available!

You can cook a bit in a jetboil – but you need to select your food carefully and be imaginative. Pasta, rice, fry up a few onions, sauces of some sort. Add in the burner stand and you can cook properly if not as well as some others. But the speed and efficiency is great. Needs half the gas of more conventional stoves.

I mostly run unleaded on mine. Diesel was a bit mucky. I did once have nothing but some kind of spirit like meths. (Couldn’t read the bottle – not really sure what it was.) That didn’t work.

Here you go – the history:
https://thesummitregister.com/evolution-msr-xgk-ex-stove/

Mine was an early shaker jet model. Far less faff than my mate’s older one without the shaker jet.

tjagain – Member
epicyclo – one of the coke can / bearbones meths burners?

I’ve been experimenting. Currently in trouble for one of my experiments scorching the kitchen table. 🙂

That was with a hex tablet and homemade burner platform.

scotroutes – Member
…How big is your mug?

80mm diameter, 84mm deep.

Anything bigger than that and I may as well use my JetBoil.

Not much of mention for the Alpkit versions, still drawn the MSR design, integral cooking pot, container seems to do the job and they do have some pedigree!