Just purchased a Vargo Ti Wood Stove. Sparked it up a couple times, and I am impressed with the ease of how this thing works.

Looking to lighten my load (well, the gear I carry; my belly is another issue!), and at 4 ounces, this is pretty sweet! When I solo, I only boil water, so I plan on bringing this on my June trip to Clearwater to mess with.

Any input on this particular piece would be most appreciated. Thanks!

I'm looking at this as well. I've never used a twig stove and am curious as to how well this works. I know some people in the Bikepacking world like it a lot. I only boil so this would be a nice option.

Just order one from Campsaver. Paid $48 for it. less than 4 oz. Looking forward to using it

Blatz: "Just order one from Campsaver. Paid $48 for it. less than 4 oz. Looking forward to using it"

I just got a MSR Titan kettle in the mail today. It holds .85 liters, and I was planning on seeing how long it takes to bring it to a boil, but we are getting dumped on here in the Twin Cites. I may still try it out in the garage.

Also, I just ordered a Solo Stove for $59. A bit heavier, but I am really intrigued with these twig stoves now and am looking forward to this new toy as well!

Let me know your thoughts when you get yours.

i had one, worked great, being an alcohol stove guy, i like the cleaner burn. just my thing.

bwcasolo: "i had one, worked great, being an alcohol stove guy, i like the cleaner burn. just my thing. "

I like the idea of not having to haul in fuel. Seems like most who use these also bring a backup; is that true for you as well?

I have an Emberlit but don't really use it for twigs. I use it as a shield because I put one of the brass small stoves inside it and for fuel use denatured alcohol. In the event you run out of fuel you have a twig stove back up. It burns really clean with the alcohol. Not the lightest option but very effective.

I just attempted to boil a liter of water in the Vargo. At the 12 minute mark, the water was still warm enough for me to stick my finger in it without any discomfort. Rather discouraging...

Do check out the Emberlit before you purchase something else. I have the stainless steel version (titanium is a bit pricey). The air flow is super and it heats water very quickly. It disassembles to the size of a CD. I have used it on my last three trips.

Dave

Frenchy19: "

bwcasolo: "i had one, worked great, being an alcohol stove guy, i like the cleaner burn. just my thing. "

I like the idea of not having to haul in fuel. Seems like most who use these also bring a backup; is that true for you as well?
"

frenchy, this vargo was my back-up, but i never used it. i only boil water, so my fancee feest alcohol stoves do the job, boiling 2 cups of water with 1 oz. of heet.
i don't mind bringing the heet. i have 2 vargo plastic fuel containers, and bring an extra un-opened plastic bottle of heet. doesn't take that much space.

Frenchy19: "I just attempted to boil a liter of water in the Vargo. At the 12 minute mark, the water was still warm enough for me to stick my finger in it without any discomfort. Rather discouraging... "

look at the solo stove, it's on sale right now. pretty impressive video.

bwcasolo: "

Frenchy19: "I just attempted to boil a liter of water in the Vargo. At the 12 minute mark, the water was still warm enough for me to stick my finger in it without any discomfort. Rather discouraging... "

look at the solo stove, it's on sale right now. pretty impressive video."

I bought one yesterday;-) Vargo is cool, but it will be going back to REI.

This dude's sure not sold on it...

Vargo review

The Vargo is pretty cool looking, but shouldn't it have more holes and slots in a couple of the sides, both for air intake and for feeding sticks?

Frenchy19: "

bwcasolo: "

Frenchy19: "I just attempted to boil a liter of water in the Vargo. At the 12 minute mark, the water was still warm enough for me to stick my finger in it without any discomfort. Rather discouraging... "

look at the solo stove, it's on sale right now. pretty impressive video."

I bought one yesterday;-) Vargo is cool, but it will be going back to REI."

yea i gave mine away to a fellow biker friend.

Jaywalker: "The Vargo is pretty cool looking, but shouldn't it have more holes and slots in a couple of the sides, both for air intake and for feeding sticks? "

There's some youtube videos showing modifications for that very thing. This stove was recommended to me by a hardcore Bikepacker. I'll give it a try and check out some of those mods, My problem is I'll spend way too much time trying to make it reliably work.

I made myself one of these and love it for solo trips. Wasn’t hard to make and under $10.00 in materials.

brux: "I made myself one of these and love it for solo trips. Wasn’t hard to make and under $10.00 in materials."

Damn!

Frenchy19: "

brux: "I made myself one of these and love it for solo trips. Wasn’t hard to make and under $10.00 in materials."

Damn! "

this is my stove, you can buy them online, they are cheap and boil 2 cups of water under 5 min.

Ya gotta love Shug. I've followed him talking about the fancee feast stove for a long time and I think I'm going to get one now. I would lose a lot of bulk and weight vs. carrying my MSR Whisperlite and fuel bottle.

A big plus is how simple that is. No parts to clog and then have to clean, no pumping, no priming. Jeeze, I should have switched years ago. Live and learn the hard way I guess.

Fancee Feast Stove

20 bucks shipped.

Frenchy19: " Fancee Feast Stove


20 bucks shipped."

You can have mine free, Mark. I'll bring it along tomorrow.

butthead

butthead: "

Frenchy19: " Fancee Feast Stove



20 bucks shipped."

You can have mine free, Mark. I'll bring it along tomorrow.


butthead"

I will not say no! Thanks, Ken.

TomT: "Ya gotta love Shug. I've followed him talking about the fancee feast stove for a long time and I think I'm going to get one now. I would lose a lot of bulk and weight vs. carrying my MSR Whisperlite and fuel bottle.


A big plus is how simple that is. No parts to clog and then have to clean, no pumping, no priming. Jeeze, I should have switched years ago. Live and learn the hard way I guess.


"

tom, for a week solo with my fancee feast, i take 2 btw, i use 1 ounce yellow heet to boil 2 cups of water. i use a 1 ounce container to measure the heet i put in the stove. i purchased 2 plastic fuel bottles from vargo, to put heet in for the week. these are very good, leak proof bottles. i also carry an unopened yellow container of heet just for backup, in case i am drinking more coffee than usual. that's it, i use a flint striker to light it. works every time. have fun, been doing this for quite a while now.

bwcasolo: "

TomT: "Ya gotta love Shug. I've followed him talking about the fancee feast stove for a long time and I think I'm going to get one now. I would lose a lot of bulk and weight vs. carrying my MSR Whisperlite and fuel bottle.



A big plus is how simple that is. No parts to clog and then have to clean, no pumping, no priming. Jeeze, I should have switched years ago. Live and learn the hard way I guess.



"

tom, for a week solo with my fancee feast, i take 2 btw, i use 1 ounce yellow heet to boil 2 cups of water. i use a 1 ounce container to measure the heet i put in the stove. i purchased 2 plastic fuel bottles from vargo, to put heet in for the week. these are very good, leak proof bottles. i also carry an unopened yellow container of heet just for backup, in case i am drinking more coffee than usual. that's it, i use a flint striker to light it. works every time. have fun, been doing this for quite a while now. "

As in this HEET??

I love my Emberlit stove. Use it for coffee and water for dehydrated meals. I won't leave home without it. Always plenty of twigs and sticks around for a quick fire. Very light weight and takes up no space.

You will dig on the solo stove, wait and see.

This is interesting I just received my issue of DirtRag a Mt Bike magazines today and they reviewed the Vargo Ti. They did say that it does have to stoked and monitored durning the boil and that amount of attention isn't for everyone.

mastertangler: "You will dig on the solo stove, wait and see. "

The damn thing will not be here until 4/11; I could walk to pick it up quicker than that!!

Frenchy19: "

bwcasolo: "

TomT: "Ya gotta love Shug. I've followed him talking about the fancee feast stove for a long time and I think I'm going to get one now. I would lose a lot of bulk and weight vs. carrying my MSR Whisperlite and fuel bottle.



A big plus is how simple that is. No parts to clog and then have to clean, no pumping, no priming. Jeeze, I should have switched years ago. Live and learn the hard way I guess.



"

tom, for a week solo with my fancee feast, i take 2 btw, i use 1 ounce yellow heet to boil 2 cups of water. i use a 1 ounce container to measure the heet i put in the stove. i purchased 2 plastic fuel bottles from vargo, to put heet in for the week. these are very good, leak proof bottles. i also carry an unopened yellow container of heet just for backup, in case i am drinking more coffee than usual. that's it, i use a flint striker to light it. works every time. have fun, been doing this for quite a while now. "

As in this HEET?? "

that's the one. do not open and carry that bottle, it will leak.

Frenchy19: "

mastertangler: "You will dig on the solo stove, wait and see. "

The damn thing will not be here until 4/11; I could walk to pick it up quicker than that!!"

The trick monsuier Frenchy is to make sure you have all your twigs, bark, and Small sticks collected beforehand. Then just a steady feed. I was happy with it. A comfortable situation is also helpful. A low chair or stool is good.

bwcasolo: "

Frenchy19: "

bwcasolo: "

TomT: "Ya gotta love Shug. I've followed him talking about the fancee feast stove for a long time and I think I'm going to get one now. I would lose a lot of bulk and weight vs. carrying my MSR Whisperlite and fuel bottle.




A big plus is how simple that is. No parts to clog and then have to clean, no pumping, no priming. Jeeze, I should have switched years ago. Live and learn the hard way I guess.




"

tom, for a week solo with my fancee feast, i take 2 btw, i use 1 ounce yellow heet to boil 2 cups of water. i use a 1 ounce container to measure the heet i put in the stove. i purchased 2 plastic fuel bottles from vargo, to put heet in for the week. these are very good, leak proof bottles. i also carry an unopened yellow container of heet just for backup, in case i am drinking more coffee than usual. that's it, i use a flint striker to light it. works every time. have fun, been doing this for quite a while now. "

As in this HEET?? "

that's the one. do not open and carry that bottle, it will leak."

That’s the stuff. Don’t use the stuff in the red bottle. The fumes are very toxic. I prefer using
this stuff. It’s 95% alcohol I believe.

Can’t speak on the Vargo, but I like my Solo Stove Lite. Nests nice in my TOAKS titanium 1100 mL mug. Will carbon up your mess and harder to cook with but easy to boil. 12 minutes for 1100 mL hard boil (lid on) with just a large handful of twigs.

Red Heet is 98% Isopropyl alcohol, not a very good burning type of alcohol "smoky burning".
Yellow Heet is 100% Methanol.

Both have toxic fumes, take care when using as fuel. Hardware alcohol fuels are mostly methanol and iso blends, Sunnyside, Klean Strip, Crown, are local for me and work very well.

Worried about toxicity? Buy Everclear 190 (food grade ethanol), good reason to head to WI along with brats and cheese.

butthead

Haven't tried many other twig stoves but I've been very happy with the littlebug Jr. Packs up nice and small and nests in my pot along with mug. Drafts well, burns hot, and has good capacity for fuel. Wide open top makes it easy to drop in more fuel and you can use larger splits for a longer burn once the fire is established. I think not having a bottom (as well as having big holes down low) helps with air flow and a hotter burn. Sure makes cleanup easier. Just pick it up and the ashes stay on the rock. Also makes it easier to start a fire since you can light your tinder and kindling exposed so it's easy to access and then place the littlbug over top.

I've got a small titatium twig stove that I need to spend more time with but so far, when using it with the floor installed, it doesn't burn as clean or hot as the littlbug. Need to try it without the floor and see how much difference it makes.

With twig stoves I'm convinced you need some internal volume to hold fuel, especially bigger pieces, to keep it from being too big of a hassle. Also needs to be easy to feed from the top. Pushing twigs through little holes in the bottom is about worthless. Lift the pot and drop the new pieces in vertically.

Alan

Thanks for chiming in, Alan. Given your pedigree, I have a lot of respect for your opinion.