alcohol stove input needed

Hello. I'm considering getting the PackaFeather XL alcohol stove(http://www.packafeather.com/xlstove.html.) Any opinions about it and/or ideas about other alcohol stoves. I'm not looking to make my own.
I'm going to be using it for a single person and for 1-2 weeks generally below 14,000 feet. This would be for cooking meals.

Darwin
daroos@indiana.edu

we kinda need to know how and for what youre going to use the stove for.

I'm going to be using it for a single person and for 1-2 weeks generally below 14,000 feet. This would be for cooking meals.

It depends how you are cooking. I love alcohol stoves but most of my "cooking" is boiling water. They work just fine for that,
and you don't need one as complex as that one to do that..

Google for "penny alcohol stove" - that's what I use - most
of the time.

That one looks like a lighter weight version of the old brasslite stove - which was cool, but I think a bit overcomplex.

If you actually do *cooking* you may find yourself better served by something like a snow peak canister stove, or an MSR pocket rocket, or equivalent.

I don’t doubt it’s a great stove. The thing that shied me away from it-- is its weight, moving parts, and cost.

Mechanic Mike on eBay makes a stove similar to what I use the most. He sells a complete stove, stand, and screen here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Top-Jet-ALCOHOL-STOV...=item56378ecd25

Every thing he says is exactly what I found also. They are impressive little stoves for Freezer Bag Cooking.
I use the Titan Kettle and trimmed my wind screen height to make sure everything fits in the pot for trail storage.

-Barry

i wouldn't buy that stove from him you can make that thing for about 5 bucks if you were to go out an buy a rockstar twist off top can and have a gas stove at your house. use this link if you're interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEEWqA3LC80
I made one and it turned out pretty well on the first try. make sure you flatten the top edge really well though.
The Rockstar stove would serve you well if you're using it to boil water or maybe cook ramen/something pretty simple.
One thing i would recommend you consider however is the amount of fuel you're going to need if you go with an alcohol stove. In my experience you always end up using about 20% more alcohol than you expect on those long trips (1-2weeks).
I dont know if youve looked into anything like this but for extended trips i sometimes use my J faulk stove, runs on twigs and can be used pretty well to cook things on.
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/falk-woodstove/index.html

“i wouldn't buy that stove from him you can make that thing for about 5 bucks”

Yep, but the OP said “…I'm not looking to make my own.”

-Barry

sorry haha got caught up in the moment haha im a big DIY guy

If I was determined not to build one:

http://www.antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=AGCKAG3C

My brother uses that.. works well.

get a bongo with a turbo top if you are determined not to buy a stove. you will really never have to buy another stove for the rest of your life if you go with that.
http://minibulldesign.com/mbdstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=231

Here is my advice. Forgive me if it is somewhat general. It is just my opinion, and at times I have found that people don't always agree with me, so take it for what it is worth. If I were you I would make an alcohol stove and experiment with it. I assume you have used a lightweight canister stove in the past, if you haven't then you will not have an appreciation for the difference between a canister stove and an alcohol stove. The Alcohol stove is lighter and works reasonably well but requires a little fussing around at times and is slower. What works for you depends largely on you and what you ultimately want. For a long trip I actually find, due to the weight of fuel, that my primus micro canister stove saves weight! I can draw you a graph showing where the curves intersect if you like. I suspect a few ultralight packpackers would disagree. Good luck, experiment, try some stoves out, see what you like best. you mentioned less than 14,000 feet. If you are above the tree line you had better have a good wind screen no matter what you use.

i completely agree with you pliny.

BTW, I also pretty much completely agree with Pliny, even though about 90% of the time in the non-winter season I am an alcohol stove user..

1) At more than about 6-7 person-days for me boiling 3 cups of water for breakfast and 3 for dinner, my snow peak canister stove has a lighter max weight than alcohol. i.e. I start carrying less.

2) Alcohol is fussier, but I have an *easier* time with alcohol when it's down to a few degrees below freezing. I find isopro canisters a PITA in the cold.

3) Caveat all that, once it's a lot colder, I'm a white gas guy

Realisticly though, anything will work as long as you are prepared to deal with it.

I have to agree. I love my little pop can stove but for trips longer than a few days, I would prefer some type of canister stove. Also, sometimes I like to really cook(more than just boil water). For breakfast for instance, I like to make pancakes. That takes a small fry pan, and some heat to make a short stack. Yummm

My vote is the Trangia spirit stove. This stove has been around for a long time wikipedia say first sold in 1925. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trangia.

It has only 1 moving part, the simmer ring for controlling the heat output.A screw on lid so you can keep your left over fuel.

Weight is about 3.5oz for an empty burner. Needs a pots stand and windscreen. Clickstand makes a lightweight version of the potstand, weight 3.3 oz.

Thats my 2 cents

While I don't use it for longer trips, I find that I rely on my Esbit for 6-7 day trips. Knowing I can rely on solid fuel and counting exactly how much I will use in advance makes the Esbit a sure bet for me.

I used a penny stove for ~2 years exclusively, as did my hiking companions. Knowing we could share fuel in a pinch was nice, and the at-home tinkering and testing was certainly fun to while away the time.

Google the Supercat. On the same page there are instructions for the Simmercat. Cheap and they work. Give alcohol a try (outside! on concrete!) - I can steam bake, boil water, and fry an egg, which is all the cooking I will ever do in the backcountry.

I looked at the Packafeather stoves - the remote adjustment feature is neat. Other stoves will be more durable or just easier to replace.

Good stuff on this thread.

Me too, when not using a campfire.

I use a Heini pot and a penny stove made out of diet root beer cans. Minibull Dsign also has some good stoves as well. I have built and tested 7 types of alcohol stoves and still like my penny version. My entire cookset with 6 oz of fuel only weighs 10 oz total.

I used three different alcohol stove over the summer and thought they all work great. I like the kind that dont require pot stand but there are some disadvantages to that. Anyway I didn't have any issues with them what so ever and on all three boiled water in the 8-9 minutes marks. Fuel is cheap and I have even got water to boil when its near and bellow freezing.
However, just the past few nights with a jetboil and I am sold. Melted snow super quick and obviously boiled water super quick. For boiling water I really dont think it can be beat, especially solo during the summer. I have used other canister stoves and really wasn't impressed, even though the jet boil seems gimmicky(kinda is) its very practical. There might be some jet boil hate but from an alcohol stove user I highly recommend it.

Note if I were doing multi day trips with resupply point I would go alcohol, HEET is fairly common in gas stations.

I take back all the things I posted about tinny in the past i would definitly never buy something from him ever again

what volume of water were you boiling that it took 9 minutes?

500-700ml maybe my pot is 900ml and I never use even close to that much water unless I am have tea with breakfast.

this is out in the field by the way, not indoors.