about to order a Trangia Mini…any better options?

I’m lead to believe that the little cartridges (like in surfers pic above) have less problems with losing power when 2/3rds empty, larger gas cartridges are more prone to this, I think. mini gas cartridges are quite an expensive way of doing it tho, I think.
The gas stoves that can burn liquid gas have the preheater routed into the flame. This is an example, they’re a few grammes heavier than a pocket rocket, but the pros outweigh the cons against all the others IME. I’ve not looked at this stove particularly, it just shows best how the copper gas pipe is fed into the hottest part of the stove to vapourise liquid fuel.

Yes, you just tip the cartridge upside down.

Ta BA

I certainly will be looking for a different stove before I go out in potentially cold conditions again.

Horses for courses really … I was out last night, temps were down to around -4, all the water I was carrying had turned to solid ice by 6.30pm.

I was cooking on a titanium Vargo meths stove, no trouble at all. It was certainly cold enough this morning to have hindered any of my gas canister stoves to some degree. If I’m trying to cook / brew up for more than just me then I’ll often take gas … just so much quicker.

Trangia mini is a top buy,
the burner is exactly the same size and its much smaller in your rucksack
works even better in the wind so cant go wrong!
Lewis

If you want to be 100% cold-weather proof, then the old Primus type is a safe bet, running on paraffin.
I use them exclusively, mainly because they’re brass, old, an engineering triumph, and they need a ‘procedure’ to light. Lovely.

my first camping stove was one of these

I lugged it up Liathach one year, along with a 5L container of parrafin and various other old camping kit.

Those brass Primus type cookers are brilliant (but very smelly in the wrong hands – such as mine)

Here’s my old Valor, missing one of the legs due to overly enthusiastic priming….

It hasn’t seen action for at least fifteen years but I used to use it back in my squatting days when a regular electricity and mains gas supply was intermitent. I’ve got a load of paraffin in the shed, I must get that broken leg welded back on and give it a whirl this coming summer 🙂

I’ve recently changed my views on ultra lightweight gas canisters that fit, along with a pocket rocket sized stove, into mugs,and small pans. They’re less economical compared with larger canisters and you end up with a load of three-quarter empty canisters that don’t have enough fuel left inside them to risk taking on an overnighter. Also, you can easily run out of fuel with a full one if it’s providing a couple of meals and several brews for a couple of people. They might come into their own for ultra-lightweight mountain marathons, but even on last years OMM we took a 175g and a 125g canister between us as having plenty to drink and eat was more important to us on the overnight camp than saving a few ounces on the two days running.

A typical 100g canister, such as the one below costs between £2.80 & £3.99. The 175g canister on the right cost me £1.89 at a hardware store (and they’re even cheaper if you buy them in bulk) 275ml beer bottle there purely to illustrate size. I always take whisky on the bivi 😉 ….

@Slugwash
You’ll need the burner inner and outer caps, too. All too easy to lose (as in your case). One of the big advantages of ‘roarer’ burners (like Banana’s Optimus 210)
You’re a short step from the wonder of Tilley lamps here, too.

One of the big advantages of ‘roarer’ burners (like Banana’s Optimus 210)

Actually, that was just an image I stole that looked most like my stove, mine was (is!, it still resides in the group kit somewhere) a cheap imitation made in China, I seem to recall. Every bit of climbing kit I had back then was cheap.

@Slugwash
You’ll need the burner inner and outer caps, too.

Hopefully the burner’s still with the broken-off leg, in a big box of bike bits in the loft.

Actually, that was just an image I stole that looked most like my stove

Yeah, B.A.Nana’s only got one photo in his album 😉

Thanks guys, this is all very useful stuff. I’m borrowing a mini Trangia from a chum and I’ve also ordered a cheap ready made coke can stove with windshield (lazy yes but it was cheap & saves me the hassle just to try it out). I’ll put these up against my pocket rocket-a-like (can’t recall precisely which one it is I have) and see which I can live with the most. Keep the comments coming though, really interesting reading.

Bear in mind that boil times are not the be all and end all of a stove.
My jetboil takes around 2 minutes to boil 500ml of water and my meths stove takes around 7-8 minuntes, 99% of the time your cooking, your stopped for the night and are 5-6 minutes really THAT important.
Obviously a twenty minute boil is getting silly but you get my point.
My jetboil rarely see’s daylight now.

slugwash, I don’t do much biving see, I’m more into me white water rafting.

That’s one way to ensure you don’t oversleep