Remote Canister stove Recommendations

I dig my windpro.

-7oz
MSR quality

I haven't gotten my hands on one yet but the new Optimus Vega should be a great stove. I have a Windpro but this should be better.

Optimus quality > MSR quality IMHO

very happy w/ my windpro for shoulder season use (use a lighter canister stove or wood for "summer")- the new windpro allows easy inverting

+1 on the Windpro II (the new one). I like how easy it is to invert canister. Haven't tried the Optimus, but I'm happy with my MSR.

del

I've not used one but have been looking at the Fire-Maple FMS-118 – I'm curious if the Soto windscreen – or a modified version would fit the head – that little windscreen is incredibly effective. Add a heat exchange pot and you're good to go.

http://fire-maple.com/products_del.html?news_id=73&c_id=5&cate_id=8

http://www.backcountrygear.com/soto-micro-windscreen.html

I have two remote canister stoves:

1. MSR Windpro

2. Brunton convertable kit – converts any Lindal valve canister-top stove to a remote canister stove. (Mine is a Brunton Crux)
BUT… It is no longer sold. I hear the Chinese make a version (Maple Fire or some such name).

Don't forget a good windscreen. I prefer MSR's windscreens.

Primus Express Spider hasn't been mentioned yet. 7 oz and can usually be had for $50 or so. Roger C review here: https://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/primus_express_spider_stove_review.html

edit: Sorry Stephen, just noticed it had been mentioned…

I used my Primus omnilite on a 2 day trip and was horrified to see it almost call consumed 100gm gasday melting snow and boiling water two times a day. I will be switching to whitegas and surprised to see you going the other way.

I MYOG'd my Windpro about 6 years ago…inverting the canister by using a Jetboil canister stand with mods. The only change I noticed is that it became very sensitive…small changes in the dial led to disproportionately large changes in flame output. That's ok though…I knew my stove well, and what to expect.

I had to also mod the hose configuration too (nothing big…just a tweak in the way it sits)…..awesome.

I use it in conjunction with a Jetboil Ti Group Cooking System pot…with the flux ring heat exchanger…which slots in beautifully into the pot stand of the Windpro.

Anyways, with an MYOG Ti windscreen, it works an absolute treat.

I posted a few weeks ago but the fms-118 doesn't cut it for cold weather use. See my blog post for details:

http://blog.hillmap.com/2013/01/fire-maple-fms-118-sputters-in-cold-vs.html

I would have reservations about the Kovea as well as the preheat system looks similar.

Wind pro II gets my vote.

Can someone tell me what fuel the Spider uses? Would I have to get their cannister only, or is it compatible with some other cannister?

Ryan wrote:
> I posted a few weeks ago but the fms-118 doesn't cut it for cold weather use.
> I would have reservations about the Kovea as well as the preheat system looks similar.

I don't know what Ryan's problems were, but we suspect a partially blocked jet. Both the FMS-118 and the Kovea Spider work perfectly well on my bench. I would trust both of them in the cold.

Cheers

"I don't know what Ryan's problems were, but we suspect a partially blocked jet"

Aha! More evidence that inverted canister isn't as simple as upright : )

I was in a similar position not long ago and narrowed it down to the MSR Windpro II, the Primus Express Spider, and the Kovea Spider.

I ended up with the Kovea Spider primarily because it seemed to be the most compact and lightest of the bunch. It has worked very well on the few outings I've been on since I got it, with the low temperature being around 10F so far. The biggest downside was waiting two weeks for it to be shipped from Korea, but I've been pleased with my choice.

-David

I had a Primus Spider it, and a few others were deemed dangerous.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=30789

The Kovea one is probably better. But the Windpro works no questions asked.

Thanks Jeff.

"Aha! More evidence that inverted canister isn't as simple as upright : )"

And, help me out here . . .
When it's pretty straight forward to keep a canister, a water bottle, and snacks inside ones jacket during the day and inside ones bag at night when the weather is nasty cold, and when a warm canister in a simple cozy with an upright stove works fine in nasty cold weather, why mess with a remote canister?

Because after you use you stove for a few minutes to melt snow it is cold again.

FWIW I've used upright to 10* at Crater Lake in January. Took forever- but worked.

I use remote so I can use my Caldera Cone for a complete windscreen

Hi folks,

Just ordered an Optimus Vega.

Cheers,

Stephen

"why mess with a remote canister?"

Yes, as Jeff said and people above said, when you use it, it gets colder. Gas inside canister evaporates.

When you use a stove at near freezing, like 40 F, you will notice ice form on the outside.

But, like someone said in some book and I've tried, wrap copper wire around canister and bend it up so the tip goes into the flame, heat will be conducted down to canister, voila. About 1 foot of solid #16 is probably good.

> “why mess with a remote canister?”

The short answer is: Because on a remote canister stove the heat needed to vaporize the fuel comes from the stove’s flame instead of the surroundings.

In order for a gas stove to work, it’s got to have vaporized fuel. The fuel inside your canister is liquid. To go from the liquid form in the canister to the vaporized form at the burner, heat is required. A regular upright canister stove pulls heat from it’s surroundings, which is why the canister gets cold as you use it.

On a normal day, let’s say it’s 65F/18C out. Well, no problem. There’s plenty of heat in your surroundings, the canister just pulls the heat from the air around it and the ground it’s sitting on.

But now let’s say it’s 32F/0C out. Uh, not so much heat around. You can run a copper wire from the flame down to the canister, but that’s a bit fiddly, and you run the risk of blowing yourself to kingdom come.

So, when it’s cold out, many will chose to take a remote canister stove. One inverts the canister so that liquid is pulled out the bottom instead of vapor off the top. The liquid fuel is then typically routed via the fuel line through the flame (some remote canister stoves do it differently, using a solid piece of metal to conduct heat to the fuel)*. As the liquid fuel passes through that portion of the fuel fuel line that sits in the flame, it is heated, and, presto, the fuel goes from liquid form to vapor form, your stove has plenty of fuel, and you have a hot beverage or meal.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving

*Note that one MUST have a some pre-heat mechanism in order to invert the canister. There are remote canister stoves that do not have a pre-heat mechanism. Inverting the canister on such a stove could be quite unsafe, in a spectacular, firey sort of way.

Have you used an inverted stove a lot?

Did you have any problem with the valve getting gummed up like Roger reported a time or two?

Or was that just a one time event that's no need to worry about?

I could see how maybe they design canister fuel primarily for uprights and put something in it that would make an inverted valve clog.

Jerry,

I’m not sure who that question is addressed to, but I’ve run a number of stoves in inverted mode, with mixed results. On an old stove not necessarily designed for inverted use, I rigged something up using a fuel line from a chinese stove. I had problems with gumming.

With the MSR RapidFire, MSR Windpro, Kovea Spider, Kovea Moonwalker, Optimus Nova (custom modified for gas), Primus Omnifuel (on gas), and MSR Whisperlite Universal (on gas), I’ve never had a problem.

HJ
Adventures In Stoving