I personally would not use your stove for summer backpacking, simply because stove plus fuel container plus fuel is definitely heavier than other options. Plus I dislike anything (stove or water filter) that I have to pump!

However, do NOT get rid of your Svea! If you're camping in late fall, winter, early spring, you definitely want it because it performs far better in cold temperatures than alcohol or, especially, canister stoves. It's also superior when you have to melt snow for water.

A lot also depends on what kind of cooking you're doing. All I do is boil water to rehydrate home-dehydrated meals and, should I ever catch any laugh , fry the occasional fish. If you're doing regular cooking, the weight difference will probably be less.

Denatured alcohol found in the paint section of the hardware store is cheaper and less environmentally harmful than Heet. Most denatured alcohol contains mostly ethanol and only about 10% methanol (to keep it from being drinkable). Heet is mostly methanol. There's a lot of difference in the amount of poisonous fumes!

I generally use a canister stove, mainly because it's convenient, much faster than either alcohol or liquid gas, and stove plus fuel is pretty much a draw weightwise with alcohol for any trip of a week or more. No, a big canister attached to unfolded stove doesn't fit in my pot, but I prefer to unscrew the stove from the canister for storage anyway. I took a MSR Whisperlite on a group trip 20-some years ago. Everyone else on the trip had Bluet stoves (the only canister stoves available then). At almost every meal, the others had finished eating by the time my water boiled! The difference was the stove preparation/pumping time. Since then, I've been a canister stove fan.

Obviously, Your Mileage May Vary! Some people collect these stoves (see the Mountaineering branch of this forum).


Edited by OregonMouse (08/29/11 04:00 PM)
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey