Remote inverted canister gas stoves ?any new advances

[andrewa]

Having decided today that my MSR Winpro 1 stove is deceased/dead/nailed to it' perch, I've had a look around at alternatives. Need to have facility to invert cylinder for winter snow use, and was thinking of buying one of the cheaper end stoves, given that the MSR has clapped out after 3-4 yrs ( I know that only works out any $1/wk....)

Seem to be Kovea Spider, Bulin 100 -B5, or Mark F's Fire Maple "118T", combining 117T with 118. Is there anything else around that I should be looking at - most of my searches hit information from 2012-2014.

Thx

Andrew A

[Moondog55]

Wouldn't the logical stove to buy be Roger Caffins UL??

[Nuts]

My personal stove is a cut down kovea spider used inside a Caldera Cone. This is a great U/L setup and the kit is very versatile (so long as your set on one pot size fitting inside the cone.. and it was also a bit expensive) The little stove has been used and abused for months at a time, impressive. Iv'e even used it (carefully) to start campfires Nothing new for us since then.

[andrewa]

Nuts, would you buy a Bulin or a Kovea spider? Seems like you have 2 uses - personal and ? group.

I'm only wanting something for personal use for ski touring ( max cook size in pot of about 1200mls), and which is as light as possible, and as compact as possible. The Windpro was relatively bulky, but did fit in my cookpot. I'd like something a little smaller.

For summer use, I have one of those little Kovea titanium thingies, on which the piezo device failed years ago, and I only worked out today that you could simply unscrew it and chuck it away and use a lighter instead!

Moondog, the Caffin stove looks fine - I'd forgotten about it, but it is only available on BPL isn't it?

A

[Moondog55]

Hmmm I'm using the MSR Pocket Rocket for ski touring, when I'm not using the XGK-EX

[andrewa]

I got rid of my battered 20+ yo MSR XGK on eBay a few years ago for a surprisingly large amount of money.

The pocket rocket is similar to the Kovea titanium cylinder top stove I have. I would rather a remote canister stove in winter, largely due to stability. I've certainly used the Kovea in winter in the snow, but the remote stove is easier to make a windshield for, and allows canister inversion, as my upright stove has struggled who it has been cold.

A

[undercling-mike]

The Optimus Vega is another one to look at. It folds compact and is very stable.

[damoprz]

My personal stove is a cut down kovea spider used inside a Caldera Cone. This is a great U/L setup and the kit is very versatile (so long as your set on one pot size fitting inside the cone.. and it was also a bit expensive) The little stove has been used and abused for months at a time, impressive. Iv'e even used it (carefully) to start campfires Nothing new for us since then.

How did you cut down the spider?

[Avatar]

A Trangia 27 with gas burner is extremely fuel efficient, stable and versatile.
A little bulkier than other options but it has much going for it for 1 or 2 persons.
A lot of the other options are unstable, easy to knock over and have poor wind shields.
The Trangia plus gas burner seems to be overlooked and underrated but it is my pick for 1-2 person snow use and for 2 person 3-season use.

[Nuts]

How did you cut down the spider?

With a grinder. Bolt cutters could work?

Screen Shot 2016-10-31 at 10.13.35 PM.png (581.4 KiB) Viewed 13790 times

The Caldera Cone is the important bit though, other stoves may be better.
The titanium CC is a strong versatile base/ windshield,

[RonK]

New? Alpkit Koro - titanium 124gm

[ofuros]

Ahh the frankenstove returns...a titanium version of the FireMaple 118 without that thin swivel hose connection at the burner base...fixing it's Achilles heel.

http://www.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic ... 15&t=10188

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10569

[damoprz]

The Caldera Cone is the important bit though, other stoves may be better.
The titanium CC is a strong versatile base/ windshield,

That looks great, did you have to add extra holes or similar to your Caldera Cone? I thought an enclosed shield may not provide enough airflow for a propane/butane stove.

[Moondog55]

Are remote canister stoves that much better?
I've never had a stability problem with the Pocket Rocket but I did buy the small plastic base for the canister.
I can see that the low profile has definite benefits tho

[Nuts]

I did cut a wider opening/round off the edges to clear the hose entry damoprz. No issue with airflow. I'm guessing if the air hole surface area is bigger than the burner head there wont be? Supports an impressive stick fire in standard form.

[andrewa]

New? Alpkit Koro - titanium 124gm

Never heard of the brand, but it looks great. Has anyone used one?

How have the "Fire Maple" purchasers been going over the last few years? Eg Mark F with his "118T" .

A

[andrewa]

Nuts, regarding the Caldera cone, how much of a PITA is this to pack in a rucksack? I presume it just gets rolled up, but do you find this an issue when jamming it in a rucksack, and, if it gets squashed, is there an issue?

A

[undercling-mike]

That Alpkit stove is almost certainly made by Fire Maple, they've been selling re-branded Fire Maple stoves for a few years and this time it looks like they've specified some good design changes to get an improved model rather than just putting their name on a standard Fire Maple stove.

[kitty]

How have the "Fire Maple" purchasers been going over the last few years? Eg Mark F with his "118T" .
A

I have the 117T and I like it a lot compared to my previous stove (MSR Micro Rocket) due to greater stability and wider burner head.

[andrewa]

The Alpkit stove seems like the only advance offered over the last 2 yrs.

A

[Nuts]

Hi Andrew,

The Ti Caldera Cone, a sheet of Titanium, for it's role as a base/fireplace and windshield, is almost perfection.

Those of a certain size are designed to sit inside the circumference of the pot, taking 'no' room. They really need a solid storage spot but are pretty robust to being constantly set up/pulled down.

If you need a bigger pot for snow camping at some point CC switch to a 'sidewinder' which rolls up and lays down inside a pot with a wider base.

I like the setup for a 750ml pot, the CC base sheet, the CC, stove, stakes, scour pad and a small canister will fit in the pot (with the lid loose on top).
Don't have a packed up pic:

Screen Shot 2016-11-02 at 11.54.23 AM.png (360.31 KiB) Viewed 13567 times

[onward]

I have been using a MarkF combination FireMaple 117T/118 for best part of a year, works fine. But the FireMaple 116T with a 'tight' Ti windscreen contains enough of the heat so that a standard isobutane/propane mixed cylinder works fine around 0C anyway and is far lighter (and yes I keep 'measuring' the cylinder temperature with my hand and regulate the windscreen to keep the top of the cylinder just warm). But I mostly just boil water and I don't snow camp or cook for larger groups (larger pots) where the inverted canister might be better.