Winter Camp Stove Comparison

Choosing the right camp stove for winter camping is very important. You don't want to go snowcamping with the wrong camp stove. There are so many sites covering gas camp stoves and there are hundreds of those camp stoves on the market so on this site we have focused on non-gas camp stoves. We have included two gas camp stoves as a comparison to alternative camp stoves. Gas and liquid fuel stoves are generally not recommended for winter use due to the high frequency of mechanical problems due to low temperatures. Wood powered camp stoves have an extra advantage in the winter since you need to use your stove much more in the winter to melt snow for drinking water, with a wood camp stove you don't have to worry about running out of fuel.  We will be adding more camp stoves to this comparison table as time allows, so if you're into camp stoves and winter camping please check back often.

MSR WHISPERLIGHT
COLEMAN BACKPACK STOVE
MINI TRANGIA
STRATUS TRAILSTOVE
SIERRA ZIP STOVE
FUEL GAS GAS ALCOHOL WOOD WOOD
WEIGHT WITHOUT FUEL 0.69 lbs (0.31 kg) 2 lbs (0.9 kg) 0.73 lbs (0.33 kg) 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg) 1.0 lbs (0.45 kg)
WEIGHT WITH 2 DAYS FUEL FOR SNOW CAMPING  1.24 lbs (0.56 kg) 2.35 lbs (1.1 kg) 1.98 lbs ( 0.90 kg) 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)  1.11 lbs (0.51 kg)
WEIGHT WITH 1 WEEK FUEL FOR SNOW CAMPING  2.06 lbs (0.94 kg) 3.11 lbs (1.41 kg) 5.14 lbs (2.34 kg) 0.9 lbs (0.41 kg)  1.39 lbs (0.63 kg)
PACK VOLUME (WITH FUEL) 118 cubic inches 150 cubic inches 109 cubic inches 157 cubic inches 142 cubic inches
TIME TO BOIL 1 QT OF WATER 3.9 min 3.7 min 20 min 9 - 11 min (depending on type and dryness of wood) 4.0 min
RELIABILITY Summer - GOOD
Winter - OK
Summer - GOOD
Winter - OK
Summer - EXCELLENT
Winter - EXCELLENT
Summer - EXCELLENT
Winter - EXCELLENT
Summer - POOR
Winter - DISASTER
PRICE $ 59.95 $29.99 $ 32.95 $ 19.95 $52.00
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.
COMPANY URL

www.msrcorp.com

www.coleman.com

www.trangia.se

www.trailstove.com

www.zipstove.com
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.

This comparison chart is a version of Hiking Henrick's camp stove comparison modified by Hiking Henrick himself for winter camping. 

 

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