Choosing a Stove
When backpacking or just day hiking, you don't want to take along big bulky items. This is no regular picnic you're going on, and that good ol' Coleman stove, or charcoal fired hibachi you love to use on Sunday afternoon picnics in the park, will start get pretty heavy after the first quarter mile or so. Not to mention the extra stuff you'd have to take along like charcoal, lighter fluid, etc.
- Lightweight liquid fuel stoves. This is the type I use. I find that this type offers me the widest variety of options for different types of outings. I took three bottles of fuel for a five-day hike, cooking and boiling water along the way (I even used it on several of my lunch stops), and still had some fuel left over. I use an MSR brand that can burn any kind of fuel. I hook up a small fuel bottle to the stove, and carry larger sized MSR fuel bottles for carrying extra fuel. It sets up quickly and works in both cold and hot weather. The only drawback is it's hard to regulate. Coleman makes a variety of small stoves that use different kinds of fuel.
- Lightweight canister fuel stoves. A variety of companies manufacture these kinds. I consider the canisters themselves the only drawback to using this type. I would consider them adequate for weekend type trips, where you would only need to carry a couple of canisters along, but for longer trips I don't believe that the fuel would last as long.
- Pocket Cooker. This is a kind I found in Cabela's catalog. It's 4" X 6.5"X1.5" collapsed, and uses sticks, twigs, etc. for fuel. The company claims it will boil 3 cups of water in less than 10 minutes.
- What's gonna work for you. Look carefully at the specifications of each kind of lightweight stove. Evaluate how long the fuel will last compared to what you intend to use it for, and then decide which one is best for you. Lighter is better (or is that less is more?).
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