Light weight cookstove

For those who want a real lightweight cookstove but still want the power to boil fast the MSR Pocket Rocket is a champ. Weighs just a few ounces and boils in a few minutes. Great stove, durable, and dependable.

I'm going to have to buy one of those things and swap between it and my Jetboil depending on where I'm going/my cooking needs.

My Jetboil isn't very light (15 oz, cup and burner) but good grief does it boil water fast. 2 cups = 2 minutes flat. I have to make sure everything is set before I put the water on, because once it starts, it's ready QUICK! And my fuel lasts forever.

Jetboil stoves are nice and I plan on getting one for when I only want to cook rehydrated meals. I was on the trail with a guy that had two burners of the trangia alchol stove and it was great no moving parts just simple (he was cooking some really good food by the way). I am going to move in that direction. There are no moving parts just add the fuel and cook. I know most are going to say to slow right. Well so far out in the Arkansas Backcountry I haven't been in a hurry. When I get on I am going to leave my MSR whisperlite at home.

I would not exactly call the whisperlite UL, but great for the colder windier months. Limited with alcohol cause' in the colder months nwhen you hiked all day and get chilled the last thing you want to do is wait for a hot meal to warm your bones.

Jay:
Another option to look at is the Optimus Crux. Weighs 3.5 oz. and folds up small enough to fit in the bottom recess of your fuel canister. It will also simmer, should you decide to cook a meal in your pot and need to turn the heat down.

Snow Peak Giga Power Titanium, 2.5 oz, 10,000 btus of burning excellence. Waiting for my pocket rocket to sieze up before I buy one. Snow Peak also has many other UL cooking gear.

My pepsi can stove is working so well, I have almost forgot about anything else.

Chili:
I recently bought a Caldera Keg alcohol stove kit. It includes a 24 oz Foster's can as the pot. It is a great set-up and even with a mini-bic lighter and MSR spork, it only weighs 7.6 oz.
So I agree that the alcohol stoves definitely have a place in my pack.
UL

For the past couple of years, all my meals have been out of a zip lock bag, so boiling water is all there is to do.

I have used it in the dead of winter on the AT and on the beach with a strong breeze blowing and it worked the way I wanted it to. Can't hardly complain about that.

I just got a caldera cone to. Other than the folded over part that holds it together, they wouldn't be hard to build. I sold off everything in the kit, but the cone itself. The caddy is relatively heavy (3.5 oz) and I like my Zelph's Starlyte stove better than the 12-10. I realize the company says they've did thousands of tests to find the most efficient stove, but I still don't like the 12-10. I think some of their claims are just marketing speak, because a cone isn't a high-tech invention that takes science, it's just a piece of aluminum flashing that has been cut with curves and had holes drilled in it. I call it common sense. I shortened the cone for my stove, now my stove, cone, fuel bottle, lighter, and plastic cup to hold it should be a little over 3 oz. total. I think that math is right. If you add my pot cozy, freezer bag cozy, ti spork, bowl, and ti pot, we're looking at about 10 oz for everything w/o the fuel. 1/4 oz of fuel should be plenty of fuel to heat a meal with cool water, but I haven't tested it in the field yet.

I am thinking it would take a very efficient stove to heat water with 1/4 oz. A tablespoon is .5 ounce.

I don't think I could improve on the efficiency much with my current design, but it takes at least a tablespoon of fuel for much more than a cup of water.

I'm not too technical about things. I began to doubt it myself, so I just got out cook kit, chilled some water with ice cubes, measured a cup and with two unmelted cubes dumped it in the pot, put 1/4 oz of Heet in my measuring cup, poured it in the Zelph's stove, lit it, placed the cone over the stove, and let it burn. The water was way hotter than I heat my water normally! I don't actually get the water to a rolling boil, I just get it hot. You then dump it on the meal and put it in the freezer bag cozy. In the cozy, it takes forever for the meal to cool enough to eat, and I get impatient. Now of course this test wasn't conducted in 20 degree temperatures with wind, but I think just a hair over 1/4 oz of fuel would probably be enough to heat a meal or two cups of coffee.

I went through a lot of fuel with my first alky, a Pepsi can version.
I was worried the local convenience store was going to think I was
cooking meth or something since I bought so much Heet. I actually think some of the alcohol stoves waste half the fuel in the priming process. Not this one, it just starts burning. It and the freezer bag cozy have paid for themselves in fuel savings.

Thanks. I am going to have to look at the design. I haven't tested mine on anything short of a boil, so, I can't really say what it would take to get to 160 to 180 range.

I still use the pepsi alky but I have sealed the seams so that the pressure increases between chamber walls. It throws out some heat.

What I need to do is test denatured against Heet in the same conditions. I have used both but it seems like I get more BTU's out of the denatured alcohol. However, that is a casual observation and I haven't tested it.

I have the Snow Peak Giga with auto start... turn on the valve, push the button and cook! Excellent stove. Small fold-up size too.

http://www.snowpeak.com/back/stoves/ultralight.html

I use my Pocket Rocket when there is a group I need to cook for, but if it is just me, I use my soda pop can Alchy stove fueled with HEET. I can't complain

chili,
be careful with the denatured alcohol. There are a lot of nasty additives in there. You are right, it does burn a little hotter, but the lack of confidence of what is in there other than denatured alcohol (no regulation on this), makes me not want to carry it. Heet is the best bet. I got higher BTU output with a mixture of Heet and Denatured, but the difference wasn't huge. Anyway, good luck and watch your eyebrows!

I hadn't given it much thought, but I would have guessed HEET would have had more additives than detatured alcohol.

There may be more additives, but you can be more confident in what you're getting with HEET. Denatured has different things in it depending on the company. Either way, I've had success with both.

Since you posted that about the denatured alcohol and additives, I did a limited amount of online research. That is the thing that jumped off the page. Different manufacturers use different formulations.

Prior to that, I just figured it was undrinkable ethanol. I am guessing different brands of denatured alcohol would give different results on BTU's.

Interesting. One thing about HEET, it is a lot easier to find. Just whip in at any AutoZone and you are in business.

I think I will do a side by side comparison to find out if there is any substantial difference in boiling times between the two.