stoves?

[gapertimmy]

i'm sure i've asked this one before, i'm tired of my whisperlite cloggin up on me, who out there has iso-butane canister stoves, the simple spark it up 'kind, which ones light, lemme here some war stories!

 

maybe i should go with chunks of sterno, or burn my wild turkey

[allthumbs]

timmy- I use the msr pocket rocket and it's tit. Simmers too. Weighs about 3 oz., size of Cpts. dick (about 3" ) and runs about $30. Unless I'm snow camping at below zero, I use the rocket exclusively.

[b-rock]

A buddy of mine has a Snow Peak GigaPower (http://www.snowpeak.com/gear/gs100.html). Super light and small, easy to pack, easy to set up quick. Used it to snow camp this spring. At altitude (7K) in relative cold (about freezing) we went through two regular sized canisters to melt about 6 liters of water. Doesn't seem to get as hot as my wisperlite. Great for summer though.

[gapertimmy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by trask:

timmy- I use the msr pocket rocket and it's tit. Simmers too. Weighs about 3 oz., size of Cpts. dick (about 3"

) and runs about $30. Unless I'm snow camping at below zero, I use the rocket exclusively.

---

LMAO, sounds plush, the cats tit, but each time i fire it up i'll be thinking of 'lil capt'n

[Cpt.Caveman]

That is ok. Trask is just jealous he doesn't have a horsecock.

[Dru]

You can probably make a bonfire out of horsecock logs. They are full of fat for fuel!! MMMM barbQ

[Poseur]

The PR is cool because its lightweight and compact. The Rapidfire is the cannister version of the Whisperlite and boils faster than the PR. I have no idea how either match up against the Capt's penis.

 

[ 06-25-2002, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: Poseur ]

[allison]

I've got to third the vote for the PR. I tested one all summer last year and found it to be, uh, tits!

 

It gets a little lower performing over 7000' but I've had it up to about 8000' with no real problems. Biols quick, and a full canister and the stove weighs about the same as the W'lite WITHOUT fuel. I've abused mine a bit too, and it hasn't broken yet.

 

Couple of tips for dealing with the stove:

 

If the iso bottle starts getting cold and the stove is underperforming, first try warming it with your hands. If it's still cranky, take the LIT stove, and dunk it in the water you are boiling. Works great, heats the fuel right up.

 

Also, if you want to recycle your used iso canisters, run the stove at sea level until it is no longer burning, which means the fuel is all out. Then you can puch a hole in the canister with a nail and it's recyclable. If you don'[t get all the gas out, it could explode, so get it all out of there.

 

This information is provided for entertainment purposes only, so if you try it and something bad happens, don't try and sue me.

[Jedi]

I talked to a couple guys who had been climbing hardcore in AK for 20 years now. They only use a Iso/Butane stove on the routes they do. No flare ups in the tent.

I asked them what they did when it got cold as I tried my MSR Rapid Fire in cold conditions and the performance was not there.

They said they had tried it all. The best was what Allison recommended with the water. Their variation was the bottom of a soda bottle that fits on the bottom of the fuel canister. They said to add just enough water so the bottom of the canister has water touching it. The soda bottle bottom weighes nothing and takes up no room. These guys only use 11oz of fuel a day for both of them so they have to be efficent.

 

I have to admit, I do like the Whisperlight more than my XKG because it does fit in the pot. But the XGK is great for basecamp.

Anyone have the Superfly Ascent hanging system?

Jedi

[bellemontagne]

Timm@y,

 

Have you tried giving your Whisperlite a THOROUGH cleaning?? My climbing partner finally got around to giving his 10+ year old Whisperlite stove a thorough cleaning several months ago. He went so far as to completely disassemble the stove and soak the components in Alcohol (or some other effective solvent. It has been running like a champ for quite a while now.

 

My problem with white gas stoves has always been with the pump/valve mechanism. On my first Coleman stove, the plastic valve housing sheared of. Then a couple of months ago, part of the plastic housing that held the pump mechanism on my Dragonfly broke - after only a couple of uses.

 

The new Whisperlites do have a shaker jet mechanism which does help clean deposits on the jets. If you have the money, you might consider getting an ultralight Isobutane stove for the summer and a white gas stove with a good shaker jet for colder trips.

[cj001f]

Toss my vote for the Pocket Rocket. The Giga Power is about the same in terms of performance, packability, and stability - but much more expensive(I've seen the PR as low as $25) As others have said neither stove is good for cold, and they can be a bit more work to find a stable base than the Whisperlite.

 

The Superfly Hanging System is crap - the Bibler system is 100 times better, in durability and performance.

 

Carl

 

[ 06-25-2002, 08:43 PM: Message edited by: cj001f ]

[Jedi]

Superfly crap? Do tell!

Why is the bibler better?

Thanks

Jedi

[Cpt.Caveman]

Clean your stove timmay. It's better than pocket rockets and giga power in the long term. You just end up with all kinds of half empty containers around. I have owned and sold my giga power and also used pocket rocket. They work fine. it's the fule bottle half empty deal that sux.

 

I own 2 whisperlites for over 6 years one one of them. The maintenance may be high but the product lasts. That is why it has been around so long. They made it right. Just like other things out in the market...

[fleblebleb]

I have a Whisperlite and a fancy Primus cartridge stove.

 

The Whisperlite is really nice, but it has to be cleaned thoroughly every now and then. And it's tricky to prime it without the blowtorch/flamethrower effect.

 

The Primus is tiny, very light, and I really like it. The downside is that they're ridiculously expensive - I found one on sale after waiting and waiting... I haven't used it above 7000' yet, but at 6800' it worked like a champ.

 

Why is the Bibler system better than the MSR? Does it enclose the entire stove? Isn't that a lot heavier? What's durability got to do with it, how much abuse is a stove hanging setup going to take?

[cj001f]

quote:

---

Originally posted by fleblebleb:

Why is the Bibler system better than the MSR? Does it enclose the entire stove? Isn't that a lot heavier? What's durability got to do with it, how much abuse is a stove hanging setup going to take?

---

The Bibler is just 2 pots - one nesting inside the other. Attach the stove. Start Stove. Weighs 20oz w/pot.

 

The MSR is an expanding X w/ cables, a cheesy windscreen and a reflector. Mucho more of a pain to set up. The MSR weighs less but doesn't pack any smaller - because you still have the big pot.

 

As for durability - it matters to me because I can break anything. Anything. And when things are in HaulBags/Packs I beat them up. The Bibler has a pot/windscreen/cables combo that still works well dented, and isn't any more of a pain to set up. The more you beat up the Ascent, the more of a pain it is to set up.

 

Carl

[Rodchester]

Cold Weather, long trips, or need to melt snow for water: I use a MSR liquid fuel stove (usually a XGK II).

 

Warm weather, short trips, no need to melt snow for water: I use a MSR Pocket Rocket. (Have also used a Giga and a old Bluet)

 

I do agree that the half canister thing really blows and they are expensive. But for some tripes they really rock.

 

So if I could only own one, I would choose the MSR liquid fuel stove.

 

[ 06-26-2002, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Rodchester ]

[wdietsch]

thru the years I have had (or still have) several types, MSR, Svea, Coleman, Bluet .... anyone have any experience with Markill stoves? In particular the Hot Rod Ti.

[JayB]

Anyone ever rig their butane stoves with a heat-exchanger (copper wire wrapped around cannister with one end exposed to the flame)?

 

I've heard both Mark Synott/Twight talk about using them, but the whole butane-cannister explosion thing has me a bit wary. I suppose if you reserve them for the times when it's well below freezing (done the hands thing before but when it's waaay cold it's a bummer) and the cannister/copper junction stays below a critical temperature it could be safe.

[Dru]

If all you take is horsecock, cheese and GU you dont need a stove, nothing to cook. O ya water... just eat snow i guess...

[Dru]

quote:

---

Originally posted by gapertimmy:

maybe i should go with chunks of sterno, or burn my wild turkey

---

is burning your wild turkey anything like sewing your wild oats?

[iain]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dru:

is burning your wild turkey anything like sewing your wild oats?

---

I considered it to be more akin to a vasectomy

 

Remember, sew your wild oats on Saturday, but on Sunday, pray for crop failure.

[Jedi]

JayB, see me post above. Yhe guys I talked to tried the copper wire, insulating the fuel canister among other things. The water in a bowl works the best. Worked for them on peaks in the Himilayas, South America, Europe, Moonflower Buttress on Hunter, many routes on Denali among many other mountains. I figure they had a little experience. I saw their 3500cu packs they had for the Infinite Spur of Foraker weighed all of 30 to 32 pounds.

Jedi

[bellemontagne]

I always have to laugh whenever I hear about MSR's "Pocket Rocket." MSR's stove shares the same name as a women's vibrator. Does it have a second feature that we do not know about?

 

Amusing...

 

I digress.

[jtljohnson]

MSR Pocket Rocket is the way to go. I just used it on a two day ascent of Liberty Ridge last week. We melted about 15 liters of water on a full 8 oz canister. We used it to melt snow at 7500' curtis ridge camp, 10,300 thumb rock and again on the summit.

 

It was the first time I used a canister stove, I have used an XGK for 8 years. The XGK is still king for Alaska cold stuff but I will use the PR for everything else.

[Illimani94]

One option that's sort of midway between the small gaz stoves like the Pocket Rocket, Primus, Gigapower, etc. and the liquid-fuel workhorses from MSR or Primus is the Coleman Xtreme. The stove itself is light, a blowtorch when cranked up (at one of my winter camping clinics the Xtreme outran a Dragonfly to boil - and not by a little), yet simmers beautifully. It's a separated-fuel design like the MSR liquid fuel stoves, so you can use a serious windscreen with it. To be fair, Coleman doesn't supply a windscreen, but getting an MSR 'screen is no problem. The fuel cartridges are a unique design from Coleman; they only work on the X stoves, and they're the only fuel you can use with the X stoves. Fuel seems to be readily available from REI, so no problem unless you're flying somewhere that doesn't have access to the fuel. The big cartridges carry 300 gm of butane/propane mix; we've gotten 5 or 6 days use for two, 4 or 5 days for three - this with no melting snow for water. The legs are a little narrow, but still more stable than a typical gaz stove in non-hanging mode. I've never run it in a tent, but it's never flared on me either and I'd do it if without worry.

 

In short, this stove offers most of the advantages of gaz stoves (simple and mostly unbreakable, easy to light, simple to simmer) and many of the assets we use liquid fuel for (massive heat output, serious windscreen/heat exchanger). If you plan on being out for a long time, or if you're spending serious time in someplace really cold like Alaska, or if you're cooking in camp in Bolivia, you may have to go multifuel. Otherwise, the Xtreme is worth a look.