What's the best camping stove?

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Tinnishill
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Tinnishill »

Speedster stoves were mentioned up thread away. I have been using them for three years, now.

https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/alcohol/m ... rners.html

Two Speedster 50ml burners, a simmer ring and a heavy duty pot stands cost about £15 with post and weigh about 55g, Two Trangia brass burners with a simmer ring weighs more than 200g and costs about £30 with post. Using two burners keeps up the rate of burning, you don't need to wait for them to cool down between fillings.

Both burner designs need a pot stand and windshield. I find improvised windshields using tinfoil and the like too flimsy and liable to scorch the grass. I started using the Speedster burner in a trangia windshield, using a little bit of crimped over aluminium wire mesh insect screen (weight 5g) to block the big hole in the floor of the windshield. The trangia frying pan doesn't work well with this set up (it's the distance between pan and flame), but you can fry on the bottom of a standard pot. I feel a bit safer and a bit more in control using the speedster burner, it can be blown out easily and there is less spill risk from it being knocked over.
Trangia and speester.jpg
After a bit I slimmed this set down some more by using a 1200ml and 600ml set of titanium pots (I had anyway) and constructed a smaller windshield by bolting an aluminium dish to the bottom of an old trangia pot and drilling lots of air holes through them. This last set, including the bag, weighs 650g complete.
DIY speedster.jpg
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Cowsham
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Cowsham »

I value the trangia system being stable and robust more than weight or compactness ( to a degree -- it does pack well since with any system you'd have to pack pots an pans anyway ) The way even the gas burner goes inside the kettle inside two pots inside wind shield inside stand with pan forming the lid is great for me.

Being bothered with a flimsy system you have to fold out and fiddle with to get it fixed is not ideal. Some of them just don't have a big enough footprint to be stable.
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Jdsk
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Jdsk »

Cowsham wrote: 19 May 2022, 11:19am I value the trangia system being stable and robust more than weight or compactness ( to a degree -- it does pack well since with any system you'd have to pack pots an pans anyway ) The way even the gas burner goes inside the kettle inside two pots inside wind shield inside stand with pan forming the lid is great for me.
What else have you managed to fit in the kettle so far?

: - )

Jonathan
leftpoole
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by leftpoole »

Tinnishill wrote: 19 May 2022, 10:13am Speedster stoves were mentioned up thread away. I have been using them for three years, now.

https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/alcohol/m ... rners.html

Two Speedster 50ml burners, a simmer ring and a heavy duty pot stands cost about £15 with post and weigh about 55g, Two Trangia brass burners with a simmer ring weighs more than 200g and costs about £30 with post. Using two burners keeps up the rate of burning, you don't need to wait for them to cool down between fillings.

Both burner designs need a pot stand and windshield. I find improvised windshields using tinfoil and the like too flimsy and liable to scorch the grass. I started using the Speedster burner in a trangia windshield, using a little bit of crimped over aluminium wire mesh insect screen (weight 5g) to block the big hole in the floor of the windshield. The trangia frying pan doesn't work well with this set up (it's the distance between pan and flame), but you can fry on the bottom of a standard pot. I feel a bit safer and a bit more in control using the speedster burner, it can be blown out easily and there is less spill risk from it being knocked over.

Trangia and speester.jpg

After a bit I slimmed this set down some more by using a 1200ml and 600ml set of titanium pots (I had anyway) and constructed a smaller windshield by bolting an aluminium dish to the bottom of an old trangia pot and drilling lots of air holes through them. This last set, including the bag, weighs 650g complete.

DIY speedster.jpg
A Trangia stove being used according to Trangia instruction, should have the holes in the 'windshield' point towards the wind. Do not use a windshield. Trangia work best pointing towards a breeze!
Bmblbzzz
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Jdsk wrote: 19 May 2022, 11:21am
Cowsham wrote: 19 May 2022, 11:19am I value the trangia system being stable and robust more than weight or compactness ( to a degree -- it does pack well since with any system you'd have to pack pots an pans anyway ) The way even the gas burner goes inside the kettle inside two pots inside wind shield inside stand with pan forming the lid is great for me.
What else have you managed to fit in the kettle so far?

: - )

Jonathan
Water?

:D :D
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Tinnishill
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Tinnishill »


Tinnishill wrote: ↑19 May 2022, 10:13am Speedster stoves were mentioned up thread away. I have been using them for three years, now.

"Both burner designs need a pot stand and windshield. I find improvised windshields using tinfoil and the like too flimsy and liable to scorch the grass. I started using the Speedster burner in a trangia windshield,"

Post by leftpoole » 19 May 2022, 12:07pm
A Trangia stove being used according to Trangia instruction, should have the holes in the 'windshield' point towards the wind. Do not use a windshield. Trangia work best pointing towards a breeze!
https://trangia.se/en/shop/windshield-upper-25/
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Carlton green
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Carlton green »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 19 May 2022, 9:39am
Carlton green wrote: 19 May 2022, 7:55am When I think of a Trangia I too think of a meths / spirit fuelled stove but surely it is more than just that. The Trangia is a durable low weight arrangement built for stability, for (packed) compactness of stove and pans, for protection of and from the flame, and for best use of what heat comes from the burner. I can relate to someone saying that a Trangia without a traditional burner is somehow ‘wrong’ (I feel similarly), but on the other hand pragmatism is a wonderful thing too and the most important thing is having the benefits of a rather effective cooking arrangement. The option of a gas burner is surely a helpful plus that gives flexibility to provision of a heating flame. However, to my mind, the brand will loose something distinctive and valuable if the meths / spirit burner becomes the option and gas the standard supplied heater.
I don't have a Trangia but I've done ample Trangia-observation while friends and others have been using them. It may be stable, protected and efficient, but it certainly isn't compact!
As mentioned by others, one really ought to factor in the volume of cooksets / pans because when one does so the Trangia becomes - as these things go - a relatively compact arrangement for cooking. To be fair the Trangia 25 is a lump and maybe someone doesn’t need to be able to cook for more than two folk, the Trangia 27 is more compact.
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Yes, the entire cookset is what I'm thinking of. The Trangia burner itself is compact, albeit chunky. It's not light but it seems well made and should last pretty much for ever. But add the pot stand, the two pots, maybe a frying pan, and it becomes much bulkier. Sure, I know one thing fits inside another like Russian dolls, and if you really want all those items (maybe a kettle too) then I should think it's great, particularly if you're cooking proper meals for a group. But for one person or even two, do you really need two 1-litre pots and a frying pan? Compared to a set up of one meths burner or cannister-top gas stove (remote cannister stoves tend to be slightly larger), with appropriate pot, it seems pretty voluminous to me. In fact we needn't talk about impressions: the Trangia 27 packed dimensions are 185mm diameter x 100mm height (from their website). Mine is 125mm diameter x 80mm height. That's for gas or meths. No, it's not including the fuel, just as the Trangia figures don't.

But... bulk and weight (or their lack) are not the only points to bear in mind. As with almost everything, it's a matter of your balance of needs and desires. On the spectrum of cycle-camping, are you more cycling or camping? Are you more cooking everything yourself or eating elsewhere? Are you foodie or is food just fuel for you? I expect most of us are most of these things at different times and places (which, if indulged, leads to a cupboard full of stoves and pots, as illustrated in a photo a few pages back!)
Carlton green
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Carlton green »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 19 May 2022, 6:43pm But for one person or even two, do you really need two 1-litre pots and a frying pan? Compared to a set up of one meths burner or cannister-top gas stove (remote cannister stoves tend to be slightly larger), with appropriate pot, it seems pretty voluminous to me. In fact we needn't talk about impressions: the Trangia 27 packed dimensions are 185mm diameter x 100mm height (from their website). Mine is 125mm diameter x 80mm height. That's for gas or meths. No, it's not including the fuel, just as the Trangia figures don't.
Curiosity has got the better of me. Please, what is it that you use and for what. Thanks.
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Having started with an MSR Seagull (stainless steel pot with a neat closure) and a cannister-top stove, I've progressed through giant Alpkit pots and a remote cannister stove (think it's a Coleman) to a Toaks titanium pot and a choice of Speedster meths burner or microscopic Chinese cannister-top stove (which I was given; was suspicious of it at first but it's turned out to be both usable and reliable – weighs less than 30g and folds up to about an inch square, you could literally carry it in a trouser pocket). But of course I still have the others cluttering up a cupboard – still some way to go to match Hoogerbooger's photo though!
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Cowsham
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Cowsham »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 19 May 2022, 12:16pm
Jdsk wrote: 19 May 2022, 11:21am
Cowsham wrote: 19 May 2022, 11:19am I value the trangia system being stable and robust more than weight or compactness ( to a degree -- it does pack well since with any system you'd have to pack pots an pans anyway ) The way even the gas burner goes inside the kettle inside two pots inside wind shield inside stand with pan forming the lid is great for me.
What else have you managed to fit in the kettle so far?

: - )

Jonathan
Water?

:D :D
Not just any ordinary water -- 900ml of boiling water.
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Cowsham
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Cowsham »

Update

I've had the trangia away on the island with both gas and spirit burner and found that I think I prefer the spirit burner to the gas burner.

I know that is contrary to what I said earlier about the trangia but I found by happy accident I'd put neat meths in the burner by mistake and forgot to put the cut of water in -- this gave the spirit burner much more giz.
ie it was burning correctly from the small holes around the rim where before with the water in it seemed to only burn from the centre.

I think I maybe had too much water in the mix or the water had got trapped at the outside and blocked the nozzles --

Don't know but I'm off again tomorrow for England this time and only taking the meths burner, couldn't be bothered with the gas burner and controlling the temperature when the pot is near the gas burner is tricky

ie it's too hot or snuffed out as you get near the lowest setting on the regulator screw. Controlling the meths burner is actually easier with the lid flap.
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SA_SA_SA
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by SA_SA_SA »

Carlton green wrote: 19 May 2022, 5:29pm ....
As mentioned by others, one really ought to factor in the volume of cooksets / pans because when one does so the Trangia becomes - as these things go - a relatively compact arrangement for cooking. To be fair the Trangia 25 is a lump and maybe someone doesn’t need to be able to cook for more than two folk, the Trangia 27 is more compact.
If you leave tbe 25 frypan at home (using either the tundra lid (not seemingly imported into Uk for some reason) or an alu lid of ones own making or adoption, then the 25 is suddenly not so bulky compared to the 27 even if you forgo its frypan too.... the 25 frypan seems a looser fit.

The 25 has the advantage than the saucepans are big enough to hold a cyclist sized dinner where the 27s' are not.... :)
Edit to add: the 27 therefore requires the extra weight and bulk of a bowl/plate to eat from, having cooked pasta etc in the inner? pot and the rest in the outer....
Last edited by SA_SA_SA on 20 Aug 2022, 8:13pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sweep
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by Sweep »

SA_SA_SA wrote: 20 Aug 2022, 5:24pm
The 25 has the advantage than the saucepans are big enough to hold a cyclist sized dinner where the 27s' are not.... :)
I have both the 25 and 27. It's definitely true that you can't cook a lot of pasta in a 27. Tho there are other carbs, possibly more convenient ones as well.
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andrew_s
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Re: What's the best camping stove?

Post by andrew_s »

I mostly use an MSR Windpro remote canister gas stove.
Image
It's got a preheat loop through the flame to allow liquid feed, which means it works properly in the cold (or at least as cold as I'll cycle camp in), and retains full power right to the end of the canister.
Canister-top stoves generally fail on both points, losing quite a large proportion of their heating power once the canister is half used (by which time all of the propane in a propane/butane mix canister is used up). It's also harder to arrange a decent wind shield for a canister top stove.
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