Snow Peak Lite Max

Stick with Snow Peak fuel canisters — they are the cheapest. MSR canisters are more expensive. Jet Boil costs even more. I can't tell the difference so why pay more?

Yes, actually I've found 6 pks of various sizes of SP canisters quite easily and at a very good price.

Ben and Bobby,

Not only you, but a couple of consensus experts in a recent myog thread pertaining to canister stoves, say that there is no difference in the fuels. They said it, of course, in much more esoteric and sophisticated vocabulary than I, that canister gas is the same.

Boggles my mind who the heck are those who willingly pay extra for JetBoil self-same fuel? Maybe the same ones who love carrying extra bulk and weight?

Well, actually, there is a bit of difference between the different brands as far as low temperature performance goes. There is little difference as far as heat output is concerned.

Straight butane is for warm weather only.
There are various butane/propane mixes. In general. the higher the percentage of propane, the better the cold weather performance.
Things get more complex when they put iso-butane in the mix. This also improves the cold weather performance, but comparing a butane/propane canister with a butane/propane/iso-butane canister requires some calculations.

If you want more technical information, try:
http://www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/FAQ_Mixtures.htm#Pressure

Bottom line: the 70% butane / 30% propane canisters are good. Avoid the canisters with lesser amounts of propane in cold weather.
Canisters with iso-butane are generally also good.

Cheers

Not saying that ALL brands are the same… but the three that I mentioned — Snow Peak, MSR, and JetBoil — I can't tell the difference in performance.

Anyone know the butane/propone ratios of these three brands?

Hi Ben

Agree with you on those ones.
Hey, come dinner time, it's what's in the pot that counts, not the composition of the gas!

cheers

Hi Roger:

Notice how these brands all fail to disclose their fuel mix? Reminds me of the same "selective non-disclosure" of wp/b garment composition and performance info — to ensure that users can't ever compare apples to apples!

Hi Ben

This is partly from memory and old notes
Snow Peak: 15% propane
Jetboil: made by someone else anyhow, and I think the same as the Snow Peak.
MSR: depends on what you get: the old 'Iso-pro' red ones are I think were 100% iso-butane; the newer ones may be 20% propane and 80% iso-butane

But I may be wrong.

I like the 30% propane / 70% butane ones from Kovea and Coleman. The Primus Power Gas ones (propane, iso-butane and butane) are OK too.

Cheers

Thanks, Roger. Definitely for 3-season use. :)

EDIT: Dug up some old notes indicating that Snow Peak Giga Power fuel composition is as follows:

isobutane – 72%
Propane – 22%
Butane – 6%

Hi Ben

I gather that there are different Snow Peak fuels available these days. My figures were for the older version.

The composition you quote should be fairly good in cold weather. In fact, the pressure/temperature curve is almost exactly the same as for the common Coleman 70% butane / 30% propane mix. Leads me to wonder why they bother with these weird mixes – unless there is a slight commercial cost advantage.

Cheers

Good stuff Roger and Ben. You've clarified it like butter…