OTHER NOTES |
- This camp stove is included as
a comparison since it's been the top
selling camp stove for many years. - Just like all gas stoves
this stove may be difficult to start in cold
temperatures. |
- This camp stove is included to represent the
low cost alternatives for pricier gas stoves. - Similar
to the more expensive gas camp stoves in performance
and reliability but heavier and cheaper. |
- The Trangia camp stoves are available in a
variety of sizes, the one featured here is a "lone backpacker" model.
- Notoriously slow but very reliable
and simple in design. - Requires a quite large
amount of alcohol, this brings the pack weight up
significantly, this is an especially big problem
in the winter when you need to use your stove more
often. - No
moving parts, nothing that can break on this camp stove. - You
can make a camp stove like this yourself with empty beer
cans but the efficiency will probably be lower requiring
more fuel and thereby raise your pack weight a bit.
The Trangia is the leading brand of this type
of stove and there are no major competitors. there are some small manufacturers that claim to have a more efficient
alcohol stove but the differences are marginal and will only reduce
your pack weight by no more than 5-10 %
- Can be a bit hard to get started sometimes but once it's lit it keeps burning no matter what until the fuel is
out. |
- The trailstove is the simplest camp stove
available. - There's fire and flames involved while you use the
trailstove so it does require a bit more caution. - Just like the
Trangia stoves the trailstove has no moving parts and nothing that can
break. - The trailstove burns wood gathered on site and is started
using starter material also gathered on site so the pack weight stays the
same no matter how long the trip is. - You can make a camp stove like this
yourself but the retail price for the materials alone run about $25 (most of it for
the stainless steel) so you might as well buy one. - Can not be used if there's no wood
available, but it does come with an optional alcohol burner if you go
above the tree line.
-
Especially good in the
winter when you need a camp stove to melt water. |
-This camp stove burns wood that you gather on site but it
does require starter material, the manufacturer suggests "zip fire sticks"or
cotton balls dipped in vaseline, the weight of this must be
included in the pack weight. - This camp stove is also available in Titanium
for $125, weighs 0.375 lbs less than steel version. This brings the total
pack weight for one week of backpacking down to 1.015 lbs (0.46 kg)
for the titanium version. - This camp
stove has an electric fan powered by batteries, this
makes it very unreliable and unsuitable for
long trips where reliability is a must, only use this
camp stove if you are going where you know there
will be other hikers to help you out in case of
equipment breakdown. In the winter this stove is more
likely than not to break down.
|
TEST SUMMARY |
Good camp stove |
As good a camp stove as the MSR just weighs a bit
more. |
Very reliable and dependable camp stove but
requires a very large amount of fuel |
The trailstove is the perfect camp stove
for most snowcampers. |
The trailstove is a much better camp stove than
this one if you're looking for a wood
stove. |