Caldera Cone and Starlyte stove

I tried the modified Starlyte Stove with my tried and true Ti-Tri Sidewinder cone sized for my 1.3L pot on a recent trip.

I don't have any measurable data or comparisons… I was too tired for any of that. But in ambient temps in the high 20s/low 30s (F), the stove/cone combo brought a liter of creek water that was just above freezing to a roiling boil in a reasonably short amount of time.

The smaller size of the stove itself and the ability to "save" the leftover fuel in the stove by putting the cap on it when finished are a couple of nice features.

One of these days I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison so that I can measure fuel consumption and boil times between the Starlyte and 12-10 stove.

After receiving my modified starlyte, I packed up and sold my 12-10 stove. With my caldera setup, I could never get 2 cups of water to boil with 1/2oz of alcohol with the 12-10. Not even under ideal conditions inside my apartment with room temperature water. It always took closer to .75oz of alky. With the modified starlyte, I was hitting 1/2 ounce boils consistently. Good enough in my book!

Curious if the Starlyte would work better in the Caldera Keg-F setup as well?

Randy, fwiw I am using a caldera Heineken keg setup…so pretty close to the foster setup

James, what size cuben fiber stuff sack from z-packs did you get for your setup?

Its the Zpacks stuff sack for the Everneww 900 ml short wide pot (which I have). It was a tight fit though and use the caldera kitchen with that pot. I used the stuff sack for this pot because it packs up easier and allows me to keep all my kitchen items together. I can throw my fuel bottle in there, light-load towel, a spare esbit, etc. I like the extra space.

I've been getting good reviews from International users of the StarLyte burners with caps. Some are saying the regular StarLyte burner works well with a come also. I'll have to try it with my cone system.

Glad they are working well for everyone. Thanks for the positive feedback.

Nice to hear this is working for people. I still love the simple elegance of this system.

FWIW, I prefer the regular Starlyte (faster) but both work well.

Konrad et al.,
Are you guys using a shim to lift the Starlyte burner closer to the bottom of the pot (so that the top-of-stove to the bottom-of-pot distance is the same as with the 12-10)

or,

are you using the starlyte as is on ground-level that results in a slightly greater stove-top to pot-bottom distance than the stock 12-10/CC set-up?

I remember something about the difference in height between the starlyte and 12/10 from a previous thread, but I'm assuming that since no one mentioned using a shim in the above posts that maybe the starlyte works just fine sitting on the ground and no need to modify the cone or use a shim under the stove.

Just ordered the modified starlyte.

Hi,

I'm amazed about efficiency of this stove. I'm too boiled 0.5L with 0.5 fl. oz of alcohol in windy conditions. The stove is so light and small! Tested it's unspillability – it's great! I fill it at home and go hike! When it's full it gives enough hot water for 2x(meal + coffee/tea).

The only drawback is that it gets 12 minutes to boil. But for me it's not an issue.

Working now to make a platinum lighter for it. If it ,will succeed it would be best cooking system for me :)

Hi Kevin,

Yes, I'm using a shim. Not optimal. Optimally you should cut some of the cone's bottom. You will gain:
0) lighter cone
1) it will take even less space in the pot
2) more efficient system.

For now I want to retain my cone as is because maybe I will use 10-12 also so I don't want to close that option for me. It is better to have 2 versions of cone: one for 10-12 and another for Starlyte.

In this thread someone mentioned using a shim for the clickstand:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=72057

Lots of other information in the thread also.

Kevin, I'm in a slightly different position in that I'm using a Heineken keg caldera setup which uses a silicone wrist band to adjust how far up or down within the cone the keg can will sit. So I don't need to use a shim…I just lower my can. I would simply experiment with yours when you get it but yes I believe you will need a shim to truly optimize its performance

Dan, recheck your link.

Thank you for the heads-up Konrad. Got the link fixed.
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=72057

@Konrad. Since I have a Starlyte I thought I would give it. a try. How far do you lower, i.e. how much do you raise your band to get the best efficiency?

John,

After much experimenting, I found that the band set at the height in the picture resulted in the best boil times using only .5oz of alky. I was getting rolling boils at 9.5mins, and effective burnouts around 12.5 mins (the flame would trickle on until past 14 mins, but it wasn't hot enough to do anything). The key is to leave the lid on and not check it unti you hear it boiling. Premature checking cut down my efficiency a lot and I would only getting bubbling boils before burnout. Hopefully you still have the red star left on your heiny pot…if not, I can bring out a ruler to give you the exact height.

Note: the black marker line on the tip of the red star merely marks the 2cup capacity point on my pot.

I like the Sidewinder Ti-Tri cone for fitting in the pot, but hate the tent stakes–the pot rarely sits properly on them, I get worried it's going to slip and tip. I was excited to try the Starlyte stove, and purchased the modified burner. Comparison with the 12-10 stove, without the stakes, in this configuration it is 6 minutes slower. The stove is also only 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the pot.

I get the trade-off between speed and efficiency. If I want faster burn times, it's going to burn more fuel, but I do want faster times–it took 16 minutes for a full boil with the 12-10 stove with 1 L of water, and with the Starlyte it took 20 minutes. If I remove the ring on top of the stove that reduces the surface area, will it heat faster? It will cover more surface area of this wide, low pot. Also, what is the effect of having the pot lower than the optimum 2"? Without the stakes, the pot is completely enclosed in the wind screen.

I really want to use the Starlyte stove–I like the unspillable nature and the ability to snuff it and cap it. Also, it will fit in the pot–one less thing to pack. But faster burn times may be worth keeping the 12-10 and the stakes. Help!

If you are boiling 1 liter of water and looking for a fast time, an alcohol stove may not be the best way to go. When boiling 2 cups, the differences aren't that bad (8 verses 10). Double the volume, double the time – straight up physics. My 2 cents – Jon

Diane, I'll send you a regular StarLyte burner to compare the boil times. I have one that has a dent in the bottom caused during shipping to someone. The dent is just cosmetic. Burner should work fine.

I've been very happy with the alcohol stoves–I'm not looking to be the fastest diner in the campground. However, there was a noticeable difference between the two stoves. I'm just wondering if I could get a little faster burn time with some simple modifications.

If I *really* wanted speed, I get a cannister stove. Anything that uses pressurized gas scares me, though–when I had a Whisperlite, it was all I could do to light the stove. I don't light our BBQ at home if I can help it. Yes, I'm a wimp, a real pyrophobe. Somehow, the alcohol to me is easier and more friendly.

I'm cooking for 2 people, that's why the larger amount. 1 L boiled gets me 2 cups of coffee/tea, water for homemade oatmeal, plus a little left-over for teeth brushing/cleanup.

Wow Diane, what size/style pot are you using with the sidewinder? I have both the 600mL and the 900mL evernew short/wide and they both boil about 2 cups of water (relatively cold water) in about 7-9 mins. I use about a half ounce of denatured alcohol, the modified starlyte, no stakes…..

I'm using the Evernew 1.9 L pot–bigger than what you're packing, Jennifer.

I'm curious to see what the unmodified burner will do–Thanks, Dan!

The Evernew 1.9 L pot in the Caldera Cone w/o stakes ends up about 2.5 inches from the ground. Subtracting the 1 inch height of the stove, that puts the pot 1.5 inches from the stove.

What does that do to the heating of the pot? Does that add time to the burn?