Hi
What are some of the different camp stoves you take on your solo trips? I just bought a solo wood gas stove. I thought it would be lighter then taking fuel along. And then as a back up if it's raining a little alcohol stove that's very light. Just wondering what you all take and what you think of my idea
Mike

I take my 15 year old msr whisperlite. It's dependable and I know how to service it.

MSR XGK, Firefly, Dragonfly, Whisperlite, Simmerlite, Pocket Rocket, WindPro.
Coleman 425, PeakOne 400, PeakOne MultiFuel, PowerMax Expert, Power Max Xpedition.
Primus Nova.
Brunton AF
A few nameless Chinese iso-butane stoves.
Esbit burnner, with Esbit tabs and Sterno.

Homemade alcohol burners, home made wood burners, just around home to try out and experiment with.

Current preference for week+ remote trips, remote tank liquid fuel stoves. Simmerlite lighter than most canister setups, XGK dead reliability and heat output, or Dragonfly reliable and adjustable, depending on how heavy I feel like traveling.

butthead

I take a JetBoil Sol that I've used for several years. It's simple, fast, efficient, stable, light, and compact. Your combo should work fine for you, although it's not my personal preference.

I use a Snowpeak Gigapower a lot. Also use a Alky stove ( DIY White Box stove) that works well.

I just bought a solo wood gas stove. I thought it would be lighter then taking fuel along. And then as a back up if it's raining a little alcohol stove that's very light. Just wondering what you all take and what you think of my idea

That's the same thing I do. Works great for me and I don't plan on changing anytime soon. Even if it's raining I'll still usually cook with wood in the twig stove (littlbug Jr). If it's been wet I usually find it necessary to cut up a dead sapling into 3-4" chunks and quickly batton them with my knife. Even in dry weather cutting up and splitting small pieces of wood will get you a longer and more controlled burn, with some embers, as opposed to using sticks and twigs.

Alan

Anything like an MSR Pocket Rocket works great. A couple of the small canisters will get you through 5 days or so with a backpackers mentality

We cook all our meals on either the campfire or my twig stove. I do take one of those screw on top of a cannister stoves for wet weather. I've used the same cannister now for two years and it sounds pretty close to empty [total of almost 2months worth of trips]. I know that twig stoves are'nt legal during a fire ban and please someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you can use an ALKY stove during a fire ban. I tried an ALKY stove on one of my 10 day Ontario solos and was not impressed with the way it worked. Couldn't get the heat I thought I could, used more fuel than I thought it would, and it cooked stuff a lot slower than I thought it would, and I had trouble adjusting the amount of heat it put out. FRED

For what it's worth, asked a ranger at Tofte about alcohol and twig stoves in a fire ban. Alcohol he considered a fueled stove and ok, twig or anything that left ash and embers, banned. I do know some USFS areas out west do ban alcohol burners at times.

butthead

quote butthead: "For what it's worth, asked a ranger at Tofte about alcohol and twig stoves in a fire ban. Alcohol he considered a fueled stove and ok, twig or anything that left ash and embers, banned. I do know some USFS areas out west do ban alcohol burners at times.


butthead"

Some places look at it in that if it has a valve to shut it off it is OK. If it doesn't have a shutoff to it like on a twig stove or alky stove it is not OK.

Whatsit, I use the same MSR Whisperlite I've had since about 1997. Tried a canister for a few trips, the noise and uncertainty about fuel quantity remaining bothered me, so I went back to the Whisperlite. Been reading threads on this forum about twig stoves, and I like the idea. Will be interested to hear how you like yours.

I'll generally use a little canister stove in the summer. I have a snow peak and a MSR pocket rocket. I prefer the snow peak. I take 2 canisters for a solo 14 day trip. That's usually one boil in the morning and one meal in the evening. I try to be frugal with the fuel. Most pasta type dinners don't need to be simmered as long as the directions call for.
I always use a fire for cooking with a frying pan, for either fish or pancakes which supplements the canisters. I've used an alcohol stove for many years when backpacking solo, especially if only out a night or two. Alcohol has less btu's, so you use more fuel. The weight savings of an alcohol stove is lost after 3 days or so compared to a canister stove. I use a peak1 or msr white gas stove in the winter.

MSR Pocket Rocket is dependable and easy. It has a small flame pattern so best for a narrow pot, tea kettle, etc. I bought a cheap knock-off for under $10.00 on amazon for a back-up. In 2017 I'm going with the wood-burning SoloStove Titan.

I usually cook over the fire nowadays.
But for backup, I like the trangia.
With the trangia, you can carry a couple ounces of fuel in the stove and then a small bottle of alky as extra fuel.
Also, the trangia allows a good amount of gradation from full burn to low simmer.
And, unlike most other alky burners with the trangia once you are done cooking you can snuff the flame and preserve fuel.

quote butthead: "MSR XGK, Firefly, Dragonfly, Whisperlite, Simmerlite, Pocket Rocket, WindPro.
Coleman 425, PeakOne 400, PeakOne MultiFuel, PowerMax Expert, Power Max Xpedition.
Primus Nova.
Brunton AF
A few nameless Chinese iso-butane stoves.
Esbit burnner, with Esbit tabs and Sterno.


Homemade alcohol burners, home made wood burners, just around home to try out and experiment with.


Current preference for week+ remote trips, remote tank liquid fuel stoves. Simmerlite lighter than most canister setups, XGK dead reliability and heat output, or Dragonfly reliable and adjustable, depending on how heavy I feel like traveling.


butthead
"

Ya had ta ask didn't ya? Haha...
I've been happy with my dragonfly with the tamer added.

My first trip I was outfitted by Piragis, and they gave me the WindPro II, along with 5 canisters of fuel. (I was solo, lol) I used about 1 1/2 canisters for a 6 day trip.
The things I liked were the ability to simmer, the low center of gravity with the remote canister, no worries of overheating the canister with the windscreen. So, that is what I purchased, and am very happy with it.

I too use the solo wood burner and a white box alchohol stove as backup. They do the job for me.

quote OBX2Kayak: "I too use the solo wood burner and a white box alchohol stove as backup. They do the job for me."

Great! It will be light to carry in and the two options should be fine. My outfitter (canoe only) has already said he'll give me a heads up with theirs a no burn issued around the time I go in. If that's the case I'll just use the same old canisters and top burner system I've used in the past.
Mike

I used a solo stove this past summer for 24 days in WCPP and liked it just fine and dandy. Not so sure I would be so enamored with it during a shoulder season (cold and rainy).

Heres a tip.........I brought along a dozen or so "wet tinder" fire starter cubes. I am big into quick and "no-hassle" concepts. My life is already seriously complex so simple and easy is just fine and dandy. Anytime the woods were soaked it was rather nice to slap a piece of wet tinder in with my twigs to get things started. Wet tinder is super duper lightweight and conveniently packaged in single serving portions ;-) Get yours today at Amazon.com

Also rather handy to have a few pieces of birchbark laying around just in case your fire thinks about faltering. The little twig stoves do require some mindless attention.

Oh, and one more thing.......I brought some mechanix gloves. Thin rubber coated palms are quite heat resistant and yet the tactile feel is superb and still plenty good for fine motor skills (no pun intended) like breaking little twigs into fuel. A "must have" item.

As per alcohol stoves you can simply do no better than a Caldera Cone. Efficiency to the maximus, light and excellent storage system.

I would take one or the other. Taking both systems seems redundant and rather defeats the purpose does it not?

quote TomT: "I take my 15 year old msr whisperlite. It's dependable and I know how to service it. "

+1.

quote butthead: "MSR XGK, Firefly, Dragonfly, Whisperlite, Simmerlite, Pocket Rocket, WindPro.
Coleman 425, PeakOne 400, PeakOne MultiFuel, PowerMax Expert, Power Max Xpedition.
Primus Nova.
Brunton AF
A few nameless Chinese iso-butane stoves.
Esbit burnner, with Esbit tabs and Sterno.


Homemade alcohol burners, home made wood burners, just around home to try out and experiment with.


Current preference for week+ remote trips, remote tank liquid fuel stoves. Simmerlite lighter than most canister setups, XGK dead reliability and heat output, or Dragonfly reliable and adjustable, depending on how heavy I feel like traveling.


butthead
"

ken, that must be one heck of a pack that hold's all those stoves on your solo trips. :)

Odd thing I only take one when tripping. Never bothered with spare, never needed one. Only trouble ever have is going thru too much fuel. But I just do more cooking on the fire pit, and conserve the fuel.

butthead

My last two trips I brought a folding sterno stove and used wood for fuel. I think I bought it at Walmart for under $10. Instead of twigs, I prefer cutting up real wood because I get better control of the temperature. Even if its raining, because you are splitting the wood into small pieces, it still burns fine. I bring a lightweight alcohol stove as a backup, but haven't needed it.

My Solo Stove is among my all-time favorite pieces of outdoor gear. The only drawback is the soot . .it gets everywhere. The advantages, though, far outweigh the soot problem. It lights easily and can burn just about anything. Once you get it going it can easily burn wet wood.

I fell in love with it on a freezing afternoon on Ram Lake - it was raining/sleeting . .everything was wet. I was able to get the solo stove going on some shredded birch bark and then fed wet sticks into it and keep a fire going all afternoon. I just have the regular size one but you can put longer sticks in - leaving them sticking out the top and resting against the windscreen - and have a little personal campfire. I had the flames to about 12" high which was vastly better than nothing.

Unless there's a ban, it's the only stove I really need outside of family/car camping trips. Whenever I can't use my solo stove, my go-to is a coleman single burner that connects to a 16oz propane bottle. The burner is super light. The propane is heavy but it lasts a long time.

sorry for dbl post - not sure what happened

My Solo Stove is among my all-time favorite pieces of outdoor gear. The only drawback is the soot . .it gets everywhere. The advantages, though, far outweigh the soot problem. It lights easily and can burn just about anything. Once you get it going it can easily burn wet wood.

I fell in love with it on a freezing afternoon on Ram Lake - it was raining/sleeting . .everything was wet. I was able to get the solo stove going on some shredded birch bark and then fed wet sticks into it and keep a fire going all afternoon. I just have the regular size one but you can put longer sticks in - leaving them sticking out the top and resting against the windscreen - and have a little personal campfire. I had the flames to about 12" high which was vastly better than nothing.

Unless there's a ban, it's the only stove I really need outside of family/car camping trips. Whenever I can't use my solo stove, my go-to is a coleman single burner that connects to a 16oz propane bottle. The burner is super light. The propane is heavy but it lasts a long time.