Hiking stoves

Thanks Adrian and Ian, that's the kind of info we're looking for..

@ Papa Dragon
I presume you are asking the question in order to determine if buying a normal stove (without heating coil) would be suitable in cold conditions.
I have a Go System Stove which still works in the cold, though less efficiently as the gas cylinder get colder.
What I have found is that if the cylinder is kept warm to start with (as Ian suggests), it will start well. The way I have got round the issue of keeping it warm, is to enclose the stove with a windshield which reflects the heat back onto the cylinder, so keeeping the temperature at an efficient burn level. Recently it still worked reasonably well in -13 degree temperatures.
Neil.

Great info, thanks Neil

Papa Dragon wrote: I have had a Kovea Spider for a few years, and am happy with the stove.

One of the features of the stove is that it has a heating coil, which apparently is useful at high altitude, and low temps, when one can invert the gas canister and the stove will still burn.

I have never had to do this, despite some pretty chilly escarpment hikes, the stove has never failed to work.

A guy that I hiked with recently was keen on the stove, but obviously Kovea is no longer available in SA.

So, my question is, has anyone had a stove like the MSR Pocket Rocket, or something similar, fail due to low temps or high altitude, with a butane propane mix? Not just hearsay please..

Cheers

Hi PapaD

Are you talking about the stove or the gas? If you are talking about the gas I've had a problem before.

On my first few hikes in the Berg I used a puncture Cadac hiking stove, and I remember on one of them it was below zero early in the morning when we watched the sun come up from the Amphi. I opened the stove and gas came out very very slowly. It made a flame but a very small one, something like a candle's flame. I thought the bottle was empty, but when I shake it there was still plenty gas in. Later that day the stove worked fine again. So I read about the problem that the bottles with Butane doesn't work well at low temperatures. But the more expensive bottles that has a mix (butane / propane) works better at lower temperatures.

I got this picture from zenstoves.com to show the difference:

I can offer some feedback as I have Reactor for some years now. I also have an MSR Firefly which is a bit more robust than a Pocket Rocket and started off my Berg hiking 15 years ago with a Whisperlite that runs on a liquid fuel canister.

Basically the Reactor is by far the best performer. We dubbed it the "flamethrower"! on my first hike with it. I find the Firefly to be good basic stove but is much slower to get a boil going, especially in strong wind. I use a windshield but it's a mission. The Whisperlite is a really good machine but again is far slower and requires pumping to pressurise.

In hindsight I was happy with each stove until I got the next. Gas is more convenient and speed and hassle when you have had a long day matters too. In 2015 I went up Giants in extremely cold weather and snow and found that one of my small MSR gas cylinders "froze" and needed a few shakes before getting going. I've since bought once of those plastic feet/ stands so it doesn't rest on the ground. That's never happened since so I can say that I have had flawless performance from my Reactor and MSR kit.