Vargo

I research their stuff once and never bought anything.

Yeah, I once tried the Triad stove. It wins the prize as the all time worst performing stove I've tried, although it didn't appear to have any blatant manufacturing defects- more of a design problem I think.

kyle, i have a vargo triad for fuel tabs. no problems so far. you must have gotten a lemon. i'd complain to the company. they will probally send you a new one..vicky

Interesting…I have a Vargo Triad stove and it has performed flawlessly for me in the field. I add 1 oz of alcohol, wrap a tin foil wind screen around it and use an Evernew .9 liter pot. I start it and leave it to do chores in in 8 or 9 minutes later I check and I have 2 cups of boiling water exactly as the fuel runs out.

Now I must admit that my at home initial test prior to reading any instructions did not go so well. I did not add enough alcohol (instructions help in knowing how much to add), lit it, spilled alcohol on my hand then went to add more alcohol after it looked like it went out. Again the instructions point out the hard to identify flames in bright conditions. Well needless to say squirting alcohol onto an already lit stove resulted in my hand catching fire then knocking the stove over and catching the deck on fire and the pine straw below. My 10 year old daughter of course ran in screaming to my wife that dad is on fire.

They made me read the instructions and all has been well since.

I had no problems using my Triad with esbit tabs, but it was a real dog with alcohol. James comments reinforce my opinion…an ounce of fuel to boil 2 cups of water is abysmal fuel economy, and 8-9 minutes is pretty slow.

A lot of reviewers agree on these points:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/reviews/display_reviews?forum_thread_id=928&cat=Stoves%20%2D%20Alcohol&cid=18

Hard to fill, hard to light, spits and splutters if you overfill it, poor performance even when properly filled, and pretty heavy compared to many of the better performing aluminimum stoves. But it looks cool…

However, I see no reason why a simple cup should not perform to a reasonable standard. Ask for a replacement or refund.

Here is a shot of my Vargo early on a January morning cooking water for breakfast. The temp was low 20's.

One amazing cup of instant coffee….

By the way…if you want to easily fill the stove use a bottle with a sqeeze lid (a contact solution bottle works great).

Hope this helps, Jamie