Lightest white gas stove?

i think the simmerlite is

I think my MSR Dragonfly is about the heaviest modern white gas stove made for backpacking. (Not counting the box-type Primus stoves of yore that are still sold.) But I love the Dragonfly's reliability and extreme low simmer ability for baking and saving fuel when just simmering food.

Lightest DECENT white gas stove? Yeah, Simmerlite may be it.

I don't know what the lightest is. Here's some data points from my scale:
0.350 g 12oz Whisperlight
0.370 g 13oz Whisperlight International

acronym 11/16/2009 8:52 AM

Simmerlite, from any major company I've see in the US. Perhaps something lighter from overseas?

You have to read the reported weights carefully as many times they are only talking about the burner and not the pump, bottle and windscreen. Got to have it all to make it work ;)

I am still a huge fan of the multifuel Optimus Nova. Much finer machining and no plastic parts/pump to break. Simmers beautifully. Excellent fuel efficiency. I am not a fan of the MSR liquid fuel stoves.

burner only- 11.2 oz.
pint bottle, pump, windscreen- 9.3 oz.

Haven't used it in a while as I am not winter camping as much as I used to. I am now using canister stoves all the time.

I think the Borde Bomb at 9 oz complete with fuel tank (the stove doesn't require a pump) is the lightest petrol stove. As far as I know, it is still manufactured in small quantities in Switzerland.

As mentioned, one has to account for the whole package. Here are the breakdowns for my Simmerlite (weighed on a Pelouze digital scale):
Stove 6.4oz
Pump 2.3oz
Windscreen 1.6oz
11oz fuel bottle (empty) 3oz
pump repair kit 0.4oz
Includes stuff sack 0.8oz

The entire setup weighs under 14 ounces when packed.

Optimus 123 (Svea) 16.4 ounces. Great for a hundred years! I got a few of them.

The Svea's a classic stove, and it is great in ways, but it's distinctly not the lightest.

The Simmerlite is ~8.5oz. Add a windscreen for optimum performance, add ~1 oz. And fuel bottle, maybe 2oz?

The typical MSR fuel bottle used with a Whisperlite is 98 grams (3.5 oz).

I went back through some ancient threads. My 11oz bottle is 90g, or 3.17 oz. I leave the fuel pump in and the cap at home, not needed. I also don't use a carry sack or a repair kit. An ounce more than I recalled. I remembered more difference between an 8oz/227g empty canister/cartridge which weighs ~138g (4.87oz).

Apparently still not as light as that benzen thing, but it looks like you'd probably at least still want some kind of windscreen and/or pot support for that. I did try to find one for purchase a while ago with no luck. Not sure I tried all that hard, though.

Borde stove
http://www.transashop.ch/
just type Borde in the search box (Artikel Nr. / Textsuche:)
CHF 139, about 137 USD
Franco

Thanks, Franco!

Anyone have field-use insight on these? (Esp. in the -20*C range?)

Regardless, this'd be a nice stove to have in the collection. Beautiful.

An absolute classic. Design and built for use on tiny rock ledges high in the Alps on multi-days climbs.

The word 'bombe' should be noted – take care with the thermal feedback!!!
Regulation is … tricky – you turn the red-hot cross somehow. (Honest.)
Since it was designed to be slid under a pot sitting on three rocks on a rock ledge, you need to be !@#$% careful about trying to use it on anything softer or more inflammable than solid rock.

But it is ever so cute…

Edit: Good Lord – they offer a windscreen / pot support for it these days! Progress!

-20 C? Yeah, just needs priming. It would melt a huge hole in the snow though!

Cheers

As far as aesthetics this one is THE stove. I have never seen one working except for some videos.
This one will give you an idea of what Roger is referring to :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeujsvY1N9s
Franco

Thanks again- That video gives you a really good idea of scale, too… looks much smaller "in person" than the images I'd seen of it. Also liked the guy's idea of a cut-out can, though it doesn't jive with the aesthetic.

Roger, Tony, stove junkies in general… I keep wondering why there isn't a titanium version of the Simmerlite, perhaps with a slightly smaller burner head. Seems like you should be able to get the thing around 5-6 ounces for liquid fuel stove with a decent-sized head in Ti. Sure it would cost more, but even if you took the example of a Simmerlite from US MSRP of $100 and made it $150 (Snowpeak charges $40 for GS-100, ~$60 for GSTi-100) I think it'd sell great. Ideas? Do I really need to buy a machine shop?

Hi Brad

> why there isn't a titanium version of the Simmerlite,
Perception that there is not enough market for the extra cost.

> Do I really need to buy a machine shop?
Yep. I did.

But more seriously, petrol still scares me. Too many accidents – MORE than with butane/propane.

Cheers

looks like the simmerlite is what I'm after. Roger I'm with you on not wanting to use white gas too often but for the super negative temperatures and trips that can't be resupplied, I don't know a great way around it. I need a stove that will work reliably in -20F and colder.

If you're looking for -20F and colder, check into fuels a bit too. I had a problem a year or two ago around -20F with–hard to admit here!–a Coleman lantern that wouldn't light. I was cooking on wood at the time. Point is, I did some follow-up research and IIRC white gas kinda pukes out right around -20F. If you can keep it or get it somewhat warmed, you're fine. Straight naptha should burn in colder temps, and again IIRC unleaded'll burn until down around -40F. Lots of good info on stove fuels at zenstoves.net (though I haven't seen anything correlating to temps like I mentioned above). Point is, if you decide to burn unleaded or something else, might need to go with a Whisperlite International. Naptha, if it'll burn cold enough for you, should burn plenty clean in the Simmer I'd think. Just more stuff to think about…

Are you sure Brad? All the AK guys I know and the south pole guys seem to bring white gas. It's all new to me but that hasn't matched what I've read so far. I'll look into it a bit more. If I was going to be out longer or in a more remote place I'd consider a 2nd stove but for this winter the simmerlite should work fine and I can get a backup stove when one is needed down the line.

"All the AK guys I know and the south pole guys seem to bring white gas."

Are you sure what they are actually using? White gas is a pretty generic term used for a few different fuels.

When I think of white gas I think of the Coleman Fuel which it's MSDS states is 100% naphtha.

I won't take it to court, Chris! I can't find the notes I made back then. A quick internet search on flash point of unleaded and white gas, though, shows that white gas does indeed have a higher flash point. The flashpoint of WG is around -22*F, as I remembered, and the flashpoint of unleaded is around -40*F, as I remembered. However, the point might be moot with most stoves assuming that you can do a great pre-heat on the stove. If it's really cold, you might need to use some priming paste or something to get the stove up to temp.

Point being, if the ambient temp is too cold for the fuel to ignite and stay lit, that's probably ok. Using a pressurized system like the MSR, you're going to get the fuel to flow through the line. As long as you can get the stove itself hot enough to warm/vaporize the fuel flowing through the system you'll be ok. Like I said, getting the stove hot enough to do this might require pre-priming of sorts with the firepaste or something. This makes sense given my understanding of the Coleman lantern and its relative lack of preheating as compared to the stoves we're discussing. Food for thought.

I know some are specifically using Coleman Fuel, others it's just listed as white gas.

All good info, as I said, it's new to me. I'll start playing around just as soon as I find a less than full retail setup and temps drop below zero here. That's the best way to learn for sure.

priming/preheating is the most important thing when using a "white gas" stove. You need to get the vaporizer tube hot so it works correctly. If it is not hot enough you get the "fireball". Also, I would NEVER use a "white gas" stove near anything flammable (such as a tent).

BTW, the Optimus Nova is a much better store that the Whisperlite (I've used both). It also "primes" much easier. And you can use something called "Optimus arctic fuel". Not sure what it is or where to get it, but it sounds like it will work well when it's cold. ;-)