canister stove with truly great simmer/flame adjustability?

I've had a Brunton Flex for several years and really like it.

> Larger flame ring to avoid hot spots

> folding burner head and control handle for better storage

> great simmering ability

> fairly good wind performance

> VERY good reliability/durability (i.e. it ain't fragile)

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** BTW: Jimmer's' suggestion below for the Optimus Crux is the same stove as the Brunton Flex. However the Crux has only a 3 leaf pot support. The Flex has 4 supports. I feel 4 supports is more stable and worth the few grams extra.

I would check with Jon at Flat Cat Gear about his Bobcat Kovea Spider system. You could ask him about fuel efficiency, but it comes with a windscreen and a floor sheet, as well as alcohol and Esbit. He turns the flame down pretty low on these to dry bake. I think they are pretty much optimized for 1.3 liter pots (specifically the Evernew, but I'm pretty sure other 1.3 pots work too.

Since you've already got the 1.3 liter pot, this might be a good option for you.

http://www.flatcatgear.com/bobcat-kovea-cooking-system/

That Brunton Flex stove has good reviews. However, I can't even find any on sale on eBay!

I've had many UL canister stoves and my favorite is the Soto Windmaster. I think it meets or exceeds your stated goals.

In your unique situation, I recommend you look at the Optimus Crux or Crux lite stoves.

The Crux has the folding neck design and can store under the indentation under a fuel canister( kind of cool) .The Crux lite is slightly lighter model of the same burner head with a fixed neck. The Crux folding model weighs about 3 oz and the Crux lite weighs 2.5.
The Crux runs about $45 shipped and the Crux lite is listed ob the 'Bay for $33.
The have a relatively larger burner head that is going to help with stability and fuel efficiency on your wider pot.

As to simmer sdjustability, the early models were a bit touchy,they have changed them several years ago amd I think the newer ones are OK in that regard..

Just about any other stove thats lighter, is going to have a smaller burner head, and pretty much all of the slighly cheaper knockoffs of the Optimus design ship from China-too slow.

If you can make the Crux lite work in terms of stowing it (perhaps in that large pot) I think its the lightest, cheapest and most stable option for you. And, Optimus has a good US warranty.

My Soto Micro Regulator with the accessory windscreen works well for me. I would like to try the Windmaster model for comparison.

Anyone had any luck with simmering with Olicamp stoves?

They seem really affordable.

Where's Hikin' Jim when you need him?

E.
Yep, the Olicamp stoves are fairly inexpensive, but actually,in the Upright models not really any better priced than the Optimus stuff.

The Olicamp Kenetic model is a Titabium Chinese made knockoff of the Crux lite stoves. It costs almost 50% more than a Crux lite and saves you about .75 oz of weight.

To me the biggest issue with Olivamp stuff is it basically has no real warrsnty service, The Olicamo brand is owned by a hilding co hete in.the US thst has no CS dept to contact if you have a problem . You are no better off in that aspect then if you bought the same stove under another brand (Firemaple ,etc) direct from China for 2/3 the price.

Not a big deal with a simple $10 cup, but a bit worrysome with a $40 -$50 stove.

The Optimus stuff is made in Taiwan to Optimus' specs and carries a real US watranty.

Thats why I recommended them in your case..

Hmmmm. My hesitation about the Crux and the Crux Lite is that so many reviews on the Internet consistently mention the flame adjustability as a real PIA. Too easy to put the stove out when you are just trying to turn it down to a simmer.

Elizabeth,

Thats why in my first post, I mentioned the caveat concerning old stoves vs new ones.

The worst reviews for the Crux stoves are mostly 5 years old. They have improved several things sbout the Crux stoves since then, one of them is the simmer adjustment. The reviews still seem ti vary a bit on the adjustability on low..

Another stable stive at a good price is he Kovea EAGLE Its a littke four leg support upright stove for under $30 from a few US sellers on the bay.. It has a 45 degree angled head for a decent fkame pattern.

Kobea make nice solid stoves ,They build the Pocket and Microrickets for MSR and also stoves for Snowpeak.. I'd be shocked if the adjustment on the Eagle did not work as well as any of their other stoves..

I have no affiliation with the folks below at all,but they have the kovea Eagle in stock and on on sale for $22 with free shipping . They are based out of central NY state. Maybe if you shoot them an email, they may have some info on how well the simmer adjustnent works on the Eagle..:)

http://www.ultraliteoutfitters.com/cart.php?m=view

I'm finding good reviews for the 116-T and 117-T stoves (variously sold under the names Fire Maple, Montauk Gnat, Vango Ultralite, and Olicamp Xcelerator T).

Both the 116-T and the 117-T look like they have excellent simmering, and also are very stable for wide pots.

The 116-T can be found for about $15 cheaper, so I'm wondering how exactly the 117-T is superior to it.

– Elizabeth

The 117-T is a remote canister stove. With that you can for example warm up your canister in winter more easily. It does not have a preheat mechanism, so the real benefit in winter is debatable. Of course it is heavier than the 116-T.

The 116-T sits on top op the canister.

The Optimus Crux is one of the stoves I own. It is several years old so cannot comment on the mentioned improvements to newer models. The folding head design has become a little wobbly with age, but it still works fine and is stable enough.

The large head of the Crux makes the stove work quite well with larger pots. It is more efficient than the Windmaster when used with an Olicamp XTS…this is the pairing I use when I want to bring a larger capacity "system". However that same large head makes it much less efficient than the Windmaster for smaller diameter pots such as the BPL 500/550 or Toaks 850.

The Windmaster works very well with smaller diameter pots and is significantly more efficient in this use case than the Crux, and so is my choice for a smaller capacity "UL" canister setup.

I find value in owning both….but if I had none, I would purchase the Windmaster as I usually take a small capacity setup and the increased efficiency of the Crux with the XTS is small.

I have used Windmaster for a year or so. Works good. Good simmer. I think Soto stoves are a little higher quality. The igniter works fine. The regulator does not enable it to work at lower temperatures, but needle valve stoves will slow down after a while so you have to turn it up – regulator avoids this.

I think all canister stoves are about the same efficient. Except heat exchanger stoves like Jetboil are better. And you need a windscreen or efficiency will be bad.

The MSR Wind Pro is a great stove for simmering and cooking on. You'd have to see how it fits all your criteria, but it's suited for a wide pot… that's pretty much a requirement to use it.

I have used mine all over, including single digit temps with the canister inverted. Not the lightest option around, but extremely versatile.

MSR has excellent customer service as well.

Based on what I read on Hikin' Jim's blog and Flat Cat Gear's website, I got a Kovea Spider remote canister stove on Amazon. I made a Ti basic windscreen for it, and had some problems with the stove sputtering, but after some feedback from the forums on adding a second row of vent holes, I was able to run the stove over quite a range.

The pot I was using is an Olicamp XTS (1L). It also works for a MORS 1.8L pot, and I tried the Evernew 1.3L for fit and it is tight, but probably doable. For the Evernew, I would add vents at the top. This windscreen is still a work in progress. Recommendations and another thread I saw showed a windscreen that is suspended above the ground, which would let plenty of air in the bottom (Thanks to Jon for that). I like windscreens that fit in the pot I'm using, so I'm going to experiment more, but the stove I think is a winner.

Remote canister stoves are of course a little heavier, but more stable. You can't have a tight windscreen around a canister-mounted stove, unless it somehow insulates the canister from the burner. If you want to use this in the winter, the added benefit is that you can invert the canister and run it to lower temperatures, and eek more of the fuel from the canister.

My other pictures didn't show the stove. Here it is (before I added the 2nd row of vent holes)

I use my MSR Wind Pro with my 8 inch fry-bake. It's has a very wide heat flame spread, you can turn it down very low for delicate baking or fire it way up to boil water quickly. But its heavier at 6.5 ounces.

Where’s Hikin’ Jim when you need him?

Yeah! Where is that guy when you really need him? [ahem] :)

If the “good performance in wind” criteria is really important, that narrows down the playing field quite a bit. If you want efficient and windproof, and in this case I mean bombproof, there’s the WindBurner from MSR (formerly known as the WindBoiler but apparently JetBoil got on MSR’s case and now it’s called the WindBurner. I’ve got an extensive WindBoiler/WindBurner review on my blog if you’re interested.

The problem with the WindBurner is that it’s a bit heavy and a bit expensive. It’s also a bit small for two although it’s so fast that hardly matters.

Another windproof one is the Soto Windmaster. I was really skeptical at first, but the darned thing really does work. It’s more efficient and more windproof than the older MicroRegulator. It’s also lighter as well. And Japanese build quality; very nice. A bit pricey for an upright non heat exchanger canister stove, but it’s a good one. I put together a comparison video of the Windmaster vs the Microregulator if you’re interested.

Someone else recommended a Kovea Spider which Jon at Flat Cat does carry. It’s roughly double the weight (or even a bit more than double), but it’s a remote canister stove which places it low to the ground AND allows one to use a full 360 degree windscreen. Even with a full 360 degree windscreen, the Spider isn’t as wind proof as the WindBurner. With a windscreen, the Spider is more windproof than the Windmaster, but the Windmaster actually does a pretty good job in wind.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

Hmm. Link didn’t work above. Trying again to put a link to my Soto MicroRegulator vs. Soto Windmaster video.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

Nice video and test

I only have Windmaster

It seems to me like Windmaster does better in wind than other stoves I have, but I still want to have a windscreen

I like to run the stove at slower speed. Uses maybe 10% less fuel. Then, maybe, it's more sensitive to wind. More need to have windscreen.

Setting up any stove in a sheltered spot is a good practice. I think a Windmaster in a sheltered spot would do pretty well even without a windscreen — but a windscreen will only help (so long as you’re carefully checking the canister temperature with your hand on a regular basis. Hot canister = bad).

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

Thanks for the video, Jim. I own a MicroRegulator and wondered what the real world difference was. I did add the accessory Soto windscreen which does help, especially when simmering. It would be interesting to see the comparison of the two with the windscreen added to the MicroRegulator.

I use anything available to make a wind break for my cooking area, regardless of the stove used. I have used my sit pad, backpack, rocks, etc — all a fair distance from the stove to protect from the wind but not cook my gear and allow proper cooling of the canister. If you get too tar away, it can create turbulence and end up being a one-step-forward-two-steps-back process.