Best stove for tour.

[Gadge]

All this meths versus gas stuff is surely missing the point.
You can use either with a Trangia! You just buy the optional gas burner to go with it.
I love mine which works fast and simmers well.

I must admit that I haven't got around to trying the meths burner out yet but tend to view it as a backup anyway.

Mine is a 27 non stick but I wish I had gone for a 25 now to have had a bigger fry pan / pots. I ended up buying the billy option as well to get a bigger pot so no size saved anyway.

I do find the build quality of the Trangia itself to be rather flimsier than I would have expected but it is quite light.

PS Does anyone else use the Trangia kettle as a tea pot by chucking the bags in there.
I feel very sophisticated when pouring out my brewed tea

[Goinridin]

>>you can eat pretty cheaply in France/Spain/Portugal, and probably eat stuff that you wouldn't cook in a million years, let alone on a camping stove.

you can still easily end up spending 10 or more euros a day on food, depending where you are it could be a lot more. This maybe cheap to some but soon mounts up over the course of a week/month.

What if you are at a campsite and the shops are not open, some may scoff at this but simple precautions eliminate this. Solutions are a small cooker like the MSR Pocket Rocket (or lightweight trangia) weighs IIRC under 100 grames and a small gas canister with some food. Alternatively if without a cooker you can take some food that does not need cooking.

Me personally I always like a lightweight cooker as a stand by, particularly if restaurants are expensive. What someone says is cheap is to another person expensive.

All depends on your income. At least with a lightweight cooker you get the best of both worlds.[/quote]


I am 58, early retired on a small pension so yes the element of economy will play a part on this trip, I'll be going for up to 2 months with my son who is 23, very athletic and eats frequently and heartily and remains slim.

We like to eat a variety of food including but not exclusively pasta.... i.e. steak, fish, cous-cous, rice, potatoes with vegetables, all the normal sort of stuff that people cook up.

I wouldn't call myself a novice having camped for over 40 years always with a calor gas stove of some variety.

From what I've read so far it seems that a small gas stove of some sort is the cleanest, most practical choice along with an adaptor for various types of canister.

[AlanD]

I have two trangias and I think that they are brilliant. I did see a teflon coated variant a few years ago. The downside is that using meths coats the underside of the pans with soot. So I suggest that you include a couple of Brillo Pads and a roll of kitchen towel in your kit.

My girlfriend hates my Trangias, she cannot get to grips with them and it's always me who has to put the lid on the burner to kill the flame (this is the other downside, get it wrong and it continues flaming and the lid is too hot to make another attempt) She went and bought a gas stove from Blacks, but it turned out to be for these Propane cylinders that cost a fortune, So we also bought a barbecue in a bucket thingy on our last holiday. Do you think I could run a Halogen hob off the Cigar lighter socket

[Tako]

Goinridin, IMHO, l don't think you can go wrong with a simple gas or meths stove. My only caveat being using gas canisters to service the needs of 2 people for 2 months (let's say you use it twice a day for breakfast and evening meal) will probably cost more than meths(?) But is the difference big enough to consider a switch??

[willem jongman]

I have a Trangia 25 and a Trangia 27, both the UL HA variant. For two people I would suggest the 25, but perhaps with the gas burner. The beauty of the Trangia system is that it works very well in bad weather, and there is always more of that than you like. Fuel is usually very easy to get.
As for gas stoves, they are of course easy to use, as long as the weather is not cold. The snag is in getting hold of cannisters. And there are three types of those. The simplest is the one where you perforate the top with a needle in the stove. These cannisters are always easy to get, but not without danger. The two other types have valves and are safer. However, France uses the Camping Gaz type of valved canisters, and the rest of the world the LIndall valve such as used by Primus, Snowpeak etc. MSR and Primus now do some models that work for both types of valved cannisters. You can also buy adapters such as made by Markill. One other thing you should be aware of is that the stoves with the burner on top of the cannister are relatively unstable, and really better suited for one person than for two (also because of the narrow torch like flame most of these have). For two people I think stoves with the cannister connected through a hose are better.
If you don't want a Trangia set you will need pots. My suggestion is to get the separately available pots and pans of the Trangia 25. They are as light as titanium, spread the heat much better, and are cheap, even the UL HA version.
Willem

[Goinridin]

Thank you all very much for the replies and suggestions. I think I'm going for the Trangia 25 with pots and kettle as I can also use gas if I wish, Looks like a nice foolproof piece of kit.

[willem jongman]

You could leave the kettle out, and boil water in one of the two pots. The difference is 190 gram.
Willem

[vernon]

I've never had a kettle. I use one of the pans, usually with more water than I need for a mug of tea then use the remaining water for something like cous cous.

[robwa10]

Make your own, if it's confiscated you can put together another one when you get there.

http://www.jureystudio.com/pennystove/

[lanternerouge]

I have the Primus Omnifuel, which can use gas, white gas, petrol, kerosene, paraffin, diesel, and has a real simmer control so you can turn down the heat and really cook instead of just boiling pasta on it.

[willem jongman]

I have a similar Optimus Nova, and I use it in a Trangia 25 for even better effect when I have larger quantities to cook. Apparently one can do the same with the Primus. In fact, Trangia now supply one for that purpose (rather than the earlier adapted Optimus Nova), but I don't know how different it might be from yours.
Bon appetit,
Willem

[Nutsey]

Isn't gas cheating?

I intend to use wood!

[boblo]

Isn't gas cheating?

I intend to use wood!

How does this work when it's pi$$ing down or infested with mossies and you need to cook in the (closed) porch? For me, that's the big upside with the Omni. Gas when in the porch and liquid fuelled when outside. I wouldn't use liquid in an enclosed porch, I value my eyebrows etc.

[rualexander]

Gas - Pros : Convenient, easy, fast.
Cons : Expensive fuel, can be hard to find fuel, hard to tell how much is left in the canister, have to dispose of canisters.

Trangia - Pros : Convenient, easy, enjoyable to use, comprehensive system, cheap fuel
Cons : Slightly slower, sometimes hard to find fuel,

Multi-fuel type : Pros : Convenient, fast, easy, easy to find fuel at petrol stations, cheap fuel
Cons : Some types noisy, can flare up, can be dirty and need cleaning.

If staying in Europe I would go with Trangia, anywhere else I would go with a multi-fuel stove burning petrol, I would never use gas on anything longer than a weekend trip.

[Nutsey]

Isn't gas cheating?

I intend to use wood!

How does this work when it's pi$$ing down or infested with mossies and you need to cook in the (closed) porch? For me, that's the big upside with the Omni. Gas when in the porch and liquid fuelled when outside. I wouldn't use liquid in an enclosed porch, I value my eyebrows etc.

I don't know what i'm talking about really. Off on my first camping trip next week.