Disclaimer: I am entering into a commercial relationship with the manufacturer of these stoves. So feel free to read in any bias you wish, though I have tried to keep it objective.
I was on the look out for a compact stove and I have a natural or unnatural attraction to alcohol stoves. I wanted something lightweight but also compact, and came across the AB-13 Hybrid by TATO Gear in the USA, which ticked most of my boxes. It weighs 16-17grams on it's own, and 154grams including the plastic case and full 4oz (120ml) bottle.The stove is about 40mm wide and 25mm deep.
It seems well engineered, made from anodised aluminium, with 3 folding legs on the bottom and corresponding legs on the top to support the pot. The AB-13 Hybrid consists of a remote feed in which the bottle is attached to the stove via silcone tubing which attaches to a recessed fitting which is machined into the stove. Fuel is fed into the stove by inverting the bottle and squeezing until the wick material is wet out.
It is called a hybrid stove as it a combination of a wick and jet stove, with small holes surrounding the wick material on the casing of the stove.
My first opinion was that it is a really well designed and made piece of gear. It is so tiny though that I worried about the stability of the pot, but the top folding legs seem to hold the pot well in my trials. On the grass it seemed quite solid. Initial tests had the stove boiling 2 cups of water in around the 8-9 minute mark with an air temp of 14degreesC, and water probably colder than that, and it used about 30mls of fuel. Last weekend I cooked up some noodles for the kids after a walk and it used about 15ml of fuel, but I didn't time it as I was too busy trying to get my kids not to play with it . It didn't seem to take too long though.
In my first tests I had trouble keeping a consistent flame. It would start off strong with good output from the jets but would then die off and I found it hard to get the jets back into action fully. What I realised that I had to keep feeding the stove fuel by inverting the bottle and squeezing more fuel in at least one or two times. One I did this I achieved more consistent heat output. So it is not a set and forget stove, i think this is due to the small nature of the stove in that it cannot store a heap of fuel within it. Bryan from TATO suggested i mark the bottle to know how much fuel to add, which I have done and this makes it a little easier.
It will burn for an extended time without re-fueling on a lower flame so it would be good for simmering and perhaps baking. Another of the benefits of a wick stove is if they are tipped over there is no spillage of fuel.
Things I like:
Compact
Lightweight
Seems to be efficient
Seems to produce good heat output when the jets are fully in action
Quality construction, strong for its size.
No pot stand required
Possible down sides:
Requires a certain level of finesse with the re-fueling
Once the pot was on the stove it was difficult at times to see the flame to judge whether it needed more fuel.
Once more fuel is squeezed in some fuel seems to be sucked back out the stove and up the tubing - I am not sure how much this impacts on the stove output.
I feel like there should be more down sides for balance but I really like the stove, and the more I use it the more I like it. It won't be for everyone but it suits me.